Christmas quackers - the day Portsmouth chairman Milan Mandaric sent Southampton counterpart Rupert Lowe a duck to end ongoing feud over Harry Redknapp

The pair had been at loggerheads over the past month following Harry Redknapp’s controversial return to Pompey.

It was a move which prompted Lowe to lodge a complaint over the Blues’ behaviour with both the Premier League and the Football League.

The furious Saints chief also described the affair as ‘an embarrassment for football’.

And it prompted Mandaric to use Christmas to provide his own piece of goodwill to all men, even his counterpart.

The Pompey's then owner had a fresh duck couriered to St Mary’s.

Bought from a Portsmouth butcher, it was neatly contained in a festive box.

The gift was a tongue-in-cheek reference to when Lowe went duck shooting when the Blues were desperate to conclude negotiations over the compensation package for Redknapp’s services.

Pompey spokeswoman at the time, Helen Wood, confirmed no offence was meant.

She told The News at the tine: ‘Milan sent the present of a duck to Southampton yesterday.

‘It was purely a light-hearted gesture with the spirit of Christmas in mind, nothing else.’

Whether Lowe saw it that way and laughed off the Christmas present from his south-coast neighbours remains a mystery