JIM Smith revealed that Saints wanted him to succeed Lawrie McMenemy 20 years ago - but were too late.

Veteran manager Smith, pictured below, had already joined QPR after leaving Oxford United in 1985, so Chris Nicholl was appointed as McMenemy's successor instead.

Smith said: "Soon after I left Oxford for QPR, the club secretary Brian Truscott rang me up to say that he wished he had known I was leaving Oxford because they would have appointed me as Lawrie's successor!

"Before then I nearly joined as Lawrie's assistant and have always had a close look at Southampton's fortunes and results, even when I was at Pompey. It has always been a club I've looked up to. It's a very well run club with tremendous facilities and I'm looking forward to the challenge."

Rory Delap is one Saints player that Smith knows well. Smith signed the midfielder from Carlisle during his days as Derby manager in 1998 before selling him on to Saints for a club record £4m three years later.

But Smith has insisted that there are other players who impressed him in the 5-1 mauling at Tottenham last week.

"It's going to be a massive task to get out of trouble but we certainly have the quality to do it. Southampton were poor but I also saw certain things which tell me there are some good players here. The keeper is excellent but we need to get a few in and I would imagine we might look to strengthen at the centre of defence, at full back and midfield

"If we do that then I think we have a good chance of getting out of it. I sat down with Harry and the chairman on Wednesday and Harry was very forthright about what we need and the chairman was very positive.

"We want to bring in people who have played in the Premier League for some time. Even if they are foreign players, they need to know the Premier League and what it's about, not take six to eight weeks to get used to it."

Smith does not expect his two spells at Portsmouth do make his move to St Mary's any more difficult than Redknapp's.

"I had two of the best spells I had in football at Pompey but both times I have effectively been asked to leave so I have no worries coming here. You expect a bit of abuse joining local rivals but Harry did not deserve to receive the serious abuse he received, with his phone number being given out.

"When you think of what he did for that club, it's unbelievable. He left through circumstances and should have the freedom to go to any club."

But Smith has also told Saints fans not to expect he and Redknapp to stop Pompey from finishing above them for the first time since 1960.

He added: "The only target is to stay in the Premiership but there is a tremendous rivalry and so there should be. Southampton fans want to beat Pompey and finish above them and vice versa. But any true football fan in Hampshire would want them both in the Premier League to have the rivalry at the top level."