Recommended by Mick Channon; watched by Ted Bates; signed by Lawrie McMenemy. So it was that Mel Blyth left Crystal Palace for Southampton in September 1974. Arriving at Selhurst Park from Scunthorpe, where an apprentice called Kevin Keegan had cleaned his boots, Mel had spent six seasons with Palace, in the last two of which they had plummeted from Division I to the Division III under Malcolm Allison. Southampton had followed Palace down in 1974 and McMenemy now needed to rebuild a side that was struggling to find a Second Division win.

Paul Bennett at No.5 and Jim Steele at No.6 had been the Saints’ most regular pairing at centre-back since the start of their relegation season, but Blyth now displaced Steele, who would wear three alternative numbers as the season progressed. Mel duly won the fans’ vote for Player-of-the-Year (presented to him by Terry Paine, see left) and the Bennett-Blyth pairing remained intact for the first third of the 1975-76 campaign. But, come December, Blyth took the No.5 shirt and Steele slotted in alongside him.

McMenemy may not have found a combination to get the Saints back up – they improved enough to finish 13th – but he had fashioned a team that would win the FA Cup, sweeping Palace aside in the semi-final.

Mel almost lost his voice at Wembley, from repeatedly shouting at Steele to “keep it right”. Keep it tight the two of them did and the consensus seems to be that Steele was Man-of-the-Match, but it could have been either of them.

The Cup-winning XI assembled again in August for the Charity Shield match v Liverpool. Mel departed early with a hamstring injury and that side would never play together again. He would be the seventh player of the Wembley 12 to play his last game that season. He felt that this break-up was effected “too quickly” and unwisely told McMenemy so. With the arrival of Chris Nicholl in the summer of 1977, Mel had a few games in the Reserves before being loaned to Palace, who were back in Division II. By now 33, he would have only six games before he summered in Cape Town, briefly joined by Keegan and Channon, and came home for a few weeks with Southern League Margate.

He was recalled to the Football League by Second Division Millwall, making a dozen appearances as they were relegated. His League career was over, but there were more overseas contracts and a couple of non-league flirtations, as he entered into a restless retirement. He set up as a driving instructor, was quickly bored and became a builder. Descending from a school roof in East Croydon, one day, he was accosted by the Head, seeking some help with coaching. Word spread and he was soon coaching in schools three days a week and loving it. He had a less fulfilling spell, coaching at Palace’s Academy, and then acquired a match-day role with the PFA, ’phoning-in match statistics to the Press Association, until he decided that that work wasn’t his “cup of tea”.

Having concluded in 2013 that his Cup Final medal was “doing nothing”, he announced his intention to sell it. He had “lots of interest”, with offers in excess of £20,000, but none that met his valuation of £30,000. In 2016 he took a full part in the celebrations for the 40^th anniversary of the Wembley Cup win.