There was a certain inevitability in the pairing of Southampton and Portsmouth in the fourth round of the FA Cup. A former Saints manager had some controversial theories about reincarnation.
For Harry Redknapp, a popular, promotion-winning Portsmouth boss in his past life, it is the meeting of the team he manages and the team he built.
The repercussions of Redknapp's defection from Portsmouth to Southampton continue. Nigel Quashie, a rarity in the Pompey squad in that Redknapp did not sign him, is the subject of a £2 million bid from his former manager and could become the first of a predicted exodus along the M27.
The league table suggests that, for the first time in 40 years, Portsmouth have the superior side. Redknapp could be forgiven, therefore, for casting admiring glances at his erstwhile charges. However, Portsmouth share, with Blackburn, the unwanted distinction of being the only Premiership team Southampton have beaten this season.
They will face a very different Saints side at St Mary's. It took the arrival of Redknapp to provide a necessary reality check, though results remain wretched.
Rupert Lowe, who spent the first half of the season under the lazy assumption that three other clubs would finish the season with fewer points than Southampton, described the squad as the best in his eight years on the board.
That complacent assertion is palpably not true. Instead, a rapid succession of managers and a refusal to break either the club's transfer record or wage policy resulted in an accumulation of undistinguished players.
Redknapp's rhetoric - that many of them would not shine in the Championship - may be regarded as defeatist or justification for the inevitable revolving door transfer policy that has started. It was also an expression of dissent that, in other circumstances, would displease Lowe.
Enter, from the chairman's favourite 'North London Yobbos, Calum Davenport and Jamie Redknapp'. The former, despite an uncomfortable afternoon against Shola Ameobi on Saturday, is a welcome antidote to the indecisive Claus Lundekvam and the ineffectual Andreas Jakobsson, both reasons why Southampton have conceded at least two goals in eight of their 12 home games.
Signing the central midfielder propagates the idea of 'Redknapp And Son', the East End bare bones merchants. But Redknapp junior has offered composure in possession, a quality that has eluded many of his new team-mates, and a willingness to involve others in passing moves. There is still, as his father has pointed out, a lack of pace in the side, but the early indications are that Redknapp senior has addressed two weaknesses in an underachieving side.
There are, a shortage of speed included, several others. The long-term absences of Matthew Oakley and Michael Svensson alone do not explain a decline from 8th to 19th in 18 months and Redknapp's damning judgment on the squad he inherited suggests further signings are imminent.
At Portsmouth, however, preserving his predecessor's team is more of a priority for Velimir Zajec, the second successive director of football turned manager at Fratton Park. Apart from Redknapp's overtures, the seemingly unsettled Africans Amdy Faye and Yakubu Ayegbeni are the possible departures.
The latter has been a lone non-conformist as Zajec's reshaped side started a new era with a successful transformation into a counter-attacking force.
Smothering several of the top sides and stealing a point at Anfield were early highlights, though the initial switch to 4-5-1 was enforced by injured forwards.
Yakubu, one of them, has stated his preference for playing with a strike partner when not discussing his wish to join a club in the Champions League.
His tactical advice was not entirely selfish; Portsmouth's ascent under Redknapp was notable for their attacking form at Fortress Fratton Park.
Under his successor, however, more strikers have brought depreciating returns. Four Premiership home games without a victory makes it look less of a stronghold and Saturday's self-destruction gifted Blackburn three points and suggested Zajec's honeymoon period is over.
Lomano LuaLua, a revelation on the right after Zajec took over, ruled himself out of the FA Cup tie against Southampton with a headbutt on Andy Todd. Faye, the other recipient of Andy D'Urso's red card, will only be banned for the trip to Chelsea but may have moved on, possibly to Bolton.
But he has to rank among Redknapp's finest signings. The strong Senegal international was a pivotal figure shielding the defence in a five-man midfield and is equally effective in a quartet. Coach Joe Jordan argued that Faye's was the outstanding performance on Saturday and yet Portsmouth have already accepted one offer for him.
With the enigmatic Eyal Berkovic appearing surplus to requirements, Portsmouth, whose recent success stemmed from a crowded midfield, could dispense with midfielders at an alarming rate.
A long-standing link with Greece international Angelos Basinas from Zajec's former club Panathinaikos aside, there is no evidence of any replacements arriving.
The advances of Gary O'Neil may have rendered Quashie redundant but the Scotland international came off the bench against Gillingham so he is unavailable for the FA Cup clash.
So the newest recruit in Redknapp's expanding squad and perhaps the first in the emigration from Portsmouth could face his former club on January 29th.
Pompey's reunion with Harry and Jim (and Kevin, and Nigel, and maybe even Amdy, too) will make a largely unconsummated rivalry look positively incestuous.
