Hasenhuttl To Become Saints Manager On Wednesday Morning

Ralph Hasenhuttl will arive in the country on Wednesday morning to take over from Mark Hughes as Saints manager.

The club are briefing the media that they have agreed terms with Ralph Hasenhuttl and that the Austrian will arrive in the UK on Wednesday morning to formally sign his contract.

However Kelvin Davis will still take charge for the trip to Wembley to face Tottenham Hotspur although Hasenhuttl will watch from the stands and will possibly meet with the players ahead of the game.

He will then take charge of the team from Thursday when he will stage his first training session ahead of the trip to Cardiff City on Saturday and he will follow that with his debut press conference.

But he will have little time to truly put his own stamp on the team with only two days to prepare, the team will not arrive back in Southampton till the early hours of Thursday morning following the match at Spurs, there won't be a normal training session but the squad will be in for a recovery session at Staplewood in the afternoon, where the new manager will address his team.

There will be another pre-match training session on Friday before the players and management travel to Wales to prepare for this weekend’s fixture.

The Austrian will have to rely heavily on Kelvin Davis for the trip to Cardiff for both selection and tactics as he will have had little time to assess the squad and make his own opinions.

But Saints fans will be hopeful that just the change will be good enough to spur the team on, certainly under Hughes this season there have been far too many lacklustre performances and a lack of leadership and tactics, if Hasenhuttl can just bring a little of that to his first game in charge then that will surely be a bonus.

The Daily Echo report that

"Saints have been impressed with Hasenhuttl’s vision for the club during the interview process, led by chairman Ralph Krueger and director of football operations Ross Wilson, and his determination to bring a style of play that suits their philosophy."

"Though it will undoubtedly be difficult to implement during the middle of a season in which Saints are struggling, the club believe they have got the right man for the long term."

"It will also offer Saints some continuity and stability while they work out what they want to do in terms of replacing Les Reed and Martin Hunter and establishing a new footballing structure."

"There has been talk that former recruitment chief Paul Mitchell, now working for RB Leipzig, could return to the club."

"However, the Daily Echo understands that is not an option that is currently being explored."

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