Every time I have a look across the internet in the world of Saints I find supporters anguishing about the future of Mauricio Pochettino and snippets in the national press predicting he will go ! But why ?
Out of seemingly nowhere after the departure of our former CEO back in January came a concerted campaign of muck spreading about Saints in the national press, it was easy to spot the journalists who were doing it, they were usually the same ones writing eulogies about Nicola Cortese on the next page, often praising the way he had developed the likes of Luke Shaw, Alex Oxlade Chamberlain and some of the more ignorant ones even insinuated he had had hand in Gareth Bale. The truth is all of our current crop of youngsters were at the club before our ex CEO.
So why was there a concerted effort to de stabilise us, the insinuations we were about to go into meltdown came thick and fast, the manager was going to walk with Cortese, some players were so incensed they were going to tear up their contracts (Impossible legally) Katharina Liebherr would sell the club within days, as I say they came thick and fast and you have to surmise that due to the not only sensationalist tone of them but how vitriolic they were to the woman who actually owned the club and had put a fair amount of her money into keeping us going forward, that this was not the usual page fillers from the national media who are usually disinterested in a club of Saints size, but a more concerted campaign.
Three months on and although they have died down mainly because they A. had no real substance and B. even the most fervent pro Cortese journalist cant persuade a national paper to give Saints that much column inches.
With respect to players leaving, most of that is agent's trying to stir up business for when the transfer window opens, it could be that some of our stars will leave, thats natural in any football club, the trick is to have their replacement in place and/or use the money wisely to improve the team, Luke Shaw is a great player, but if we got say £30 million for him, if we used it wisely we would be a stronger team.
But in the case of Mauricio Pochettino there is something deeper far more sinister going on, partly its from the paranoia spread in January about how upset the manager was to see the CEO leave, any manager would be concerned with boardroom upheaval, but the rumours of Pochettino leaving for the likes of Spurs or Real Madrid etc are not taking into account his standing in the game away from Southampton.
We Saints fans of course hold him in high regard, we appreciate that he has moulded together a tight team spirit based on playing a certain way and that way is often exciting to watch, the fact that we have achieved our highest league position for a decade also helps, but why is Pochettino linked with some top jobs whilst Roberto Martinez isnt, after all if Everton dont qualify for the Champions league then what have they got to look forward to next season, a Europa League campaign that could drain their small squad and another fight for 6/7th.
If I was Daniel Levy I know who I would want to replace Tim Sherwood, it would be the man who has shown he can take a mid table club on to another level and win trophies not the man who both at Espanyol and here has a track record of taking bottom third sides and keeping them safely in mid table. Why is Steve Bruce's name not being bandied about, he has had a more impressive season than Pochettino and has done so with a far inferior squad ?
This isnt a slur on Pochettino, this is just illustrating where he sits in the pecking order, Spurs are a desperate club, they have constantly shown over the years that they go for the big name option and they are not afraid to use the press to de stabilise their target as we found out with Glenn Hoddle some 13 years ago now.
So why is Pochettino's name mentioned for Spurs every time, usually as an added thought after the latest big name to reportably have been seen leaving White Hart Lane after talks ?
I would offer the opinion that in the Premier Mauricio Pochettino would struggle to get a club with more potential
But in essence why should Mauricio Pochettino's future at Saints be such an issue mid season, he has 15 months left on his contract and he has already said he intends to see it through, on the continent contracts are viewed differently, there a manager or player signs for a period of time and sees that as part of his career plan, over here we still see contracts as being for life, why would any player want to leave a club, its all about keeping players on long contracts, partly because of the re sale value, but also the fans struggle to accept that a player would only want to play for their club for a short period of time.
Perhaps Mauricio Pochettino feels the same way, in his career path he might harbour thoughts of managing in other countries or back in Spain, that being the case why would he need to sign a long term deal, maybe he is happy to do his 2 1/2 years at St Mary's and move on, that doesnt mean that he wants to go now.
The rumours also persist that if Pochettino goes that will signal to the players the club has no ambition and they will all be writing transfer requests, strangely this is the only time i have ever heard this at any club in the Premier League, players are not as stupid as their antics in the press often portray them, yes there will be some players who know they can go to a genuine big club, Luke Shaw for example, but most know that they would be unlikely to get much better than Saints, they also know that managers come and go, Adam Lallana has played first team football for 7 yes 7 permanent managers at Saints, he has seen doom predicted when both Alan Pardew and Nigel Adkins left, why would he suddenly be so concerned about Pochettino leaving, he will know that managers come and go, he will save his worries for when the replacement is named, because the key to success is who comes in next, not who has just left.
Since Nicola Cortese left it has been business as usual for Saints, they have got no more nor no less points than they were getting under Cortese's alleged golden hand, they probably knew at the start of the season that all the talk of getting into the Champion's League was folly, professional footballers know what teams limitation's are, they were at Saints because it offered them as good as they could get last year, if Liverpool had wanted Lallana or Rodriguez in the summer they would have got them, as they got Coutinho ahead of us, its about pecking order and as much as Cortese would try to tell us different sadly that will be the case unless someone wants to pump in Manchester City type cash into our coffers.
As they know last summer, Saints is a club with a good foundation, it has the chance to repeat this season and perhaps even go one better and win a Cup, ther e are 7 better teams that our players could go to, but that doesnt mean that those 7 want them.
Now is the time for cool heads amongst Saints fans, none of us know what Mauricio Pochettino or Luke Shaw are really thinking apart from the fact that neither of them have stated they want to leave, in fact the opposite, in todays modern game the media has to speculate on transfers with little substance for 9 months of the year with two small windows where actual business is done, these little rumours with social media soon become big ones with every man and his dog claiming that Pochettino is going to Spurs and Shaw is going to everyone, there are enough muck spreaders trying to do harm to our club since January, we dont need our own supporters to join in