In 1976, a wee little Southampton player called Bobby Stokes was played through by a Jim McCalliog pass that split the Manchester United defence and Stokes shot past Alex Stepney to win the FA Cup for the Saints.
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| Bobby Stokes - Fa Cup Finalist & Winner 1976 |
Fans all over the country jumped out of there seats to celebrate a shock win for the team led by Lawrie McMenemy. It truly was a memorable day whether you supported the Saints or not. Celebrations went on for days in the seaside town with fans and players involved. Bobby is no longer with us having passed from this earth at a very young age of 44 in 1995.
Over the weekend just gone, I sat down to watch the 5th round of this great competition and to say I was disappointed would be an understatement. In fact I reckon little Bobby would have been turning in his grave when the team sheets were handed in at the Stadium Of Light in the game between his beloved Southampton and hosts Sunderland. Let me try and explain over the next few chapters what I am getting at.
So as the team and fans headed north on Saturday, it would have been with the feeling that maybe this could be their time again. Going to face a Sunderland side should have held no fears for Mauricio Pochettino and his side, after all they were unbeaten in eight matches. So the shock that must have reverberated around the Saints fans when they saw the team that their manager had put out must have been deflating. Now whether he was trying to second guess Gus Poyet’s team or not I for one find it incredible he didn't put out his best eleven to give his team a chance to get to the quarter finals.The old argument was put forward that players needed to be rested and the team, rotated. In my opinion that is a load of crap and in turn put two fingers up to the FA Cup and the Saints fans. It is something that fans have to put up with these days but I for one disagree.You ask any player would he rather sit on a bench or play in a huge game of this magnitude and I guarantee they will all answer, play. In fact if you can get your team on a roll and winning games it builds confidence and who knows, they could have gone all the way. But the bigger prize these days is staying in the Premiership and the FA Cup comes along way back, second. As we know Saints were beaten on Saturday and in my opinion got what they deserved for their total lack of respect for the greatest cup competition in the world. Other clubs who took to resting players over the weekend were Cardiff and Swansea and yes you have guessed it they both lost. Now if I can for a moment play devils advocate, I will put it this way. When you are in or around the relegation area getting a winning mentality into your team can only help with your run in to the end of the league. But with changes like we saw over the weekend that the three teams made you can not get that winning feeling if you are chopping and changing. But the biggest disappointment for those Saints fans has to be the fact that they are nowhere near relegation and surely their manager should have started his best eleven and really gone for it and tried to get that quarter final place.
As I started off by mentioning the 1976 Cup Final I must finish off by giving you what a feeling it was in the 70,s on Cup Final day.Tv,s were turned on to the coverage at around 9am and did not switch off again till tea time, no matter who was playing.If you were a football fan in those days, Cup Final day was like Christmas Day. The greatest day of the year for football fans.But over the years it has become less and less important to a lot of Premier league clubs,their Cup Final these days is more money orientated and staying in the Premier league. Bobby Stokes unfortunately died at a very young age and is sorely missed in the football world,but I can only imagine that Bobby would have been very upset at the way his beloved Southampton threw the towel in before the game had even started,and left the fans with nothing more to look forward to this season than fulfilling upcoming fixtures,after all they for one will not be relegated.
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