When Tahar El Khalej arrived at The Dell just a month after Glenn Hoddle, he became – technically – Hoddle’s first signing for Southampton. But his £350,000 transfer had been pending for some time, so he could be said to be David Jones’s last acquisition for the Saints. Tahar came to the Premiership with quite a pedigree, having graduated from football with his native Marrakech to making more than 100 League appearances in Portugal, most of them for Benfica, and nearing his final haul of 49 caps for Morocco.

His Southampton debut was a baptism of fire, a 7-2 defeat at White Hart Lane, after he had given his new side the lead.

Deployed as a centre-back by Hoddle, he gave some commanding displays, although the form of Claus Lundekvam, Dean Richards – and then, under Strachan, Paul Williams – meant that much of his time was spent warming the bench. He was occasionally used in midfield where he showed, for a big man, some neat touches and no little amount of skill on the ball. Leaving Southampton in January 2003, he played a few more Premiership games for Charlton, before going home to Morocco. He duly bought his original club, Kawkab AC Marrakech, then in the Moroccan Second Division. Variously billed, there, as president and then chairman, he has overseen their promotion in 2006 and their championship of 2010..