IT is a moment which has not come around all too often in the history of Southampton Football Club.

For most of the past 50 seasons - all but 10 of them, in fact - Saints have been a top flight club.

A stellar cast of players have appeared for them in the last half century - a list too long to name here.

But the simple statistic is this: Saints have only ever won a solitary major trophy in the club’s 132-year history.

The 1976 FA Cup success is still so well remembered there was an open-topped bus parade, four decades on, last year to celebrate it.

Now Saints stand on the brink of doubling their list of major trophies won.

Today they take on Manchester United at Wembley in the League Cup final.

Ok, it is not the FA Cup final.

But it is a competition which provides a route back into the Europa League.

And it is a Wembley final.

Lest we forget, the national stadium was first built 94 years ago.

Since then, Saints have only ever been there five times - in 1976 (twice), 1979, 1992 and 2010.

In contrast, today is Manchester United’s 49th visit to Wembley.

Quick recap time: this is Saints’ third major cup final - and the first since the 1979 League Cup - and only their sixth Wembley visit in almost a century.

That is why the 2017 League Cup final is a rare moment for Saints, and one everyone associated with the club must celebrate.

These are the moments, the cup finals, which provide memories that last a lifetime.

Especially if you win.

Without these moments - which for Saints fans have been extremely rare - what is football distilled down to?

Saints performed a minor miracle to finish sixth in last season’s Premier League, finishing above Liverpool (for the first time in their history) and defending champions Chelsea.

But if they finish anywhere above the relegation zone and win the League Cup, 2016/17 under Claude Puel will have been a more successful season than 2015/16 under Ronald Koeman.

Seriously, it will.

Saints could finish 17th and win the League Cup and that would be a better season than finishing sixth and not winning a trophy.

The end result is the same - entry to the Europa League - but this time the players get to frolic around Wembley with a decent piece of silverware.

They get to put a major English domestic winners’ medal on their mantelpiece. Adam Lallana hasn’t got one of those. Or Dejan Lovren. Or Nathaniel Clyne. Or Sadio Mane. Or Luke Shaw.

And the Saints fans get a joyous day out at an ultimate sporting cathedral, creating memories that will last a lifetime.

Just like Bobby Stokes’ goal created memories in 1976 that still live on now for those thankful to have been alive and witnessed them in the flesh.

It’s been 41 years, too long, since Southampton Football Club won a major trophy.

Since then, the likes QPR, Oxford United, Luton, Birmingham, Norwich, Coventry, Wimbledon, Swansea and Wigan (whisper it, even Pompey!) have all danced with joy after lifting the FA Cup or League Cup.

Saints are bigger than all of those, yet tomorrow will be only the club’s fourth major post-war cup final.

Claude Puel has struggled to win over the Saints fans since he arrived to replace the popular and successful Ronald Koeman. Well, popular until he walked out on the club, that is. And successful in so far as Saints finished seventh and sixth under him.

Yet finishing seventh and sixth don’t earn you medals. They don’t earn you a day out at Wembley, forever Mecca to all English football fans.

To be honest, they don’t earn the players legend status either.

Bobby Stokes is a legend, though. And Jim Steele. And Peter Rodrigues. And the other eight FA Cup winners and boss Lawrie McMenemy.

They are legends because of a Wembley win.

Today Claude Puel could join the above mentioned as a Saints legend. And who’d have thought that two months ago?

This afternoon, Saints will run out at the national stadium on the brink of the club’s second greatest day in their entire history.

Like the first, it is against Manchester United and, like the first, they are the underdogs.

Good.

Saints were underdogs against Liverpool in the semis. Lincoln were underdogs at Burnley last weekend. In football, the underdog often has its day.

Let us fervently hope 1976 repeats itself tomorrow and a new generation of fans salute new legends and celebrate memories that will never fade.