A bricklayer by trade, Jack Warner had made a dozen Second Division appearances in two seasons with his home-town Preston but, following their promotion in 1904, failed to make the first team again. So, after a season in the Reserves, he joined Southern League Southampton.

He had not only the speed for a full-back but an ability to use the ball well.

Indeed, Jack continued playing first-team football into the 1914-15 season. And after the First World War, he became Portsmouth’s trainer, a position he held until he retired in 1935.

Yet after his in-and-out 1905-06 season, with only one run of more than three games in the Southern League side, the directors were of the view that one of his knees was unsound. So he was allowed to leave for Portsmouth, for whom his 227 Southern League appearances – inc many as captain – demonstrate how wrong the Southampton board was.