Southampton Guildhall

After months of careful planning, 500 of the Saints faithful packed into the Southampton Guildhall to celebrate with the players, manager and staff the finest day in Southampton Football Club’s long history. That day was Saturday May 1^st 1976 at Wembley when, as 7-1 against underdogs, Lawrie Macmenemy’s Southampton beat the mighty Manchester United managed by the legendary Tommy Docherty 1-0.

The evening was also a tribute to the great Peter Osgood who passed away so suddenly only a few weeks before and to remember little Bobby Stokes the scorer of the winning goal and Jim Clunie the trainer, both who left us over the passing years.

The dinner was meticulously planned and organised by Peter’s wife Lynn - with a lot of support and help from myself. Southampton FC, in the guise of Tim Manns and Kevin Smith also made a substantial contribution to the event which was very generously sponsored by Leon Crouch of Fullers Group in Lymington.

The night itself was memorable in every respect with all the players and staff in attendance but sadly missing Peter, Bobby and Jim. We even managed to get the club secretary at the time Keith Honey and Lawrie’s PA to attend this special celebration and tribute. Sadly Jim McCalliog could not get down from his home in the North for personal reasons and he was greatly missed but that was made up for in some measure by little Gerry O’Brien, ‘the forgotten squad member’ by Lawrie’s own admission, coming all the way down from Glasgow!

Walking into the Guildhall, the guests were greeted with massive drapes and balloon arrangements in the famous gold and yellow reflecting the strip worn by the players at the cup final and centre stage was a huge screen playing the whole of the game on that famous day. After the guests were finally seated, local celebrity Mike Osman who co-hosted the evening with me, introduced the players one by one as they were led in by captain Peter Rodrigues complete with the original FA Cup. Bringing up the rear was the Saints manager Lawrie Macmenemy with the manager of Manchester United in 1976, the one and only Tommy Docherty.

After a moving grace the audience were asked to show their affection and appreciation of Bobby, Jim and especially Ossie with a minute’s applause that must have lasted closer to three minutes!

The audience enjoyed a superb meal prepared and served by Wise Catering with fine wines from the Guildhall and during the meal two fund raising games were played, raffle tickets were sold and some auction items bid for. One person on every table was lucky enough to win a superb CD set of the final with masses of extra footage by Steve Willis after playing ‘pass the CD’ to a somewhat unusual rendition of ‘When the Saints Go Marching In’. Mike Osman played his almost legendary Knife, Fork, Spoon game with a signed Saints shirt and ball to the winner and a signed print of Saints legend Matt Le Tissier as the second prize. Matthew was a celebrity guest for the evening along with Franny Benali and Jimmy Case. When the moment came on the big screen for 83^rd minute strike by Bobby that gave us the cup you could have heard the roar all over town! Obviously that glorious moment was replayed a few times!..

Throughout the evening until 12 midnight, the original FA Cup was on display and for just a fiver anyone could have his or her picture professionally taken with the cup by local photographer Colin Fairall. Thanks are due to Lawrie for getting us the Cup that was originally unavailable when we first enquired. No doubt Lawrie’s friendship with Brian Barwick, the CEO of the FA may have helped a tad!

After dinner had been completed we were privileged to have Tommy Docherty and big Lawrie on centre stage being interviewed by Mike Osman and they were just brilliant with witty and very honest comment and opinion on 1976 and also football today. It was clear to everyone in the audience just how fond the two old adversaries are of each other and they showed their massive appreciation to ‘The Doc’ for making the long journey down to Southampton to support the dinner.

The next entertainment featured Mike and myself wandering around the room with radio mics giving the stars of ’76 the opportunity to say a few words on their memories of May 1^st 1976 and update date the audience on just what they are now doing in life after football.

One of the funniest moments of the evening came when Mike Osman gave his celebrated impressions of Mike Channon and Alan Ball in conversation – absolutely hilarious!

Tim Manns, the author of ‘Tie A Yellow Ribbon’ and Manager of Saints FM, then took centre stage to give brief over view of this superb record of 1976 that was on sale throughout the evening.

Then came a very emotional screening of a DVD - kindly supplied by Chelsea FC - featuring Ossie’s amazing career. This was immediately followed by the main auction and, due to the very generous support of all the people there and the high quality of the items available to bid for, a substantial sum was pledged by a very attentive and knowledgeable audience. The first item auctioned was a superb limited edition print of the great ‘Ossie’ and other items included a 2 week cruise donated by Leon Crouch, a petrol driven mini motor bike from Terry Clark, an original Saints scarf from the 1976 Cup Final signed by the players including Ossie and Ted Bates from Jim Chamberlain of Football Memories, a signed World Cup print from Alan Ball, a 2005/06 signed shirt and ball from Chelsea FC, a Channon Race Day from Micky himself and many more generously donated items.

Dave Ford introduced a very special item of a framed World Cup shirt signed by the current squad that was auctioned by Mike with all the proceeds going to ‘The Ted Bates Trust’. The amount raised was in excess of £2000 and with the club committed to match that amount the target for the cost of the bronze statue of Ted has now been reached!

Finally the Grand Raffle was drawn with many more superb prizes being won and most of the audience seemed as if they didn’t really want the evening to end with many staying to reminisce and others with more energy, going downstairs to the Solent Suite to dance to top Southampton DJ Malcolm Williams.

There can be no doubt that everyone who attended this very special celebration and tribute had a simply fabulous evening and one that will last in the memory for many years to come.

Lynn and myself along with Lawrie Macmenemy, Mike Osman and Tim Manns would like to thank all the sponsors and supporters who gave so generously of their time and money to make this a truly memorable event. Also special thanks to Chelsea FC, Southampton FC and the Football Association.

Denis Bundy

Click here to view Saints 2006 reunion pictures