Southall: "It's a dream move"

By Jack Nolan
February 1 2007

Gillingham midfielder Nicky Southall has expressed his delight after moving back to Gillingham for the third time. Meanwhile, Ronnie Jepson confirms that Bas Savage has left the club and that midfielder Alan Pouton has retired from the game. We also hear Poutons views on his retirement.

Yesterday, Southall moved back to Gillingham from Nottingham Forest and was delighted with the move. Speaking at the press conference, Southall said: "It is a dream come true for me. I don't think there are many players to come back for a third time and to be here at this stage of my career, it is the right move for me. I had the option to stay at Nottingham Forest but am delighted to be back down here working with Ronnie Jepson and the coaching staff. There are still a few old faces in the dressing room. There are a few new and young players in the team and I can't wait to be working with them. The fans are brilliant and I've taken to them and they have taken to me. They had a few ups and downs over the last few years but hopefully we can have a few more ups over the next couple of years and get back into the Championship.

"It is bizarre how it all happened. I travelled up to Carlisle on Tuesday with Forest and we were staying in a hotel. I was just about to eat my evening meal and things progressed with Ronnie Jepson and Paul Scally and they said you have to get yourself down to Gillingham from Penrith. It took me 24 hours to get here but I did it and am delighted to join the club again.

"I can't wait to get down the training ground and work with the Gaffer and the "Doc". We have got an important game against Huddersfield on Saturday. The Gaffer used to play for them and it is an important game for the club to try and get a victory from. I have obviously kept an eye on the way the team has been playing and their league positions. Everyone knows about the away form and the amount of away goals we have let in, so that is something for us to work on and get sorted."

Trigger was dissapointed to leave Nottingham Forest, but is delighted to be back at Priestfield for a third spell. Southall said:"I hope Nottingham Forest go on to get promotion. They have got some fantastic fans there and deserve to be in a higher league with the facilities and players they have. The structure there is superb and worthy of a higher league. I am gutted to leave there but am delighted to be back at Gillingham. I've said before that this is the place for us to be. Everyone knows that I have got a young family and they love it down here and want to be here. Why go anywhere else? We managed to keep hold of our house down here when we moved to Nottingham and this is obviously a place that is dear to my heart. We have a lot of good memories at Gillingham and hopefully they are on the horizon again for the rest of the season and next year too.

"My good memories are obviously the Play-Off Finals and staying up at Stoke on the last day of the season. To be relegated on the last day of the season at Nottingham Forest, that was a killer. I don't think the club has really bounced back from that yet and hopefully we can get that back.

"The two clubs have come to a decision that I won't play at the City Ground next month. I don't think Forest want egg on their face if I score against them! I'll be at the game and obviously my loyalty is now with Gillingham.

Southall goes straight into the squad to play Huddersfield Town on Saturday, and ahead of the game Southall said: "Forest played there earlier this season and got a 1-1 draw. It is a difficult place to go to as they play long balls up to the big lad Andy Booth. It will be hard but I am looking forward to the challenge. Hopefully we can get back-to-back victories as that is what you need in this league to climb the table. We need to get five or six victories to be safe in this league and then hopefully we can push on and maybe hold onto the shirt-tails of the teams in the Play-Offs." Trigger meanwhile has been given the number 11 shirt.

Jepson however prepares to take Gillingham to Huddersfield Town on Saturday, a club where he has many good memories as a player. Jepson said: "We have got a good record against Huddersfield Town and hopefully we can continue that on Saturday. I watched them play against Chesterfield last week and it was a very open game, like most of ours have been this season. It won't be an easy game for us but we can go up there with no fear and in good heart after our last performance against a good Tranmere side. Huddersfield are no mugs and have just brought one or two players in. If we start the game how we started against Tranmere for the first 45 minutes, hopefully we will be able to make it difficult for them and come away with something from the game."

Jepson was pleased to secure the services of Southall on deadline day, speaking about his new signing Jepson said: "I knew Nottingham Forest had been in and offered Nicky Southall a new contract. We have spoke to him on a regular basis and know that he has a lovely affinity for the football club. His family are settled down here and when you have half a chance of signing a player of that calibre, you do your best. Thankfully it has worked out and he is a good addition to the squad.

"I know it is a bit late in the day for a springboard for the rest of the season but I'm also looking ahead to next season and building a squad for then. We know what he has got and will give us week in and week out. He'll have his good games and bad games, but anyone who has watched him over the years knows that there are a lot more good games than bad ones. He will give me a presence at the club, not only on the pitch but off it too in the changing rooms and on the training ground. He is a winner and wants to do well and when you have lads like that on board, it makes your job a little easier at times.

"If you are one for the stats, and you look at the crosses and assists for goals in our league, you will find Nicky Southall up there, I hope he can double up at full-back as well! Last time I looked, which was about three weeks ago, he was top. I don't need to tell anyone about him or how he feels for this club. I played against him a few times when I was a player and remember him doing well up at Bolton Wanderers, everybody in the game knows about him and you know what you are going to get with him. He is not a risk for me and like I said, it is good to have 'Trigger' on board on a full-time basis. Everyone knows all about him, he has missed about five games in two seasons and is as fit as a butcher's dog although his barnet is still not the best!

"Everyone knows his strengths and what we are going to get with him. I keep moaning week in and week out about consistency. If you can get enough good players in, you know you will get that, and he is one of those good players. He will add that consistency to the squad and a bit of experience too. He's been there, seen it and done it. He is a strong character off the pitch too as he is a winner and that is what I want in my squad. When the opportunity came to get a player like Nicky Southall, you cannot turn it down. There isn't a team in this league that wouldn't take him.

"It is a boost for us as we haven't had much luck in the transfer market, but when I got a bit of a sniff a few weeks ago that he had been offered a contract and hadn't put pen to paper pretty sharply, I thought let's have a go. We spoke his representatives and I also spoke to Colin Calderwood, who didn't want Nicky to leave. It wasn't easy getting him but we did in the end and he is a good addition to the squad."

Jepson meanwhile confirmed that Bas Savage and Alan Pouton have left the club. Jepson praised Pouton however for taking the hard decision of retiring - on his birthday! Jepson said: "That is the worst news possible and it is a very sad day. We get Nicky Southall in, which is great, but it all comes to an end, as it does to all of us. At such an early age, only 29 and have to retire from professional football, I'm gutted for him. If he was in his 30's, I would understand it. It has been frustrating for me, and it must have been for him, as everyone knows the ability that Alan Pouton has got. If 'Pouts' is fit, he could easily be playing a division above.

"One or two people have asked me this season about why isn't 'Pouts' playing or being brought on? Now Alan Pouton has played for me half-fit at times. You saw what he done at Crewe and a lot of players nowadays, they wouldn't. They would be sat on that treatment table picking up their wages, which I think people have seen happening once or twice at this club in the past. If you had seen the hard work he does behind the scenes with training and strengthening, I can say that now as I'm not giving the opposition any information about having a half-fit player in the team or on the bench.

"I have to give 'Pouts' full credit for what he has done for me. When he has been out on the field of play or on the bench, he has been fantastic. It has been a bit frustrating at times but down the training ground and around the place, he has conducted himself in the right manner. All credit to him but it is just so sad when you get the news from the surgeon that you will have to retire because of a knee injury. He isn't far off full-fitness but it is just maintaining that fitness on the training ground and during matches. Sadly, his knee won't sustain that and he doesn't want to end up in a wheelchair so he has taken the surgeon's advice. It is a sad time for everybody, especially when it happens at 29 years-old. I would like to publicly thank him for everything on the pitch and the way he has helped me off it. He is a character and has always done everything in the right positive manner."

Jepson has also lost Bas Savage and on that he said: "I'd like to have a few more decisions to make. That is not a problem for me and we'll see how everyone is today. We've done our homework on Huddersfield and we'll be training on the way their tomorrow and decide on the team then.

"The Chairman was onto it last night about Bas Savage. It was getting late but I think he has decided to go elsewhere. Maybe it is for money reasons, I'm not sure. What I forgot to mention earlier, and it is quite refreshing, is that Nicky Southall could have stayed at Nottingham Forest for another 12 months and maybe got the money there that he would have done in two years here. Nowadays, I think that is quite refreshing.

"People make decisions but when I bought Bas in, he was unemployed. I gave him a chance and I'd like to think in that short period of time he was here, after he was on trial at a few other clubs, I think he improved and has had some good games recently. I suppose the DVD of last Friday's game on Sky was going around the agents but as my old Manager Stan Ternent used to say "one swallow doesn't make a summer". There is a lot of room for improvement there and if he thinks he can go and improve elsewhere, and get a few more quid, that's down to Bas Savage."

Jepson also revealed how he tried to sign Crystal Palace's Jon Macken. He said: "We are still trying to add to the squad but Managers don't really want to be letting their players out on loan when they have got a chance of getting money for them. In seven days time, when the window reopens for loans, we might be able to line-up a couple of players because the figures we have been quoted for players we have gone for, it is a no-go. We have lost Bas and 'Pouts' and it is a blow. We have to replace those players and I will be looking to get a striker in on-loan. We were close to getting Jon Macken in from Crystal Palace, who would have been a good addition as he is a proven striker, but it wasn't to be. We have got one or two other irons in the fire and once the seven-day closed window expires, we can maybe get a player or two in for the final push until the end of the season."

Alan Pouton meanwhile revealed how the decision to hang up his boots was the hardest decision he has had to make in his career. Pouton said today: "I came down here three years ago, and although I haven't played as regularly as I would have liked, I still have a place in my heart for this football club. The fans have been great to me, the manager's been a different class and the players have all been really good, I've made some very good friends with players and supporters down here.


"It's devestating news, football has been a big part of my life and I think somewhere along the line over the last few months I had a feeling this day would come sooner rather than later, but now it has I don't think it has sunk in.

"I guess over the next few weeks it will do, I'll go away and have a think about it with my family about where I go from here," said Pouton.