Given that Southampton were quoted a fee of £1m when they enquired after Arsenal’s centre-back, Scott Marshall, in 1997, it looked as though they had a bargain when he came on a free transfer a year later. Having made his Arsenal debut at 19 and then patiently under-studied Tony Adams, Scott had won five Scotland U-21 caps along the way.

He signed a four-year contract, but his Saints career would consist of two Premiership appearances in less than a week. In each of those games – the fourth and fifth of the season – he contributed an own goal, as the side made it five defeats in five, the club’s worst-ever start to a season. The Saints were rooted to the foot of the table and, by the time they got out of the bottom two in April, Scott had gone on loan to Celtic, where his only appearance was in the Glasgow “derby” – a home defeat by Rangers. Come October, Southampton sold him – for a £250,000 profit – to third-tier Brentford. Although sidelined by back problems for a while, he played almost 100 games for the Bees – until Adams, his Arsenal mentor, took him to fourth-tier Wycombe in November 2003. But Scott retired nine months later.

Completing a Sports Science degree in 2005, he stayed on at Wycombe to work with the U-16s for three years, since when he has coached across west London, in Oman and, latterly, at Norwich and then Aston Villa. He took over briefly at Villa Park when Paul Lambert got sacked but after one game later he too left the club. He also had three games in charge of Reading when Paul Clement got his marching order but didn’t win any of the three games he was in control and he returned to the U23s. Scott’s father, Gordon, was a goalkeeper for Hearts, Newcastle United and England U-23, while his brother, Gordon Jr, kept goal for Celtic, Rangers and Scotland.