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The greatest thing about our writers is that we don't claim to be in the know, or ITK, as many would call it. We are a simple, fun group. Many of us have other lives, whether that be in journalism or elsewhere outside of the sports world. Some are in school, some just out, and some have been around awhile.
I have a bit to say on each of them, but they also answered a few questions for more background info.
Let's get to know the team!
The Questions:
1. Where are you from?
2. How long have you been a Saints fan? Why are you a Saints fan?
3. Have long have you been with St. Mary's Musings?
4. What's your favorite Saints memory?
5. What else do you want readers to know about you or the site?
- Jake Hughes- Editor. Jake is the creator, and this site is his baby. He makes pretty much most Southampton matches as well.
1. I am from leafy Fleet, Hampshire. Well, it's technically Hampshire, but on the Surrey/Berkshire border. London clubs reign supreme round these parts.
2. I have been a Southampton fan from birth. I had no say in the matter - my dad has been a season ticket holder since the '70s. He even used to threaten me by saying I would live in the shed if I didn't support Saints. Still carrying those emotional scars, here I am now.
3. As the editor, from its inception back in 2014! The blog, originally named In That Number, was a WordPress project of mine was slated to join the SB Nation family after our promotion back to the Premier League in 2012. But, it was left in development purgatory for a couple of years.
4. Favourite Saints memory? This is a tough one. I tend to believe it's short moments which create the best memories for me. I was at the Etihad for our first game back in the Premier League and little old Southampton come back from behind and temporarily took the lead against Manchester City. It didn't last long, and we ended up losing 3-2 in the end, but those ten minutes of delirium were fantastic.
This video still gives me goosebumps despite it's awful quality.
5. I want the readers to know that this is a Saints platform by fans for fans. I believe interesting opinion has its place in football but is often stifled. I aim to change that with our site - hell, we even ran a piece on Southampton fans wanting Leicester City to beat us!
2. I have been a Southampton fan from birth. I had no say in the matter - my dad has been a season ticket holder since the '70s. He even used to threaten me by saying I would live in the shed if I didn't support Saints. Still carrying those emotional scars, here I am now.
3. As the editor, from its inception back in 2014! The blog, originally named In That Number, was a WordPress project of mine was slated to join the SB Nation family after our promotion back to the Premier League in 2012. But, it was left in development purgatory for a couple of years.
4. Favourite Saints memory? This is a tough one. I tend to believe it's short moments which create the best memories for me. I was at the Etihad for our first game back in the Premier League and little old Southampton come back from behind and temporarily took the lead against Manchester City. It didn't last long, and we ended up losing 3-2 in the end, but those ten minutes of delirium were fantastic.
This video still gives me goosebumps despite it's awful quality.
5. I want the readers to know that this is a Saints platform by fans for fans. I believe interesting opinion has its place in football but is often stifled. I aim to change that with our site - hell, we even ran a piece on Southampton fans wanting Leicester City to beat us!
- Tommy Scott- Writer/Social Media Guy. I send most of those tweets that you love to read, unless you don't love them, then someone else totally sends them. I write a fair bit for the site as well, but social media is where you'll find most of my opinions.
1. I was born in North Carolina, here in the United States, but have lived in Florida for most of my life. Yes, I call it soccer, so, sorry if I say it in front of you.
2. I am going into my 3rd season as a Southampton supporter. If you want to read my story, along with others, on how I became a Saints fan, check it out here.
3. We are coming up on a year with St. Mary's Musings, and I've enjoyed every minute of it. I think without it, I wouldn't be nearly as motivated or invested into the club as I am.
4. My favorite Saints memory? Oddly enough, it was a 2-1 loss to Liverpool in 2014, the season opener, and my first game I've watched of Southampton. Nathaniel Clyne scored the equalizer. Saints lost, but the interaction I had with fans on social media was unmatched. Memories for a lifetime!
5. I want readers to know that, more than anything, we value opinions on this site. We won't bash you for your opinion, but instead we have discussions on it. We love to talk with fellow fans, because that's what we are. Chat with us!
- David Williams- Writer. David is a workhorse. Need graphics? He's your guy. In fact, without him, those end of year player reviews that I did wouldn't have happened.
1. Maidenhead in Berkshire. A dull tory heartland that has been ruled by our wretched prime minister for most my life.
2. I was about 10. I supported Liverpool and went to watch Wycombe Wanderers most weekends. But every Saturday I watched match of the day and was captivated by this wonderful footballing side playing in a god awful shed. The scores were usually 4-3 and the beauty of Matthew Le Tissier and Ronnie Ekelund was perfectly juxtaposed by slapstick comedy defending. I was hooked.
3. Since the beginning. I love American sports and have enjoyed sbnation baseball bloggers for years. Bisbee, Sullivan et al. I read Cartilage Free Captain as they seemed a football equivalent but unfortunately they only talked about Spurs(a team I didn't have reason to hate back then). As soon as the saints blog came online I wrote a fanpost about Callum Chambers and got the call up.
4. Those 8 goals against Sunderland. After we were the punchline of so many jokes that summer, to put 8 past Poyet was an indescribable joy.
5. I don't want them to know anything about me! Just get involved with the comments if you like what we're doing. SBnation is great platform and I hope we can create a community a bit different to saintsweb and the always excellent ugly inside.
2. I was about 10. I supported Liverpool and went to watch Wycombe Wanderers most weekends. But every Saturday I watched match of the day and was captivated by this wonderful footballing side playing in a god awful shed. The scores were usually 4-3 and the beauty of Matthew Le Tissier and Ronnie Ekelund was perfectly juxtaposed by slapstick comedy defending. I was hooked.
3. Since the beginning. I love American sports and have enjoyed sbnation baseball bloggers for years. Bisbee, Sullivan et al. I read Cartilage Free Captain as they seemed a football equivalent but unfortunately they only talked about Spurs(a team I didn't have reason to hate back then). As soon as the saints blog came online I wrote a fanpost about Callum Chambers and got the call up.
4. Those 8 goals against Sunderland. After we were the punchline of so many jokes that summer, to put 8 past Poyet was an indescribable joy.
5. I don't want them to know anything about me! Just get involved with the comments if you like what we're doing. SBnation is great platform and I hope we can create a community a bit different to saintsweb and the always excellent ugly inside.
- Daniel Vaughan- Writer. Dan is a top member of our team, as are all of our writers. With us for just over a year, he has written several quality pieces. Look for more of his work this season!
1. Born in Southampton and raised nearby in Lymington and then Bournemouth. Live in London now and enjoy a lot of away games!
2. I can't proclaim to being a Saints fan my whole life, as I didn't really get into football until my late teen years. I actually started following and supporting Southampton properly when the started to sink in the mid 00's, down to League 1.
I love the club for many reasons, most pretty illogical, but it is part of me and I am proud of the way we do things compared to most other clubs. Our youth system is among Europe's best, we don't spend silly money and we defy the odds often. We are a bit of a hipster club who play great football and are admired by a lot of people who see us as a second or third club.
3. A little over a year. I went to Uni with Jake for a bit and jumped at the chance to work with him once I found out he was running the site.
4. Best memory... Hard to choose. Beating Tottenham at the end of last season was immensely satisfying, as was turning over Liverpool because I hate both clubs with a passion and see them as our rivals. Plus their fans are very smug, with little cause in my opinion.
Other than that, having shed loads of people singing the Rickie Lambert song in bars in Brighton - because Saints are such a universally liked (and relatively harmless) club. It's nice to have that respect.
5. Not much. That I am available for away day drinks in and around London!
- Dan Noutch- Writer. Dan is our news guy. If there's some big news to be written about, Dan is the man for the job.
1 - I'm from Trowbridge which is the Portsmouth of Wiltshire but now live in Bristol.
2 - My Dad wanted to take me to a Premier League football match and the nearest place to see that was Southampton. I watched Saints beat Leeds 3-2 back in 2003 and that's when they became 'my' team.
3 - Not long! I joined halfway through last season. I've followed the site for a long time and have always been impressed with the range of opinions people can have on the same team and players, and the discussion the site creates with supporters.
4 - I'm struggling to pinpoint one memory. Since the JPT win, there's been so many as we've achieved so much. I still don't understand how some football fans of other clubs can't respect what we've done in six years. I have to say that coming from behind to beat Liverpool 3-2 last season will be something I will always remember. Just because it's Liverpool and I can't remember that the last time I felt the emotion that I felt when Sadio Mané scored the winner.
5 - Just get involved! It's great to see the range of opinions people have about the club and the players.
2 - My Dad wanted to take me to a Premier League football match and the nearest place to see that was Southampton. I watched Saints beat Leeds 3-2 back in 2003 and that's when they became 'my' team.
3 - Not long! I joined halfway through last season. I've followed the site for a long time and have always been impressed with the range of opinions people can have on the same team and players, and the discussion the site creates with supporters.
4 - I'm struggling to pinpoint one memory. Since the JPT win, there's been so many as we've achieved so much. I still don't understand how some football fans of other clubs can't respect what we've done in six years. I have to say that coming from behind to beat Liverpool 3-2 last season will be something I will always remember. Just because it's Liverpool and I can't remember that the last time I felt the emotion that I felt when Sadio Mané scored the winner.
5 - Just get involved! It's great to see the range of opinions people have about the club and the players.
The rest of these guys didn't answer, so I get to say something about each of them!
- George Galpin- George has written for several sites and publications, but we are glad he's with us. He's been around for awhile, and will write about various things for the site, including the Six O'clock Muse.
- Tom Williams- Tom is one of our newest members, and he's hit the ground running. He's already written several articles, and will be a huge part of our content team this season. He'll mainly work with David and another new writer, Blaise, on stats and youth articles.
- Blaise Bourgeois- Blaise, as mentioned already, will be covering stat features as well as taking a peak at our youth sides.
- Allen Gunn- Allen will be apart of the news team. Whether it is breaking news, or match reports, and rumors, Allen will be there to help out. He is also among the newest crop of people in our team.
- Robert Molnar- Robert is the second half of the news team with Allen. He'll be there for any type of information we need. He is also another American addition to the site.
- Paul Johnson- This is Paul's second year. He is most well-known for his pro-Leicester City piece last year. Paul will help with whatever he can this year as our, for lack of a better term, utility man.
- Adam Wheeler- Adam is our graphics guy. You can see his first work on either social media page (Twitter and Facebook). From time to time he'll have articles out, but his main duty will be to create some sweet graphics, and he's already started off well.
So there you have it! The St. Mary's Musings team is ready to roll, and we hope you enjoy our stuff.