In 2007-08, midfielder Dean Hammond had been ever-present for League One Brighton – until the chance arose, in the January window, to join Championship Colchester. Reported as questioning Brighton’s ambition, Dean made the step-up – only to slide straight back to the third-tier when the U’s were relegated. A regular in their midfield in 2008-09, he had started the next season with them, when Alan Pardew, flush with the Saints’ new Liebherr-funding, offered him a second opportunity to better himself. He would be remaining in League One this time around, but he was impressed by “the size of the club; its facilities; its ambition.” What’s more, he took it as a vote of confidence by Dean Wilkins, his one-time manager at Brighton, who was now a coach at St Mary’s, and he imagined that his two goals against Pardew’s West Ham in April 2005 might have left an impression.

His harrying and probing in midfield readily suggested that he had what was needed to get himself and the Saints back into the Championship, even if that would take a couple of seasons.

As an interim measure, he captained the side at Wembley when they lifted the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy in 2010. He missed only five games in 2010-11, as Southampton were promoted – as runners-up, ironically, to Brighton (see scrapbook). He made even more appearances in the Championship season of 2011-12, although he started less often. A second successive promotion showed that he had judged Southampton’s ambition well, but Dean was now an unlucky victim of that ambition as manager Adkins prepared for the Premiership by loaning him to Brighton, who had been left behind in the Championship.

Which meant that the Falmer faithful would need to forgive and forget the reasons cited for his leaving Brighton in 2008 and for the fact he had over celebrated in front of them when Saints beat them in April 2011. He eventually played 37 times for Gus Poyet’s side although many of those appearances were off the bench 30 games before he returned to St Mary’s with a year still to run on his contract.

Adkins had now departed and not featuring in Pochettinino’s plans Dean signed for Nigel Pearson’s Leicester City then in the Championship. Unfortunately he left them for Sheffield United a few months into their incredible Premier League winning season although he did make one outing in the league Cup that season – not enough, even these days, to claim a medal. He returned to Leicester from Sheffield United in the spring of 2017 ostensibly to appear as an overage player-coach in the U21s although that summer he hung up his boots. In March 2020 he came out of retirement to sign on for Worthing.