As the Saints board battens down the hatches and looks to sort out the issues that have crept up over the past couple of years, it is rumoured that the first head has already rolled on the coaching staff.

The rumour mill is suggesting that Radhi Jaidi has been removed from his position as Head Coach of the U23 side with a caretaker taking the reigns on a temporary basis, although it is unclear who is running the side at present.

Jaidi is still shown on the Club website as of 6th November but is said to have left his position, there is no mention of his name in the match report of the U23's defeat to Coventry in the EFL last night and he appears to have gone before this fixture took place.

The decision has not yet been announced as it seems that although the club have removed him from the head coaching position, they do not want to sack him completely but are looking for another role within the club for him.

Results haven't looked great this season and in the PL2 table Saints U23 sit second bottom with only 7 points from 10 games, their season mirrors that of the first team and they have lost 4 of their last 5 League matches and have the worst defence in the division with 31 goals conceded.

So the sacking of Jaidi if it has happened, should not come as much of a surprise when you add three straight defeats in the EFL Cup.

What should be more of a surprise is how he got the job in the first place, he played for the club from 2009 to 2012 and made 68 appearances for the club in 3 seasons although all of them would be in his first two seasons as he struggled with injury in his third season as we gained promotion to the Championship.

He retired from playing in 2012 as at 37 he was not going to be good enough to play in the Premier League and then at some stage was employed by the club in a variety of roles moving up the ladder in the junior teams to be head coach of the U23 in 2017 having been the assistant.

But results haven't been as good as expected although in his defence a policy of loaning out the best younger players has affected who he has to select from.

But his appointment two years ago seemed strange, he did not seem to have the experience required to run what is after all the feeder side to the first team.

That is now being mirrored in the fact that our first team coaches have little experience, indeed Jaidi seemed better qualified to be a first team coach than Kelvin Davis, Dave Watson and Craig Fleming who had been junior to him as his assistant last season.

So it seems that the hierarchy of the club are looking at the coaching set up throughout the club and that could also stretch to the First team where clearly there is not enough experience and know how in order to help Ralph Hasenhuttl do his job.

There has always been a little bit of jobs for the boys at Saints and that in itself is good, if and it is a big IF, you are appointing people because of their ability to do the job and not just because they are loyal club servants.

The problem is at the moment with the departure of Ross Wilson there is no one in the board and running side of things at the club that has the experience to know what a good coach or player looks like, we need a director of football and we need one fast.

Photo: Action Images

highfield49 added 10:36 - Nov 6 I'm not a huge fan of remembering "the good old days" because I like to think that I accept that football science has changed dramatically in my lifetime. That said I recall with massive rose tinted spectacles the 1960s when Jimmy Gallagher was Saints one and only trainer. Jimmy was, as far as I can recall, little more than a PE instructor who carried the good old bucket and sponge onto the pitch when required. In the mid 60s Jimmy trained the likes of Paine, Davies, Chivers, Fisher, Knapp and Walker and I doubt that any of those players required any coaching on a day to day basis because they were all naturally gifted and intelligent enough to follow a game plan. Modern analysis techniques would now expose the weaknesses in all of those players and I wouldn't pretend otherwise but, as you say Nick, how do you get the right coaching balance? Perhaps a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth?

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Boris1977 added 12:00 - Nov 6 Playing devils advocate are the club downsizing to prepare for any eventuality......
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Big_T added 13:12 - Nov 6 Much needed shake up of coaching and training staff. Jaidi hasn't been great, not bad but not great . For all the bashing of the owner, he is certainly giving things a shake up behind the scenes. How this will turn out ? Who knows , but it has to be better than the last three years.
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Jesus_02 added 13:13 - Nov 6 A more deeply conflicted statement is hard to find "There has always been a little bit of jobs for the boys at Saints and that in itself is good, if and it is a big IF, you are appointing people because of their ability to do the job and not just because they are loyal club servants" Basically it would be nice if we had a plethora of ex-players committed to the club and capable to taking roles within it after they retire. Basically we don't. We don't even have the imagination to try and tempt ex players to come back in the twilight of their careers let alone coach. Would love to see Pahars back in some capacity but I'm sure thats wild fantasy.

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underweststand added 14:11 - Nov 6 If true ?- I think it's a bit tough on Rahdi, who has DAJFU since Martin Hunter left. Last season he coached the U23's to promotion, and they made it to the semi's of the European trophy for their age group. The problems this season are (1) now they are coming up against harder opponents in the top division, at the same time that (2) half-a-dozen of last season's best have moved above the age limit, (3) and some of the others have either left the club and /or are out on loan this season. A quick look at the personnel from last season shows that less than half of them are still in the current U23 squad, and at least 4 others are currently out injured resulting in the fact that... so far this season...16 lads who are still qualified for the U18's have been drafted in at various times, and TBF..thay just aren't up to it yet when coming up against Prem.clubs who use their U23 side to help already- established young talents get fit, or get match practice. Either way. I think Rahdi is the victim of circumstance and it shouldn't reflect on his ability to coach good players. If he is to be " replaced" then I hope that the club is fair to him, as IMHO ..he still has much to offer the club.

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BoondockSaint added 14:46 - Nov 6 OK, so the Saints have only won 2 games all season, get destroyed 9-0 at home and are barely above the relegation zone and the board's response is to sack the U23 ???? You know, many's the time I have been watching our defense get caught out of position, the midfielders move the ball backwards instead of forward, and the strikers miss sitters, and I have said to myself: "This is all because we have the wrong U23 coach!" The board doesn't have a clue and the owner(s) doesn't care.

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Colburn added 14:52 - Nov 6 If we didn't know better and looked at it from an outside perspective, youd be forgiven for thinking the club is again gone rotten to the core. Where is the leadership within the club? I can't see any, on or off the pitch. With the assets and structure we have as a club, I'm a little surprised that we haven't had richer investors interested in buying us. Maybe that is what's happening..? I hope so, this lot are clearly disinterested. Hence our descent towards another relegation battle if we can't pick up the results we need in December.

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Colburn added 14:54 - Nov 6 Btw any chance of getting Rohl back?
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luffy22 added 16:57 - Nov 6 "BoondockSaint added 14:46 - Nov 6 OK, so the Saints have only won 2 games all season, get destroyed 9-0 at home and are barely above the relegation zone and the board's response is to sack the U23 ???? " I was reading the text and thinking I need to comment but I just didn't know how to write what I wanted to say. BoondockSaint summed it up perfectly!!!! all that was missed was a "WTF"

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1970 added 18:03 - Nov 6 The coaching setup at saints sums up how the club is so poorly run and heading dangerously close to being a rudderless ship going in reverse having three goalkeeping coaches so close to the first team is laughable and obviously very confusing but looking at the results of the u18s,u21s/u23s its is not rocket science to work out there could be room for improvement ,coaches have qualifications nowadays but at saints they still believe in 'jobs for the boys' whatever happens at coaching level the effects will not be immediate and the owner and board will have all the excuses in the world for being this complete laughing stock. thanks 'BoondockSaint' for talking on behalf of all of us

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bstokesaint added 12:37 - Nov 7 I know it sounds dramatic, but I think we need a relegation to get back on track. We’ve got so much deadwood to clear out who are just happy to make hay whilst the sun shines. It’s very evident the current set-up totally sucks and there is zero leadership at the club behind the scenes or on the pitch. Okay, so most of us will keep everything crossed that we can string some results together and scrape safety again, but to what end? So that we can spend another season aiming to scrape by? We’ve had three seasons of the season virtually being over come October! It’s too painful right now and I’ve never felt so removed from the club. Nick I know you like to refer to the struggling seasons of the 90’s, but at least back then we knew our expectations and our limitations who we were and we loved the players and knew that they were giving it their all. Now, I feel nothing but mugged off when looking at the players we put out each week. Back on topic, the fact we are sacking the U23 coach to make all right with the world again is just hilarious. I’ll always support this club, but I can’t pretend to have the same love I do for it in decades past.

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underweststand added 16:20 - Nov 8 It seems the "rumour " you mentioned (Nick) was a promotion for Rahdi and not a sacking. A one year stint with a US club who we are partnering with, and a view to cooperation and player loans in the future...sounds like an interesting development .
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