Saints fans relive FA Cup glory 50 years on

Supporters who witnessed Southampton's greatest day are heading back to Wembley almost 50 years later.

In 1976, Saints shocked Manchester United 1-0 to win the FA Cup for the first and only time in the club's history.

Now they face another Manchester giant in Manchester City, with a place in the final at stake.

Those who saw the underdog triumph first-hand hope a new generation can experience the magic of cup glory.

John Sorrell was 14 when he stood outside a pub in North Baddesley with his best friend Kevin Screech, waiting for the coach to Wembley.

A big fan of Slade and the glam rockers of the era, he remembers wearing his best flares for the occasion.

"If your jeans didn't cover your shoes you weren't cool," says Sorrel.

With a silk Saints scarf tied around his wrist, sandwiches in hand and a yellow and blue rosette pinned to his chest, he boarded the coach with Screech, then 13.

"No parents or anything, just unbelievable. You wouldn't imagine that now," Sorrell says.

Manchester United were strong favourites, but Sorrell remembers Southampton fans were full of belief.

"All the shops had displays and the whole city got behind the team. I think there was a genuine belief we could do it."

The teenagers stepped off the coach into what Screech describes as "a sea of yellow and blue".

The south coast side, synonymous with the colours red and white, wore their away kit for the match, so that they did not clash with the Red Devils.

"Wembley was something else, just to see the twin towers and realise 'we're here, this is it'," says Screech.

They both recall a tense game but then came Bobby Stokes' winner in the 83rd minute.

"I can still picture the ball going in the back of the net and looking around to see John screaming," Screech says.

The final whistle went and "you've never heard such a roar in all your life".

They admitted they were unsure about whether to stay for the trophy presentation, as they were "scared" of the Manchester United fans just below.

"We stayed and it was the best feeling ever to see that cup presented," says Sorrell.

The moment had an extra layer of history attached to it, as it was the last time Queen Elizabeth II presented the trophy to the winning team.

He remembers a joyous drive home before having a night in watching the game again on Match of the Day.

Half a century later, both will return for Saturday's semi-final.

Sorrell, now living in West Tytherley, still has a season ticket with his wife and son.

"There's always that optimism as a Saints fan that we will do it again," he says.

"Winning an FA Cup is something special and it could be once in a lifetime."

Screech still has his matchday programme from 1976 proudly framed with his ticket stub in his dining room.

This time around he will be attending Wembley with his daughters and thinks it will be an emotional day in the capital.

"The cup win was something special, it would be nice for other people to witness it" he says.

They were not the only young fans among the 99,000 strong crowd that day.

Richard Shelley, 59, from Southampton, was nine when he went to Wembley with his parents after following much of the cup run.

"I remember a mass of people from the moment we got on the coach in Bedford Place," he says.

He says there were bed sheets and banners reading "come on Saints" draped off the bridges along the motorway on the journey up.

Shelley, an aspiring goalkeeper, watched his hero Ian Turner closely as the Southampton keeper "got his body in the way of everything".

"And then the goal was just bedlam," he says, recalling being hoisted onto someone's shoulders.

Cup runs hold a special place in Shelley's heart. His first date with future wife Miranda, also a Saints fan, was Southampton's FA Cup tie with Tottenham in 2003.

"We went to the next game and the next game and so on, and then romance blossomed," he says.

The pair went to the final in Cardiff in 2003, and even though Southampton lost 1-0 to Arsenal, the couple continued to go from strength to strength and married in 2006.

Shelley says they have been going to games home and away ever since, seeing those trips away as a good chance to travel the country.

"I went with my parents, then went with some mates and now I go with my wife," he says, as he looks back on a lifetime of following the Saints.

The lucky fans all remember the jubilant 1976 bus parade in Southampton the following day and now hope another upset can bring Wembley glory - and perhaps another homecoming celebration.

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