When the news broke that Ronald Koeman was being tempted by Everton, both the Toffee's and Koeman's agent seemed confident that Koeman would be in charge at Goodison Park by Saturday evening.

We know from experience that when a club comes in for your manager and he seems to want to go that the deal is usually done swiftly, indeed Rob Jansen Koeman's agent seemed to hint as much when he declared on Saturday evening that his client had agreed terms with Everton.

Jansen quickly backtracked a day later when he took the unprecedented step of contacting major news outlets to retract his previous claims saying that he had been misquoted.

There was a good reason for that and that was as Saints had not given Koeman permission to talk to Everton, Jansen had broken every rule in the book, that is the hypocrisy of football, the rules are flaunted and that is fine as long as you don't boast about it so everyone can pretend its a very ethical industry.

But on Saturday night it seemed that it was only a matter of time before Koeman would be unveiled as Everton boss, it seemed that the only thing that needed to be agreed was the compensation that Everton would need to pay Saints and with the Merseyside club desperate to pay anything to land their man and Saints presumably now resigned to losing him, keen to get on with finding a successor, this seemed a mere formality.

Indeed most sources were still saying at the beginning of today that Koeman would be unveiled by the end of today (Monday)

Now it seems that this is not going to happen and that the announcement could be delayed a week as Koeman has decided to go off on holiday again and the question is why ?

There seems to be no logical reason why he could not have delayed his departure a day or two and then gone on holiday and there are those that suggest that Koeman is not as happy about the deal as his agent would have you believe.

Could it be that Koeman is wrestling with his conscience ? leaving Saints for big money after constantly telling everyone that he would see out his contract at least would not have been easy for him, he has never behaved in this mercenary fashion before.

Then there are the players who have recently signed long term deals partly because of his assurances that he would be staying stay, again for a man who has prided himself on behaving in an honourable fashion in the past this will all be weighing on his mind.

Lastly though and perhaps most importantly there will be where this leaves his broher Erwin and other members of his staff that he brought with him from the Netherlands, reports say that Everton do not want Erwin and therefore by moving he is effectively putting his brother and indeed his friends out of a job.

When Koeman jetted off on holiday from Saints a few weeks ago without putting pen to paper on a new deal there were those who were nervous, this latest development will not please Everton who wanted to have ths done and dusted and they will worry that as much as he intended returning from his holiday last week and sign a new deal for Saints that when he returns from this one he will have changed his mind about going to Goodison Park.

Certainly he has not had a lot of time to sit and reflect on this career change, his agent and everton have driven this through fast and furious, about the only thing going for it and most football pundits concur on this, that it will make him a very rich man, indeed it has little sign of merit for his career at least in the short to medium term, Everton will worry that a few days rest might make him think that this might lead him to change his mind again.

One thing for sure is that neither Saints or Everton will be pleased he has jetted off leaving everything up in the air, in football you want to know what is happening , not be faced with uncertainty.

Photo: Action Images

ChristchurchSaint added 14:50 - Jun 6 More importantly, where does that leave us? We cannot approach his successor and say "we may want you and we may not!" Surely Koeman is not so brass-necked as to believe that we would now accept him back, or maybe he is hoping that we will sack him, he can get even more money and Everton can then employ him without compensation due. Lastly, maybe blood really is thicker than water, and Erwin has told him that he will no longer regard him as his brother if he can't go too. Oh dear Mr Koeman, you seem up to your neck in s**t and you definitely won't come up smelling of roses!

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charlie357 added 14:53 - Jun 6 It does make you wonder how much of this is paper and agent talk and how much has actually come from Koeman...No official statements from either side. Whatever happens Koeman doesn't come through this cleanly. Could have all been quashed with a tweet!
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Jesus_02 added 14:58 - Jun 6 How about this scenario: Saints board are quite happy to let RK go for the right price and didn’t want to start next season without him agreeing a new deal. They are approached by the agent and give permission for Ron to speak to Everton. Ron decides he like the deal and wants to leave and his agent lights the fireworks and tells everyone Ron is a Toffee Saints now hold ALL the chips in terms of extracting the most money out of the Everton owners, (they will look like right chumps if he doesn’t join, and cant they publicly “blame” saints), their biggest risk is that the Everton owners decide that the asking price is too rich and back out, in which case the agent probably gets the blame and the sack and we end up with RK for another season. As it stands, we gave RK a 3 year deal worth 12m we can now go and give Emery a 3 year deal worth 15m and it will only cost 10m and we end up with a manager that has won the Europa League 3 times. Emery gets his chance in the Prem with reduced pressure and we get to pillage Spain now that we have probably run out of bargains in Holland

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St_Guido added 15:07 - Jun 6 H
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St_Guido added 15:12 - Jun 6 He's reconsidering after my personal tweet about his shameful behaviour 😉
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LordDZLucan added 15:27 - Jun 6 My guess is we're playing hardball with Everton over compensation and Ronald is playing hardball with Everton over funds for players. Everton are probably wishing they never started this as its going to cost them a huge amount of money if they go ahead or they'll lose a lot of face if they pull out!
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ElGreco2 added 15:38 - Jun 6 It doesn't really matter where Koeman is when whatever to be announced is announced. Whichever club he decides to be with next season merely has to FAX him a contract to sign. He doesn't have to be in the UK for it to be made public. Here's hoping he's had a change of heart and stays down south.
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Toussaint added 15:46 - Jun 6 Think your right maybe Erwin does not agree,just cant see him acting like Pochies mercenaries
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SanMarco added 15:56 - Jun 6 Most likely scenario: he is forcing Saints' hands over aspects of the negotiations. He knows that we will lose 5m if we sack him + a theatrical 'week long holiday' means we can't appoint a successor with all that entails. He has us over a barrel: expect a swift announcement once Saints surrender.
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LordDZLucan added 16:01 - Jun 6 Who has got the most to lose if this doesn't go ahead? Certainly not Saints. There will be no surrender!
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blueboy1878 added 16:10 - Jun 6 I really hope Everton pull out of this deal,treating Koeman like he's Pep of Jose when in reality he's not in the same league.I would of preferred to get someone with no ties like De Boer who would of signed last week and got on with the job of bringing in new players and selling the rat Lukaku to the highest bidder.Why upset Southampton when their is a viable alternative.So now we are getting a manager who is a rat and a liar,great just what we need.

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SanMarco added 16:17 - Jun 6 LordLucan - the answer to your question is that Saints have most to lose. Koeman is not coming back here so we either sack him (lose 5m) or wait in limbo. Everton don't care - their new manager can be preparing his enormous bids even if he is still technically at Saints.
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LordDZLucan added 16:26 - Jun 6 If we can't reach agreement with Everton it's simple - Ronald is going nowhere as he's on a contract. What have we lost in that scenario?
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LordDZLucan added 16:26 - Jun 6 If we can't reach agreement with Everton it's simple - Ronald is going nowhere as he's on a contract. What have we lost in that scenario?
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ericofarabia added 16:28 - Jun 6 He's still scouting the area for a Chippy that will put Mayo on his Chips instead of Mushy Peas and Gravy. FACT.
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ElGreco2 added 16:41 - Jun 6 SSN saying the deals done they're working out who's going with him. Definitely Erwin and the fitness coach, but not Sammy the kopite who they're touting as Saints next manager.
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larry12 added 16:58 - Jun 6 It's possible that RK has agreed all terms and conditions with Everton and simply has to wait for Everton to try and deal with Murray Walker's nipper, who is being as awkward as usual and demanding 5m instead of a reasonable 3.5m. He can then do no more and has gone on hols to wait and see. He might be so fed up with that uneducated idiot( Me and Ron-God help us!) that he can't wait to get away. I think Ralph K should sack the uneducated tosser. It seems to have escaped everyone's attention that RK has stated that he didn't have the final say on transfers!!!!!!!!!!! If Wenger said that, there would an Arsenal Fans' meltdown, but you lot seem quite happy about. I find that absurd and get rid of that person whose useless and has wasted over £80m in 4 yrs on bad transfers. Well done Les???? Absolute rubbish. Get rid of him asap.

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richsaints added 17:39 - Jun 6 Maybe he needs time to scuttle into a dark corner to work out how he is going to look honourable and classy in his first press conference covered in shit,more likely is saints are holding out for pound of fesh.
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VancouverSaint added 18:18 - Jun 6 There's more to this than we know, for sure. There have been no statements from RonK, Saints or Toffees only his agent and that was retracted. Maybe Ralph is holding out for £5, as the Telegraph said. Maybe Ron is having second thoughts (or is this all his agent and Everton talking). He has one year left on his contract that he can then leave Saints. He has his team together and a place in Europe. If he goes to Everton he makes an extra 3 million for one year but is signed up for multi years. After next year with us he can name his price to the highest bidder and go to Holland, Barcelona, Arsenal...who knows. Either way as Jesus 02 say's Saints hold the cards to get a better manager if he goes.

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SanMarco added 18:51 - Jun 6 RK is NOT having second thoughts - this is all agreed and just delayed by technicalities. As our new Evertonian friend says where he is at the moment of agreement makes no difference. As I said above if RK's 'holiday' is connected with the negotiations then it is probably to force Saints' hand over something
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aceofthebase added 19:04 - Jun 6 It's simple Saints, lay down the law with RK. Let's get in another manager immediately.. I would be happy with LVG and then force RK to sit in the stands for the next year. That's the way to do it!
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richsaints added 19:06 - Jun 6 Don't want him now anyway Merseyside is the best place for him with all the druggies, thieves ,Lallana,Lovren and God knows else. Saints march on.
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SaintPaulVW added 20:22 - Jun 6 If he's all set to go but his brother isn't wanted I imagine there could be a bit of wrangling for a few days to get it sorted out. It'll get sorted soon enough. As he hasn't said anything to dispel the reports, I can't see any chance of him staying. So it will all drag on a bit longer.
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Bettwsresident added 21:37 - Jun 6 I had a similar situation at my work. My eyes were turned by an attractive offer, I handed in my notice, it was refused and I thought long and hard and decided in was better to stay and buckle down. In retrospect it was the best decision I every made. I have every symapthy with Roko. This is a media storm that allows no time for reflection. Decisions of this magnitude need to be slept on, thought about and then slept on again. His credibility, the one thing that sets him aside is on the line.

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ItchenNorth added 21:46 - Jun 6 As disappointing as losing RK will be, we all knew he'd likely be gone at the end of his contact, so maybe there's a silver lining to this drama. Most teams start to underperform when they know a managers off at the end of a season, perhaps it's better that we move now and avoid that scenario. The manager market is pretty darn good pickings at the moment and the Prem with European football is a very attractive option for the best out there. Onwards and upwards I say!

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