As the Saints Premier League tenure rumbles to a sad end, the speculation starts as to whom will be the next manager through what has been a revolving door over the past 7 months.

Up to November 2022 Saints looked to be getting some managerial stability, something that they had rarely achieved since the departure of Chris Nicholl in the summer of 1991.

At that point Nicholl had been only the 3rd manager at the Dell in 36 years, his departure saw the next 3 managers to last barely 36 months between them, indeed Ralph Hasenhuttl had been the only manager out of the 26 managers from Nicholl's sacking in 1991, a period of 32 years to last more than 3 years.

That stability ended in November and now it seems certain that in the summer a 4th manager in only 7 months will be in appointed.

In hindsight sacking Hasenhuttl was a mistake, yes he was on a bad run, but there were mitigating circumstances as he had a heavy injury list, at the start of this season in the previous 3 seasons, Hasenhuttl had won 135 Premier League points, Graham Potter had only 133, yet within a few months one would be sacked by his club and another would sign a multi million 5 year deal at Chelsea, football is truly a strange game.

But the past is the past and sorry to labour the point, but it cannot be changed, but the future can and that is now all that matters.

Sadly Ruben Selles will leave the club, perhaps some will wonder why I use the word sadly, but the truth is Selles should never have been given the job, he was here to learn his trade and build up to the time he had the experience to become a manager in his own right.

He would have perhaps done that at St Mary's and be groomed to take over in a couple of years time, the club did not think he was ready when Hasenhuttl was axed, so why they thought he was, barely 3 months later when Nathan Jones suffered the same fate I'm not sure.

Now the candidates to take over what has once again become a poisoned chalice are already jostling for position.

Jesse Marsch who rejected taking over on a short term contract back in February is still a favourite being priced at 10/1 by the bookies, this would be a supreme irony if he turned out to be our manager after all.

Chris Wilder currently at Watford is also fancied at 12/1, he has the credentials having got Sheffield united promoted to the Premier League, but the fact he is also being linked with Reading and Huddersfield perhaps tells us something.

Gary Rowett who almost joined Saints as a player back in June 2000 is also in the frame after nearly leading Millwall to the play offs this season, he has extensive experience in the Championship with the likes of Birmingham, Derby, Stoke and now Millwall, but although he is well fancied at 16/1 his track record screams Nathan Jones at me, I might be a little unfair here, I know little about his methods, but it just doesn't feel right.

Also at 16/1 is Frank Lampard, he seems to be linked with every job, but God knows why, for me he is certainly not the man for a club like Saints whether it is the Premier League or the Championship.

Ivan Juric, Torino manager, also shares 16/1, but would he really leave a club in Serie A for the Championship and you have to question would he really know what it takes to get out of that league ?

Brendan Rodgers is linked but my understanding is that the club do not think he is the right man for Southampton Football Club and is not liked.

Graham Potter is an obvious name to be linked having played for the club, notably as a sub in the 6-3 win over Manchester United in 1996, but is he really the man for the job, he built his name in Denmark, his one season in the Championship saw him only manage 10th with Swansea and as i mentioned earlier in his three full seasons with Brighton his record is very similar to Ralph Hasenhuttl's at Saints, both in terms of points and League positions.

EYAL BERKOVIC CELEBRATES AGAINST MANCHESTER UNITED 1996

He will more than likely hang on for a Premier League job, his stock is still high enough for that and there will be clubs in the lower half of the Premier League interested, although the Southampton connection will mean that he will be linked.

Rafa Benitez and even Ralph Hasenhuttl are names mooted lower down in the list of potential managers, but unlikely.

Personally I think it will be a name that few will have heard of who has quietly got on with learning his trade elsewhere.

The key to this though will be the new director of football Jason Wilcox who starts in the summer arriving from Manchester City, his Blackburn connections may mean current Rovers Head Coach Jon Dahl Tomasson coming into the frame.

Tomasson took Blackburn to the verge of the play offs only losing out on the final day on goal difference to Sunderland.

The Dane enjoyed a long playing career with the likes of Feyenoord, AC Milan and even a spell in the Premier League with Newcastle in 1997/98.

Since ending his playing career in 2011 he has been learning his trade, firstly as an assistant manager with Excelsior and then in other roles particularly Vitesse Arnhem whom he joined just before we played them in the Europa League in 2015.

He also was an assistant coach for the Danish International sides before joining Malmo in 20/21 as manager, in his first season he lead the team to the Swedish League title and followed that up by making the Champions League group stages in his second season before asking to be released from his contract in December 2021.

He took over as head coach at Blackburn last summer and as mentioned almost took them to the Premier league.

I would therefore not be too surprised if Jon Dahl Tomasson is unveiled as the next manager of Saints, he fits the mould, a young hungry coach who is now making the next steps forward after learning his trade.

He has the track record behind him of playing at the highest level both for club and country and it just seems a good fit that he now be appointed at St Mary's as we attempt to get out of a division he is now familiar with.

Photo: Action Images

saintmark1976 added 10:49 - May 10 “ In hindsight sacking Hasenhuttl was a mistake”. No Nick, the mistake ( amongst numerous other totally unfathomable others ) made by the Club’s Board was to even allow him to start the 2022/23 as manager. Your apparently never ending love in with Ralph is quite bizarre. As an opinion is only just ahead of your views that neither Japanese World Cup player Yoshida or helping to keep Bournemouth up Jack Stephens, were ever good enough to play in The Premiership.

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DorsetIan added 10:56 - May 10 It's easy to say that sacking Hassnehutl was a mistake. It wasn't - the decline that has culminated in relegation started under his watch. He got us into the habit of losing and arguably it's his 'playbook' that has completely failed under Selles. The mistake was in not appointing good enough replacements.
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saintlee added 11:08 - May 10 Ralph's time was up. He had become stale and his man management had somewhat diminished. Jones was a shocking appointment. No experience at this level and worse still, no experience at this level with a club already in a relegation scrap. Selles is no manager, good coach yes, but should never have been given it. Potter would be great for us but don't think he'd drop down a league. Rogers, no thank you. Cant stand him. Obnoxious and arrogant. Thommasen, hmm, not sure. Let's just hope sport republic get this decision right, although past history doesn't exactly fill me with hope.

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Bowlercow added 11:21 - May 10 Will Still check it out
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SanMarco added 12:10 - May 10 "In hindsight sacking Hasenhuttl was a mistake". No it wasn't. As the first three comments point out it was the replacement(s) that did for us. Having made the mistake of keeping Ralph on last summer SR, in a pattern that is becoming disturbingly familiar, then sabotaged him with their ridiculous player recruitment. Then when Ralph inevitably got the chop they replaced him with Jones. You can't use that catastrophic decision to make 'hindsight' defences of Ralph. In any job if the replacement is useless it makes the guy before him look better. If you want to say "given that the two later managerial choices were totally brainless then we might as well have kept Ralph" then yes - but that is not hindsight, it is just straightforward analysis of SR's idiocy.

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highfield49 added 12:19 - May 10 Whoever is appointed it has to be done quickly in order to get the under performers out of the door and give the new manager an opportunity to retain players before the end of June loyalty bonus fiasco. If greed in the game wasn't so prevalent I'd want, but not expect, some players to donate their ill achieved bonuses to charity, perhaps even the Saints Foundation, as they contributed so little on the pitch this season.

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dwayne_dibley added 13:02 - May 10 is CoCo the Clown available
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SaintNick added 13:17 - May 10 Saintmark76 "In hindsight sacking Hasenhuttl was a mistake". No it wasn't." Hasenhuttl 14 games 12 points = 0.86 points per game Jones 8 games 3 points = 0.38 per game Selles 13 games 9 points = 0.69 points per game So the stats prove that sacking him was a mistake given in who we appointed after, If he had stayed on and maintained this points ratio then we would now be on 30 points, still in the relegation zone as the table stands, but given we may have taken some of those extra 6 points against Forest then it would have meant that we would have swapped positions even if we had managed just one draw instead of two defeats. Ralph's record wasn't great at the start of the season but it was still better than what came after, given the injury crisis we had leading up to his sacking, then some would say that was a contributing factor to his poor start. But I would contend that if he had been kept on then with signings in january he would have got better than his 0.86 average. This isnt a Ralph love fest as some have pointed out, but an opinion based on hard facts based on what has happened. Of course if he had been sacked and been replaced by a manager who actually knew what they were doing then perhaps his sacking might have been justified, but we didn't do that and so sacking Ralph and replacing him with firstly Jones and then Selles was a mistake

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WestSussexSaint added 13:20 - May 10 I fully concur with the comments about Ralph. His time was up so sacking him wasn’t the wrong decision but hiring Jones and then Selles certainly was. I would also question your point about Selles leaving the club. Who says he will? He almost certainly (hopefully) won’t be the manager next season but that is not to say he won’t continue at Saints in a different role. He was highly thought of as a coach when the club with Ralph’s blessing brought him in last summer, it was just wrong to promote him to manager. He has said himself that he could see himself at Saints for the next 10 years, but that doesn’t have to be in the managers seat if the club think he can add value elsewhere. Whoever the next manager is will need to decide if they want Selles as part of their team (and Selles is happy to be part of it).

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saint66 added 14:43 - May 10 I think a lot of fans forget the owner of the club could hardly provide any funds to support Ralph and the work he put into the club looking from the outside absolutely drained him as a manager in the end. The current owners studied all of their stats and monitored Jones as the replacement manager who was a total disaster. They then appointed Mr Selles who has never managed a team let alone one in the Premiership,and that has just sunk the Saints. The owners have a lot to answer for and I personally lay the reason for relegation fair and squarely at their door.

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JoeEgg added 15:17 - May 10 “ In hindsight sacking Hasenhuttl was a mistake” Oh not again please! "So the stats prove that sacking him was a mistake" The stats prove that Ralph had lost his way . The mistake was not to sack him after the terrible second half of the season The only thing WORSE than Ralph's performance has been that of the owners. However Ralph oversaw the departure of many experienced players and I am sure the likes of Danny Ings had lost faith in Ralph as a manager and, in particular, his style of play. Many mistakes have been made - so if you like WITH HINDSIGHT- the biggest mistake was in not appointing a successor sooner and finding the right man!

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ItchenNorth added 15:27 - May 10 Fun fact about Ralph; he kept us in the Premier League on a shoe string ! It's far too easy to blame a manager. They are accountable for performance of course but so is the recruitment (policy) and in Saints case the finger has to be fairly pointed at the club. Managers these days rarely pick players in a transfer, they are just given a list within a budget and even then, players might not want to come or terms might not be agreed.

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saintmark1976 added 15:33 - May 10 Dear me Nick you don’t half suffer from selective memory. In attempting to continue the cult of St Ralph you choose not to make any mention whatsoever of his pathetic record for the last third or so of last season. As I’ve reminded you previously if Forster hadn’t played out of his skin against Arsenal we would in all probability have been relegated. You also appear to have amnesia to the fact that Ralph had effectively handed in his resignation by telling the club that he wanted to shortly retire. What other Premiership Board of directors would have allowed him to continue on that basis? Please, do also at least make an attempt at recalling that Ralph was the manager who oversaw the biggest home and away defeats in the clubs history and the longest run of consecutive defeats ever. Ralph was a busted flush whose ultimate lack of ability has only been exceeded by that of the Club’s Board in keeping him on, long after he was no longer fit for purpose.

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Crispinmumbles added 15:37 - May 10 Having watched how Blackburn came roaring back against Millwall the other day, I think Jon Dahl Tomasson is worth serious consideration. Potter would be the man for me though Potter would be first choice if he is interested. He was at the club and it's more about the quality he assembled and developed in the Brighton squad which De Zerbis is reaping the rewards of now. if he hadn't gone to Chelsea, he would be doing the same as De Zerbie. Lets pick someone who is balanced, believes in playing the game the right way and balances good, experienced pros with developing bright young things as Bates, Lawrie and Nicholl all did. Then back them and give them time! No loonies need apply this time please. Yes I do mean you Nathan.

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Colburn added 18:23 - May 10 Nick, seriously.... How can you possibly use the argument that because SR were completely inept in recruiting a new manager, that Ralph would have kept us up.. Look at his record for his last 20 or so games in charge.. Everyone apart from you could see where we were heading under him and its his miserable tactics which he passed on to Selles which has done for us. Wake up man ffs. If SR had any nous, they would have cleared out the clowns last summer. What is Semmens? Where did he learn how to run a football club? These are the reasons we did not get rid of Ralph soon enough and bought a load of A level students to keep us in the toughest league in the world, no idea from top to bottom and no idea from the fanzine author.

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JimmyMeliaPhD added 18:24 - May 10 We probably all agree that the two managers after RH have been worse. But the bigger picture is that RH should have been removed at least a year before he was (after one of those 9 goal defeats would have been a good moment--and would have been the end for most managers). I can't see Nick's holding a candle for RH makes much sense. If you look back over the longer frame of RH's tenure, things were getting pretty awful. Meanwhile, back at the ramch, although there's obviously discussion about a new manager, would people be shocked if SR landed up sticking with Selles?

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Colburn added 18:25 - May 10 And I also believe that although Jones was not the right man, he was undermined by Selles rather than supported and who gets the job next...?
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felly1 added 18:48 - May 10 Nickbait.. Best to ignore
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Miami13 added 23:28 - May 10 I hope and I pray the club acts quickly and install a new manager immediately at the end of the season. No fluffing around for weeks in negotiations. Pick your target and get your target, no matter the cost. Any prolonged negotiations will only create more angst within the fan base. On the matter of RH. The board should have cut ties and the end of last season. Keeping him and the youth recruiting was the two main factors for our soon to be relegation.

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ThereIn76 added 23:45 - May 10 I was a big fan of Ralph but he'd run out of road. Alson Villa and Wolves changed manager at about the same time as Saints did but they got their next appointments right, whereas we could hardly have gotten ours more wrong. I'm worried that the fact that we promoted Selles indicates that SR had no money left to appoint anyone with experience. They are still paying Ralph and Jones and are going to lose huge sums on the "prospects" they've lashed out on over the past 12 months. I wish we'd snapped up Eddie Howe when he was out of a job, but hindsight is a wonderful thing eh?

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ThereIn76 added 23:46 - May 10 BTW fantastic pic of Chris Nicholl in the wonderful 1970s Admiral kit
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landsdownsaint added 03:58 - May 11 I’m pretty sure we’d be playing PL football next season if Ralph was still here
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saintpete01 added 06:28 - May 11 Ralph huggers your up their in the stars
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Miami13 added 08:48 - May 11 @landsdownsaint Nope. Think of that horrendous run to end last season Think of the two 9-0 Think of all those points dropped from winning positions
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OwenTheSaint added 09:00 - May 11 Nick, you are spot on about Ralph. The figures do not lie, and at best they should at least prompt his detractors into considering the decision to sack him may not have been the right move. Yet, you are jumped on for even mentioning it, as no doubt I will be for this comment. I find it interesting that some are so forcible and quick to argue against your opinions on Ralph. Many were screaming for his head back in October, they got what they wanted, but it made things worse. Perhaps this is a door some do not want to look behind, or even consider approaching, particularly as we are now getting relegated. No matter who the manager was this season, with the squad we had, including no new striker, it was always going to be difficult. That blame lies above the manager.

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