Former Southampton defender surprises fans with 2-0 St. Mary's visit

Former Southampton defender Radhi Jaidi surprised Saints fans with a 2-0 St. Mary’s visit during the Championship win over Oxford United last weekend.

Southampton are amongst the biggest Championship clubs competing in the 2025/26 season. Be it having more Premier League experience in recent years, a successful academy or enjoying deep FA Cup runs, the Saints have outperformed almost all of their current second-tier rivals.

Besides that, Southampton also enjoys a special bond with multiple clubs legends, former players and past St. Mary’s fan favourites. It’s quite easy to spot Saints legends like Matt Le Tissier and Francis Benali attending home games and supporting Southampton through thick and thin.

Maya Yoshida and Oriol Romeu visited Southampton in 2025

Last year, former Saints captain Maya Yoshida also gave a visit to the St. Mary’s despite Southampton performing poorly in the Premier League. Following relegation from the top-flight, the club headed down for another season in the Championship.

The following July, Oriol Romeu came for a quick visit at the Southampton training camp for the Championship preparations. As fate had it, Romeu re-joined the club in the middle of the season after running down his Barcelona contract.

Another former Southampton player’s name has been added to this list.

Radhi Jaidi’s Southampton career

The early 2010s era was easily Southampton’s worst phase in the 21st century so far. The Saints had gone from Premier League to Championship and then to League One, while being placed under FA’s administration.

The best way for Southampton to claw back to the Premier League was utilizing free agents and academy stars. Numerous academy talents like Adam Lallana, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Luke Shaw burst onto the scene at St. Mary’s during those years.

Alongside them, veteran defender Radhi Jaidi swiftly became a key player in the Southampton first-team after arriving from Birmingham City.

Jaidi stayed three years at Southampton and had a massive hand in getting the club promoted from League One to Championship under ex-boss Nigel Adkins. He was a fringe player during the Premier League promotion in the subsequent season, though.

Former Southampton defender Radhi Jaidi visits St. Mary’s

All in all, the Tunisian defender’s stay is fondly remembered at Southampton to this day. Last weekend, Radhi Jaidi paid a visit to St. Mary’s and saw Southampton edging out Oxford United 2-0.

In his own words, Radhi Jaidi wrote on X(formerly Twitter): “It was wonderful to return to St Mary’s Stadium and witness the Saints’ 2-0 victory. I enjoyed chatting with fans and reminiscing about my time with the club. Thank you @southampton for the hospitality. Looking forward to seeing you soon!”

Radhi Jaidi is the head coach of Libyan top-flight club Olympic Azzawiya at present. The former Saint was appointed there only last month and clinched a 2-1 opening victory in his first game in charge.

Jaidi’s Olympic are second in the Libyan top-flight with 23 points out of 12 matches. They trail league leaders Al-Ittihad by 9 points and it remains to be seen whether Jaidi inspires Olympic to pull off a comeback and lift the league title at the end of the season.