Ronald Koeman will get a stark reminder of just what he has given up footballing wise, when his return to St Mary's is delayed by a day.

Was it only a month ago Ronald Koeman was stood on the St Mary's pitch with his arms aloft and celebrating another Europa League qualification for Saints ?

After the game he reiterated that he would be seeing out his contract with Saints and would start discussing a new one now the season was over.

That seems a lifetime away and no Saints fan in St Mary's that day would have predicted what was going to happen next.

Now Ronald Koeman will arrive back at St Mary's, not leading a Saints team that will again be hoping for a top six finish, nor will he have been enjoying European competition a few days earlier. although his former players and Saints fans will have done so.

Koeman may well be finding out by late November that money is not everything, either in his personal life where he abandoned all his principles, not in his professional life where he could well be finding that £150 million in a transfer kitty is not enough to improve a poor Everton squad to the level that his new employer is demanding.

With at least another six clubs intending to spend that amount in the summer transfer window and all of them starting from a far better position in terms of quality of current squad, Koeman may well find that his situation at Everton will be far different to that he enjoyed at St Mary's.

If he endures a bad start at Goodison or a run similar to the one he suffered at Saints last season between November and mid January and finds himself languishing in the bottom half of the Premier League table, then he may find that patience is in short supply with Everton's new sugar daddy Moshiri.

The new philosophy at Everton is to throw money at the problem and as Chelsea, Spurs, Liverpool and Manchester United have all found in the past three seasons, it is no good having a lot of money unless you have the long term strategy in place to move forward.

Everton under Davd Moyes did have that strategy in place, but with Bill Kenwright being forced into the periphery there is a new way of doing things at Goodison Park and it will not be the way Koeman is used too.

But for Saints fans that is neither here or there, we have the Europa League tolook forward to, we have an owner who wants a strategy in place and knows that in any business without a proper strategy you are just throwing money away, perhaps Saints fans themselves don't fully understand that, but they certainly do a lot more than they did a couple of years ago.

I don't blame Ronald Koeman for the fact that Everton found the price he would take to abandon his principles, indeed I wish him well and thank him for the job he has done at St Mary's over the past two years, I'm merely sad that he didn't continue and perhaps become a true Saints managerial legend, however someone will inerit that work and build on it, the path will be rocky, butwe asa club are in far better shape than most to tackle it.

Photo: Action Images

saintsnutcase added 10:55 - Jun 15 Nick - Of all the players and coaches that have left Saints recently, Koeman's behaviour is by far the worst and I really hope he fails. He is dishonest and entirely selfish. However, I remember that a lot of us hoped that Pochettino would be "sacked by Xmas" at Spurs. It didn't happen. Money does not guarantee success but it sure helps.
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efc1878 added 11:01 - Jun 15 "Evertons poor squad" I'm sorry but on paper Everton's squad is actually very good and have just underperformed of late which is which Roberto Matinez was sacked, the core of Everton's team is there for all to see and is far superior to Southampton's and with a couple of additions and now a good manager who actually knows what he's doing, Everton could achieve somethings special.

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saintcrt added 11:06 - Jun 15 I see Everton have been handed an "easy" start with half the no. of top half teams in the first 10 fixtures than Saints. We have 5 away they only 1 away time for Koeman to settle in?
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zitlig added 11:15 - Jun 15 After making a fool of myself and telling all who will listen that "Koeman is a loyal man who has promised to see out his contract, the papers are wrong" I really do not wish him well. My feelings may mellow if and when my comment stops getting thrown back at me. I have a horrible feeling tho that he will do well.
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LordDZLucan added 11:22 - Jun 15 I'm not sure who efc1878 regards as 'the core of Everton's team' but assuming he's talking about Stones, Barkley and Lukaku let me just give you my analysis of those three. Stones - thinks he's better than he is and as a result tries plays like a forward when really he should be defending; Barkley - head down, never looks up and as a result invariably runs into a cul-de-sac; Lukaku - totally one-footed and ineffectual when forced onto his right side. Sorry the core of Everton's team is not superior to Saints and Saints strength not only extends beyond the core but all the way to the bench! Saints will be top 6 again next season; Everton will struggle to get into the top half.

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Aaronsaintsmad added 11:25 - Jun 15 Ok i understansd that everton was a big club 25 years ago since its all been abit on off since then and not really acheived much in the time since in my opinion they arnt the team they think they are. And as for this new owner being a billionaire so is ours saint boast the fith richist owner in the league who know how to grow the club and spent within our means im possitive the evertonions have forgotten the finacial faiplay rule have fun spending this season break the rules and get a transfer ban for next season

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legod7 added 11:40 - Jun 15 He is in real danger of being sacked by Moneybags Moshiri if Everton do not finish in the top four at the end of the season
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SonicBoom added 11:46 - Jun 15 efc1878 - can't agree there. Everton do indeed have some very good players, or at least players with big reputations. However they haven't performed. You choose to believe that's down to the manager and maybe you're right. But maybe they arent that good. Barclay hasn't really progressed, Baines had a very quiet season by his standards and others showed brief flashes. Yes you do have a chance to move forwards but we have higher quality across the squad rather than two or three "big players". 16 points is a considerable gap. I'm sure you will chuck lots of money at your team but right now all the evidence is that we have a stronger squad than you.

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BUCK added 11:53 - Jun 15 its really no loss koeman going, he was a sloppy man. people forget he was so close to being sacked in january. with him going,its looks highly likely sadio mane will be staying. our strategy of running a business is the right way, as we say, "the southampton way". good riddance to a fat ginger bully as far as i know. bring in pelligrini or de boer and we will be sailing the top 6 again.

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highfield49 added 11:53 - Jun 15 Looks like the end of the road for all the players in Everton's Academy.
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romsaint added 12:05 - Jun 15 Tim Howard gone , Phil jags old , stones going , baines 32 this year , Barry old , osman gone, lukaku going . Kone ? Lol core strength that is
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SaintNick added 12:13 - Jun 15 EFC78, in my opinion it is a poor squad, the core of it,Baines, Jagielka and Barry are all well into their 30's and have grown old and when you take away Stones, Lukaku and Barkley there is not a lot else of real class, at least not in terms of what you are trying to achieve ie top four. Buck/Highfield, I do not agree with your comments in that Koeman took us to 6th place our highest ever Premier league position and our best in the top flight in 31 years, he did a great job. As for the academy issue, again I dont buy this we want a manager who will get involved, in this day and age your first team manager stays 2-3 years at best, his job is to get the first team to the highest position, to do that he has to get and play the best players that will be the ones that have the experience, when you are challenging for 15t then you have more leeway, the only two players apart from JWP coming through are really Targett and Reed, neither are better than those ahead of them in the queue, Koeman thought that and was proved right by the league position. I want a first team manager who concentrates on the first team it is down to the academy staff to bring through the youngsters and make them good enough to make the manager sit up and notice

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LordDZLucan added 12:19 - Jun 15 Good point made by highfield49 about Everton's Academy. The flow of U-21 players into the Saints first team squad has stalled over the last 2 years under Koeman. Harrison Reed looked ready to step up but then wasn't given any opportunities last season. Even more senior players struggled to get opportunities under Koeman e.g. Juanmi who never got given a chance and Shane Long who had to wait 18 months to get a regular start when everyone could see that he was the answer to the problems we were having at the time.

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WanderingSaint added 12:22 - Jun 15 I really can't believe what i'm reading. Coleman is the only EFC player that would get into the Saints team at the moment. Everyone knows it's a crazy move motivated by money alone. It will end in tears both RK and EFC fans.
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efc1878 added 13:55 - Jun 15 I don't think Southampton fans actually know half the Everton team from what I'm reading, some saying Baines had a poor season, no he was just injured for most of it. Some saying they would only take one or two of our players, I could list a lot more that would get into Southampton's side and only a couple I'd have for Everton so I suppose everyone just sees it from their club's perspective. Baines, Coleman, Stones, Jagielka, McCarthy, Barkley, Mirallas, Deulofeu, Lukaku is the core i was talking about which, for me, is better than Southampton's alternatives and despite what people say, they're all still very much Everton players.

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Big_T added 14:13 - Jun 15 Everton have a better squad? My wife and I have just gone through the two squads side by side, point each for a tie and point for win 6/17 Saints win. Unless you're one of the idiots who think Stones and Cleverly are good players you get Coleman,Mori, over Cedric and yoshi, Jagielka on a good day over Fonté. Garbutt and Galloway ahead of Cuco and Targett and Barkley instead of Ward Prowse and that's it, my wife says Pelle beats Lukaku (easier on the eye) whatever that means? I know which squad I would want. Saints march on!

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Bettwsresident added 18:44 - Jun 15 Big T, Re Pelle...my wife thinks the same! also he was superb for Italy against Belgium whilst lukaku was doing a great impression of Ali Dia! Pelle's role for saints should be how he plays for Italy, wins and holds the ball up, spreads it to runners (Long & Mane) and is dangerous at set pieces. Also what a thumping emphatic volley! If he does go this summer, that performance has put a couple of million on his price!

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StRipper added 20:22 - Jun 15 Sadly efc1878 is clearly deluded. The ageing of your side and the lack of consistent quality is obvious to all. Forster>>>Robles; Tadic and Mane>>>Mirallas and Delofeu; Fonte and VVD>>>Jagielka and Stones; Wanyama, Clasie and Romeu >>> Cleverly, McCarthy and Barry; Long and Pellè >>> Kone and Lukaku. Oh and Bertrand>>>ageing Baines You may not like it efc1878, but thats your problem, not ours. I advise you bleat to the blue few if you want someone similarly deluded to agree with you. The stats don't lie and neither do the league placings however much you try and belittle our consistent performances ahead of Everton for a 16 point lead as all the fault of one man. Strangely, if Everton are so good, why are the papers trying to link so many different players from Saints. That would indicate that even they think our squad is hands down better than yours. Its actually better than Liverpool's too, that shows the chasm between our two clubs.

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bstokesaint added 20:38 - Jun 15 Got to admit Big T I' surprised you had to write it down. I think it's fairly well documented how poor Everton are and what a big job Ronald has on his hands. Here on the south coast we're used to rebuilds. You could say we specialise in them! I'm not sure how much time and money Ron will be given, but I have my doubts he'll pull it off. Before joining Saints he did have some mixed success on the coast (to the point that I wasn't sure if he would be any good to us). Southampton provided him with a great platfrom to build a decent squad. I'm not sure it'll end in tears for anyone. If he fails Ron wlll get the mother of all payoff's to cheer him up and Everton will just throw the cash at the 'next big thing' and keep doing so until they run out of money or the new owner gets bored / wakes up and smells the coffee and disappears off to somewhere where his money be more than a ripple in a very large pond.

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SanMarco added 21:08 - Jun 15 The worst 'debates' on this fine site are the 'my willy's bigger than yours', sorry I mean 'we are a bigger club than you' ones. It is meaningless. Neither side has been regular challengers at the very top for a number of years, Saints never of course. Leicester are a bigger club than both at the moment. I would suggest to all Saints fans that we forget about Koeman now. Why would we debate what a manager of another club is likely to do? Obviously I will be delighted if he fails because he has behaved deplorably but I will be thinking about Saints now, not Everton.

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