Like Peter Osgood another 1976 hero who sadly passed away in 2006, Mel Blyth will perhaps be considered a legend with a London club first and Southampton second, but that does not lessen his place in Southampton history.

Mel Blyth has sadly passed away, at time of writing no actual date or cause has been revealed, but Saints themselves have announced his passing on their website.

Like Peter Osgood his colleague in that 1976 FA Cup final team, Mel spent the bulk of his career with a London team, Osgood at Chelsea and Mel at Crystal Palace.

Born in 1944, Mel started his career with professional career with Great Yarmouth and then joined Norwich City but before he had played a League game he was signed by Scunthorpe United, making his league debut for them at the relatively late age of 23.

He would spent just six months at Scunthorpe and in the summer of 1968 he was signed by Crystal Palace where he was converted from what was then called a wing half into a central defender and in his first season helped Palace to promotion to the top flight where the following season he would go down in Palace's history as their first ever scorer in Division 1.

He would spend 6 seasons at Selhurst Park, but in his final two the club had plummeted from Division 1 to Division 3 and approaching 30 he was seen as surplus to requirements and Lawrie McMenemy signed him for £60,000 in September 1974.

It was said that it was Mike Channon who had alerted Saints to the talents of Mel and that it was then Ted Bates who went and watched him and the McMenemy who signed him, truly a triple effort.

Saints themselves had just been relegated to Division 2, ironically the man he initially replaced was his partner in defence at Wembley Jim Steele, and his main partner in his first season was Paul Bennett.

Southampton fans took to Mel straight away, and in his first season he was voted player of the year by the fans, in 1975/76 he started the season again alongside Bennett, but by December the combination with which he is most associated was now the preferred pairing by Ted Bates, with Jim Steele now back in favour.

The rest as they say is history, Jim Steele took a lot of plaudits in the final and was arguably man of the match, but in some fans eyes, Blyth was the man who possibly edged him in that vote, Mel was the man running the back line, controlling it and keeping his fellow defenders focused.

Mel returned to Wembley in August 1976 for the Charity Shield defeat to Liverpool, but this game would not end so happily as he pulled a hamstring and had to go off, little did anyone know at the time that those 11 players who won the Cup would never play together again.

As 1976/77 went on it became clear that Lawrie McMenemy had already decided to break up the Cup winning side and he would play his last game for the club on 23rd April 1977. he would be the 7th player of the 12 who were on duty at Wembley on 1st May 1976 to play his final game for the club in 1976/77 season.

The arrival of Chris Nicholl in the summer of 1977 was the signal that his chances were now going to be limited and he left Saints on loan in November 1977 to join his former club Crystal Palace, but he only played a few games there, spending the summer of 78 in Cape town followed by some time with Millwall and then a stint as a football nomad playing in America & Hong Kong and then back in Hampshire for Andover where he played his last game of football albeit non league.

His last professional game in 1981 was at the age of 37 an age rarely reached in a football players career back in those days.

On leaving the game he became a driving instructor before running his own building firm and also coaching kids in schools.

Mel was back in Southampton for the 40th anniversary celebrations of the Cup win and played a full part in the events of that weekend

His death strikes a particularly sad moment for me, not just because he was a great player for the club in his time, but because I didn't get his autograph.

Back in April 1976 I was still at school and it was the Easter Holidays in the week before the Cup final, Saints were spending several days in Frinton On Sea prior to the cup final as they had done before the semi final, they were leaving the Dell on perhaps the Wednesday and I went to the ground to see them off, whilst there I bought the Cup Final programme on sale in the club shop, I then got the signatures of all the team and manager Lawrie McMenemy on their picture in the programme, but one man was missing Mel Blyth, he had never moved to the area and had commuted from his home in Surrey, therefore he was being picked up en route.

Over the years I have always meant to get his signature in the programme and complete the set, but I have never got the chance, sadly now I never will.

Rest in peace Mel Blyth, your time at Southampton FC was relatively short, but you were there for the biggest day in our history and will never be forgotten.

Photo: Action Images

Bowlercow added 19:13 - Jan 13 Like the rest of that team a Saints legend RIP Mel
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LoisDeem added 12:57 - Jan 15 Rest in Peace Saint Mel. One of Lawrie Mac's earlier signings. Arguably, one of his most astute -and that's saying something -and underrated, though not by the Saints fans of the day, who voted him player of the season in his first. A great servant and hero at Crystal Palace too.
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