If the bare statistics say that Bill Beaney didn’t achieve very much with the Saints – a couple of League starts and a Texaco Cup-tie, plus two games on the tour of Mauritius that don’t count – he will tell you differently: he achieved his ambition of turning out for his home-town club and, in the process, he played – or at least trained “with some great players”.

Then there was an Irish spring and a summer in the USA, where he played against Pelé,

followed by non-league football, part-time, the breadth of Hampshire and Dorset. What’s more he stayed connected to the Saints, not least as the guardian, for many years, of the players’ entrance at The Dell and then at St Mary’s between 1992 and 2016.

He also was an ex-Saints stalwart, before ill- health and dodgy knees intervened. After working for Vospers – latterly BAE – from 1975 to 2016…..in his retirement in Chandlers Ford he maintains a lively interest in all non-league football and is often spotted in the crowd at Eastleigh or Sholing matches. Check out Bill’s scrapbook section to read what manager Ted Bates said about Bill when he signed as a pro.