In season 2015, Collingwood diehard Steve Fahey will be taking fellow supporters on a trip down memory lane as he revisits some of the match ups that define our recent history with our opponents.

This week, Steve recalls one of his favourite days at the footy down at St Kilda's old home ground in 1975. And central to it all was a man known to the Magpie Army as Fabulous Phil.

The Pies versus the Saints at Moorabbin in round 20, 1975, was one of my all-time favourite days at the footy.

Gun forwards Fabulous Phil Carman and the Saints’ George Young not only stole the show, but were the show, as they kicked eleven and eight goals respectively.

The wind strongly favoured one end, and the Pies trailed all day after losing the toss and the Saints kicked nine in the first quarter.

We still trailed by four goals at the last break, and a win appeared possible given that we would enjoy the assistance of the breeze in the last stanza.

With Carman running rampant wearing what became his trademark white boots, the Pies kicked 11 goals in the last quarter to run out winners by 19 points.

40 years on: Fabulous Phil's Magpie debut.

In addition to Carman’s goal-scoring spree, the day is clear in my memory forty years later for several other notable occurrences.

Feelings still ran high between the clubs after the John Greening incident at Moorabbin in 1972 and this match was typically spirited.

During one melee, which involved most of the players on the field, Fabulous Phil uncharacteristically stayed out of it.

Instead, he picked up the ball, headed to the boundary line and practiced banana kicks for goal.

There were also spirited exchanges in the outer, one of them (somewhat inevitably) involving my father, Kev Fahey (Snr), a passionate man once described by his good friend, club legend Peter McKenna, as perhaps the most one-eyed Pies supporter he ever met.

Kev became engaged in a fiery verbal argument with a Saints supporter which became a running battle.

At three quarter time, the Saints man challenged Kev to put his money where his mouth is, and wager on the game.

Kev took up the challenge, wagering what I think was $20 on the Pies – a large amount at the time.

Kev explained that, as he was on the Players’ Welfare committee which assisted injured players, he was required to be in the rooms before the players at the conclusion of the game.

The Saints man and Kev resolved this dilemma by swapping names and addresses and agreeing that the losing party would forward a cheque to the other.

The cheque duly arrived, and cleared without incident!  Ah, the noblesse and gallantry of the 1970s!

My final memory of that day was the post-match atmosphere in the players’ rooms.

My lifelong best mate Stork and I were able to get into the rooms to savour the sweet taste of victory because of Kev’s welfare role. You could feel the buoyancy and optimism in the rooms, as the faithful pressed forward to get a word with, or at least a glimpse, of Fabulous Phil.

Out of this throng emerged the legendary Pop Cohen, an elderly stalwart who looked like he was well acquainted with the educational qualities of the school of hard knocks.

Pop approached the naked Carman, fresh out of the showers, and with his gummiest smile (he appeared to have no teeth whatsoever) he patted Phil on the back, saying “Great game, Phil.”

Even to my young eyes, it was clear that Pop saw Phil as the man who could lead the Pies to the Promised Land after a premiership drought that had lasted 17 years.

Sadly, it was not to be and the drought lasted another 15 years.

But on this day all that mattered was that Fabulous Phil had led the Pies to an improbable and miraculous victory.

One of the great days of then VFL footy.

PROFILE: Learn more about Phil Carman on forever.collingwoodfc.com.au.