One of six brothers, Bill Dodgin was a workman-like, rather than spectacular, wing-half-cum-centre-half. Having captained Lincoln City while only 24 – an early indication of his leadership qualities, perhaps – he joined Charlton Athletic, who proceeded to climb from the Third Division to the First in consecutive seasons. After two more short stays, Bill arrived at The Dell in the summer of 1939, in time to make two appearances before the outbreak of war and the consequent abandonment of League football. Whereupon, he made 84 war-time appearances for Southampton and turned out with several fellow-pros for Folland Aircraft (see Bill Bushby profile). During the transitional season of 1945-46, when the only “official” fixtures were two-legged FA Cup-ties, he played in the Saints’ four games. By then, he had taken on some coaching duties. In March 1946, he was appointed team manager on a salary of £9 a week.

Inheriting a useful nucleus of players, he brought in former Folland’s team-mate, Bill Rochford, to lead it and, with the signing of Charlie Wayman and Ian Black in 1947, completed a line-up that finished third in the Second Division in both 1948 and 1949.

To describe the close season of 1949 as an odd one for Dodgin and his employers would be an understatement. It began with the manager back in Brazil, where he had toured with the Saints the previous summer (see scrapbook section), but now as a guest of Arsenal. It was in an exchange of telegrams with his Board that he agreed to sell Alf Ramsey to Tottenham.

On his return, he soon asked to be released from his contract. The Board acknowledged that having rejected several overtures from elsewhere, including Fulham, in 1948,

Dodgin had continued to endure “too much petticoat control”.

In a desperate bid to keep him, the directors offered new terms, including the tell-tale provision that he would henceforth “have complete control of the Players and Trainers.” Bill refused the offer and left for Fulham, one of the clubs that had just pipped the Saints to promotion. He kept them in the top flight for only three years. Having failed to get them back up in 1953, he was sacked.

Leaving Southampton for Fulham had been, he later confessed, “the biggest mistake of my career.”

He then rang the changes – from the Football League to Italy to non-league and finally back to the League, in a variety of capacities, with one of his former clubs, Bristol Rovers. He reached 90 while living in Godalming, where – aided by the superior recall of his wife, Gladys – he was always ready for a yarn and a chuckle about his days at Southampton, the managerial phase of which had given the fans so much entertainment and had left so many of his players with fond memories of “Daddy Dodgin”.

Bill Dodgin’s younger brother, Norman, played for four League clubs – beginning at Newcastle and ending at Exeter – and managed three, starting at Exeter. Having signed amateur terms for Southampton in 1948, Bill’s son, Bill Jr, soon accompanied his father to Fulham. It was the first of two playing spells at Craven Cottage, where he, too, later managed, book-ending a long stay at Arsenal. Bill snr the manager came up against Bill jnr the manager when Bristol Rovers encountered Fulham in a FA Cup-tie in November 1970 with the older man coming away with a 2-1 victory.