LIKE most managers, I'm keen to know what happened to some of my players and staff.

Two or three came to mind in the last week and one, unfortunately, brought sad news with the death of Colin White at just 50 years of age.

When I joined Saints in 1973, Colin was assistant groundsman to Len Stansbridge and left two or three years later to join Tottenham, where he became the youngest groundsman in the League at 21 years old.

After a long, successful career there, he was head hunted by grass and seed companies who used him to go round clubs advising other groundsmen how to achieve a perfect surface.

When I first came down here, Ted Bates put me in digs with Colin's family.

His father, Peter, was a local referee and in the summer was the scorer for Hampshire Cricket Club.

His mother was wonderful woman who made me feel very much at home and who, coincidentally, I met again two years ago in my guise as vice president of Age Concern Hampshire. Gill White is a very active organiser in the Alresford area.

Colin was a lovely young man and who wouldn't harm a fly and was totally dedicated to his work and such an avid Saints supporter that, in fact, he'll be buried wearing his Saints shirt and scarf.

I'm sure everyone's sympathies go to his family.