“Overawed”, he confesses, as a teenager at his local club, Second Division Charlton, Paul Gilchrist was much out on loan, even dropping into the Southern League at Yeovil, before he found a niche at Fourth Division Doncaster.

But then First Division Southampton snapped him up for £30,000. When Paul revealed, on the ride from the station to The Dell, that he was a centre-forward, the taxi-driver gave him “no chance” of displacing Ron Davies.

But this was March 1972 and Davies had scored only four goals all season. True, the arrival of Gilchrist appeared to galvanise Ron, who scored another seven in April. Even so, he finished behind Mick Channon in the scoring charts for the third consecutive season. Indeed, Ron’s dominant role had become one of “putting Channon in”. Gilchrist’s subtlety of touch equipped him well for this part.

This attribute also meant that he was comfortable, playing deeper, as he most productively demonstrated in his fourth full season of 1975-76. In the FA Cup Fifth Round v West Brom, he came in for Peter Osgood, who had been playing behind Channon and Bobby Stokes.

Having scored a spectacular goal when the tie went to a Dell replay, he became a midfielder upon Osgood’s return, replacing Nick Holmes in the Sixth Round and then Fisher, all the way to Wembley, contributing another goal in the semi-final. He had played a one-two with Osgood, 25 yards out, and when “no one challenged”, he “decided to have a shot.”

The break-up of the Cup-Final team, the next season, came quickly. Paul was among those dropped after the opening-day defeat at home to Carlisle. He would make only two more appearances for the Saints, both of them – in the League and League Cup – back at The Valley, before he made a couple of unwise career-choices. First, he opted for a one-year contract on loan to Alahfi in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Both on and off the pitch, this proved a “disaster”.

He returned after three months and soon moved to Third Division Portsmouth – an even bigger mistake, he reckons. He remained in the lower divisions with Swindon, where being signed over the manager’s head by Danny Williams the Director of Football he was never really accepted by the manager, Bob Smith despite scoring six goals in ten games.

This lead him to Hereford where he was ever-present in their 1979-80 run-in, scoring in their last-day win that was not enough to spare them having to seek re-election. They were voted back, but Paul had played his last game in competitive football. During a pre-season friendly behind closed doors against Wolves, he suffered a snapped cruciate ligament in a less-than-friendly tackle. It rankles to this day that not one Wolves player came to see how he was after game.

From playing before 100,000 at Wembley, four years earlier, he had ended his career in a game that nobody saw –

although it took a year of unsuccessful treatment before it was decided that he was finished before he was 30. There was talk of Southampton arranging a testimonial for him with a present Saints side taking on the FA Cup team which would have been raised a nice sum to retire on, but Lawrie McMenemy ruled that there was no dates available in a busy schedule and so it was Paul had to make do with a “pitiful” £750 payment from the PFA. With bills to pay, he and a partner opened a fitness centre, catering for businesses in Swindon. The first of its type, it was widely copied – so much so that Paul sold up after seven years and moved near to Tunbridge Wells. although he worked for BMW in Redhill, where he was an after-sales/service adviser. He then worked for Caterham Cars for a few years but has now retired and found the time to have a full knee replacement.