A look at the career of Ronald Koeman who looks set to be appointed as Saints manager in the next day or so.
Most Saints supporters will remember Ronald Koeman as the man who was the villain who cost England a place in the World Cup Finals in the USA in 1994, but there is a lot more than that to the Dutch man who after finishing a distinguished playing career has enjoyed similar success as a manager.
Koeman who is now 51 years old started out at Groningen before joining Ajax, following that he headed to PSV and then 6 years at Barcelona before finishing at Feyenoord retiring at age 34 in 1997. Along the way he had also picked up 78 caps for Holland.
He immediately became assistant coach of the Dutch National Side on retiring alongside manager Gus Hiddink for the 1998 World Cup in France after the tournament finished he joined Barcelona as assistant coach for a two year spell before taking up his first appointment as a manager with Vitesse, he spent only one season there, leading them to a UEFA Cup spot on a limited budget.
In 2001 he was appointed head coach of Ajax, he won the Eridivisie in his first season and followed that up again with another title two years later, however the following season 2004/05 saw Ajax drop behind their rivals PSV as well as a shock defeat in the UEFA Cup and he resigned in February 2005.
There was no shortage of clubs wanting his services though and he joined Benfica, it was a mixed season for him though, only third in the league but there was a Champions league Quarter final losing to eventual winners Barcelona and a Portugese Super Cup win to suggest he was getting things going in the right direction.
However when PSV came calling in the summer of 2006 it was hard to resist and in his one and only season he won the Eridivisie for the club.
In October 2007 he became Valencia Head Coach it was again a mixed season, although Valencia won the Spanish Cup their league form was disapointing and they would finish 15th, too close for comfort for the Valencia board and Koeman was sacked in April 2008.
A year later and he was back in the game in Holland at AZ, however with AZ having won the Eridivisie the previous season it would be a hard act to follow and he was sacked in the December after only 16 games.
In July 2011 Koeman returned to managerial duties signing a one year contract to become head coach at Feyenoord, becoming the first man to play for and manage the Dutch big three.
Feyneoord were going through hard times having finished 8th the previous term, Koeman rejuventated them and took them to second resulting in an extended contract being offered and signed, his next two seasons saw 3rd and 2nd place respectively, but Koeman chose to leave the club at the end of 2013/14 in order to pursue other options.
Feyenoord fans gave him an emotional farewell acknowledging that he had taken the club back up to the top of the Eridivisie and although he had not won anything in his three seasons he was een as restoring the pride to Feyenoord and leaving them in a far better position than when he arrived.
In many respect Koeman seems to be the perfect match for Saints at this time, the club need to make a statement of intent, if they appoint a coach similar to Pochettino in that he is relatively unknown, some sections of the support will see this as a lack of ambition, but with Koeman this cannot be levelled at them, it will be seen as appointing a manager still young enough and ambitious to take the club forward, but also having the reputation that brings with it the clout to attract some of Europes best players as well as having the knowledge to bring in good players at the right price.
In short no one can accuse the club of lacking ambition if they appoint Koeman, he might not be up there in the higher echelons of Mourinho or the like, but over the past decade or so his record is up there with most managers in Europe.