There will be many an older Saints fan who recalls Keith Cassells as the “makeweight” in the double swap that brought him and Mark Wright from Third Division Oxford United, with Trevor Hebberd and George Lawrence moving to the Manor Ground.

That misconception perhaps arises from Lawrie McMenemy’s describing Keith’s signing as a “gamble”.

The fact that Wright went on to England glory, while Cassells returned to Division III within a year, will have reinforced the myth, yet Keith was actually valued at around £110,000 and Wright, still a raw kid, at pennies in the deal struck by McMenemy and the Oxford manager, Jim Smith. Southampton were in urgent need of a striker in the 1981-82 mid-season. Despite losing Steve Moran, with a serious back problem, in January, the side had topped the table for the best part of two months when McMenemy made his move. Keith’s debut at Swansea City ended in a 1-0 defeat and the Saints were effectively out of the title race. He shouldn’t really have been playing. In his last game at Oxford, he had sustained ankle ligament damage, when “done” by an old adversary. Instead of going into plaster, he had a cortisone injection in order to play at the Vetch, where he missed a header that he would “normally have put away”, he reckons. His first two home games were eventful. First,

he participated in the 16-touch move that culminated in Mick Channon’s scoring the BBC Goal of the Season v Liverpool.

And then he scored twice in the 5-5 draw with Coventry City. The Saints slumped to seventh, but maybe Cassells had done enough, despite a seeming lack of self-belief, to warrant a place in the 1982-83 line-up, especially once Keegan had dashed off and Channon was released, over the summer.

Not so. It was Justin Fashanu, on loan from Nottingham Forest, who started the new season at No.9. Moran was soon bouncing back and, with Dave Puckett and Martin Foyle challenging for a place, Cassells was allowed to move on, come March, to Brentford.

He was back in the area where it had all taken off for him, coming out of a rugby-playing grammar school to play for Wembley in the Isthmian League, while pounding the streets as a postman, until Watford had offered him a start in League football. He rates his time in the Third Division with Brentford as “the happiest two years of my career,” although his next spell at Mansfield Town was especially successful. Having bagged a debut hat-trick, he was a regular in the side that won promotion from Division IV in 1986 and he played in all eight matches when the Stags won the Freight Rover Trophy at Wembley in 1987. After 163 League appearances, worth 52 goals, for Mansfield, Keith joined the Hertfordshire Police Force, becoming a sergeant in community policing and then a detective sergeant in a case-investigation role. By 2022 he had retired and living in St Albans was keeping busy by delivering for a local pharmacy.