In the summer of 2001, Sweden international centre-back, Michael Svensson, was hot property. His two Champions League seasons with Halmstads BK had helped to put the club’s internationals even more into the frame, and now, at 25, Michael was about to become available on a “Bosman-free”.

As Southampton’s decision-makers thought about it, Troyes swooped, paying a nominal fee, ahead of the Bosman-deadline, to take Michael into Le Championnat. His performances in France in 2001-02 were sufficient for Southampton to make their move a year later, as Michael returned from the 2002 World Cup finals. He had not played in the tournament but had “talked a lot,” during it, to Anders Svensson who, after his first season at St Mary’s, had urged him to “get over here to sign.”

He came with the nickname of “Killer”, which derived, as he explained in his introductory match-day interview, from his being a “bit rough” and displaying “a bit of a temper… even in training.” He didn’t like the moniker, but acknowledged that he seemed “to be stuck with it.” He certainly was – in the nicest possible way, of course.

A towering centre-half, commanding in the air at both ends of the field and with a fierce will-to-win, Michael was ideally-suited to the English game

and quickly settled into a strong Scandinavian partnership with Claus Lundekvam. When he headed the last-ever goal at Maine Road, the only goal in the final League game of 2002-03, Michael virtually repaid his transfer fee with the extra prize-money gained by lifting the club from 11th to eighth. By the time he prepared to face Portsmouth, away, in March 2004, Michael had played in 60 of a possible 66 Premiership fixtures.

In the warm-up at Fratton Park, however, he damaged an articular cartilage so badly that he would undergo five knee-operations over the next four years. Sidelined for the whole of 2004-05, Michael made a seven-match comeback in the autumn of 2005, before his knee went again and another season was over. Nor could he get back in 2006-07, at the end of which season his contract expired. Determined not to give up, he fought his way back into contention, to the extent that he re-signed for the club in August 2008 and was made captain by the incoming manager, Jan Poortvliet. When Michael led the team out at Cardiff on 9 August 2008, it was his first competitive fixture for 991 days. But the fairy tale did not last long. The long-awaited comeback had hardly got off the ground when, after just five games, the knee gave way for what turned out to be the last time.

When Mark Wotte replaced Poortvliet in mid-season, he invited Michael to assist him. Michael enjoyed his new role – “you use your brain a lot more,” he joked to the programme editor, James Morley – but with relegation, administration and changes at the top, a continuation of the arrangement was not an option. Michael instead returned to Halmstad, as assistant-manager.