13 July 2009: Managers

Some things never change with Saints, such as the constant need to change managers.

I mean, I go away to Texas for a few days with next-to-no internet and bam, Saints new owners sack the manager. So the next appointment will be the eighteenth manager in fifteeen years, and the eleventh in the last five-and-a-bit years (Strachan (left early 2004), Sturrock, Wigley, Redknapp, Bassett/Wise, Burley, Gorman/Dodd, Pearson, Poortvliet, Wotte and New Manager).

The weird thing is, three hours prior to being dismissed, Mark Wotte was talking to the media about how positive he's feeling about the new owners.

Next thing he knows, "Here's your P45. Is that job in Egypt still open for you?"

So, rumours abound as to the next manager. Early favourite (by a country mile) was Gordon Strachan, who was a fantastic manager while at Saints who left essentially because of Rupert Lowe. Except he's since been a very successful manager at Celtic and could probably get any job he wants right now, so he probably won't be back.

More recent rumours focus heavily on Nigel Pearson, who had a brief but relatively successful stint at Saints a little over a year ago (ie, he kept Saints from relegation in the Championship). Rumour is he's unhappy with former Pompey bailer Milan Mandarin at Leicester, and might be willing to do something with Saints.

Further rumours suggest a Director-of-Football and Team Manager combination, possibly even bringing back Strachan, Le Tiss or Keegan as DoF with Pearson, Tony Adams or Micky Adams as team manager. A little far-fetched perhaps, but not as far-fetched as Saints being taken over by a Swiss billionaire.

Incidentally, the Echo has published a full and frank interview with the Administrator, Mark Fry, about the whole process. Very revealing stuff, and shows just how on-the-brink Saints really were.