Although Mark Dennis arrived from Birmingham City with three U-21 caps to his name, his reputation perhaps owed more to his disciplinary record than to his defensive skills.

In what remained of the 1983-84 season, he was a regular in the team that came second in the First Division – the club’s highest-ever finish – and played in every round of the FA Cup run that ended in the semi-final v Everton. He played a part in the last-minute win at Fratton Park during that run when in the time allotted for his treatment after being hit by a coin thrown by the crowd, Steve Moran volleyed the winner. His tenacious tackling earned him the nickname, “Psycho”. Although Mark “never really liked the name,” he went along with it out of respect for his Dell admirers, who valued him also for his pulsating, and overlapping runs. Indeed, many of those fans would probably rate him

“the best full-back never to play for England”

– a view seemingly shared by some top managers. Mark himself cites Sir Bobby Robson as a prime example. In sum,

he will surely be remembered by Saints supporters as an extremely popular member of an especially successful side –

from which he was abruptly excluded by Chris Nicholl in February 1987. Mark had knuckled down for Lawrie McMenemy, under whom his discipline improved, but he “couldn’t gel” with Nicholl. Matters came to a head after a home game with Norwich that would prove to be his last. Almost 20 years on, Mark talked frankly about the incident – and about a litany of off-field problems – to Jeremy Wilson for his. Put simply, he came to blows with Nicholl over his breaking of a curfew and, after being left out in the cold for three months, was released. He blames himself for his overall problems with Nicholl and rates the blow-up as his “biggest mistake” among “a lot of silly things” that he did.

His subsequent first-class career – aggregating only 37 League games with QPR and Palace – was something of an anti-climax, not helped by an eight-game ban for his 11th – and penultimate – dismissal. Since then, he has worked for the Post Office in Southampton and held various managerial positions in Hampshire football. He is conscious that he might have achieved more if he had “done and said the right things.” But he knows that “you cannot change history” and, despite the shortcomings and shenanigans, he feels privileged to have played with some great footballers, including the likes of Mick Mills, a “fantastic man”, who became his good friend. He continues to live in Southampton and is never far away from a charitable cause or a reunion of ex-colleagues as well as being a frequent visitor to St Mary’s.