There are certain football writers who when they comment about Saints, you know that their sources are good and one of them has spoken about the current situation at St Mary's

The Telegraph's Jeremy Wilson is well respected in the football media for his incisive and accurate reporting and having started his career at the Daily Echo is not short of contacts close to and within Southampton Football Club, so when he speaks about Saints it is usually accurate.

He has spoken today about the club's transfer issues and disappointment in missing out on Theo Walcott and the difficulty the club have in signing players due to their current predicament.

he lso suggests that the club are close to signing Monaco striker Guido Carillo for around £15 million as well as in the market for a pacy wide man, although there is no mention of a central defender.

But perhaps more interestingly is the comments about the position of Mauricio Pellegrino, Wilson states.

"Pellegrino’s position is now under considerable scrutiny and, while the club hierarchy are sympathetic to the difficulties he faced while Van Dijk was still in the dressing-room and evidently keen to leave, they are concerned by recent results."

"At the start of the season, it was felt that the squad could realistically mirror what Burnley have done by potentially challenging to get into the top six, and certainly competing to finish best of the rest. There is still faith in a wider model and no desire to turn towards a manager who might be perceived more as a quick fix, but the final two weeks of the transfer window are becoming critical."

This is perhaps the first whisper out of St Mary's that the club's board are not happy with Pellegrino and could be seen as a well placed media plant to let the supporters know that the club are aware of the situation and are not happy with it.

The problem for Les Reed and Ralph Krueger is that as Stoke have recently found, when you sack a manager it is not as easy as it looks to replace him, and whilst perhaps Pellegrino might have been sacked on results alone, there has to be a replacement lined up before the club can do so.

If they sacked Pellegrino then his coaching staff would also go, that would leave only goalkeeping coach Dave Watson and Kelvin Davis left to run the team, neither have any experience of running a football club let alone one in the Premier League needing guidance and leadership, even in the Academy sides there is little actual coaching experience at an adult level.

This means Saints are in a very difficult situation and Wilson's comments that the managers position is under scrutiny might be a message to try and placate the supporters that there could be a change in manager if things do not improve, but only when the replacement is lined up.

So whilst not exactly concrete news for Saints fans it is a chink of light that the club is actually considering it's options.

Photo: Action Images

skiptonsaint added 18:28 - Jan 17 I think it would be Mark Hughes , knows prem , available etc
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mgprobert added 18:35 - Jan 17 I don't think "Pellegrino’s position is now under considerable scrutiny " is the most sensational bit of investigative journalism - it will surely be like that for any of the managers in the bottom 6 or so PL positions.
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patred added 18:40 - Jan 17 maybe inside SMS it is a whisper..but they couldn't deny the roar coming from outside for his head...
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VeloSaint added 18:41 - Jan 17 Last weeks article was the first hint, this is an escalation of it. It surely means the club are actively looking for a replacement. Not many names leap to mind that realistically the club would go for or would want to come here though. Stoke have just proved how difficult it is. If by some miracle they have someone ready to join, then immediately post Spurs would seem sensible (assuming the inevitable defeat occurs).

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underweststand added 18:43 - Jan 17 Many of the players are on longer term contracts, which means , aside from those who will possibly / eventually move, we are "stuck with most of them " for the duration. Many fans are very critical of this season's performances (and not without good cause) but the fact remains that the "morale " in the dressing room is vitally important. We are in a situation of having had 4 manager in the last 5 years (not all Saints fault) Pochettino and Koeman left for the lure of the money and the prospect of managing a "top flight" team. Some of those fans who condemned Claude Puel , must be biting their tongues when they see what he's achieved with Leicester in a few short months. if indeed things don't improve dramatically in the next week or two we maybe into the next managerial change -and the question is ...Will the NEXT manager need to go into the dresssing room with kid gloves, or a baseball bat... to get things up and running?.

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SaintBrock added 18:57 - Jan 17 Clutching at straws, this is just ole Les spinning his way to 31st Jan with the same manager and no money 'wasted' on new players. It amazes me how gullible fans can be but obviously it doesn't amaze Les, he plays them like a pike on a line.
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redandwhitedee added 19:07 - Jan 17 There was no mention of a CB as we don’t need one. Is not rocket science.
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JimmyMeliaPhD added 19:07 - Jan 17 A slight complication to the story, perhaps, is that the most likely transfer in, Carrillo, is by the looks of it an MP connection. That's to say it looks as if we'll get both Carrillo and MP, or neither!
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saintsnutcase added 20:10 - Jan 17 This is the first concrete sign that MoPe is in danger. No wonder after his ludicrous decisions on substitutions!!
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SanMarco added 20:45 - Jan 17 Going off on a tangent it just occurred to me that at least we aren't worrying about losing players anymore...
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halftimeorange added 21:29 - Jan 17 If I had the money I think I'd appoint Derren Brown. We need a hypnotist to suggest to the board that they've got things wrong, put MP into a long-term trance and persuade the players that they can win. Also, an illusionist to convince the fanbase that we are actually seeing positive football. Derren Brown fits the bill perfectly, especially if we could get him access to opponents changing-rooms before each game. Maybe he should also be player-manager so that he could argue our case on the pitch whenever big decisions go against us but, having said that, most of the EPL officials go through matches already half-asleep so that might not have much effect. Nevertheless, it would be an interesting experiment and restore the Saints reputation for being innovative.

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Duone added 22:16 - Jan 17 Gary Monk
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richardmdcooper added 22:41 - Jan 17 Graham potter would be my choice.
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Shano added 07:13 - Jan 18 So the board has just returned from a 6 month holiday to inner earth and have caught up with going-ons then..
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BarnetSaint added 07:59 - Jan 18 San Marco Not quite true, bertrand is still with us for now.
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petedoors1 added 09:12 - Jan 18 This is worth a read http://www.skysports.com/transfer/news/11096/11211280/southampton8217s-problems-
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saintjf added 09:35 - Jan 18 The Telegraph article is significant. The club is admitting in public that it cant sign players as they do not want to come to a relegation side. You could also read into it that the manager might already be gone if the club knew who to replace him with.
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Toussaint added 11:18 - Jan 18 Koeman or Gary Monk
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NZsaint added 12:06 - Jan 18 Should of signed ,Moyes,after we sacked puel.plays are style.gary Nevil.maybe
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IWOZTHERE added 13:41 - Jan 18 Why now?...I'm all for a change, but it has been obvious to all for months. Why was this not done well before the window when there were managers available and the new guy would have had time to evaluate and have some transfer input? I no longer trust the judgement of ANYONE on that board.
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SaintGeorge added 19:24 - Jan 18 What if the next manager is even worse - skipton saint says Mark Hughes which everyone can agree would be awful, but it could be worse - it could be Pulis :o|
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underweststand added 08:16 - Jan 19 One day closer ...but don't expect " Pellegrino " to be allowed to spend millions whilst the axe is still aimed at his head. The legendary " Statement of confidence from the Board (two weeks ago) is usually the last word before the manager gets the boot, so don't expect us to spend £20-30 million by the 31st. -it won't happen. Another 5 goal drabbing celebrating Harry Kane 100 goals -(or whatever that stupid record is) - will certainly seal his fate, whereas even getting one point may only stave off the inevitable. Pellegrino seems knowledgable and makes all the right nosies but every game that goes by without a win only deepens his shaky position. We may have more candidate names for a new manager than we have for new players, and I still reckon that whoever we do sign will be a dark horse whose name has hardly been mentioned in the media. The Black Box may be spitting out a long list of names like lottery winners, but how many of them would think twice about coming to a club in our League position? Mmm!

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