1976 FA Cup final

1976 FA Cup final
Event	1975–76 FA Cup
Date	1 May 1976
Venue	Wembley Stadium, London
Referee	Clive Thomas (Treorchy)
Attendance	99,115
	← 1975 1977 →

Last updated February 18, 2025

The 1976 FA Cup final was the 95th final of the FA Cup. It took place on 1 May 1976 at Wembley Stadium and was contested between Manchester United and Southampton.

United had finished third in the First Division that season, and were strong favourites, while unfancied Southampton had finished sixth in the Second Division, Southampton had more players with FA Cup final experience than Manchester United, namely Jim McCalliog (1966), Peter Rodrigues (1969) and Peter Osgood (1970). In one of the biggest shocks in the history of the final, Southampton won 1–0 through an 83rd-minute goal from Bobby Stokes. It was the first time Southampton won a major trophy, and the last time that Elizabeth II attended a final and presented the trophy to the winners.^[1] As their women's team had won the 1976 WFA Cup final a week prior, they became the first club to win the men's and women's FA Cup in the same season.

Road to Wembley

Manchester United

Home teams listed first.

Round 3: Manchester United 2–1 Oxford United

Round 4: Manchester United 3–1 Peterborough United

Round 5: Leicester City 1–2 Manchester United

Round 6: Manchester United 1–1 Wolverhampton Wanderers

Replay: Wolverhampton Wanderers 2–3 Manchester United

Semi-final: Manchester United 2–0 Derby County (at Hillsborough Stadium, Sheffield)

Southampton

Home teams listed first.

Round 3: Southampton 1–1 Aston Villa

Replay: Aston Villa 1–2 Southampton

Round 4: Southampton 3–1 Blackpool

Round 5: West Bromwich Albion 1–1 Southampton

Replay: Southampton 4–0 West Bromwich Albion

Round 6: Bradford City 0–1 Southampton

Semi-final: Southampton 2–0 Crystal Palace (at Stamford Bridge, London)

Match summary

Manchester United started stronger, and missed several early goalscoring opportunities, with Southampton goalkeeper Ian Turner making a series of impressive saves to deny Gerry Daly and Gordon Hill. Southampton in turn began to create chances; Mick Channon was put through on goal before being denied by goalkeeper Alex Stepney. As extra time loomed, Southampton's Bobby Stokes received Jim McCalliog's pass and slotted the ball across Stepney and into the far corner to score a late winner and with it his side's first major trophy.

Match details

1 May 1976

15:00 BST

Manchester United	0–1	Southampton
	Report	Stokes 83'

Wembley Stadium, London

Attendance: 99,115

Referee: Clive Thomas

Manchester United

Southampton



GK	1	Alex Stepney
RB	2	Alex Forsyth
LB	3	Stewart Houston
CM	4	Gerry Daly
CB	5	Brian Greenhoff
CB	6	Martin Buchan (c)
RM	7	Steve Coppell
CM	8	Sammy McIlroy
CF	9	Stuart Pearson
CF	10	Lou Macari
LM	11	Gordon Hill	66'
Substitute:
MF	12	David McCreery	66'
Manager:
Tommy Docherty



GK	1	Ian Turner
RB	2	Peter Rodrigues (c)
LB	3	David Peach
CM	4	Nick Holmes
CB	5	Mel Blyth
CB	6	Jim Steele
RM	7	Paul Gilchrist
CF	8	Mick Channon
CF	9	Peter Osgood
CM	10	Jim McCalliog
LM	11	Bobby Stokes
Substitute:
MF	12	Hugh Fisher
Manager:
Lawrie McMenemy

In popular culture

Jasper Carrott immortalised the match in his song "Cup Final '76", which appeared on the album Carrott In Notts.^[2]^[3]^[4]

Footage from the match's winning goal was used in the 1999 one-off ITV comedy film Bostock's Cup. The viewers were under the illusion that the team in the final were the titular team Bostock Stanley, scoring the winner.

References

Print

Tim Manns (2006). Tie a Yellow Ribbon: How the Saints Won the Cup. Hagiology Publishing. ISBN 0-9534474-6-4.

Internet

↑ Hytner, David (25 February 2017). "Lawrie McMenemy: 'Southampton didn't have a cat in hell's chance'". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
↑ Office, Library of Congress Copyright (21 March 1977). "Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series" – via Google Books.
↑ "Jasper Carrott – Carrott In Notts (1976, Vinyl)" – via www.discogs.com.
↑ "Cup Final 76 folk song". 3 July 2019. Archived from the original on 17 December 2021 – via www.youtube.com.

External links

Game facts Archived 2 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine at soccerbase.com

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] Hytner, David (25 February 2017). "Lawrie McMenemy: 'Southampton didn't have a cat in hell's chance'". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 February 2017.

[2] Office, Library of Congress Copyright (21 March 1977). "Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series" – via Google Books.

[3] "Jasper Carrott – Carrott In Notts (1976, Vinyl)" – via www.discogs.com.

[4] "Cup Final 76 folk song". 3 July 2019. Archived from the original on 17 December 2021 – via www.youtube.com.

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v t e FA Cup
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v t e Southampton F.C. matches
FA Cup Finals	1900 1902 1976 2003
League Cup Finals	1979 2017
FA Charity Shield	1976
Full Members' Cup Final	1992
Football League play-off Final	2024 Championship
Football League Trophy Final	2010
Other matches	Southampton 0–9 Leicester City (2019) Manchester United 9–0 Southampton (2021)