When midfielder Paul Murray came to Southampton in the summer of 2001, he was re-uniting with Mick Wadsworth, then the Saint’s assistant-manager, who had been the manager at Paul’s first club, his home-town Carlisle.

During his five seasons at second-tier QPR, Paul had won U-21 and England “B” honours. But he had been seriously troubled by injuries and had barely featured in 2000-01. Out-of-contract, he was given a one-year deal at St Mary’s, effectively to prove his fitness. He had made one appearance as a sub before Wadsworth departed in the cull that brought in Gordon Strachan and when he became the manager at third-tier Oldham, Paul promptly followed him to Boundary Park. 

He outlasted Wadsworth – and then ex-Saint Iain Dowie – before undertaking a circular tour that brought him back to Oldham in January 2013, via Portugal, Scotland and England’s lower divisions, including another Wadsworth-reunion at Hartlepool. In what remained, however, of the 2012-13 season, Paul never got a first-team game for Oldham but he did do some coaching which presumably gave the Hartlepool United directors the impetus to make him their manager in October 2014, although that appointment was short-lived.