Bobby Stokes

The Man from Portsmouth Who Scored Southampton's Most Famous Goal

Mark Sanderson

• Publisher: Pitch Publishing
• eBook ISBN:
  9781785312328
• Year: 2016

He's the man whose goal delivered Southampton's only major trophy in 130 years and counting. Bobby Stokes's winning goal in the 1976 FA Cup Final marked an unforgettable 11-second sequence of play for Saints fans, but just how did a Portsmouth-born Pompey supporter end up scoring a cup-winning goal for his boyhood team's hated, local rivals? Bobby Stokes: The Man from Portsmouth Who Scored Southampton's Most Famous Goal answers this question and so many others. Such as, what led him to leave Saints just a year after his glory? Why did he swap the glamor of the US League and crowds of 50,000-plus in New York for the grass roots of the Sussex County League? How did he end up waiting tables in a Portsmouth café? And, why, less than 20 years on from that historic May afternoon, did he end up dying in poverty in 1995 at the tender age of just 44—shortly before his testimonial match was due to take place at the Dell? This book takes a long overdue look at the life of Bobby Stokes, answers those questions and tells the story of a legendary figure in Southampton's history and the man who scored the club's most-famous goal.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Foreword
• View From A Hill
• Knock-out Blow
• Skates And Scummers
• Paulsgrove
• Just Fish In The Sea
• Secret Saint
• Breakthrough
• Morning Train
• Pinned To The Wall
• Down But Not Yet Out
• Barn Door
• Southampton Go Mad
• Spotlight
• The Break-Up
• Take That, Pelé
• My Local Pompey
• Tough Crowd
• Get Your Kicks
• American Highway
• Big In New York
• Constant Question
• Lord Of The Manor
• Menial
• Full English
• Quiet Goodbye
• Bibliography
• Photographs