The 32 year old rejoined his boyhood club this summer to act as a mentor and overage player in the under-21s setup. He spoke to the Daily Echo about his role and how wants to help young players gain the confidence and ability to push into the first team which he says is his main goal.
"I'm not here to block the pathway. I'm here to help push the boys. This is my club, the club I spent 12 years at when I was younger. I want to help this club produce players constantly.
"It's very important, and I want the club to do so well. This is just a big chance to hopefully have an impact on that. I can see a couple that have got a chance here.
"Our aim is to get what we had before. We want that constant reel of boys that could possibly play for the first team. Southampton were the best club in the country for that.
"We used to call it the Southampton way. Everyone knew, if you were developed at Southampton, you would be a good player and a good person.
"We want to get back to that and I'm sure we will. It's a process, we can't just click our fingers and get that reputation back."
The former Saints midfielder spoke more on how he wants to raise the standard at the academy so the switch to the first team is less of a shock and is more familiar.
"It's so good for the 21s boys to play in games with the first-team boys. Charlie Taylor came down and he's played over 100 Premier League games.
"It's so important for them to see the standard, and for us to see how they can deal with the pressure of playing with the gaffer (Martin) and Matt Gill watching.
"We have a senior squad who are receptive to players coming up and training, but won't let them get away with low standards. The standards are set high in training.”
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