Saul finally collects 1961 medal

Some 57 years after playing his part in our famous Double win, former striker Frank Saul was today (Thursday) presented with an official league winners’ medal for his accomplishment.

Born in Canvey Island, Essex, Frank played for our reserves at the age of 15 before stepping up to make his first team debut just a couple of weeks after his 17th birthday in our sixth game of that historic 1960/61 season – a 2-1 win at Bolton Wanderers.

Deputising for the great Bobby Smith up front, the teenage forward went on to feature six times for us in the First Division during that campaign as we famously claimed silverware in both the league and FA Cup under the tutelage of Bill Nicholson.

Because he fell short of the 14 appearances required to collect a medal at the time, Frank never received formal recognition for the role he played in our success from the Football League – until now. Following a change to the rules, the Club has been able to secure an authentic league winners’ medal for Frank, now 75, which was presented to him at his home in Stock, Essex, by former Double-winning team-mate Terry Dyson this morning.

It follows a similar presentation of a medal secured by the Club for Tony Marchi, who also played six games for us in 1960/61, earlier this year.

Frank, who went on to score the winning goal in our 1967 FA Cup Final victory over Chelsea before joining Southampton as part of the deal that saw Martin Chivers come to the Club in 1968, smiled: “It’s very nice to receive this medal today. It’s been a long time coming but I’ll treasure it. It’s lovely to see Terry and receive the medal from him – he used to be a little bit taller! As a young lad in 1960/61, I was on the outside looking in really and I looked up to all of the great players that we had. I was five or six years younger than most of them, but I used to get in the side every now and again and it was a pleasure to have been part of such a great team.”

As was the case with Tony, Frank’s medal was supplied by the EFL after the Club made representations to the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), who were able to push through our request. The Club should like to thank Gordon Taylor at the PFA and football historian Ian Ross for their roles in helping to facilitate the acquisition of these medals.

Club Chairman Daniel Levy said: “Winning the Double in 1961 represents an outstanding achievement and we remain immensely proud of all those who contributed to our success. I am delighted that Frank – following Tony earlier this year – has now received the medal he deserves.”

Former winger Terry added: “It’s brilliant to see Frank and give him his medal. I haven’t seen him for a long time. There were a lot of good players around at the time when we won the Double and Frank was one of them. It was a good relationship that we had among the players – Frank has always been a great lad and he fully deserves this recognition.”