The Daily Echo are reporting that Saints are not factoring in possible interest in Claude Puel from other clubs in making their decision about his future, if so then why the delay ?
The Daily Echo who presumably are closer to the club than any other media outlet have run a story this morning that Saints are not waiting to receive an offer from another club for Claude Puel's services in making their decision on whether he stays or goes.
They say any decision made will not be about whether they can escape from his contract without paying him off or indeed receive compensation for his services, it will purely be on footballing merits.
The Echo article states
"Vice-chairman of football Les Reed is still mulling over the best way ahead with Ross Wilson, and is determined not to rush into a decision that they might regret."
"Saints do keep a shortlist of potential managerial targets should they end up needing to find a new boss, but the club will want to be sure they can land who they would want should they opt to make a change after one season under Puel."
That is fine, but with the season now having been over for two weeks you would have thought that the club would have already been able to make that decision.
They surely would not have been unaware of the issues surrounding Puel both on the pitch and off it with a growing proportion of the supporter base becoming disillusioned with the manager as the season petered out with Puel making as many baffling selection and tactical decisions as he did in the first half of the season.
Add to that the fact that a larger proportion than normal number of season ticket holders have failed to renew and the failure of the club to make a decision either way is worrying.
If they were going to keep Puel then they should have publicly backed their man and stood firm against the dissenters in the fanbase, the fact that they are still mulling things over and more to the point prepared to intimate to the press that fact is leading some to believe that they do not know what they are doing.
If they were going to sack Puel then they should also have done it swiftly and quickly in a professional manner, at the moment many are thinking that they are waiting for Saint- Etienne to make the decision for them and not only save them face but money.
Indeed surely that fact they haven't made the decision cannot be pleasing to Claude Puel who has now gone on holiday not knowing whether he will have a job when he comes back, in fact this further strengthens the theory that Les Reed is hoping that another club comes in, what would you do if you were Claude Puel, knowing my current employer was unsure about me and maybe about to sack me I would secure my future if another job was offered.
So what we have is a situation where no one is actually looking like they know what they are doing, Les Reed and his backroom team look like they are indecisive and unable to act, almost as if they are a rabbit caught in the headlights and unable to move.
In fact the situation looks so farcical and unreal that the only real hope is that it is actually some sort of smokescreen to allow Saints to go after a replacement for Puel under the radar, as it would be the case that if Puel was sacked then not only would it become a circus, but it could alert other clubs considering a change of manager and likely to go after the same targets as us, to suddenly get their act in gear.
In fairness to Les Reed a man who has come under fire literally every summer, although at times it may seem as if he is not in control, he has usually come through and although it may look like he is lacking strategy, things turn out for the best, now that cannot just be down to luck.
The reality at the moment though is that the situation appears to be caught in flux with the club unsure what to do for the best, their hearts telling them that they do not want to sack a manager for the first time in the era post Cortese after a year, but their heads telling them that the situation is getting worse not better.