On this day back in 1979 the Saints fans who travelled to Stamford Bridge got their last sight of Peter Osgood on a football pitch.

Peter Osgood's first love was always Chelsea, he never made any secret of that and quite rightly so, but his second love not far behind was Southampton Football Club for whom as we know he won an FA Cup winners medal in 1976.

He left Saints in November 1977 after meting out retribution to Blackburn's John Bailey he didn't even wait to be shown to the red card and he was disillusioned with the English game and left to play in the USA.

But with Chelsea deep in relegation trouble he returned to Stamford Bridge in December 1978, when Saints travelled to Stamford Bridge on 14th April 1979 they were safe in mid table, but the Blues were rock bottom with only 16 points from 35 games and 9 points shy of safety.

The mood around Stamford Bridge was therefore very sombre and a crowd of only 18,243 included perhaps 2,500 Saints fans.

Saints took the lead in the 25th minute when David Peach scored from the spot after he had retaken the kick for an infringement, on 39 minutes another cup final hero of 1976 made it 2-0 when Nick Holmes smashed the ball in.

In the second half Chelsea got back into the game when they scored just after the hour the scorer Gary Stanley having come on as a sub a few minutes earlier for Osgood himself, but it would be too little too late and as we cruised to what would be a fairly comfortable win, little did I or the other Saints fans realise that this would be the last time we would see Ossie on a football pitch, for most their last sighting in a Saints shirt had not been on that fateful day in Blackburn but in a top of the table clash with Bolton back in October 1977.

Despite the fact that Chelsea were now 10 points behind safety with only 6 games to play in the days with only two points for a win and indeed they would be relegated two days later on Easter Monday after another defeat their fans were very subdued and the usual shenanigans getting back to the coaches did not take place.

The man who ran our coach that day, my fellow co founder of The Ugly Inside Clive Foley was just saying as much after the game as we passed Twickenham rugby ground, when suddenly a brick came through one of the windows, whether it was football related or just some random hooligan we will never know.

Ossie was popular at the Dell, he started a total of 157 games for Saints plus another 4 as sub in his 3 1/2 year stay at Saints and scored 36 goals, after retiring he lived just East of Southampton in the Meon Valley and did owrk s a matchday host at St Mary's as well as at Stamford Bridge.

Always the joker in the team picture at the head of this article he has turned away from the cameraman

He sadly died on 1st March 2006 and in a memorial service on Sunday, 1 October 2006, his ashes were buried under the penalty spot at the Shed End of Stamford Bridge.

Quite rightly there is a statue of him at Stamford Bridge.

Photo: Action Images

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