When Ruben Selles was given the task of replacing Nathan Jones it was initially acclaimed by many Southampton supporters, but 3 months later his name is now mud, but is it really all his fault.

The time for the post mortem on Saints season will come in a few weeks, but in the meantime a lot of the blame on the situation that we are in is being placed firmly at his feet.

Of course there has to be some blame attached to him during his time as temporary manager at St Mary's, he has made some strange team selections and substitutions, but looking beyond the veneer of the situation shows that whoever ultimately decided he was the man for the job, like those fans who chanted his name in his first few games in charge, was dazzled by his initial success and did not look whether he was actually qualified and indeed ready for the enormous task that stood before him.

The answer to that question now is clearly no on both counts, he had never actually been the manager of a Professional adult football team before.

He had spent most of the last 15 years slowly building up a career in football, starting as a fitness coach, then as a data anyalyst, before several assistant manager positions at various clubs in what could be describes as lesser leagues in Europe.

His arrival at St Mary's in the summer as assistant to Ralph Hassenhuttl was his first step into a position with a top flight club in one of the major leagues.

He was clearly earmarked as a potential manager for Saints, but the idea was that he would spent a couple of seasons or so learning what was needed at this level.

But with Hassenhuttl sacked and then the debacle of the Nathan Jones tenure, suddenly he was thrust in at the deep end, to be fair he probably relished the opportunity and two wins in his first three games plus a draw at Manchester United got everyone excited that he was the man to steer us clear.

Potentially he could have been, but the problem he had was that the club did not bring in anyone to help him out who had the experience needed in the Premier League or for that matter any other senior level.

Dave Horseman was promoted from being B team coach, but he had no coaching experience above youth level, he also like Selles does not have appeared to have played the game at professional level.

So we gave Ruben Selles the job, but we did not give him the tools to do it, we gave a man who had all the technical knowledge and only a few months experience at Saints in the Premier League a mammoth task, but gave him no one with experience to counsel him & help him.

When Ronald Koeman arrived, despite his experience both as a player and a coach at the highest level in Europe, he had no experience of the Premier League, hence Les Read knew that he had to get in someone to counsel him on the League, the players in that league and all things that the Dutchman had no experience in.

That paid dividends and this is what Martin Semmens should have done back in February, he should have recognised that we now had an entire coaching staff with not only no real managerial experience, but little actual football playing pedigree, Carl Martin's 60 or so games in League Two being the best we could muster.

We should have appointed another Sammy Lee or indeed even Sammy Lee himself , just someone who had been there and done it at Premier League level.

Clearly after that initial burst something was going wrong, Selles started to become erratic in his team selections and substitutions and his body language showed that he was a man under pressure.

Quite simply he was in a position that he had never been in before and certainly at a level far far higher than anything else he had experienced.

To be blunt he should never have been put in that position, of course he would accept it, this was the chance of a lifetime, but he had not earned his right to be there by paying his dues as they say.

The blame does not lie with Selles, but with the man or men that put him in this position and then failed to give him the assistance he would clearly need, perhaps they offered it and he turned it down, but they should have still recognised the gravity of the situation and made it a condition of his getting the job.

Who was responsible for the situation unravelling is yet to be truly revealed, as it stands Martin Semmens is the man that bears the overall responsibility for the day to day running of the club, he has to be the first man the finger is pointed at.

But for Ruben Selles he has turned out to be the man in the wrong place at the wrong time.

If Saints had appointed someone experienced to replace Jones then he would still be learning his trade as assistant, he would still be the golden boy for the future, now his reputation lies in tatters, he is seen as the man who now in his last 8 games has managed only 2 points, less than the 3 Nathan Jones earned in his only 8 games in the club.

It is hard to see how Selles can just drop back to being the assistant manager again next season, it is impossible to conceive that he might actually be kept in the job and tasked with getting us promoted.

Whoever appointed him has a lot to answer for, not only has he effectively relegated us, as I said 2 points in our last 8 games was appalling, if we had gained just 8 a poor figure at the best of times we would have a fighting chance.

But it is more than that, he has ruined a good man who may well have had a future at this club and now finds his own career in tatters.

Selles knew what he was getting into, I am not excusing him, but that does not make him a bad man, just one that was out of his depth at this moment in time, unfortunately he had to find that out the hard way, he should never have been put in that position.

Photo: Action Images

SanMarco added 14:56 - May 3 Excellent article - just one quibble over the fans singing his name: it is what supporters always do with a new manager - we would have been lambasted at the time if we had stayed quiet - and the results were good. Interesting to think that the two good mini-runs we had since New Year may have done us more harm than good. The three in a row under Jones (only one of them in the league) kept him in place to do even more damage and Selles' good start bought him enough time to make it too late to replace him. (it is too late for a Leeds style change for us and I doubt it will keep them up either.) Linked to those having a go at JWP: it is natural that we are all pretty down-in-the-dumps but any fans intending to aim abuse at the players and/or manager would be better off staying away, empty seats would be better. It is probable that one or two players we might like to keep are making their decisions over the next few weeks, vilification might help them make up their minds. I DO NOT include in this comments aimed at SR. They deserve all they get and more...

0

onetowatch added 10:18 - May 5 I really do wonder about so many on here who support JWP. Let's agree on one thing - we are all Saints fans and want the very best for the club. I have willed JWP to do well ever since he first wore the shirt.But, over many years, I have concluded he does not justify the 'star' status so many of you give him. Yes, great attitude, good engine on him and hardly ever injured (though many injuries are a result of making tackles which he never does). It is universally recognised he does not have the pace to play him in a wide role, and he has no presence to be a CM. He must be the easiest CM player to play against in the entire PL. I don't want to make that comment about him, but if you honestly see him as a difficult player to play against then I have no idea what you're watching. His continual preference to pass the ball back or square, often to much less experienced players , such asLlavia currently, and simply saying, 'you take responsibility to get the ball forward' is embarrassing. Which of us is right, we will see when he moves onto another club...

0

Blogs 31 bloggers

Luton Town Polls