Andy has a word for it!

For larger-than-life character Andy Northey is a disciple of Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle, along with their Chinese counterpart Confucius and even Mao Tse Tung, all garnished with the odd excerpt from the Bard of Avon himself

Many of 'chairman' Andy's inspirational quotes are uttered within the hallowed precincts of the Saints' dressing room just before the team take the field, and the extent of their impact can perhaps be gauged by the soaring success of the Knowsley Road side nowadays.

All tongue-in-cheek you may think, but not as far as the sagacious Northey is concerned for he delivers Churchillian speeches to anyone prepared to listen, with his recent televised 'teach-in' to pack partner Derek McVey sending satellite audiences into raptures.

But despite a prolific pen and penchant for the spoken word articulate Andy cherishes no journalistic aspirations, preferring instead to focus on furthering his oval-ball career, although he has taken out insurance for the day when he gets to old to dream Rugby League dreams by enrolling on a sports massage course at St. Helens College.

A one-off in every sense, whose ready laughter and zany humour are infectious, 6ft 16 stone Northey's philosophy on life is hardly couched in the hi-falutin' phrases he so often expounds, being quite simply 'enjoy it, for what's the point in being born crying, to live complainingly and then to die disappointed?'

Touching on more mundane matters such as Rugby League football and the Wembley Final in particular, our celebrated subject is hoping for better fortunes than last year, when he was in Saints' starting line-up at loose-forward but had to be substituted due to a groin injury.

"I was missing for weeks after that," said 24-year-old Northey, "then came back too early and paid the penalty by being sidelined again and, when I was fully fit once more, mentally prepared myself for a spell on the bench because I could not expect to move straight back into a Saints' team that had done the double.

"Shaun McRae tells me I am regarded as number one utility player at Saints, which includes deputising for hooker Keiron Cunningham, and I have 'subbed' at prop of late and although I am not quite up to Cliff Watson's standard I've had my head shaved down to the wood to look the part - but no red rinse this year, thank you very much! "However, it looks like a substitute's spot at Wembley this time even though I keep smiling at Shaun! But I have come to terms with that situation and will give it everything I have if called into the action and will not lack morale support, for the Northey clan are again turning out in force," added positive thinker Andy Northey.

Included in the entourage will be his father Keith (a Saints' star of the 1960s), mum Val, sisters Helen and Susan and brother-in-law 'Lord' Duncan Platt, so dubbed because of his aristocratic bearing, and the brother of ex-Knowsley Road and Great Britain Test prop Andy.

They will naturally have particular wishes at Wembley that the youngest member of the Northey family emerges unscathed this year, and that he hands a winner's medal to his dad on the touchline as the victorious Saints parade the Silk Cut Challenge (as Andrew did

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