Magilton, Saints

I'm fairly sure I commented (here or on one of my socials) that I was surprised at having done so many Magilton figures in Sheff Weds kits.

Well... here are 3 more, all for the same guy, all in Southampton colours.

Is Magilton actually a 90s football hero without me realising?!

 I think the home kit is my favourite of these 3. The one that's the biggest ballache to paint is definitely the yellow and blue!!

4 Wallaces, Southampton

 Never thought I'd get to the stage of having 4 Rod Wallace Southampton figures to put on one post! 

Like, he was a good pro, but I just didn't foresee this demand for him, especially when he's not the easiest figure to get hold of!

Anyway, here they are: 

This kit *heart eyes emoji*

Yes, it's not the easiest to paint, but just look at it!! Beauty. 

The next one is a bit easier to make up for the difficulty level of the first!

Number 11 for the second 2 figures. I guess that might have something to do with the emergence of a certain le Tissier, but that's speculation, based on no research at all!

And there you have it: 2 homes, 2 aways, 4 Wallaces!
...
And knowiung the collector they belong to, don't bet against there being more!!

Dowie x3, Southampton

Everyone has different parameters for their collections. Me? I'm quite happy to get each player Corinthian produced just and put him into just one Leeds kit; maybe of a significant game or moment.

Some people seem to want players in every kit they wore... even when that figure is as hard to come by as Iain Dowie!

(Purists, look away now!)

 Either the collector that these were for has had these hoarded away for years, or he is pumping money into his collection!! He certainly isn't afraid of getting rare figures done, anyway!

I've become quite accustomed to his request for these patterned Southampton away kits- the hardest part is remembering which of my 3 shades of light blue paint I used for the detailing! 

Berkovic, home and away

Quick Friday night blog post.

I'll keep it short and simple: 2 Berkovic repaints in Southampton home and awy kits!

 Done!

Tenuous Euro 2020 post part 7

At the risk of being an arrogant, unbearable England fan: It... might come home. Possibly?!

What a great win yesterday tho! First time in living memory that we've won a knockout game at the Euros in 90 minutes!

I thought I'd mark the occasion with an England legend. Not in England kit, obviously, but he is in white! And he's a pundit at this year's Euros!

 SPOILERS: there's gonna have to be more Southampton Shearers for me to make this theme last!

And now, one that I hadn't accounted for!

As I chomped on my victory Pizza, I saw a pundit on the Sweden vs Ukraine game, and thought: "Aha! I've done one of him!"

And here's Freddie Ljungberg in Celtic colours. We probably won't see him again this tournament now that Sweden are out...

Tenuous Euros post, part 5

I'm back to kind of, sort of Euro 2020 related figures today! It's going to be a pundit special... cos I've exhausted my backlog of still active players!

 Ian Wright, in his Palace days. You've got to love Wright's punditry... I can't remember the exact phrasing, but the way he described Saka's performance the other day was great! Gloriously purposeful, or something like that?! 

EDIT: Found it, it was "Burdened with glorious purpose!"

On the flip side, Danny Murphy said "He looks a good keeper," about Donnarumma. That's the Donnarumma who's got 250 career appearances at 22, and is off to PSG this summer...

Anyway, here's a figure of Danny Murphy for Spurs that I painted years ago!!

You can tell how old this one is because i) it's definitely not my current standard ii) even the photography skills weren't as good back then!! and iii) the dead giveaway; I used to leave white boarders around the pics! That's the giveaway.

And last but not least:

Let's throw in another Shearer! I can't think of any specific examples of Shearer's recent punditry... other than picking Turkey as a dark horse... but I quite like him!

Tenuous Euros post, part 4

 I might be starting to run out of figures vaguely related to the Euros now... but until I've completely run out, let's keep cracking on!

I know I said that the last post was a bit Spurs heavy, but I couldn't resist starting this post with a figure that'll make you say: Townsend? I didn't realise he was doing punditry on ITV!

NEXT!

A more familiar pundit now! Alan Shearer, in his Southampton days. One of my favourite recent repaints! 

And to finish off, perhaps the most tenuous link yet:

What do you mean "What's Cantona got to do with Euro 2020?! Haven't you seen the Sports Direct advert?!

Tenuous Euro 2020 post, part 2

 More figures that have some relation to Euro 2020... but definitely not painted in Euro 2020 kits!

We have an active player! Here's Ben Davies, in his Spurs stuff. Davies has featured in all of Wales' games so far, as they have succesfully navigated the group stage for the second successive Euros.

Sticking with the Wales theme, Mark Hughes (here in Southampton kit) was a pundit for one of the Wales games... I don't think I've seen him on for any other teams!

Another pundit for the current Euros; Jurgen Klinsmann. Hair's a bit shorter these days, mind. Gary Lineker asked him if he'd be interested in the Spurs job after one match the other day, and, going against the grain of the 157 other managers Spurs have spoken to, Jurgen said that he would!

Good memories of playing in the above kits clearly an influencing factor!

And after a glorious, slightly boring 1-0 win for England, that definitely means that it might be coming home... here's Kyle Walker in an away kit from his early days at Spurs.

Spurs heavy post this one! I'll see what other minor Euros links I can dream up for another post soon!

Rideout, Southampton

To be completely honest with you, I never thought I'd get to the stage where I'd done 4 different versions of Rideout in Southampton kit. Tho, that is partly because I didn't know he played for them before I did these:

So, there you go! 2 homes, 2 aways, 4 Rideouts... and knowing the guy that asked for 3 out of these 4, don't bet against more in the future!!

Beattie x2

James Beattie, Southampton. Let's go!

2 Beattie figures- one home kit, one away. You can tell that the first one is earlier, as he moved from number 16 to number 9 as he established himself.

One of the things I sometimes find myself thinking about as I do these is: how much does the sculpt actually look like him in his days at the club. I'm not sure he had the soul patch in his saints days, and probably had more basic hair too!!

I like these tho- the detail round the collar on the first one, especially!

3 Le Tiss away kits

I've gained a couple of new regulars over the last year or so, who are Southampton fans, and as a result, hears the unlikely prospect of 3 Matt le Tiss repaints, with only the slightest hint of red and white in sight!

 The middle and bottom pics were kits that I hesitated with a bit, when I was first asked to do them. But, when I had a think, and more importantly a try at them, they weren't as intimidating as I first thought- particularly when I settled for getting the feel, rather than trying to attempt the exact pattern!

The top pic was much easier by comparison, but does feature a few of those hummel chevrons. The biggest challenge with them is always getting them consistent sizes, especially when you can't look at both sleeves at the same time!

Wallace home and away, Southampton

You know my Friday blogging habits by now:

Here are some Rod Wallace figures.

 I like them.

I'm tired.

Shearer, Southampton

Here's something I don't do very often: today, I'm posting pictures of the blog before I have sent them to their recipient *shocked face*

 I agreed to doing these figures before I had checked what the away kits were like! They were good fun though! I think I actually like the yellow one best!

Southampton '99-'01

I thought it was about time I posted some Southampton pictures!

Here's a set that I recently finished in 1999-2001 kit. Imagine kits lasting for more than 1 season!

I like these! I forgot that it was actually pretty different to their traditional stripes, which made it slightly easier to paint, I guess. those thin black stripes certainly add a lot tho, as do the white details arounf the collar and cuffs.

One other thing: considering that these were all first team regulars, some of those shirt numbers are a bit disappointing!

Pahars, Southampton

About to go to bed, but thought I haven't posted for a while. 

Sooo, Southampton? Why not.

I haven't done may Southampton players, so was happy to do this one. I've got a bit of a soft spot for them, as they were my Dad's team.

I always liked Pahars as a player- thought he probably could have done well at a bigger club. A quick look at his Wiki page shows that he struggled a bit with injury in the second half of his Saints career... and that he is now manager of FK Jelgava... whoever they may be.

Austin, Southampton

(click to enlarge)

My latest Soccerstarz repaint is Charlie Austin, in Southampton colours!

...What is it with green away kits this season?! 

I imagine this kit was chosen for this repaint partly because there is a good chance a home Southampton version will be released in future, but perhaps even more because Austin wore this kit for his Saints debut... a debut in which he scored the winning goal against Man U!

Decals are always a bit fiddly when it comes to soccerstarz size figures, but fortunately, the green version of the Southampton badge fit perfectly into the blue sash that I'd painted on!

Here's a pic from Austin's debut:

Shearer, Southampton.

(Click to enlarge)

Here's Alan Shearer in an early 90s Southampton kit.

Shearer's 43 goals for the Saints paved the way for his big money move to Blackburn Rovers in 1992.

...I painted this cos I thought it might do well on ebay! You can find it here

Here he is, sporting the kit: