John Sharpe was born in Portsmouth to a family of Pompey fans. A captain of Portsmouth Schools, he looked like a shoo-in to join his home-town club. Not so.  Pompey botched John’s recruitment, opening the door to Southampton’s scout within their catchment: ex-Saint Stan Cribb. Accustomed to operating deep behind enemy lines – he had already helped to snatch Malcolm Waldron from Portsmouth’s clutches – Cribb succeeded in selling Southampton to John and his family.

When Peter Rodrigues sustained the injury that ended his Saints career, John came in for the last 11 games of the 1976-77 season.

A quick, tough-tackling right back, always eager to get forward, he looked as if he might make the position his own. However, he was sent off for a rash challenge in a pre-season tournament in Scotland.

“I’ve been called all sorts of ‘scummer’ in my time,” John reckons, “but nothing could match the level of abuse, that day, at Ibrox.” The sending-off cost him his place at the beginning of the 1977-78 promotion season, during which he played third fiddle to Manny Andruszewski and Waldron.

He would get to play only 10 more League games for Southampton (for a record, interestingly, of W7 D3, with but five goals conceded). With the Saints back in the First Division, Lawrie McMenemy was in a position to shunt some of his youngsters down the divisions, to fund acquisitions. John had had a month on loan at Gillingham, but was keen to stay at The Dell and fight for his place. McMenemy, who had other ideas, agreed a fee of around £30,000 and John was on his way to Priestfield, reassured by David Peach, who had travelled in the opposite direction, that Gillingham was “a really good little club.”

John clocked up nearly 200 League appearances for the Gills, but knee injuries took their toll and he was looking for another club. Following a brief, non-contract arrangement at The Dell, he ended up at Swansea. After just five appearances, snapped ligaments – sustained in a 50-50 challenge at, of all places, Priestfield – brought an end to his professional career. He continued to live in the Medway-ports area, latterly running his own kitchen-retail business, having previously managed sports shops and worked in property-maintenance.