Tonda Eckert is back in a dugout tonight for the first time since spygate, and while Silverlake Stadium and a friendly against Eastleigh might not sound like the most significant occasion on the football calendar, there is plenty riding on how Southampton approach the next ninety minutes.
Last season's warning signs
Southampton faced Eastleigh in pre-season twelve months ago under Will Still and could only manage a 2-1 victory. That scoreline flattered nobody. The performance was laboured, the squad looked disconnected, and the cliques that would later contribute to Still's downfall were plain to see for anyone paying close attention.
Pre-season friendlies reveal things. Sometimes they reveal fitness levels and tactical shape. Sometimes they reveal something more uncomfortable about the character and cohesion of a group of players who are not quite pulling in the same direction.
Eckert may be aware of what happened that afternoon at Silverlake. He will want a very different picture tonight.
More than a fitness exercise
There are managers who treat pre-season friendlies as little more than a chance to get minutes into legs. Eckert cannot afford that luxury this summer, and he will know it.
Southampton start the Championship season on minus four points. The margin for error has already been eaten into before a competitive ball has been kicked. Every session, every friendly and every decision made between now and August carries extra weight because of what happened in May.
Tonight needs to send a message. To the squad, to the supporters who turn up and to anyone watching from the outside. This is a team that must know what is at stake. They must play with purpose and put a marker down, even against lower-league opposition.
A flat, disjointed performance against Eastleigh tonight would be exactly the wrong kind of story heading into the season.
Dobbin gets his chance
Lewis Dobbin has joined Southampton from Aston Villa in a deal reported to be worth £9 million plus add-ons. Tonight could hand him his first opportunity in a Southampton shirt, which in itself makes this friendly considerably more interesting than most.
Eckert's starting eleven will be studied carefully. Who plays alongside Larin? Where does Dobbin fit in the system? How does Eckert line up without some of the players who drove last season's unbeaten run?
There are questions all over the pitch and tonight offers the first, tentative set of answers.
Eckert is back in the dugout. The summer of chaos is not forgotten, but it is behind him for ninety minutes at least.
Eastleigh await. Southampton had better be ready.
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