The Tom Jordan transfer saga　finally came to a welcome end for all Spitfires fans after an undisclosed fee was agreed between Eastleigh and local rivals Havant and Waterlooville in the close season of 2007/2008.

Jordan resigned as Hawks captain midway through　that same season, hoping to follow Baird along the M27 and he finally got his wish as the deal went through towards the end of June 2008.

The 6ft 5in centre half missed　the Hawks'　historic FA Cup 2nd round proper victory over Notts County as Eastleigh made a second approach for him. Although Jordan played in the ground-breaking 3rd round win against League Two leaders Swansea and the 4th round tie at Liverpool, he still wanted a move to Eastleigh and spent the rest of the season on the sidelines as negotiations between the two clubs broke down.

Finally in the close season, a deal was struck and Baird got his man.

He is the son of the Scottish international footballer Joe Jordan, who was centre forward for Leeds United during the 1970's.

Scored his first competitive goal for Eastleigh in a 2-1 win over Hampton & Richmond Borough in October 2008.

Tom continued to make great strides of progress at Eastleigh helping the side to five straight league victories and three consecutive clean sheets in November and December 2008. Jordan more than lived up to expectations in what was Eastleigh's most successful league campaign in the Blue Square South.

Terrific captain and leader, Tom struck a deadly defensive partnership with Aaron Martin in the second half of the 2008/9 season.

In his second full season with the club (2009/10), Tom again showed how important he is to the team by playing virtually every game at the heart of the defence. The towering defender finished as the third top goal scorer for the club weighing in with 10 goals from centre back.

In the 2010/2011, the Eastleigh skipper has drawn praise from his manager Ian Baird, after the commanding defender was named Blue Square Bet South player-of-the-month for January 2011 - an accolade long overdue in Baird's book.

"The player-of-the-month award is totally well deserved," said Baird.

"Tom doesn't get the praise he deserves. I've had the best part of six years working with him and, for me, his consistency levels are spot on. He sets the right example, he defends well and he's always a threat at set pieces.

"He's not a loud captain, but he leads by example. That's why I made such a big effort to get him."

"Albeit that Tom's semi-professional, he's been extremely well educated by his dad," said Baird. "He's been exemplary for me. I know what makes Tom tick and he knows what I expect from him. And it's no coincidence to me that losing Tom towards the end of last season cost us.

"Going into the first week of March we were still in the play-off spots but we lost five first-team players, one of whom was Tom who got a five-inch gash in his shin which got infected.

"To lose our captain at that stage was very disappointing and I couldn't replace him. We'd brought in young Luke Wilkinson from Portsmouth and won a couple of games when he was playing alongside Tom, but then Luke lost his form when Tom got injured and our season went downhill."

In the same way, Baird believes Jordan had a positive influence on Aaron Martin's career.

It was Martin's rock-solid partnership with the Eastleigh skipper that alerted Saints to his talent and clinched him a dream move to St Mary's in November 2009.

"Aaron played all his time in our first team alongside Tom and I'm sure that if you spoke to Aaron at this stage of his career, he'd say he owes a big thank you to Tom," said Baird.