HE didn’t even know where Southampton was. He was relegated in his first season at the club and Saints lost 7-0 on his full debut.

But, nonetheless, he still became one of the city’s greatest heroes.

All FA Cup 1976 winner David Peach knew two years before the famous Wembley victory over Manchester United was that he was heading to his new club to finally play top-flight football.

After spending his career plying his trade in the third and fourth division for Gillingham, Saints manager Lawrie McMenemy had made Peach, a left-back, his first ever signing as manager at The Dell.

Snatched from under the noses of Leeds United and West Ham for a then considerable £60,000, Peach travelled to Hampshire not knowing where the city’s location really was, but elated because he was to get the opportunity to finally play in Division One.

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However, Peach’s career at Saints started badly. After losing 7-0 at Ipswich on his first start, McMenemy’s side slumped from sixth in the elite and were relegated to Division Two that same season.

“It was a disaster,” Peach said. “I didn’t even know where Southampton was in the first place. I knew they were in the First Division. I looked in the paper and they were sixth in the First Division.

“This was February and they got relegated when I went there.

“I was gutted because I had ambitions to play in the highest league. Fortunately we only stayed there two years and in the meantime we won the cup. It was like winning the Lottery really.”

Not a priority This time 40 years ago, as we head into the FA Cup fourth round weekend, Peach and Saints were trying to clamber back to the elite tier.

An FA Cup run wasn’t a priority.

“We wanted to get back into the first division. The cup was just to give us a week off from the league,” the 65-year-old said.

“You want to go as far as you can, obviously. It was the biggest competition in the world then.

“In those days with the FA Cup, if the club was comfortable and things were going well, you’d prefer to win the FA Cup than a league title, because it’s a one off.”

Saints beat Blackpool in the fourth round 3-1 and then West Brom 4-0 to reach a quarter-final tie at Bradford.

It was only at that point – after Mick Channon had scored a hat-trick to send Saints through to the last eight against the Baggies – that it hit home to Peach that the FA Cup was something the club could possibly win.

“Mick scored a hat-trick at home,”

he said. “Then you start thinking ‘hang on a minute, this is getting serious’.

“It started to become a bit real when we saw we had Bradford in the quarter-finals.

“We were thinking ‘this could get serious now’.”