A Southamp­ton local lad, for­mer winger Syden­ham, 84, made 401 appear­ances for Saints between 1956–1970.

Com­ing through the sys­tem togeth­er under Ted Bates, Syden­ham and Ter­ry Paine became the club’s finest-ever pair of wide men. 

Among his great­est moments, Syden­ham pro­vid­ed three assists for a Ron Davies four-goal haul at Old Traf­ford in a 4–1 win in 1969.

Fol­low­ing his career in Eng­land, Syden­ham moved to Perth, West­ern Aus­tralia — much lat­er offi­cial­ly scout­ing for the club. 

John Syden­ham and Chelsea’s ‘Chop­per’ Ron Har­ris, pic­tured in Syden­ham’s home shrine (Image: David Reynolds)

David Reynolds, son of the late Ron Reynolds — goal­keep­er at the Dell between 1959–1964 — recent­ly con­tact­ed the Dai­ly Echo. 

Reynolds had trans­ferred from Spurs after con­ver­sa­tions with Bates, who had met ear­li­er while doing their coach­ing badges. 

With that move, Syden­ham became a much-loved col­league, and so were sown the seeds of an even­tu­al coin­ci­dence. 

A look at John Syden­ham’s Saints shrine at his home in Vic­to­ria, Aus­tralia!

😇 😇

With spe­cial thanks to David Reynolds.#Saints­FC pic.twitter.com/nfd0c7kBKC

— Alfie House (@AlfieHouseEcho) March 27, 2024

David lat­er dis­cov­ered that Syden­ham was liv­ing on the Morn­ing­ton Penin­su­la, around a mile from the grand­daugh­ter of his for­mer Saints team­mate.

David man­aged to meet up with Syden­ham and his wife, Jean, sev­er­al years ago for a long chat, while vis­it­ing his daugh­ter and son-in-law. 

In doing so, he dis­cov­ered Syden­ham’s shrine to Saints with mem­o­ries from his impres­sive play­ing career. 

David Reynolds and John Syden­ham at Syden­ham’s home in Aus­tralia (Image: David Reynolds)

Fea­tured are sev­er­al framed pic­tures, club insignia, a sign from Syden­ham’s tes­ti­mo­ni­al and Eng­land youth caps. 

Syden­ham has now moved to Tren­tham, Vic­to­ria, but David vis­it­ed the for­mer full-back fright­en­er again in Feb­ru­ary to relive old mem­o­ries. 

Syden­ham is await­ing a knee replace­ment and already has two new hips but remains very agile of the mind and body. 

He still keeps up with Southamp­ton’s results and club news and remains in touch with Paine, who lives in South Africa. 

The for­mer St Mary’s Col­lege pupil remains a leg­end of the club and one of its most icon­ic char­ac­ters.