In February 1939, Rangers persuaded Charlton to sell him; he was becoming a first-team regular at QPR before his career was interrupted by conscription into the RAF in World War II.

Although now aged 31, Mallett proved to be a bargain purchase – he was "a strong link between the defence and attack, and was particularly sound in his positional play.

[3] When Dodgin left the Saints in August 1949 to be replaced by Sid Cann, Mallett became restless and in January 1950, he put in a transfer request in the hope of receiving a coaching position.

The board persuaded him to stay and he remained loyal to Southampton, playing regularly until his last game, away to Nottingham Forest on 29 April 1953.

In 1959, he was reserve team coach at Nottingham Forest under Billy Walker and then Andy Beattie, where he brought on a succession of young players, including Ian Storey-Moore and David Pleat.

[4] Although he was a proven technical coach with sound judgment of a player – he signed Geoff Vowden and Ron Wylie[5] and gave Malcolm Page his debut[6] – under his management Birmingham won only 13 out of 64 matches[7] and were relegated from the First Division.