If West Ham United can lay claim to wining the World Cup for England in 1966, then forty years on the nation owes a big debt to Southampton for bringing the prestigious Toulon cup back to these shores for the first time since 1994.

Saints beat host nation France in the final of the Toulon tournament in front of a stadium packed full of empty seats and a grateful nation is sure to honour the City Of Southampton for the debt it owes it for bringing the Cup home.

In the starting line up where James Ward Prowse who was the victorious Captain who hoisted the Cup into the French sky to complete indifference from a nation who are clearly not as soccer crazy as they like to make out.

Also in the starting line up was Matt Targett and they were joined in the final minutes by Jack Stephens.

But the Southampton connection did not end there, also on the pitch was former Saint Calum Chambers and another sub just after the hour mark was Chelsea's John Swift who despite coming from the Eastern End of the M27, has played most of his youth football in the Southampton area for various Tyro League sides, as well as being coached at the Elite Training Centre in the City.

At 12 he joined Chelsea's youth set up and has been there ever since, although he made a fleeting debut in the final minutes of a game in the Premier League in 2014 but since has spent much of the time away on loan, suggesting that at 21 next month he will soon be yet another player who will leave the Chelsea academy without really troubling the first team squad shirt printers.

So almost half of the twelve out field players used have Southampton connections and that is enough for me to suggest to the Queen that she should bequeath Royal Charter status on Southampton and it should henceforth be known as Royal Southampton for it's services to a grateful nation. Of course the last time the Queen turned up at a Cup Final was in 1976 where she wore a blue outfit to subtly show her support for Saints who were in yellow and blue.

On the field England won 2-1 the first goal coming from a sublime cross field through ball from James Ward Prowse that dropped behind the defence and left the keeper stranded for Lewis Baker (possibly a distant relative of Saints legend Graham Baker or full back Steve Baker) to head home, Ruben Loftus-Cheek added a second before a late goal raised French hopes, but like the Battle of Waterloo it was a case of too little too late and this time we didn't need to Prussians to turn up late, just Jack Stephens.

Photo: Action Images

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