By the time he arrived at Southampton, Joe Jordan had won 52 caps and lost four front teeth.

Having grown up in a Lanarkshire pit village and played for Morton in Scotland’s Division I, Joe spent the 1970s in the English First Division: initially with Leeds, where he lost those teeth in a Reserves match; and then at Manchester United. He had had three years in Italy, with AC Milan and Verona, in turn, when it became time to come home. He is being unduly modest when he claims, in his autobiography, that he was now “mooching around in the hope of being hired,” since he had a choice between playing for Celtic or Southampton. He “had a feeling for Southampton,” he says, for the way in which Lawrie McMenemy had “built upon the foundations left by the sound old football man, Ted Bates,” by investing in experienced players. In fact,

McMenemy had begun enquiring after Joe’s welfare as early as his first season at Milan, when Joe was still accumulating caps –

he would make his final appearance for Scotland in the 1982 World Cup finals, where his goal v the USSR made him the only Scot to have scored in three World Cup finals. The patient McMenemy now clinched the deal by offering him a three-year contract, “perfect” for a 32 year-old, looking for his “last move as a player.”

And so, in place of the silky Frank Worthington,

the Saints fans now had a thrusting No.9, who would stick his head in where the boots were flying – and who had, of course, that toothless grin to prove it.

Joe had a good first season, enjoying the Dell atmosphere that he had found “intimidating” as a visiting player and clicking with Steve Moran, to share 34 goals with him in League and Cups. But the summer of 1985 was calamitous for Joe. McMenemy left, to be replaced by Chris Nicholl, whom Joe “didn’t know” and would never “get to know.” And then he collided with the Reserves ’keeper, Phil Kite, in training, and severely damaged his knee. The club doctor said “let it settle” and Joe was playing by September. After demanding a specialist’s opinion, however, he underwent an operation for a cartilage and medial-ligament injury. He returned in March but, come the summer, Nicholl signed Colin Clarke. And when the first team flew out to play Benfica, Joe was required to team-up with the youngsters at Winchester.

He was most impressed with his strike-partner – a lad, just turned 16, called Alan Shearer. Joe then had to compete with another teenager – Franny Benali – for the Reserves’  No. 9 shirt – until he opted for Third Division football at Bristol City, managed by his former Leeds team-mate, Terry Cooper.

He soon became Cooper’s assistant and then took over from him. His time on the managerial merry-go-round included a second stint at Bristol City and he did get to go to Celtic, after all. He also assisted McMenemy for a while, when Lawrie had charge of Northern Ireland. Since 2004, however, he has been coaching mainly for Harry Redknapp – at Portsmouth, then Tottenham and latterly Queens Park Rangers. He was also interviewed for the Saints job when George Burley left in 2008. His last job was to assist Steve Agnew at Middlesbrough, although that appointed only lasted until the end of the season. He reappeared working alongside Jonathan Woodgate and then followed him to Dean Court upon him becoming Bournemouth’s new manager.