There are sure to be dozens of irate Saints supporters now venting their spleen about how Mauriccio Pochettino was allowed to leave Saints but that does not matter one iota, all that matters now is what happens next.

There are going to be those who start to point the finger of blame at one person or another as to why Mauriccio Pochettino is no longer manager of Southampton Football Club, but the truth is that it can only be pointed in one direction and that is the man himself.

Im not blaming him for leaving, it was just that fate collided at the right time for him and knowing just how unstable a job is with a Premier league club, any Premier League club, he probably knew that he had to take his chance when it arose.

But all of that matters not one iota, Mauriccio Pochettino did not want to be manger of Saints anymore, he is now in the past, just as Alan Pardew suddenly was and the man who followed him Nigel Adkins, what matters now is who we replace him with.

There seems to be no shortage of candidates for the job and there are a lot of managers who are well qualified to take over and indeed the board seems to be well advanced in their search, in some respects though the World Cup is going to take the heat off them and leave them time to sort out a replacement, the fact we havent got a manager means that we perhaps wont sell anyone in the short term and certainly not before the World Cup.

We are not the first club to lose a manager that the fans loved and we wont be the last, indeed ask Everton fans how they felt a year ago when David Moyes left and ask them a year on, Pochettino played a part in Saints resurgence over the past 18 months, we are grateful to him for that, however he did not help build the foundations in the 3 1/2 years before that, he is gone, the club will go on.

What matters now is that the supporters unite behind whoever replaces Pochettino, he doesn't want to be here anymore purely because he had the chance to go to a bigger club, 13 year ago we felt the same way when Glenn Hoddle left, we survived and we prospered, we will do so again.

Photo: Action Images

montecristo added 18:48 - May 27 dozens? more like tens of thousands... I have no confidence in Liebherr, Krueger or Reed.Its clear they are here to realize assets not to invest. The ultimate aim has to be that Liebherr does not want to keep the club she lives on the continent the owner ship of the club disrupts her life so it has to go. She can get at least fifty per cent more return by stripping the club through player sales, which is why Poch left. Not rocket science.

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slynch added 18:51 - May 27 Murat Yakin mysteriously resigned a few days ago?
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COYS1947 added 19:05 - May 27 Frank de Boer and his team look pretty useful.
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densham41 added 19:21 - May 27 Montecristo did you notice all the empty corperate boxes last season or the empty corperate seats? How many sell out we're there? We are a top 6 team at best on our current finances. MP has used us to further his career . He hit the perfect storm with us. I team that had progressed together over the last four years, which created a massive team bond. A brilliant buch of young players coming through and more money than any other saints manager has ever spent. These facts took us to 8 in the league. The most gutted I felt last season was after the defeat in the FA cup at Sunderland. MP disrespected the supporters that day itch his team selection. For me the jury is out on our board until the start of next season. As Nick said all together now.

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SaintGeorge added 19:23 - May 27 I know it didn't happen straight away, but you can hardly call the decade after Hoddle — and more pertinently Strachan — either "surviving" or "prospering."
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winchesterbob added 19:29 - May 27 The King is dead........ long live the King! As long as it's not that clown McClaren
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thegeneral added 19:30 - May 27 Don't agree, what really matters now is we keep our top players, or in the worst case only let one or two go, can't see the likes of Hooiveld tempting too many decent managers to the club.
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amsterdamsaint added 19:36 - May 27 Bring back Adkins! MP was no better and had no affinity with the club. I was fed up with him by the time we surrendered to Sunderland in the cup. Oh, and Osvaldo was useless.
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richardmdcooper added 19:56 - May 27 Good article Nick - especially like the comment that that the blame can only be pointed in one direction and that is Poch - I can't believe the anger of some saints fans towards the board - it was Poch's choice to leave! He never showed any loyalty to the club whatsoever (including threatening to leave last summer). In my opinion, Poch is overrated - he inherited an amazingly talented young team and only made one worth addition (lovren). He also always complained that we deserved to win every single game. And then there was the Sunderland fa cup debacle and the lallana referee incident - all in all, I'm not too sorry to see him go. Moyes would be my first choice - an ideal fit - young team, working to a budget etc..

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ThereIn76 added 20:05 - May 27 We will probably never know whether there was ever a realistic prospect of keeping MoPo once Spuds made their move. I suspect there was none. Given MoPo's well-documented disdain for the Europa League, he was only going to be satisfied with the Saints board pledging the funds to make us a top-four side. Not just next season but repeatedly. With Financial Fair Play looming in the background. Before anybody starts slagging off Katharina Liebherr, remember where Saints were when her father bought the club. Or indeed where we were when she inherited it. She has spent £millions on the club already, we can hardly blame her if she feels that gambling many £millions more to try and oust the richest clubs in the country from Champions League spots is not a sound move. Anyway, MoPo has been given a 5-year contract at Spuds? How much of that will he last in reality?

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IanRC added 20:07 - May 27 Agree that Pochettino is overrated as Spurs will find out in due course. Hope we receive a substantial compensation payment though. The board will be aware that all eyes are on them to come up with a top class replacement. I question the 'supporters' who are prepared to slag them off before we see what they propose. By all means if they sit on their hands and dally over making a replacement or appoint someone unsuitable then give them the hard time they deserve but to not allow them the opportunity to bring in someone better when an ambitious idiot decided to move on is hardly appropriate or helpful to the team we support.

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IanRC added 20:08 - May 27 Here here therin76, suspect MoPo will not last next season.
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rjh added 20:39 - May 27 MP is no great loss. I lost all respect for him at Sunderland away in the FA Cup. I'd give Hoddle another go. Best manager not in work at the moment along with Moyes who won't come I reckon. If Lowe had had the bottle to re-appoint him in the 04-05 season we would never have been relegated.
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BoondockSaint added 20:42 - May 27 Therein76 is right. All those slagging the board and owner should sit down an play the parlour game "What Team Would I Be Supporting Now, If It Wasn't For The Liebherrs?" 18 months and MP is Fergie, Busby and Mourinho all in one? Spurs will find out, and if he isn't he'll be fired after 2 months. If he is, he'll be fired after 6 months! Whoever we get, he won't be taking our best attacking players off when we need a goal!

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ChristchurchSaint added 20:48 - May 27 I felt guilty at hoping that MoPo fails at Spurs, but it's re-assuring that others feel the same way. He said that as he had a year left on his contract, that a new one was not important. I think what he meant was " I want to leave and if Spurs offer me a job, I will go". Along with numerous others, I feel that he has made a huge mistake. If he had stayed and done a good job, he would probably ended up at Real or Barcelona in a few years, and I don't feel that many fans would have begrudged him a move like that. As Nick has said, let's just forget him and move on and give his replacement our support and hope that he will continue with us playing positive football.

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davepid added 08:36 - May 28 Things you learn. Looking at our number 2 and 3 goalies, never realised we had a goalkeeping coach! Now he's gone to pass on all his knowledge to Spurs. Good luck to Spurs no 1. Talk of the FAcup debacle at Sunderland. Perhaps poch will come back and make a bid for his first choice striker, Sam McQueen. I was not a fan of Mp by the end, he had taken us as far as he could. But I would have preferred it for the board to have been in control of the timing of his removal , not him. Like several others I don't think he will be at spurs in 12 months.

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BaselSaint added 10:55 - May 28 Yakin could bring Salah!!
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