Nigel Quashie, the son of a Ghanaian father and English mother, followed Harry Redknapp from Fratton Park to St Mary’s. A steely midfielder, he came straight into a side that had had been marooned in the Premiership’s bottom four since September and played every minute of the next 32 League games. Unfortunately, the last of those 19 of those were in the Championship. Nigel had by now succeeded the departed Jason Dodd as captain.

His remaining five games would be for Redknapp’s successor, George Burley, who sold him to West Brom in the January transfer-window, recouping £1.25m of Redknapp’s £2m outlay. It looked like a good deal for the Baggies’ manager, Bryan Robson, who rated Nigel as

“intelligent, has good stamina and is a very good passer.”

All of which was true, but the down-side was a proneness to the red mist descending and red cards consequently appearing. A Scottish grandfather qualified him to play for Scotland, which he did 14 times. Shortly before his 32nd birthday, six years and six clubs after he left Southampton, Nigel was freed by QPR and made a fresh start in Iceland where he stayed four years before returning to the West Midlands to set up his own development academy which gained such a favourable reputation clubs like West Brom and Wolves would send their youngsters.