Saintsplus launches on Monday - a letter from new Saintsplus reporter Benjy Nurick

Surprising, I know, because it sounds so straight forward.

If you can find a squad online (which I don’t think you can) it will likely be incomplete and quite possibly downright wrong.

Time to get creative.

Dozens of Instagram messages to players roughly in the right era led to some answers – answers from others with the same names clarifying that they were in fact not the footballers in question. Turns out it was too niche a subject for numerous German football experts on Twitter as well.

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So where do you go next? Well, roughly 100 emails to every single supporters' club of said team led to days of silence before someone suggested the number of a former football agent who might, just might, be able to help. From there I went on a journey to Australia, America and back to the suburbs of Munich to tell a story giving unique insight into the roots of Saints boss Ralph Hasenhuttl.

READ MORE: Saintsplus launches on Monday – a message from the Editor

I’m not telling you all this to demonstrate how hard I work or how tough my life is – it’s a privilege that I could not have even dreamt of to be covering Southampton Football Club; a club with historical importance that is only outweighed by how much it means to Saints today.

I’m telling you all this because this is a taste of how Saintsplus operates.

When one avenue is blocked or an email bounces back (as apparently is the case with many former German players and coaches) we won’t stop.

When it gets difficult, we will continue with even more energy than before. This unrelenting passion is how you follow Southampton and it’s only right that we bring the same energy to our coverage.

I’ve been blessed with the time, resources and support to make sure this is possible. Saintsplus will do everything imaginable – and I really mean everything - to bring you Southampton coverage on a deeper level than ever before told in the most creative ways possible.

Launching fully on Monday, we’ll have a collection of articles free to read to help you understand what we’re all about.

Saints fans during the FA Cup match between Southampton and Coventry City at St Mary's Stadium. Photo: Stuart Martin.

Relive the earliest days of Hasenhuttl’s managerial career or take a trip back through some of the most epic of glory days as Rickie Lambert talks us through his 10 defining Saints goals. Meanwhile, we’ll be introducing our new approach to the tried and trusted ‘player ratings’.

Saintsplus – with access for subscribers only – will be full of tactical analysis, interviews, features and all the intangibles you could list: the joy, the creativity and of course, the passion.

I may not have been born a Saint but I know how important this club is to all of you and that is a responsibility I will not take lightly.

Regardless of Southampton’s place in the table we will always be here to bring you the stories you want to read, the stories you need to read, and the stories you didn’t know you needed to read.

Saying I’m excited would be a gross understatement but the reality is there aren’t quite the words available in the English language for me to explain any better.

Subscribe now to Saintsplus for £1 for the first month.