John Page first wore a Southampton (“A” team) shirt while he was still a sporting all-rounder at school in Camberley, where he even topped Ron Tindall, later of Surrey cricketing fame, in the 1950 batting averages.     

Page had also played for Mytchett Boys, whose manager, “Busty” Wells, recommended him to Jimmy Easson, who had recently become the Saints’ coach. He made his debut, aged 18, at outside-left, partnering Ted Bates, but he would get only two more outings in that position, over the next three years, which included National Service.

He converted successfully, however, to defence – mainly as a centre-half, but sometimes at right-back. He was at No.5 for all but one game in the Third Division Championship side of 1959-60.

His team-mates included Terry Paine, who liked to take every place-kick, and George O’Brien, who thrived on close-range scoring opportunities, so it says something that John became the penalty-taker. His 21 goals from the spot (in 25 League and Cup attempts) established him as Saints’ most prolific Penalty King – although he has since been overtaken by Channon, Peach, Le Tissier and Lambert. John may have been overweight for his detractors, notably O’Brien,

but his consistent solidity was appreciated by his fellow-defenders. Left-half and captain, Cliff Huxford, liked the way “he would stop it, get it and hit it long,”

while goalkeeper Tony Godfrey valued his predictability: “you knew exactly what he was going to do all the time… and he wanted to play with people” – a thinly-veiled allusion to Godfrey’s well-documented difficulties in playing behind Tony Knapp, who succeeded Page in the summer of 1961. John had proved good enough for the Second Division, playing the first 40 games of the 1960-61 season. But Bates was already showing interest in Leicester’s Knapp when John slipped a disc in pre-season training. Bates now hurried to get his man and John Page’s first-team days were over.

He could have stayed in the League at Eric Webber’s Torquay but preferred to end his playing days at Ted Ballard’s Hastings. His weight was now such a problem that he spent most of his one season, there, upfront for the Reserves. After that, he had a variety of jobs back in the area where he’d grown up – including a spell as Camberley Town’s manager – finishing up as a lathe operator at Plastechnol in Farnborough. Having retired at 65, he soon began to suffer from dementia – in a severe form that necessitated nursing-home care. Huxford was living near the Fair Oak home and, even though John could not recognise him, would regularly go to sit with his no-frills team-mate of yesteryear.