When Jordan Roberston arrived at St Mary’s, on a three-month loan, in September 2008, this was his fifth loan from Sheffield United, his home-town club for whom he would never get to play.Southampton’s manager, Jan Poortvliet, who had been tracking Jordan’s progress, even while coaching in Holland, was pleased to have signed

“a goalscorer and a powerful striker who can play on both sides.”

Jordan announced that “I want to score goals” and did so on his debut, with a Le Tissier-esque curler from outside the box.

But that was it. After nine more appearances and no more goals, Jordan was preparing to return to Sheffield when tragedy struck. Driving down the M1 on Christmas Day, he lost control of his Mercedes sports car when he took his eye off the road to change the music on his MP3 player. He veered into another car, whose driver died of his injuries. While he awaited trial on a charge of causing death by dangerous driving, he played a few games on loan, first in Hungary and then for Bury, managed by ex-Saints Reserve, Alan Knill. In October 2009, Jordan pleaded guilty and was jailed for 32 months. Upon his release, he headed for Scotland, where a trial with Dundee United was followed by a short-term contract at St Johnstone, for whom he played in a Scottish Cup semi-final defeat v Motherwell.In June 2011, Knill, who had recently taken over at Scunthorpe, signed his former loanee on a one-year deal, at the end of which Jordan became a free agent and headed for Romania, via a brief stop in the Philipines. He since returned tp play non-League.