Southampton: How to watch classic Saints matches from the 20th century

The Coronavirus pandemic has caused a pause in the 2019/20 football season and seen Southampton fans unable to see their team in action.

Nine games of the Premier League campaign are yet to be played and plenty is still to be decided in leagues across the world.

This break in the domestic calendar has provided fans with plenty of time to look back on some of the best Saints moments from the past.

With the help of the British Pathe website, you can do just that and relive some matches from the last century.

Typing the term “Southampton football” into the site’s search bar brings up over 10 short clips of highlights showing Saints teams of the past.

Unfortunately, if you don’t like seeing Saints losing, this may not be the thing for you.

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The 10 clips feature matches that see Saints lose nine times, whilst a 2-2 draw is the only positive result that you can take in.

The earliest footage from this collection sees an FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal from all the way back in 1927 in front of a bumper crowd of 70,000 spectators at Stamford Bridge.

Saints lose the game 2-1, but it is fascinating to see how football has changed since then in terms of both the experience on the terraces and the game itself being played.

They also have highlights of the club’s FA Cup win from back in 1976, which remains the only major trophy that the club has won.

This could have been different but for two narrow losses to both Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in the 1976 Charity Shield and the 1979 League Cup final respectively – with both matches included in British Pathe’s collection here.

The FA Cup win of 1976 also gave Saints a chance in Europe, and highlights of their away fixture with Anderlecht from the next year can also be viewed.

Other matches against Leeds, West Brom, Blackpool and Arsenal again complete the list but could well provide some of our younger fans with a great glimpse back to the past.