TO LISTEN to Rupert Lowe talking about his academy and his young payers is par - ticularly annoying when the credit should go to the scouts and coaches who have been working for many years on Southampton’s behalf.

They were employed by me in the mid-Seventies to find the best young players in their part of the country.

The system that has been streamlined over the years has produced a series of players such as Matthew Le Tissier, Alan Shearer and others I have mentioned in an earlier chapter.

It was the scouting system established in the west country that spotted and coached Gareth Bale.

THE TRUTH is simple. Even if Lowe does not recognise it, young players were coming off our conveyor belt while he was attending his rugby- playing school.

I am saying this not to inflate my own ego but because I have long felt the need to explain its history.

Lowe’s academy indeed!

Lawrie McMenemy A Lifetime's Obsession My Autobiography, RRP £18.99, Trinity Mirror Sport Media. On sale now from Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1910335282/ref=s9_simh_gw_g14_i1_r?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=desktop-2&pf_rd_r=0DT7RNDBE69NKVHSYE14&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=867551807&pf_rd_i=desktop

Meet Lawrie McMenemy at St Mary's Megastore on Saturday (9 April) at 11.30am signing his new book.