It would appear that if Claude goes, mutual consent, sacking, relocation, whichever floats our boat, the shortlist of people who have experience enough to propel Saints towards the objective is very..... errrmmm.... short. To my mind, the shortlist to replace the FLDGC was Emery, Claude and Pellegrini.... All 3 now being out of the equation..... Whilst I know there is always the unknown/random Steve Wigley-esque option.... picking seem very slim indeed.
I'm holding out for a Pochettino type signing - someone I've never heard of, that I can look up on wikipedia and pretend that I've known about for ages. And who turns out to be a good manager of course.
This , to me, seems the most likely option. It is interesting that English football clubs are more willing to take a gamble on unknown foreign coaches as opposed to taking a punt on English coaches. I can see the logic as the English managers in the PL seem to guarantee unexciting football with the threat of relegation. It just seems far "sexier" to go for a foreign coach. I cannot remember where I read it but there was an article about a coach who had been abroad (I have a funny feeling it might have been an interview with Paul Clement) where it was mooted that English coaches have a very poor reputation abroad. They are not seen as a good alternative and I believe that the comment was prompted both by coaching techniques which were deemed antiquated and the cultural attitude, Personally, I think that the "British" list of usual suspects including Bruce, Redknapp, Pulis, Moyes, Hughes, etc does not inspire confidence. I think Nigel Pearson has tended to do well and Nigel Adkins seemed to me to have such an abundance of management skills at Saints I am surprised that he has not gone on to better things. Chris Houghton is a manager I really respect but I think the next English manager who is being touted for big things is Chris Wilder. I knew little about him until I had a conversation with a couple of blokes at Totton's ground who had worked with Saints and both suggested was "the manager to watch." However, even the lower leagues have jumped on the bandwagon. I would like to think that the FA would do something to create the next generation of Paisleys, Shankly's and Fergusons but you get the impression that the game has moved on too far so that even the better English managers of today are not "scientific" enough or well connected with European players for recruitment to permit British clubs from entertaining UK talent. It would be fascinating , for all the alleged "racism" that has been thrown around this board regarding those "who did not get Puel" , to see just how many fans would prefer an English coach. I suspect that , like me, most supporters would much prefer a foreign option.
I had forgotten about Eddie Howe. He has probably the greatest degree of stock amongst the younger generation of managers coming through and has done fantastically well at Bournemouth. In a way I would be disappointed to see him leave our neighbours as I think he has a lot of unfinished business there. I know that some Arsenal supporters had touted him as a potential replacement for Wenger but he is certainly "the" English manager to watch.
Chris Wilder is a revelation. Definitely destined for bigger things. He took a broke Oxford up. He took a struggling (nearly relegated) Northampton up and on an unbeaten run of about a million games - this is where I saw and knew a lot about him - and now has taken his hometown Sheffield United up to the championship. I think he'd probably not want to leave there as he supports them, but I certainly would say he is going to get a Premier League job soon, if not by taking United up. I still rate Gary Rowett too.
Puel is said to be very keen on returning to the south of France to manage St Etienne? Think we will see a mutual consent departure, with Puel wanting to go back to France. https://www.francebleu.fr/sports/fo...-d-y-croire-et-1-blocage-potentiel-1496066341
Can't have a thread this long without a dodgy translation... Despite a first refusal 15 days ago, the ASSE has returned to the charge and the rumors surrounding the future coach of the Greens are moving more and more towards Claude Puel. Several parts of the project Stephan attract him but the leaders must be ready to let go of ballast. The current coach of Southampton is one of the priorities of the leaders Stephanois if his contract with the English club had to be broken. We are taking the path according to the media across the Channel despite an eighth place picked up by the Saints this season. After a first time pushing back the approach of Stephanism 15 days ago, Claude Puel is now much more receptive to the speech of the Greens. A solution that would not be much cheaper than that leading to Claudio Ranieri: Claude Puel receives about 300,000 euros a month in Southampton (3.7 million euros a year compared to about 4 million for Ranieri). For the moment Claude Puel does not discuss personally with the ASSE, his lawyer does it for him. It remains to the former player of Monaco 2 years of contract to Southampton and it should not leave of its own volition. According to our information, the Stephan project pleases him because it resembles those he led in Lille and Nice, clubs ready to imagine a new way to function to find the game and the results that go with it. In Saint-Etienne it would be necessarily closer to the south of France which remains the region where he likes to recharge his batteries outside the matches. The idea of finishing to settle some accounts with Olympique Lyonnais would not leave him insensitive. A club he left in 2011 before prosecuting him before the Prudhomme but without winning his trial.What better for that than to occupy the bench for ... What can hinder his arrival are his claims in terms of management. When Claude Puel commits himself, he wants to direct everything. And even if his sporting profile is very seductive, the prospect of letting go of ballast is not frankly to please the presidents of St-Etienne.
If being a bully means he takes no crap from anyone . Let him bully ( and I mean that in the context of working in a very tough environment , not as in picking on people day to day ) . Its a mute point as I doubt he would be offered the chance to come back , and if he was , would he take it ? I Still rate / miss him .
