Patrick Colleter came to Southampton, aged 33, with a substantial pedigree. A France “B” international, he had had five years at Paris Saint-Germain, during which they won the French League championship, both domestic Cup competitions and the UEFA Cup-Winners’ Cup. Dave Jones invested £300,000 to bring him to the Premiership in December 1998, in time for him to make a Boxing Day debut for Southampton v Chelsea. Patrick started his career with home-town Brest Amorique, arriving at PSG via Montpellier. He was a left-back who mixed Gallic flair with a combative edge.

“I was a hard player,” he has admitted, “but I never set out to hurt anyone.”

On the wrong side of 30, he moved from Paris to Girondins de Bordeaux, then Olympique Marseille, before trying his luck in England. His timing was unfortunate. Dave Jones became embroiled in the court case that was the reason – or excuse – for his being replaced by Glenn Hoddle, who never warmed to Colleter’s style. The inevitable parting of the ways, after a spell in the Reserves, was acrimonious. Patrick returned to France, where he turned out for AS Cannes before winding down his playing career in the Bordeaux suburb of Saint-Médard-en-Jalles. 

When his former team-mate, the Brazilian Ricardo, was installed as manager at Girondins de Bordeaux in 2005, Colleter joined him as an assistant. When Laurent Blanc replaced Ricardo in 2007, Colleter moved with Ricardo to AS Monaco. When the contract expired two years later, Ricardo returned to Brazil. He invited Patrick to join him on the coaching staff at São Paulo, but the language barrier militated against this. Laurent Blanc’s success at Bordeaux – they won the League and League Cup in his second season – was such that he replaced Raymond Domenech as manager of the national team in 2010.

He stood down after France’s exit from Euro 2012, at the quarter-final stage. Even though they had lost to Spain, the eventual winners, the inquest went deep, with Patrick prominent on French national TV with his observations on Blanc, his former team-mate at Montpellier, and on the demise of French football in general. In the summer of 2013, Patrick quit the Riviera for Paris, becoming an assistant manager at Red Star 93, in France’s third tier.