Saints midfielder Andrew Surman has joined Premier League new boys Wolves in a deal worth an initial £1.2m.

It’s believed that the deal could rise to £2m based on appearances and if Wolves manage to stay in the top flight beyond this season.

Surman made 144 appearances for the club, 18 of which were as a substitute, and scored 18 goals. He also won 4 caps for the England Under-21s during his time at St Mary’s, scoring on his debut in a 3-0 win in Montenegro.

He had been linked with a move to Reading a year ago, a rumour which resurfaced again in the January transfer window, but following their failure to win promotion and the resignation of Steve Coppell, a long-time admirer, Wolves boss Mick McCarthy made a move to take him to the Black Country, where he joins another Southampton local, Sam Vokes, in a youthful-looking squad.

In other transfer news, Kelvin Davis has had a medical at West Ham, but that move still hasn’t been finalised - it’s believed he’s still waiting to hear if there will be a contract offer here first as he and his family are well settled in the area.

Mark Wotte has been given some sort of contract extension, although it’s unclear as to the terms of that deal, particularly with the likelihood that a new owner would want to bring in their own man. With that in mind, it’s likely to be a monthly rolling contract. Wotte has kept Michael Svensson on his backroom team. The future of Dean Gorré is unclear at the moment.

Veteran defender Michael Svensson has decided the time is right for him to hang up his boots and admit defeat in his attempt to recover from the knee injuries that have plagued his career for the last five years.

He will now concentrate on his coaching career which began midway through last season, following 87 appearances in all competitions including the FA Cup final in 2003 and the subsequent UEFA Cup tie against Steaua Bucharest.

“Killer” was arguably one of Gordon Strachan’s best signings, joining the club exactly seven years ago from French side Troyes for £2m.

His first serious injury came late in the 2003/4 season in the warm-up at Fratton Park, not returning to first-team action until 18 months later, by which time Saints had been relegated to the Championship. Unfortunately his return didn’t last long and he was soon back on the treatment table. His contract expired in the summer of 2007 and, with no sign of a recovery on the horizon, wasn’t renewed. Determined to prove he still had something to offer, he remained in Southampton and used the club’s facilities to try to work himself back to fitness, and a year later was offered a one-year deal and began the season as club captain.

Unfortunately, his curse was to strike again only five games into his third coming and a disappointing 3-1 defeat at Rotherham United in the Carling Cup proved to be the last game of his career.

Mark Wotte has been confirmed as the permanent Head Coach, replacing Jan Poortvliet, who resigned last night. Wotte’s first act has been to add Michael Svensson to the coaching staff as player/assistant first-team coach.

Svensson will share first-team coaching responsibilities with Dean Gorre, while also continuing his rehabilitation work to regain full fitness to return to playing duties as soon as possible.

The addition of Svensson to the coaching staff seems a sensible one, he’s always led by example as a player and even though, as far as I’m aware, he doesn’t have any coaching qualifications, he’ll be able to pass on his experience and knowledge to the players. It’ll also be a popular appointment among the fanbase, so for once, the club has probably got the PR right on this one.

The confirmation of Wotte’s appointment, however, is a different kettle of fish. While he was almost appointed in 2005 before George Burley eventually got the job, the idea of appointing from within is one we’ve seen before on more than one occasion in the not-too-distant past, and on every occasion it’s proven to be an absolute disaster.

Stuart Gray, Steve Wigley and the joint control of Jason Dodd and John Gorman have all been given opportunities after the departure of managers they had worked under on the coaching staff, and all were unmitigating failures. Wotte’s situation is slightly different as he wasn’t on the coaching staff, but as the Academy director and reserve team manager, his role has still been one lower down the food chain to his predecessor.

How long he actually gets in his new role is very much up in the air - I can’t help but feel that we’re going to be embarking on another managerial merry-go-round.

Saints face a tough trip to the Madejski to play free-scoring Reading tomorrow afternoon. The Royals have only dropped two points at home so far this season (a goalless draw against QPR recently) and are averaging 3 goals per game. Not a statistic you really want to be seeing, but one that we’re going to have to overcome if we’re to get anything out of the game.

Saints have only played one competitive game at the Madejski Stadium since it opened in 1998, which was a 2-0 defeat that came as part of Reading’s incredible 33-match unbeaten run to earn them promotion to the top flight for the first time in their history in 2006. We’ve also played a number of pre-season friendlies there, and Saints maintain an unbeaten record in those, but it’s competitive games that count, and we’ve lost on the last three trips to Berkshire - that match in 2006 and two cup upsets in the mid-90s. Overall, our record at Reading isn’t too shabby at all. From 19 league and cup games, we’ve won 6, drawn 5 and lost 8, although with the exception of the 2006 meeting, the two teams haven’t met in the league since 1960.

Reading boast the Championship’s leading scorer in Kevin Doyle. The Irishman has scored 14 goals, 11 of which have come on home soil. The Royals recently paid his former club Cork City an undisclosed sum in settlement of a sell-on clause in his contract in order to save themselves a bit of money in the long-term on the assumption that he will command a hefty transfer fee should they choose or be forced to sell him. Fellow Irishmen Stephen and Noel Hunt have been their other key contributors, weighing in with 5 and 6 goals respectively.

Reading manager Steve Coppell is expected to name an unchanged line-up from the 2-0 win at Sheffield United last week. Centre-back Andre Bikey is expected to have recovered from a knock which prevented him from playing for Cameroon this week.

Alex Pearce, who has already scored two goals for the Saints from centre-back, is ineligible to play against his parent club. Chris Perry will probably replace him. Olly Lancashire is also a doubt after being forced off against Wolves last week, with Paul Wotton his likely replacement if he’s ruled out. Michael Svensson is probably out of contention after being struck down with illness, as has Oscar Gobern.

Jason Euell is also definitely out as he begins a three-match ban after his appeal against the red card given to him last week was rejected. Jordan Robertson and Romain Gasmi are in contention to feature, and Bradley Wright-Phillips will probably get a chance after impressing as a substitute last week.

Saints will be backed by more than 3000 fans after Reading agreed to give us an extra allocation of tickets. The last chance for Saints fans to buy tickets at the normal rate of £23 for adults is at 3pm this afternoon. Any unsold tickets will be available from the Reading ticket office, but with a £4 increase on that price.

Michael Svensson will travel to Sweden in the next few days for a check-up on his knee.

It’s not thought to be a major problem, but after he reported discomfort after training during the week, it was decided that it would be best to get it checked out properly rather than risk further damage.

Given the fantastic effort and commitment he has shown to recover to get back playing this season, it would be an almighty blow to lose our inspirational skipper for any prolonged period of time, particularly considering the lack of depth and experience in the Saints squad this season.

Michael Svensson has completed a remarkable comeback from what appeared to be a career-ending knee injury by signing a new 12-month contract with an option to extend it for a further year.

Having been confirmed as the club captain a week ago, this news actually comes as no surprise, but it should give the club a vital boost ahead of tomorrow’s game against Birmingham City.