St Mary's Stadium
A team of Manchester United Legends are playing at Southampton today
Dimitar Berbatov is the star turn for Manchester United today as a legends team head to the south coast to take on Southampton Legends.
The St Mary’s showdown marks 50 years since the two clubs met in the 1976 FA Cup final, which was won by the Saints thanks to a late goal from Bobby Stokes.
United’s team featured Stuart Pearson that day and ‘Pancho’, as he was affectionately known to United fans, is the manager of the legends side today, with another former striker, Andy Ritchie, his assistant.
Matt Le Tissier is the player-manager for a Southampton side also featuring Victor Wanyama and Rickie Lambert. The United side also includes Wes Brown, Antonio Valencia and Louis Saha.
The game will be raising funds for both clubs’ foundation charities.
What happened in 1976 final
This match is being played to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1976 FA Cup final, which saw Second Division Southampton spring a surprise at Wembley by beating United 1-0, with Bobby Stokes' goal after 83 minutes the winner.
"It was a big disappointment for us because we'd worked hard to get back in the First Division after the first year, and then got to the cup final,” said Pearson.
"It was fantastic but they had some decent players in their team. Jim McCalliog, my pal from United, when I first joined the club. He was the lad who looked after me because he was the experienced pro.
"Peter Osgood, Micky Channon, you know, big names. The game never really lived up to expectations because both teams just played average and the good thing is now I believe VAR are getting involved and they're going to disallow the goal!
"So we might get some winners' medals!"
A debut in a legends match
The squad for this game were announced in the week and the list drew some attention from Saints fans, who saw the name of goalkeeper Tommy Forecast at the top.
Forecast, 39, spent five years at Southampton between 2008 and 2013, but never even played a minute for the club. His move to St Mary’s only came about through the renegotiation of a sell-on clause for Gareth Bale, which at least makes him famous via a connection, I guess.
Tommy Forecast might become the first player in history to make his debut in a legends match.
— Daniel (@DanW2Capital)
‘He was my boot boy’
Stuart Pearson is in the dugout for United today and he’s relishing the chance to manage some big-name players, as well as work with Andy Ritchie, a player who knows a fair bit about after their early encounters at Old Trafford.
"It's the first one I've been involved in, assisting Andy Ritchie, which is fantastic," Pearson said this week. "He was a great player and my boot boy, when I was here. So I am really looking forward to it. I've never met half of the lads, so it will be nice to meet them and have a chat.
"There's no such thing as a friendly, so I think we are going to enjoy it. I'm looking at that team and it looks fantastic. To be fair, we have got a tremendous team, by the looks of it.”