Olly Lancashire had a memorable debut for Saints, if not for the right reason. In a Championship match being televised live by Sky at Loftus Road, he was sent off, within half-an-hour, for a rash challenge. “The adrenalin was pumping a bit too much,” he has explained. “I was feeling the pressure, trying too hard and mistimed a tackle.”

Malcolm Elias, Southampton’s chief scout, had spotted Olly playing for Hampshire Schools and, when Crystal Palace released him, after 10 years with their academy, he was promptly offered terms at St Mary’s. He had been a midfielder, but his strength in the tackle and power in the air confirmed him as a “natural” at centre-back. But even after the Saints had dropped down to League One, he seldom featured for them in 2009-10, when he became almost a regular, as a loanee, in a Grimsby side that was relegated to the Blue Square Premier.

Released by Alan Pardew at the end of that season, he had two seasons in League One with Walsall, playing in both of their games v Southampton in 2010-11, before moving to fourth-tier Aldershot in the summer of 2012. Fairly regular up until October, he then underwent a double- hernia operation. He re-appeared at the end of the season, as the Shots surrendered their League status, and was then made redundant, along with 12 team-mates, after the club went into administration. Ollie found a refuge at League Two Rochdale, settling in so well that he was soon being made the stop-gap captain when Peter Cavanagh was side-lined. He has since done the rounds in League One and Two.

In July 2021 he re-joined the club in a player-coach/mentor capacity for the U23 side.