It’s Green for go in honour of Eastleigh legend

By Andy Mitchell

HONOUR: Michael Green receives a testimonal today

MICHAEL Green relives his glorious past at Eastleigh with a testimonial against Manchester United legends today (2pm) – and predicts a Football League future for his former club.

Green played more than 400 matches for the Spitfires, winning Conference South in 2014 and reaching semi-final of the National League play-offs five years later, bowing out to winners Salford City in a penalty shootout.

He also featured as Eastleigh dumped Swindon Town out of the FA Cup, a run that took them to a third-round clash with Brentford.

The left-back, who has signed for AFC Totton ahead of the forthcoming season, will grace the pitch against the likes of Wes Brown, Sammy McIlroy and Clayton Blackmore with Southampton legends Matt Le Tissier and Francis Benali in the dugouts.

“I had a great time.

There are so many memories over the years, too many to list, it was all great,” said Green.

“It is a great honour to be recognised in this way and for the club to honour it after I left a year ago is really nice.

“I never thought I would be at somewhere like Eastleigh for as long as I was, the time just flew by.”

It was not all glory, though.

“My first game was at home to Welling,” recalled Green.

“I was on loan from Port Vale and I scored that day. There were only a few hundred there, we were third bottom in the league and we didn’t expect to win.

“We got on a bit of a run, then Stewart Donald came in and things quickly changed. There were a few different managers along the way but I managed to survive it all.

It was great to be a part of that and see the club become what it is today.”

And Green reckons that involves a promotion-winning outfit in the making.

“They set out to put the club in a position to do it and I think everything is ready,” he said.

“It is such a hard league to get out of and personally, I think there should be an extra promotion place.

“There are National League teams that are better than some of those in League Two, it is too easy to stay in League Two and I think they should go with three up.

“It is scary. Wrexham pay thousands per week to individual players, then you have Chesterfield and Southend to name a couple more big clubs, there are lots of huge sides going for just two positions.”

Green extended his gratitude to his family, friends and everyone at Eastleigh, including a shoutout to broadcaster Michael Kurn who will be presenting and doing a question and answer session with Le Tissier and Benali.

Tickets for the Manchester United legends game are available on the gate at Eastleigh’s Silverlake Stadium. Kick-off is 2pm.