On this day 46 years ago I did something that would change my life, I walked through the gates of The Dell for the very first time.
15th January 1972 was a life changing day in my life, perhaps the biggest one as since then many things have changed but there has been one constant and that has been Southampton Football Club.
On that day Saints took on Manchester United in the 3rd round of the FA Cup, ironically it was very much a day like today as it was torrential rain, but that didn't stop a crowd of 28,160 packing into the Dell, the game was a sell out which should have been over 30,000, so either a few didn't turn up or more likely the club as was the norm declared a slightly smaller attendance than tickets sold and therefore less income to the revenue.
This was a Manchester United team that was still packed with players who had won the European Cup 4 years earlier including club legends George Best, Bobby Charlton and Denis Law and you didn't get much bigger back then, it also included future Saints defender Francis Burns.
Alex Stepney
Paul Edwards
David Sadler
Francis Burns
Tommy O'Neil
Willie Morgan
George Best
Bobby Charlton
Alan Gowling
Brian Kidd
Denis Law
The Saints line up had it's share of club legends as well, Mike Channon (always Mike back then) Terry Paine and Ron Davies would feature in any top ten greatest Saints lis, not to mention a player who would score the most famous goal in our history Bobby Stokes.
Eric Martin
Bob McCarthy
Tony Byrne
Roger Fry
Jimmy Gabriel
Tom Jenkins
Mick Channon
Ron Davies
Terry Paine
Bobby Stokes
Gerry O'Brien
I had a ticket under the West Stand and I sat on the wall that divided that section of terracing from the funny little bit squeezed in the corner of the Archers Road end under the scoreboard.
United scored on 37 minutes through Bobby Charlton and as much as I despise Manchester United I have to admit you probably couldn't get a much more iconic scorer of the first goal that you ever see live, except of course his team mate George Best.
Saints equalised in the 55th minute and I would sadly have to wait for my first Channon or Davies goal, mind you no one was too bothered at the time, just glad to see Jimmy Gabriel put the ball in the net and I had witnessed my first Saints goal.
Everything about that day I can remember, the greeness of the pitch, the United supporters on the Archers Road end, the Milton Mob making all the noise under the Toomers sign and the bright Red & White stripes, I was hooked and have never waivered since.
Sadly we would be destroyed in the replay four days later at Old Trafford, I wasn't present, then again I dont expect many other 10 year old Saints fans were either as United romped home 4-1 after extra time.
So today marks 46 years of supporting Saints, or at least of actually going to watch them, I had been wanting to go for a month or so before this game.
Over that time I have seen both the good and bad, but for me it has always been about supporting the club, I have protested against managers and the board on many occasions, but it has always been about the bigger picture and that has been the club itself.
Managers, players and Board members or owners come to that, come and go, but there is one constant and that is the supporters.
From an early stage of my Saints supporting career I relised that I was not going to be entertained or to win trophies, although for a good part of my first decade we did challenge for honours and indeed win the only one of our history.
But it was never about that for me, it was about supporting Southampton Football Club through thick and thin, there are very many reasons why people can't go to games, but for me at least, entertainment or success was never going to be one of them.
If it was just about the game, perhaps I would have given up in season 1974/75 when we had been relegated and had a dire first season in the then Division Two, but it wasn't about that, perhaps thats why when a season later we won the cup I learnt the lesson that to appreciate the good times you have to be there during the bad ones.
1975/76 was our greatest season ever but for big chunks of it a section of the crowd wasn't happy, when we took on Oldham at home on 31st January it came on the back of five straight league wins followed by two draws one a home game against promotion rivals Bolton, yet there were 6,000 missing for the visit of Oldham and only 14,294 turned up, significant because this was the game that the club issued vouchers for any all ticket games, Saints won 3-2 but the crowd wasn't happy and the terraces were littered with the vouchers discarded after the game, the fans thought there was no point in keeping them.
They wished they had a few moths later and I along with the lads I went to the game with knew that we were guaranteed both semi and then FA Cup final tickets and thus witnessed the greatest day in our history.
Over this 46 years I have seen many changes in our supporter base and behaviour, but for the past 20 years or so it has mainly not been for the best.
Yes perhaps I am simple for believeing that we should support the club through thick and thin and entertainment and success should not be the main reasons for supporting a football club, but we didn't just follow Saints blindly, when the manager or Chairman got where not doing their job we made ourselves known.
25 years ago we would support the team and then after the game vent our feelings, several thousand outside the main entrance letting the board know their feelings, todays fan simply tweets his disatisfaction or uses other social media.
I feel sad that so many are able to turn so easily on the Club and those that are running it, nothing is ever perfect, but today it is about venting your spleen on social media and people get so vitriolic these days.
I try to be realistic in supporting Saints, I moan about what we can achieve and haven't, but I do realise the difference between fantasy and ambition, saying that Saints can get into the top four is definately ambitious, but it is not in the main that realistic due to the fat that it would need at least three of the big six to totally muck things up and that is not as simple as it sounds.
So when I set the targets I feel Saints can reach then I am not being negative but realistic, for me this is the best time in our history in terms of league positions, never in my 46 years have we finished in the top 8 four seasons in a row up till now, yet the board is still harangued.
I do not claim that my attitude towards supporting the club is right, it is everyones right to decide not to go when things are not going well, but it is not an attitude I find admirable in football supporters, we all have our own levels of support, when I started how good a supporter you were depended on how many games you went to, if you went to every home game and half the away's you were not as good a supporter as someone who went to every game home and away, but better than one who didnt go to any on the road.
That was how your status as a good supporter was measured, not it seems to be in how many replica shirts you own and how many times you tweet.
So I will stay behind the club in this difficult time, I won't be going on social media and taking the p*ss out of the club and making snide remarks about it, I will be giving it my full support and hope that will be enough to get it out of trouble, sadly that does not seem to be the popular way of looking at things at least on social media.
I have pride in the club and pride in the City, but again I see little of that at the moment, it is trendy to tell anyone who will listen that you are not renewing your season ticket, sorry but I would be far prouder to tell everyone that should we go down I will definately be renewing, that is something to be proud of, telling the world you back your club through thick and thin, not telling everyone that you are going to desert it !
Southampton Football Club has great support, we turn out in big numbers, but some have lost a sense of reality, perhaps 8 years of success and improvement year in year out has clouded some peoples judgement as to what supporting a team is all about, certainly I speak to a lot of long term fans who stuck with the team in League One, who haven't been for 3/4 years now, not due to not being entertained, but priced out of the game or just not enjoying the matchday experience.
Perhaps I am seeing things through rose tinted spectacles, perhaps I am wrong to think that football supporters should support their team through thick and thin, but deep down I can accept that some will not go if we are not doing well, but what I cant accept is that lack of pride in our club, our city and more importantly ourselves.
I am proud of Southampton FC I am proud of my City, that means that although I will not blindly follow, I won't take the p*ss on social media and give others the opportunity to ridicule us !
So thats the first 46 years done, here's to the next, I hope it's as much fun as it has been since 1972, I would not swap Manchester United's last four decades for ours, it has been a lot more fun to go through the emotional roller coaster rather than blindly follow because a team is likely to win trophies each and every season and i would certainly not swap our last 46 years for Portsmouth's.