Now that the position is now officially vacant, the real contenders for the job are emerging out from a plethora of names that have been linked.

Whilst Claude Puel was still in the job it was hard to sort out the wheat from the chafe with a large number of names being linked with replacing him, but now he has officially gone the rumours will still flow, but the picture will be clearer as to who is a serious contender and who isn't.

The early favourite of both the supporters and the bookmakers was Thomas Tuchal formerly of Borussia Dortmund, however the German has apparently ruled himself out of the running, although to be truthful stranger things have happened in football than what would be a big about turn should he turn out to be the man for the job.

After all how many times did Ronald Koeman say that he was not interested in the Everton job last year ?

The two main favourites though are Frank De Boer is again the bookies favourite as he was at this time last year and he is closely followed by Mauricio Pellegrino.

De Boer would appear to be the man who would best fit the job description at St Mary's, after a successful playing career and a lot of international experience he learn't his coaching skills at Ajax and took charge there in in December 2010 staying till the summer of 2016 in the interim winning 4 Eridivisie titles and turning down an approach from Liverpool.

Last summer he looked to be heading for St Mary's but took the job at Inter Milan which proved to be a poisoned chalice, ironically his one win in the Europa League and one of his last games in charge at the San Siro for the Italian's was against Saints a result which cost Saints dearly.

Now he could finally be arriving at St Mary's and from the candidates being named he would probably be the one that the Saints fans would prefer, even if it is because in many respects he would appear to be working to a similar formula as Ronald Koeman who was on his way to being the most successful manager at Southampton since Lawrie McMenemy when he suddenly lost his principles.

Mauricio Pellegrino is a little lesser known he has good grounding as an assistant coach under Rafa Benitez at both Liverpool and ironically Inter Milan, but his record as the main man is rather chequered, he was sacked by Valencia after two year, sacked in his home country by Estudiantes after two years, he left Independiente after only a season and last term was sacked by Alaves after only a year at the helm despite getting them to the Spanish Cup final and 9th in the League which all sounds a little familiar.

Both men are also being courted by Crystal Palace amongst others meaning that Saints need to be acting quickly if they want to get their first choice.

The dark horse in the race is Ryan Giggs who is making plenty of noises in the press about his first managerial appointment, although there is some merit in appointing Giggs it has to be said that he does not have the experience and in general those who have enjoyed big playing careers and move straight into managing a top club (or Portsmouth) without the real grounding generally fail, think Tim Sherwood and Tony Adams.

The press are saying that Saints are intending interviewing both De Boer and Pellegrino although you would hope that with the season finished over a month ago that we would be at a more advanced stage in negotiations than is immediately apparent.

Photo: Action Images

halftimeorange added 09:58 - Jun 16 What about Julian Nagelsmann. If we can't have Tuchel he looks to fit our requirements - and he worked under Tuchel.
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steve73 added 10:06 - Jun 16 Neither of the two main contenders are particularly inspiring. I'd like to see a bold appointment like Julian Nagelsmann. I think his enthusiasm would be infectious and just what we need. It'd be a real Saints style appointment too. Whoever we get though needs real backing both financially and from all of us too. A bad summer and we could end up rolling downhill fast.
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steve73 added 10:07 - Jun 16 Snap 😂
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highfield49 added 10:19 - Jun 16 Not sure about any of the bookies favourites. I reckon the guy who could really move us forward is Rene Weiler of Anderlecht. Weiler, being Swiss, could well empathise with our current owner, took his club to a league title and only just lost to Manure in the Europa League in his first season at the club. His tactics appear to rely on having a strong spine to the team and developing younger players. Anderlecht also scored 80 plus goals last season and used player rotation to huge effect so he ticks just about all the boxes. Belgian supporters expect him to move to France or Germany to the next level but maybe he could be a good fit here. Contender?

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BaselSaint added 10:24 - Jun 16 Koeman `suddenly lost his principles` - speaking personally, if someone slipped me 6 million quid in a brown paper bag my own principles would be seriously tested. It would be hypoctitical to say otherwise. Therin lies the problem in modern football.
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charlie357 added 10:33 - Jun 16 Would love Nagelsmann but can't see it happening. He has just guided Hoffenheim into the Champion's League, something we can't offer unfortunately.
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arthurfane added 10:50 - Jun 16 Also Nagelsmann signed a contract extension til 2021 just last week. Although we all know contracts mean nothing . . .
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birminghamsaint added 11:23 - Jun 16 Pellegrino ticks the boxes for me. International experience including over 2 years in England so he speaks English. Has a reputation as a good coach and used to working on a limited budget and probably not expensive. Most importantly we can increase our limited repertoire of songs by re-inventing an old favorite: “you got Jacket, we got Pellegrino, Pellegrino…..

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SonicBoom added 11:34 - Jun 16 To be honest we won't know whether who we appoint is a good choice or not until they've been here a while. Good prospects could be shit and a strange choice might turn out to be great. Who'd heard of Pochetino?
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SanMarco added 11:48 - Jun 16 Sorry to be cynical but it feels like we either go for a ‘safe’ Puel mark 2 type option or we are adventurous and give Arsenal/Everton/Liverpool/Tottenham’s next manager a year or two to establish himself in the English game. None of the big clubs wanted Puel – perhaps as good a definition of failure as any at Saints in these rather odd times. PS – I don’t want Giggs for the reasons stated in the article.

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steve73 added 11:57 - Jun 16 I'm ok with the right kind of gamble - a young upcoming manager ready to try at the next level but Giggs, I'm certain, would be an unmitigated disaster. He's using his profile to chuck his hat in the ring for jobs far bigger than he deserves. Maybe if he plied his trade successfully at a lower level for a couple of years he'd be taken more seriously.
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Santos added 12:01 - Jun 16 Any takers for Slaviša Jokanović.
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jazzdougan added 12:38 - Jun 16 Please no............ none of the bookies favourites! Frank De boer's managerial career (imo) is untested because Ajax fc have rarely finished lower then 2nd throughout their history regardless of who was managing them. De boer's more recent career has also nose dived. He finished well behind PSV Eindhoven during his last two seasons and we saw how bad Inter Milan were under him! Mauricio Pellegrino has been sacked from all his previous managerial postions!!!! Id rather see Eddie Howe at St Marys. He's young, taken a team with less means to great heights, his football is attacking, he is always spoken of with good admiration from his players who always work hard for him. So why is he not being mentioned !? Then there's Brendan Rodgers - great manager, but what a tw@ !

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WanderingSaint added 12:58 - Jun 16 Why on earth would a guy who's just taken a team to the QF of the CL and won the (proper) German cup even think about joining us? The diff between Koeman and Tuchel is that Koeman was under contract, Tuchel isn't. Nagelsmann as I understand it has been discounted due to the level of compensation required. I'm actually scared that Giggs could be considered, 'cos he'll say all the right things and sound great, but has zero experience. He should be going for Div 1 or lower Champ roles. Not one of the potential candidates that are available & realistic, is a better prospect than allowing Puel to build a team, imo. I also think the level of interest from those at the higher end of the available and realistic candidates will be affected by the way we've treated Puel. Sincerely hope to be proven wrong.

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bstokesaint added 13:47 - Jun 16 One thing people are overlooking is that the Premier League tends to pay better salaries than most other European leagues. A very ambitious manager might fancy a bit of extra personal wealth in the short term and back himself to achieve great things longer term. That is of course provided that he’s not too ambitious and fails to stick around when even bigger rewards are on offer. I think we just have to accept this is where are right now.

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Sanguin added 14:42 - Jun 16 He won't leave a Champions League team for Southampton, but if he did then would Julian Nagelsmann be Saints' youngest ever manager?
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SaintBrock added 14:54 - Jun 16 Hot seat? Hardly, we are not Real Madrid more like Real Get!
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TeamCortese added 20:37 - Jun 18 What I find most baffling is why we haven't gone in for Eddie Howe? It's beyond belief that we do not have enough pull as a club to attract him to Southampton. We're a bigger club. We have better players and we are (along with Everton) the most likely club to break the top 6. COME LES AND KATERINA (OR WHOEVER IS IN CHANGE IN FUTURE) SORT THIS OUT!
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