Luke Shaw and Morgan Schneiderlin return to St Mary's on Sunday but what sort of reception will they get from the St Mary's faithful ?
Former players who return to St Mary's rarely get a warm reception, a trend that is perhaps just as commonplace at most clubs in this modern age where players kiss the badge but show little other loyalty to the clubs who pay them handsomely and the supporters who spend large sums of money to watch them.
Luke Shaw and Morgan Schneiderlin although both ex Saints and now in the pay of the devil himself(well at least the Red Devils) are both different storie.
Luke Shaw is still only 20 yet he has packed more into his career than some do in a decade, when he left Saints he did it in the right way in the fact that he kept quiet and let it happen behind the scenes, this is the way to do it as it gives the impression that the player himself is not clamouring for the move but is to coin a phrase the victim of circumstance.
Shaw was probably as desperate to sign for United as Lallana & Lovren were to join Liverpool, but he kept his integrity by keeping quiet.
Therefore although he played relatively few games for Saints 57(3) in the Premier League after making his League debut in November 2012 in a spell that barely spanned 18 months he will get a warm welcome from Saints fans in what will be his first appearance against us after not featuring in either fixture last year.
For football fans it is all about perception and Shaw is the local lad made good who made us a lot of money and the fans like to believe that if United had not come in with a massive offer he would have stayed as unlike some of his then team mates he did not throw his toys out of the pram.
Also likely to be in the Unite squad on Sunday is Morgan Schneiderlin, now the Frenchman did throw his toys out last summer, but he bit his tongue knuckled down and put n a decent season that ultimately benefited him in that instead of signing for a club like Spurs he ended up at United which as much as it pains me to say are as big as it comes in World football.
Unlike Shaw though he had a long association with Saints, after arriving in 2008 a legacy bequeathed to us by former Chairman Rupert Lowe, he had 7 seasons as a first team regular, he remained loyal as the club went down to League 1 and indeed failed to get back up at the first attempt. He played 201(30) league games for us in that time over 3 divisions.
His big money move was a fitting reward for his service, truthfully we could not offer him either on or of the pitch what United could, he had paid his dues with us, good luck to him.
So when both turn out on Sunday for Manchester Unexcited they should be given a warm reception, thanked for their service to this club and the £55 million or so they bought into our coffers.
After that reception that is the close of the chapter, we concentrate on Southampton Football Club and the players that wear our shirt and want to play for us, it will not be right if our former left back gets a better reception than the one who will wear the shirt on Sunday.