When the late, great Peter Osgood was dismissed from his matchday job at St Mary's earlier this season, the statement from the club representative said the club had a responsibility to the supporters in the lounges to ensure maximum 'quality and value.'

I doubt if the young man in question, or even some of his employers who took the decision, even saw Ossie play. But if they had attended his funeral they would have seen exactly the quality and value of having someone like him involved with the club brings.

OK, as I said in many interviews, like all great players Ossie could be a bit of a rascal. Probably as part of his job if he was allowed two guests he would probably bring in four or five!

Naughty, of course, but a quiet word or an acceptance that it all goes with the territory and balance it off with the entertainment and respect passed over to the paying supporters, especially when things weren't going totally right on the pitch, is worth every penny of the fee which was taken away from him.

I said many times how sad it is that players of such calibre, when their days on the pitch end, have to make a living still without any formal training for anything else.

In the old days they had to resort to running a public house or, in Peter's case, joining the dinner circuit.

The fact that he was in great demand so many years after he hung his boots up was yet another example of how popular he was with supporters, not just at Chelsea and Southampton.

He also gave so much time to charity, not just fronting them but like most of us joining in and speaking to as many people as possible.

He must have raised thousands of pounds over the years, but essentially gave so much of his time.

His funeral was held at St John's Church in Shedfield which apparently holds 400 people.

I arrived with Mike Osman 45 minutes before the service was due to begin, first of all having extreme difficulty finding a car park space until one of the helpful police on duty got us close to the church.

I wouldn't have even got into the church itself had I not been his manager. There must have been between 100-200 people standing in the aisles and at the back.

I joined a group which included enough famous players to take on most lower division teams even now, although most of them were over 50 - yet another reminder that Peter, at 59, left us far too early.

Apart from myself, George Graham could have helped manage this lot and Tommy Doc arrived from Manchester where he lives.

Tommy was Peter's first manager when he joined Chelsea as a 17-year-old from non-league football in Windsor to quickly become a star.

When Tommy rang me on the day Peter died he was crying, such was the respect between the two over 40 years on.

Many other hardmen of the game, including his great sidekick Ron 'Chopper' Harris, David Webb - who also played for both Chelsea and Southampton - down to two present-day tough guys, Dennis Wise and John Terry, needed handkerchiefs along with the rest of us by the end of the impressive ceremony.

Dennis Bundy, our own local celebrity, who worked so many years with Peter and Lyn Osgood arranging golf days for charities, delivered the most apt and moving address which everyone in the church identified with.

As ever with anything connected with Peter, there was a wonderful get-together afterwards at the Meon Valley Golf and Country Club which he graced so often.

They put on a wonderful reception for the hundreds who turned up.

It was the sort of function where people who haven't seen each other for years didn't want to leave.

There was much laughter, story telling and memories of great days gone by. Of course, a few drinks were drunk with only one toast.

And to see so many great players of the past from different clubs mixing and mingling made us want to look at the door waiting for the great man to come in and join us. It was the sort of occasion he would have loved.

Ex-internationals such as Alan Hudson came in from Cyprus, where he lives, and the great Charlie Cooke had arrived from America.

From the Southampton perspective, I was delighted and so proud to see ten of the remaining 12 of our little family of 14 who won at Wembley 30 years ago. Only Ian Turner and Pat Earles could not make it.

It was difficult for us all to get in one corner together, so many people wanted to talk and shake hands.

But we had enough words passed between us to agree instantly that as a gesture to Peter and his family we would still gather together on April 29 at the Guildhall.

This was an evening originally co-organised by Peter, a follow-on from the hugely successful get together five years ago at the same venue.

The players and myself all agree the evening should still go ahead.

The only difference being that in addition to celebrating the 1976 triumph, it should also be coupled with everyone having the opportunity to pay tribute to Peter.

Dennis Bundy has been hugely involved, as he was last time, in helping organise the evening and will be joined this time with Mike Osman. Both will guarantee that the evening will be hugely successful and memorable.

Dennis has already been quoted in last week's Daily Echo as saying that he was unable to ensure that the FA Cup would be available, as last time, for photographs to be taken etc.

Now that circumstances have changed so sadly, I am endeavouring to speak to people at The FA to try and ensure we have the Cup.

Regardless, I'm sure the supporters who remember the last evening will want even more to attend.

Any applications for tickets that have not already been made should be sent to www.peterosgood.co.uk

This seems strange in a way.

Peter doesn't need a website to be remembered by, as was proved by the hundreds of supporters who joined celebrities this week.