As a boy, Charlie Purves was a fan of Newcastle United, just across the Tyne from his Durham mining village. Having failed to achieve his ambition of playing for them, he turned out for a few local sides before being brought south, in 1946, by First Division Charlton. It is a sign of Charlton’s scouting network that, when they won the FA Cup in Charlie’s first season, no fewer than five of their side were from Northumberland or Durham. Charlie was not among them, however, and his employers were not amused when he reminded them of his origins by turning up to play against Newcastle, sporting a Magpies’ rosette. That was no impediment, though, to two Southampton managers, each of whom had played for Charlton and who wanted Charlie:

Bill Dodgin’s enquiries were rejected in January 1949, but Sid Cann struck lucky in July 1951. Cann had plenty of inside-forwards, however, and would stock-up with more, the following season.

Even so, Charlie would play in every second League game of that 1952-53 season and be ever-present in a Cup-run ended by Blackpool’s win in a Dell replay. With the Saints leading 1-0 in that match, Charlie was in “full cry”, as the Echo put it, bearing down on goal, when the referee inexplicably recalled play for a Southampton free-kick. Had advantage been played, who knows? Charlie may have scored, denying Blackpool victory and denying the nation the romantic “Matthews Final” of 1953.

The Saints would be relegated at the end of that season and Charlie would hardly feature in Division III(S). He now began a non-league career, starting in Kent and finishing at Basingstoke, for whom he was still playing at the age of 43. After which, he worked for Vosper Thornycroft. Charlie aged 92 had become the oldest living ex-Saint at the time of his death in June 2013.