Earlier this afternoon the media went big on the news that Everton had agreed a deal with Saints to release Ronald Koeman from his contract, now Everton themselves have denied this is the case.

This is the strangest case of a manager being poached from Saints I have ever seen and believe me in the past 25 years since Chris Nicholl left the club I have seen a few.

Basically when a manager is wanted by another club he makes it very clear to his current club that he wants to go, they then reach an agreement regarding his contract and within 48 hours the deal is usually complete.

That is certainly what Ronald Koeman's agent thought when he started to brief the press last Thursday that he and Koeman were in talks with Everton.

Indeed he told the media on Saturday evening that both Everton and Koeman had reached agreement although he quickly back tracked when he realised he was admitting breaching the rules.

But even so it was expected to go through by Sunday evening and then Monday, before it was announced that Koeman had gone on holiday.

Well in any business it is very strange when one of the parties suddenly ups sticks and announces they are going on holiday half way through discussions there is plenty of time for that when the signatures are on the paper.

But that is the case with no one really knowing what the state of play is in the situation.

Saints appear to be standing fast and demanding compensation around double of Koeman's salary, they seem determined to put up a battle and almost saying to Everton that unless its worth their while they are prepared to let Koeman see out the last year of his contract virtually on gardening leave.

But strangely they have stopped short of saying this and are almost playing it with kid gloves when dealing with Koeman leading to speculation that Koeman himself is not completely happy with the move and is perhaps having second thoughts, hence the holiday to give him time.

That time gives Saints time to prepare their options and although they are not handing Koeman ultimatums, it is clear that they are not being easily rolled over, they are confident in their position and what they are doing, they seem relaxed that they have a good replacement lined up and are doing things on their terms and not Everton's or indeed Koeman or his agent.

The smart money is on this deal happening, but don't blame Southampton FC if it does, Koeman has been blinded by money.

Meanwhile Everton are not happy, they thought the deal would be done days ago, they thought that Saints would lay down and roll over and they certainly did not expect Ronald Koeman to go off on hoilday at a crucial time.

This has lead to nerves on all sides, yes Everton have a deal agreed between themselves and Koeman & his agent, but a deal agreed is not a deal signed as Saints have found out over the last few weeks.

The longer it drags on the more complicated it will get, will Everton still feel Koeman is their man if he is stalling and will Koeman be confident that Everton are the right club for him if they cannot agree a deal with Saints ?

All will soon be revealed.

Photo: Action Images

pintsizedsaint added 19:03 - Jun 7 BBC have reported it. Telegraph have reported it. It's done.
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SaintNick added 19:05 - Jun 7 The BBC have reported it but Everton have denied it, so do we believe Everton themselves or the BBC
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SaintPaulVW added 19:08 - Jun 7 Honestly, it can't be much of a flipping holiday!
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RogerToye added 19:31 - Jun 7 Because Koeman is so quiet .. on the subject, i just wonder if he is in turmoil knowing what he has said and now going for big bucks.. and now he becomes like all the rest. I for one thought he was sincere and thought good a manager for a reasonable term. but looking at it seems no one at this high level of football stays in the job successful or not for more than three years. But Everton ?? maybe RK doesn't want Europa league and thinks he can do better and get Everton to champions league.. All pretty shoddy really, I seem to remember the same tone with Toby.. why haven't we secured it sooner we hang around to much unless Les Reid Knows something . Get off to a good start next year and we can be going places.. at the end of the day its the players on the pitch

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SanMarco added 19:32 - Jun 7 It is good if Saints are not "laying down and rolling over" but the delay thereby created is only worthwhile if it is in OUR interests. Can we go full-throttle for one of the good quality available managers if RK is still on the payroll? This was effectively a done deal days ago and Saints need to act in their own best interests not to impress us fans with a bit of posturing.

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ChristchurchSaint added 19:44 - Jun 7 I'm sure that Saints have got top legal advisors involved so they will know exactly where they can or cannot go on this one. Half of me wants Koeman to f*** off and get the whole matter sorted, but the nasty half of me wants it to drag on so that he won't know what is happening, and he can realise how he has made the fans of SFC feel.
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bstokesaint added 19:57 - Jun 7 Wish he'd just do one personally. Sick of seeing his lying mugshot everywhere. I'm glad Saints are dragging their feet though if we're maximising benefit to ourselves. What would please most is, and I'm just speculating here, the delay is down to us insisting on clauses to deny Everton taking any of our players. This would potentially delay things if Ron was unhappy with this, being a man who likes to take players with him. If a deal hinges on this then it could taking some sorting. I say bleed them for every penny and clause we can. I'm just going to have to put up with seeing his smug face for a bit longer.

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corkcitysaint added 20:04 - Jun 7 I have no doubt it's true and he's gone, it's a sad day for his honour and character. I had posted before about how he was such an honourable guy !! In Ron we trust..ed. What a con!!
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fubsy added 20:06 - Jun 7 When there was talk last season, RK said the one certainty was he would be manager of Saints next season. Saints were confident he was going to sign on for another 2 year. I think the game changer is £7 million a year salary. I will be seriously impressed with RK if he has the strength of character to say no to that. I see PSG are after the manager of Sevilla. It will be interesting to see who we're considering. COYS

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pintsizedsaint added 20:56 - Jun 7 From the Flying Dutchman to the Lying Dutchman!
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Big_T added 21:05 - Jun 7 I think it all boiled down to what you said in the article about the agent "he realised he was admitting breaching the rules." Everton and RK's agent need to act like no deal is done so legal actions can't be taken.
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SanMarco added 21:39 - Jun 7 Everton might well be fined 50p for breaking the rules of course. So Koeman's agent of just a few days will get a large bonus of more than I earn in many years for 'facilitating' this malodorous farce - nice 'work' if you can get it...
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no7saint added 22:36 - Jun 7 To be fair to him it looks as if he had no interest in joining Everton when asked by Adam Blackmore a couple of weeks back. People will say talk is cheap in football but his reply was unusually frank, usually you get a non-committal response in these situations. To go back on such a positive public commitment to Saints will have been the last thing RK wanted to do; regardless of the money on offer he will not like how this looks on his reputation. So it looks like Everton have kept increasing the salary offer to such a ridiculous degree that at some point he’d break and it looks like they’ve found that point. If this is the case then he is going purely for the money which won’t go down well at Everton. If he was going to a much bigger club with champions league football he’d no doubt be a lot more enthusiastic, however I wonder if the delay is down to the fact that it’s not a move he would consider without the massive salary on offer. Whatever happens, we’ve been here before and we march on.

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saintmark1976 added 22:42 - Jun 7 If nothing else this whole affair will make some of our more gullible fans finally appreciate that modern day football is all about one thing and one thing only and that is money. Why our fans should have believed that Mr Koeman was any different to the rest is beyond me. Just look at the short time he has spent at all of his previous clubs. Unlike most posters I thank him and wish him well. I just hope that our fans do not now get engaged in an anti Everton hysteria. They tried it with all things Liverpool and it produced absolutely nothing. Just accept the situation and move on.

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bstokesaint added 23:43 - Jun 7 Mark, there's nothing wrong with wanting to believe our fans still like to think that integrity and loyalty still exist. It doesn't make them "gullible". Much of today's game is about money, but I for one thought Ronald held himself better than Poch, who I thought would go the instant he got a whiff of interest from elsewhere. I also think Adkins is a genuinely decent bloke so they do still exist. It's just finding one when the stakes get higher.

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SanMarco added 00:07 - Jun 8 It's not gullible to think that integrity and loyalty still exist in football - you get them occasionally, but it is optimistic to think that managers from miles away, who have probably not even heard of us before their arrival, are going to be that bothered. If it is just a case of Koeman changing his mind then he wasn't actually lying when he said he would stay but he has shown a lack of integrity and actually a certain amount of contempt in the way he has gone about this. It has just occurred to me that the delay could have been over what Koeman will say about Saints once he is unveiled...he will certainly be questioned on the whole integrity issue

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SaintBrock added 07:19 - Jun 8 It is patently absurd to imagine Koeman is in this situation only for the money, he is a very wealthy man from his playing days not to mention his many years as a manager. There is far more to this than most on here allow. He has always said if the club's ambition matches his own then he is very happy and settled here. Evidently something in that recipe has gone wrong and we are yet to find out what that might be but one can only surmise that other changes at the club are in the offing which do not meet with Koeman's approval but over which he has no control. I mentioned earlier that the other RK is out of contract this summer and there has been no news of a renewal so we must assume he's off. So who else is off as well? We don't know obviously but my money is on Katherina as the club has never been as valuable as now and unlikely to be so in future. A major upheaval is on the cards perhaps and Koeman just isn't interested in hanging around to see how that falls into place but to accuse him of being in it only for the money is childish nonsense. We will find out soon enough what's afoot but accept the fact guys that we are completely in the dark and Koeman isn't.

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SaintBrock added 07:32 - Jun 8 ...and let's not forget that Pochettino left because of the last major upheaval at the club
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SanMarco added 10:19 - Jun 8 SaintBrock: I think with the obscenely rich money is more about status and kudos than it is about spending power. When you hear that Rooney or someone is demanding an extra 10 grand it will usually be to push him above someone else in the earnings table. Ron is now going to be the sixth best paid manager in the world - that sounds good to an ambitious man. Saints were never going to outbid that, and nor should they. I have heard nothing anywhere about a sale of the club. We would be right to fear it. Those who demand it forget those clubs where the new owners beg/borrow/steal to raise the cash and then there is nothing left in the cupboard for advancing the club - or the intention is asset-stripping anyway. The idea that 'honourable' Koeman changed his mind because he found out about some skeleton in the Saints cupboard is appealing to us pessimists but the truth is probably simply that he had second thoughts , and having walked out, he may well now play the 'ambition' card to justify himself.

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