He may not be able to boast the glamorous footballing CV of a Gianfranco Zola or a Martin O’Neil, but if today Scunthorpe United Manager Nigel Adkins is unveiled as the new manager of Southampton Football Club, it can be seen as a major coup.

Amidst the frontrunners vying for the post following Alan Pardew’s shock departure, Adkins, whom had a relatively modest playing career at the likes of Tranmere Rovers and Wigan Athletic as a goalkeeper, incidentally, knows all too well what it takes to steady a wavering ship into ready and willing promotion candidates.

St Marys Chairman Nicola Cortese, who has remained defiantly quiet during his managerial search, has now an experienced, determined and know-how manager, himself fuelled by ambition even if it means taking a move down the lower-league ladder away from his incumbent, Championship Irons outfit.

If indeed, Adkins makes that sacrifice, it asserts the character of a man whom buys into Cortese’s five year project for the club. A managerial resume boasting two successful promotions to the Championship and a consolidation against the bookmaking odds last time out suggest Adkins has the tactical nous and hands-on familiarity where it matters to take charge of a Saints team, boasting an embarrassing array of riches compared Adkins Glanford Park side.

Although, personal terms and a number of financial compensations need to be ironed out before Saints are able to re-enact an all too familiar St Marys site, that of the unveiling of a new man in charge, Adkins is a football man with an inbuilt, success laden infrastructure in which to prosper.

In what has been a chaotic start for Saints and the clubs followers alike, a campaign thus far which hasn’t fulfilled the expectations of pre-season hype can be ready, with Adkins awaited appointment, to be kick started out of first gear.

With Adkins’ lower league credentials fixed within his repertoire, Saints fan will be hoping the guile of a ‘been there, done that’ manager can prove just what the doctor ordered.