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

by Mark Sanderson

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 glamour 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.

224 pages, Paperback

Published May 2, 2016

Reviews

[Matthew Eyre · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've met very few famous people, but Bobby's mum Marge was a cleaner at a school where I worked. A nicer man you could not wish to meet. He scored the winner in the 1976 cup final for Southampton, despite being a lifelong inhabitant of Paulsgrove- somewhere that wrote the definition "Proper Pompey" A sad book in many ways as Bobby died young, and largely unsung. Except by those who knew him. PUP

[Stanley Irvine · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent read.

The author Mark Sanderson summed it up when he said "Booby may have only been on this earth for 44 years, but what a lot he packed into it"

Well worth a read