As a whole new generation of Saints fans, players and management get their first taste of European football tonight, there is one man in the ranks who has been there, done that and got the winners medal to prove it.

Graeme Le Saux, whose bulging trophy cabinet includes a Cup Winners' Cup winners medal won at Chelsea in 1997/98, knows better than most what lies ahead for Saints in their first UEFA Cup tie for 19 years against Steaua Bucharest.

The 34-year-old has made 38 appearances, including 34 starts, in European competition including the UEFA Cup, Champions League and the Cup Winners Cup.

As well as winning the latter, he also reached the semi-final of the same competition a year later but enjoyed little success with Chelsea in the past three seasons.

For the experienced Le Saux, pictured above, the key word for both fans and players going in tonight's game is obvious - patience.

He said: "There are plusses playing the home leg first in that if you win the game comfortably it can effectively make the tie over.

"But the reality is that we know it will be a game where Steaua put a lot of people behind the ball.

"The team experienced that at the end of last season where they were doing so well at home, and this season when Wolves came with one striker and a lot of people behind the ball.

"That means you have to be patient and confident enough in what you're trying to achieve not be drawn into throwing too many people forward.

"You must keep plugging away at what you think is right and what the manager's told you is right and hope you get the break that opens them up.

"It's going to be a game of patience, but I suppose the most negative aspect would be if you concede a goal or two at home because that would give Steaua a huge advantage when we go over to Romania.

"In every game there's a good way and a bad way of looking at it, but from being around the club you know there is a positive energy about the place and we're drawing from that.

"We feel confident that if we get good balls in we can score goals.

"And if we can defend and keep clean sheets as a solid unit then everybody will enjoy that.

"We can't wait for the next match to come at the moment and, as long as that run keeps going, then that feeling will stay with us."

Le Saux also has an abundance of top level football under his belt after winning 36 caps for England and might just be the experienced head to calm a situation down if things get a little anxious at St Mary's tonight.

Speaking of his previous European adventures, he said: "The last three years at Chelsea we were dumped out in fairly unceremonious style but before that we had some good European experiences.

"For us tonight, it's a case of continuing in the way we've started the season.

"We've had an excellent start to the season and the enthusiasm and confidence that's in the camp is tremendous.

"If we take that into tonight's match with the commitment we've shown that has got us where we are then we'll create a lot of chances."

The Jersey-born left-back, who joined from Chelsea in the summer, continued: "The circumstances we lost in the UEFA Cup at Chelsea in the last three years were all quite unique.

"None of those things are an excuse but it goes to prove that in European competition there is a fine line between a good team and what is perceived on paper to be not such a good team."

Le Saux was one of several Chelsea players who didn't travel to Israel to face Hapoel Tel Aviv in the wake of the September 11 attacks and subsequent unstable political situation in the middle east. As a result, Chelsea were beaten 2-0 and went out.

In 2000 Le Saux was part of the side beaten 2-1 on aggregate by little-known Swiss side Gallen, and 12 months ago Chelsea were embarrassed 5-4 on aggregate by part-timers Viking Stavanger from Norway.

"Tonight's game against Steaua we know they have vast European experience and they are going to be a tactically aware team," continued Le Saux.

"Knowing Romanian players in this country and playing for some of the big clubs in Europe, technically they are all very gifted players.

"I look back over the Chelsea experience as a mixture of good times in winning the Cup Winners' Cup and having a fantastic run and bad times over more recent years.

"It's important to draw from those experiences, but not to get swamped under by too many negative thoughts."

Le Saux also has a theory that Saints' pre-season tour could help them tonight.

But he believes the confidence running through the team after such a phenomenal start to the season - the best for 20 years in fact - is the key factor for his side.

"On almost the first day I was here we went out to Sweden and the players were already talking about the excitement of European competition," he recalled.

"And in a funny kind of way the games that we played in Sweden were a good experience for what lies ahead in European football.

"There is a different style that European teams have for controlling the tempo of matches that maybe in the Premiership we don't experience as often where they can slow the game down and do that very well.

"Technically they are very good players but the main point is for us to tonight use all the positives we've started the season with."