Upon their return to the Championship in 2011, Southampton signed midfielder Jack Cork on a four-year contract – good news for those Saints fans who had taken to him during his half-season loan in 2008-09. The son of the former Wimbledon and Sheffield United player, Alan Cork, Jack had been at Chelsea since the age of nine and had captained both their U-18s and Reserves. He had been on their pre-season tour of the USA in 2007 and had signed a new contract with them in 2009, but he would never make a competitive first-team appearance. Instead, he had been repeatedly loaned, mainly to Championship clubs, although he did play Premier League football for Burnley. When Chelsea eventually agreed to sell him, after five seasons of loans,

Jack attracted interest from Premiership clubs but opted for a second Championship stint with Southampton.

Two things swayed him. First, he and the management team of Nigel Adkins and Andy Crosby knew each other from his loan-period at Scunthorpe. Secondly, and perhaps more significantly, the chairman “sold” him his ambitions for Southampton. In terms of games played, Burnley were the biggest beneficiaries of his loan-spells. It was clear, from the home fans’ very warm reception for Jack, when the Saints visited Turf Moor in September 2011, that he had been popular there.

He was popular, too, with Southampton’s traveling fans, who voted him Away Player-of-the-Season for 2011-12 – a season in which he had been the only man to feature in every one of the team’s 46 League games. The return to the Premiership brought two games v Chelsea, a memorable comeback to draw at Stamford Bridge is followed by a win at St. Mary’s. “The draw was good,” Jack recalls, “but then the win was amazing.”

Although he prefers to feature in midfield, Jack was been happy to do “what’s best for the team.” Which explained why he played in a defensive position or two for the Saints and at right-back for England U-21s in June 2011 – a 2-0 win v Norway at St. Mary’s. Having represented England 40 times at every age level from U-16 to U-21, on several occasions as captain, Jack came on sub-three times for Great Britain in the 2012 Olympics. Disappointed at missing the start of the 2012-13 season through injury, Jack recovered to be a regular choice in midfield until the arrival of Ronald Koeman. He only started five games in the Premier League during 2014-15 up until January when, with his contract running out in the summer, he was allowed to join Swansea for a bargain £3m. When he later joined Burnley, another club he had previously been on loan with, the Swans made £5m profit.