The Curse Of The 1976 FA Cup Final Part 1 Tuesday, 18th Apr 2023 10:51 There can be no doubt that 1st May 1976 at Wembley was the greatest day in the history of Southampton Football Club, however for many of the Saints team that day it was not the start of a golden period in their career but the beginning of the end. If you are over 50 years old and a Saints supporter then there is a good chance that you can reel off all 12 players on duty for the 1976 FA Cup final, for the next few years it was drummed into children as a golden period in the history of Southampton FC began. But it was not to be so great for those who played in that FA Cup squad, for many of them it would be the beginning the end of their career and few would go on to do much more in the game after that amazing day when the FA Cup was lifted and brought back to Southampton. Here in part 1 we take a look at the players who played at the back at Wembley that day and what happened to them afterwards. Ian Turner The goalkeeper of the side was only 23 years old when he played that day at Wembley, he had played under Lawrie McMenemy at Grimsby, but when he joined Saints in 1974 he had played only a couple of dozen times in League football, he played 4 games at the end of the 73/74 season, his only top flight games. So in May 1976 having played 60 or so games for Saints he must have thought his career was all ahead of him. He would be wrong he would play just 16 more League games over the following two seasons for Saints, injury would affect him, but he left the club to join Walsall in January 1979 having spent much of the previous year out on loan. By 1982 his contract was up at Walsall and at 29, an age when he should have been in his prime he went into non league football and full time employment out of the game, he had played barely 70 league games in 6 years at this point. The curse of the FA Cup final had struck. Initially spent time as a plumber and pipe fitter at BP in the Southampton area and played and manged for a plethora of local clubs up to the early 1990's since then he worked across the globe in the oil industry since, although now it is believed he has settled in Lincolnshire to enjoy retirement. Peter Rodrigues The man who picked up the FA Cup from the Queen was already 31 when he joined Saints in the summer of 1975 on a free transfer from Sheffield Wednesday, he had already played in an FA Cup Final, for Leicester as they lost in 1969. He had been linked with the club before Ted Bates had been interested in 1970 when he left Leicester for the Owls, he had also played against Saints at the Dell in December 1974 Peter had heard that Saints were interested in taking him South, but after watching the abuse that the Saints fans were giving Lawrie McMenemy in the Owls 1-0 win confided in his team mates that he would not sign for Southampton "If they were the last club in the Football League" if that was the sort of abuse that was being dished out by the crowd. In his first season Peter played 41 of the 42 League games, missing just one game all season. In 1976/77 he picked up a knee injury in October and although he would attempt a few comebacks after just 18 League games since the Cup final he was forced to retire, combining coaching local clubs with managing a pub. You could say this was again the Curse of the FA Cup Final, Peter was far from finished in terms of fitness etc, but the knee injury ended all hopes of him leading Saints to further glory.
He has mainly lived locally since although he has also spent time in Spain. In October 2004 his daughter put the FA Cup Final winners medal he had given her up for sale at auction against his wishes. Rupert Lowe might have been under fire from the fans at the time with the club heading towards relegation but he instructed the club to buy it at any cost, they paid £10,200 and presented it to Peter at the club's annual general meeting of shareholders. Peter donated it back to the club so that it would be available on display at St Mary's. When asked whether the best moment of his life was picking up the cup from the Queen he replied "No it was turning left and displaying it to the Saints fans a few seconds later, that was the greatest moment" There are many Saints supporters who can agree with him on that. Jim Steele Signed from Dundee in January 1972, Jim had been a virtual ever present in the Saints side for 4 years when he turned out at Wembley a couple of months after his 26th birthday. Some say he was the man of the match in that 1-0 win over Manchester United and he certainly can lay a big claim towards that, but his career in League football was unknown to him or for that matter anyone only 10 months and 13 games away from ending days after his 27th birthday. Here is perhaps the biggest curse of the 1976 cup final, how did a player of his stature and talent and at his peak in May 1976 not form the rock of the Saints side going forward. The answer was that Lawrie McMenemy had already started to plan for the future and having built a side that had won the FA Cup he had to build one that would win promotion. Jim was a maverick, he liked a drink, that was not uncommon for Saints players at the time or for that matter at most clubs, but Jim was perhaps a little more dedicated than most, he alongside Jim McCalliog & Peter Osgood would be disciplined only days after the FA Cup semi Final for celebrating a little too much and were dropped for the trip to Portsmouth a few days after that win over Crystal Palace. There was clearly friction between manager and player at the start of 76/77 season as Saints struggled to turn the cup win into League form, he would play just 4 League games before joining Glasgow Rangers in November on loan. He would return after only a month and at first it looked like he would be back to his best, but he blew his chances in two high profile games, the first in the FA Cup 5th round replay against Manchester United at Old Trafford when with the score at 1-1 he was sent off for persistent infringements, Saints would lose 2-1.
A week later and Saints had Anderlecht in the Cup Winners Cup quarter final 2nd leg at the Dell, they pulled back a 2-0 deficit to level the tie at 2-2, but with the Belgium side on the back foot and on the rails, Jim let a simple through ball under no pressure under his foot and Van Elst was through one on one and didn't miss the chance to win the tie. This would be the last time most Saints supporters would see Jim, he played one more game for the club, away at Nottingham Forest and his time was up after only 13 League games since the cup final. He then went to play for Washington Diplomats in May 1977 and his career in League football was over, he stayed in the States for a while, working as an electrician before retuning back to the UK in the 1990's he lived in Southampton for a while and then Gloucestershire, running pubs before returning to Southampton again. But The curse of the FA Cup final had struck, at 27 Jim should have had the peak of his career ahead of him. Mel Blyth Mel Arrived at the Dell in September 1974 from Crystal Palace and at 30 was an experienced campaigner, he was player of the year in his first season, being ever present after his arrival. But it would be his second season that would see him excel and he was a candidate for man of the match at Wembley alongside Jim Steele. Mel would be a regular in 1976/77, but approaching 33 years old Lawrie McMenemy was already looking to rebuild the side and he would become the 7th player of that FA Cup winning side who would play his last game for the club in 76/77.
With 31 year old Youngster Chris Nicholl joining the club in the summer of 1977, Mel's days at the club were numbered and he would return to Palace on loan playing just 6 games before signing for non league Margate in September 1978. But there would be a swansong for Mel, joining second division Millwall in November 1978, he would play again in the 2nd division aged 34. Mel is one of the players were the Curse of the FA Cup final perhaps doesn't apply, he enjoyed a career beyond the average age of a player back in those times. David Peach Dave joined Saints from Gillingham and was officially Lawrie McMenemy's first signing as First team manager rather than First team manager designate at the Dell. He had just turned 23 when he arrived in January 1974 and was pretty much a regular from thereon in playing 41 of the 42 League games in 1975/76, the last league game before the FA Cup final was the only one he missed in all competitions. He scored the penalty in the semi final at Stamford bridge, his first for the club after taking over from Mike Channon who had missed a couple from the spot and stepped down from those duties, he scored 24 out of 26 penalties for Saints, a record until Matt le Tissier came on the scene. He would be a virtual ever present from January 1974 right up till December 1979, being along with Nick Holmes the only players to feature in both of Saints Cup finals at the old Wembley stadium, indeed both scored in the League Cup final in 1979.
Strangely though his career at the Dell came to an abrupt end, at the start of the 1979/80 season he was in fine form, he had won 8 England U21 caps as an overage player, indeed he won the last of those in October 1979, what could go wrong, still only 28 he looked certain to be a stalwart of the side for a couple of years yet. He played his penultimate game on 29th December in a 2-0 win against Bolton at the Dell, but then would feature just once more in a 3-0 defeat at Coventry at the tail end of February So it was bizarre that he should be transferred to Swindon at that time in the third division a couple of weeks later, how did a player who had been a virtual ever present drop out of the team so dramatically at what was the peak of his career. He would play for Swindon for a couple of years and then a spell at Orient before dropping out of League football in 1983 still only 32. It could be argued that he had had a good living out of the game, certainly 282 appearances for Saints in all competitions and 44 goals is a good record and one that rightly makes his a club legend, but why did he drop out of the Saints team and leave the club so quickly. Perhaps only two men know that, Peach himself and Lawrie McMenemy, certainly at the time and in subsequent articles on Peach there has never been anything said to shed light on the reason why one of the best left backs in the top flight should drop down to the third division aged just 28. Since 1993 he has lived in the Lymington area and worked in the building industry as well as having coached various non league clubs, he still turns out for the ex Saints XI and at 71 did not look out of place. So did the curse of the FA Cup strike David Peach, well not for the first 4 years at least, but he was yet another whose career at the club was ended prematurely. With Thanks to Duncan Holley & Gary Chalk and all those at Hagiology publishing without whose excellent books, articles such as these would be impossible to write with such clarity and statistics. Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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