McMenemy Gives Credit To The Saints Board Sunday, 7th Jun 2020 11:50 When Lawrie McMenemy ended his first season at the Dell with relegation, the board kept faith with him and although it was not immediate, stability soon saw it's rewards, so the es Saints manager see's that in the current situation. When McMenemy left the Dell in the summer of 1985 he had been only the second manager in 30 years, his successor Chris Nicholl was in place for 6 years, but then things went a little mad and in the following 29 years we have seen permanent 23 managers at the club. Am amazing situation especially when you see that only 4 have managed over 2 years in the hot seat with none doing more than a few months over that. There have been many reasons why the managers have departed so early, some have done OK but been criticised by the fans for the style of play like Branfoot and Puel, some have been poached like Ball, Hoddle, Pochettino and Koeman, whilst the likes of Alan Pardew and Nigel Adkins were unfairly sacked after a good job. But many were not given the time and history shows them as poor appointments, the fact that two out of the last three have been in that category perhaps tells us where we took our finger off the pulse. But there has been a big change behind the scenes in the boardroom at St Mary's and we now have to stop looking back to the past and have a little faith in the future, the likes of Martin Semmens and Matt Crocker are now running things and have to be given their chance to show they can take the club forward. In Ralph Hasenhuttl we have a manager who looks at the bigger picture, he is trying to build foundations that will be in place long after he left, in fairness he is not building from scratch, Les Reed is given a lot of stick from the fans, but not everything he did was wrong and he oversaw the training ground and sports science improvements as well as the famous Black Box. But he took his finger off the pulse and forgot what had got us success and in doing so it meant changes had to be made. Lawrie McMenemy has spoken in the Daily Echo of how the new board deserve credit for keeping faith with Ralph Hasenhuttl when perhaps it would have been easir to sack him. "I couldn’t believe that a club who had one managerial change in 30 years could have so many changes in the following period. "But full marks to the board because Ralph has proved how good a manager he is. "An example of this is him telling Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg that he won’t be his captain next season if he doesn’t sign a new contract, as the midfielder is about to enter the 12 months of his contract. "This is a good sign of strong management and full marks to Ralph for that. "I’ve said in the past that a lot of managers coming from abroad only want to coach but Ralph is proving he wants to take on the management side which is so vital. "Players are persuaded by agents these days, but it looks as though players like Hojbjerg, who are entering the final 12 months of a deal, won’t sign a new contract because it means they can walk out the door in 12 months’ time and pick up a huge amount of money as there won’t be a transfer fee. "I will keep an eye on this because Pierre should think twice — especially when he is being supported so well by not only the supporters but also Ralph, who made him his captain when he arrived in December 2018 and has improved him as a player. "Well done to Saints for extending Ralph’s contract. Wise words from Lawrie, who along with Ted Bates can be credited with turning Saints from a club who had never played in the Top Flight to one that could compete at the highest levels. Indeed some parallels can be drawn from them, Ted Bates put in place the foundations and Lawrie built on those and that is the same for not just Martin Semmens and his board but Ralph Hasenhuttl as well, the spring clean at the club is over and we can now move forward. Whether the future will now get better we will find out, but what I do know is that unless we stop dragging up the past and start looking to the future we are not going to succeed, we need a catalyst that unites the fan base and hopefully Ralph Hasenhuttl can be that. Ronald Koeman looked a good fit for Saints, but in truth it was only on the surface, he was only concerned with the first team and results, Ralph Hasenhuttl is different, he is not known as Klopp Of The Alps lightly, he has the same passion and desire as the Liverpool manager, he sees the club not just the first team. Saints fans due to recent history in the main do not like Klopp, but truthfully all clubs would love a manager like him, one that get involved with every aspect of not only the club, but the supporters and the community, Ralph Hasenhuttl is hewn from the same block. If an elder statesman like Lawrie McMenemy can see that things have changed and that they are moving forward then that can only be a good sign. Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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