Picture the scene.

It’s 2058 and the Daily Echo has tracked Claude Puel down to his retirement home in France to talk about Southampton’s League Cup final appearance 41 years ago, writes MARK SANDERSON.

It sounds weird, but that is exactly the kind of legacy the 1976 FA Cup Final has given the Saints players who were part of the winning team that day.

Lawrie McMenemy will tell you there’s barely a day goes by when somebody doesn’t ask him about when Bobby Stokes scored the winner against Manchester United at Wembley.

I wrote Bobby’s biography last year. Bearing in mind it’s called Bobby Stokes – the man from Portsmouth who scored Southampton’s most famous goal, I’m grateful the team were considerate enough to wait until after I published the book to have a shot at winning only their second major trophy in what is now 132 years of existence.

Although Bobby was responsible for Southampton’s finest hour to date, it’s often said that the team from 1976 were some way from being the club’s best.

The subsequent sides built by McMenemy, as the club reached the first division, particularly from 1980 to 1985, were of a higher calibre overall.

You could draw comparisons between 1976 and today - with so many of the club’s best players being sold in the last few years many fans have lamented the enviable squad we could have had if those players had stayed.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but had Claude Puel fielded a stronger team in the home FA Cup tie with Arsenal then the club would have faced two non-league sides in the following rounds for a another Wembley appearance in the FA Cup semi-final.

The reality is we are living through an era when the domestic cups are as winnable for a club of Southampton’s stature as they’ve ever been – as Premier League sides rest players in favour of their league and European fixtures.

As a result, we should only ever go out of the cups with all guns blazing.

While a higher place league finish is more lucrative than winning a trophy, lifting silverware is far longer remembered – it’s unlikely many fans can remember where Saints finished in the league when they won the FA Cup.

Winning at Wembley in 1976 was fantastic for the club and city, but fans under 45 were either too young to remember it, or not born at all.

It’s high time to do it again.

That way several generations can experience what it was like when Bobby was responsible for the biggest party the city has ever known.