Prolific scoring during the 2021-22 season while wearing the stripes of Sunderland had their supporters giving Ross Stewart the nickname of The Loch Ness Drogba. The following season he continued to find the net as Sunderland pushed for promotion to the top flight but then in the January he picked up an achilles injury which ended his season. That injury hadn’t fully healed when Saints signed him following their relegation to the Championship as they passed his old club going in the other direction. Russell Martin was hoping the lanky central striker would spearhead Saints quick return to the top flight. Indeed Saints did win back their Premier League place but they did so without Stewart who spent most of the season in the treatment room. Saints fans could be forgiven for also referencing something seldom seen which dwelled in Loch Ness.

In his third season as Saints again sought to climb back into the Premier League he did find some fitness and form and played his part in the club’s meteoric rise up the table to claim a play off place, but then with all the drama of the “spygate” controversy the club, unsure of what division they would be in for 2026-27, missed the deadline to take up the option they had to extend his contract meaning he became a free agent. Many felt the Scottish international – his form for Saints had earned him a call up to the Scotlnd World Cup squad – had been quick to exploit the uncertainty and had shown little loyalty to the club who had supported him throughout his frequent convalescing, but in modern football players’ first duty is to themselves and Swansea’s offer of a three-year contract was presumably longer than anything Saints were prepared to offer.