At an ex-Saints function in 2012, Bryn Elliott was in sparkling form as the senior member, at 86 years-old, of a Q & A panel. Asked by fellow-panellist Matt Le Tissier, “what was it like to play through a World War?” Bryn retorted, quick as a flash, “Which one?” Local fans won’t often hear Matt out-quipped, but Bryn enjoyed a lasting reputation for the humour he had brought to Southampton FC, since his arrival in October 1949. Born in Nottingham in 1925, he enlisted in the Royal Signals in 1943. Serving as a dispatch-rider at Catterick, he was able to play 30-odd games for his home-town Forest in 1943/44/45 before being posted to India.

He “expected to be sent to the Front to fight against the Japs.” But stationed at Mhow in central India, serving as a Physical Training Instructor (PTI), he was far away from the Japanese incursion into north India in the spring of 1944 and never saw any action. But Bryn had been so affected by the heat in his two years away that it took him another two years to re-acclimatise, as he returned to the City Ground with “lost time” to make up. He never managed to do that. So, after 10 Second Division appearances, he left for non-league Boston United. But he would soon be brought back to Division II by Southampton,

here his virtues, at wing-half, were announced in the club’s handbook as “enthusiasm combined with forceful and tenacious tackling.”

Remarkably, he never sustained a serious injury. He made his debut in February 1950 in front of 70,302 (still a second-tier record) at White Hart Lane in a vital promotion clash. Spurs ran out 4-0 winners and were promoted as champions. Southampton finished level on points with the two Sheffield clubs, but were in fourth place, and so not promoted, thanks to an inferior goal average. After two mid-table seasons, the Saints were relegated in 1953 and it was third-tier football for Bryn after that.In his final first-team season of 1957/58, he made 22 appearances, to bring his Saints total to 251 games, in which he scored twice. Failing to get a game in 1958/59, he joined Poole Town, along with Pat Parker and Barry Hillier. In his retirement he ran an off-licence – with Sheila his wife – in Waterloo Road for more than 40 years. An all-round sportsman, he kept fit playing tennis, squash and badminton.  And until restricted by osteo-arthritis in his final two years he kept his eye in at Stoneham Golf Club, where he’d played off a four handicap in his time.

When he died he was Southampton’s eldest surviving player. Terry Paine, who was the new kid in the team during Bryn’s swansong season, always spoke fondly of Bryn. He still does. He e-mailed upon hearing of Bryn’s passing to reminisce about him, both as a player and as the dressing-room comedian.  On the pitch,

“his strengths were being able to win the ball and his mobility off the ball”,

Terry said, while his jokes were “good for morale, whether at training during the week or on match days, no more so than when the off-licence was robbed. He arrived at training, the next morning, with a huge bandage wrapped around his head smothered with tomato ketchup, protesting that he had done his best but there were six of them.”