Meet the New Boss, Same As the Old Boss

Remember How You Felt About Him at This Point in Time

So here we are again. It looks like Ronald Koeman is going to leave and join Everton.  It might fall through I guess (like if they don’t want Erwin) but even so, the damage is done and it would be a miracle if he was the Saints manager again next season.

I really didn't expect to be writing this as we approached Euro 2016 as I expected to be ranting about Roy Hodgson’s similarity to a chocolate teapot (more of that in another blog) but Ronald Koeman it appears, is about to travel the increasingly well worn path and jump ship when another club throws loads of money at him.  The thing that sticks in the throat is that all the signs were good, the team has had two brilliant seasons with the promise of more but mostly, he seemed genuine and he seemed different after (repeatedly) said he was going to see out his contract at least.  With players signing new contracts, the implication was that they must have been confident that the manager was going to stay and it was a formality that he’d sign a new deal.  We should learn to assume nothing.

I guess most people are expecting me to have a big rant and all that but I can’t really be arsed to be too angry about it like I was when Pochettino left.  I’m used to it.  It’s depressing in the wider context but there you go.  I would like to someone at the Saints media department to put together a little video splicing every single time Ronald said he was going to see out his contract. It would last about 20 minutes.

The first thing to say is that we will be fine. The structures that we have in place at the club enable a good manager to get great results and there is no reason why that should change. Obviously there is always the chance that we get the appointment wrong but our track record is very good recently and as a fan, you have to trust the board to get it right as they’ve earned that trust.  I believe that the board would have had a list of managers they thought they could get, as soon as the contract negotiations with Koeman started as it was always a possibility that it could happen like this.  It was a small possibility given Koeman’s (previous) nature and assurances but a possibility nonetheless.  The main names being mentioned as successors are Eddie Howe and Unai Emery.  I like both of these managers but I kind of hope Howe stays at Bournemouth to prove that not all managers are complete twats.  I know he’s already left Bournemouth once but he’s got them promoted and has had a good first season in the Premier League and Bournemouth have given him the tools to achieve that.  In my book, he owes them to continue the journey for another season at least.  Emery has declared that he wants to manage in England and has won the Europa League three years in a row so he’s done pretty well for Sevilla.  It’d be a calculated gamble but no more than Ronald was and Emery has a better record on the continent.  As long as he speaks English or thereabouts, I’d be happy with his appointment.

Anyhow, that’s for the future.  Everton are getting a very good manager but do they have the rest of the club structure in place which you need to be successful unless you’re a mega-club? Judging by the way Roberto Martinez failed over the last two seasons, I would suggest that they haven't. What they do have of course is a load of money to throw around, courtesy of their new Iranian backer who may turn out to be a very good foreign owner like the Liebherr’s or he may turn out to be a Leeds or QPR style nutter who fires a manager after the sort of run we had in the middle of this season and just thinks he can solve every problem by throwing money at it.  

Rumour has it that Ronald has been offered a salary of 7 million a year, approximately three times what we offered him on his new deal so it's no wonder that he is moving and we absolutely should not get into a bidding war for a manager that we have under contract. Everton always prided themselves as having class. Well it took approximately five minutes after the money turned up for them to start acting like Liverpool, City, United, Chelsea etc. Predictably, the vocal minority of their fans have turned from being a decent bunch to having ££££’s in their eyes.  I always remember receiving an email from a Pompey supporting mate of mine along the lines of “I bet you’re jealous that we’re swimming in Arab Oil money”.  Worked out well for them didn’t it?  Apparently, we should just let him go as they are a huge club.  For a second there I thought it was 1985 and talk about deluded and classless. If you want to wind up an Everton fan, just accuse them of being exactly like Liverpool now the money has arrived. They're not even the biggest club in their own city and by their own logic, they never will be because Liverpool have always been bigger.

As an aside, with Everton throwing shit loads of cash around, I'm going to have a bet on Victor Wanyama ending up there in the next couple of weeks. For players now it's nothing to do with playing Champions League football or any of that bollocks. It's just about the money. There will not be a cascade of big-name players signing for Leicester to play in the Champions League campaign this season. If a player has a choice between Leicester on 20 grand a week with champions league football and Liverpool or Everton for example with no European football but 100 grand a week then there is no way they are going to sign for Leicester.  Leicester will more than likely end up losing players as has already started to happen with Jamie Vardy apparently on his way to Arsenal.  This big fish don’t like a smaller fish swimming in their pond.

Anyway, back to Ronald and he has done the usual thing and gone away on holiday and then let his new agent do the work for him which is a classy move from a previously classy guy.  He’s also done it when all the players and staff are away on holiday or with their country for the Euros so he won;t have to say goodbye to anyone.  Shades of Glenn Hoddle here as he gave the players a week off mid-season and then cleared his desk when they were away.
Believe it or not, he’s has actually behaved worse than Pochettino in one respect in that the Spurs boss  never really gave any indication that he might stay and he did give an indication that he might leave. 

Those inside of the club like Les Reed will feel like they've been shafted and it's a very similar situation to Toby Alderweireld last summer. He indicated that he wanted to sign for us before suddenly finding himself receiving a big offer from another club and we got shafted, same as this time. To be more exact, Les Reed got shafted and as with last summer he’s made a well-intended video to let the fans know what was going on but once again, it's come back and bit him in the arse. Stop making videos Les.

It's funny that we slag of the media off for being inaccurate and sensationalist but in many ways the media now is more accurate than it ever was because clubs are using it to do their dirty work to and unsettle players and managers who they can't officially speak to.  This is doubtless what Everton have done here. I have no idea whether being under contract and not having permission to talk to another club means that a vulture club can't talk to an agent that a player or manager in employs.  Ronald’s agent Rob Janssen has been frantically back tracking on his earlier ‘done deal’ quotes in the Dutch media which make it plainly obvious that this is an illegal approach.  It’s amusing how these things come out of the woodwork as the deal nears completion.  Apparently the deal is agreed between Koeman and Everton and it’s now down to the clubs.  Really?  We haven’t given them permission to talk to him yet?  This may be being petty but I hope we carry on and appoint a new manager and then follow through with an ‘illegal approach’ case if there’s one to be had.  No doubt Everton will just throw money at us until it goes away.

Ronald Koeman has been a brilliant manager for us and has achieved much in his two years. He would have left with massive goodwill if he'd seen out his contract, even if he didn;t sign another.  I recall seeing the video of his departure from Feyenoord when there were massive ‘Bedankt’ banners in the ground and everyone was wishing him well.  How cool was that for a departing manager?  Without signing a new contract, it was always unlikely that he would be the manager right the way through until this time next year but as it is, we just have another new team to hate along with Tottenham and Liverpool and another nail in the coffin of any notion that there is any decency or honour left in Premier League level football.

I just have a feeling that he's going to regret this in every aspect other than his bank account. From his point of view, the endgame is to get the job at Barcelona. Maybe he thinks that no one is going to go from Southampton straight to Barcelona and he needed a bigger club first. Whether Everton are that is not entirely clear in 2016.  They can only really kick on in terms of size and status by getting a new ground and they don’t appear to be much closer to getting that then they were in the mid-80s when they were one of the most successful clubs in the country.  You could say they have more potential but football is a short term game these days.  Do they have more potential over the next couple of years?  From a career point of you I am very surprised he has not waited for the Arsenal job which has a very good chance of being available at the end of this coming season. Arsenal to Barcelona is feasible but I wouldn't say that Everton to Barcelona is unless he manages to win the Premier League. No doubt he'll come out with some bollocks about ambition or having taken us as far as we can go but at the end of the day it's all about the money as he rejected Everton at a press conference less than two weeks ago but they've thrown a shitload more money at it since then. It's funny how that can change even a wealthy person's mind.  He can save himself in my mind by admitting he moved because of his new salary.  I wouldn’t blame anyone for moving jobs because of that but of course, there’s more chance of England winning the Euro’s than Koeman admitting that.

At the end of the day it’s a shame because a manager who was pretty universally loved by Saints fans has done the dirty on us, despite repeatedly playing the ‘honourable’ card.  Well you weren’t honourable Ronald and you’re not and honourable man, you’re just like all the others, if not worse. 

Do you know the one media figure who I heard call it correctly – Dave Merrington.  He said that Koeman struck him as the kind of guy who was just looking for his next move.  Dave Merrington – now there’s an honourable football man.  I spent yesterday (Sunday 5^th June) at St Mary’s at a kids football tournament in the company of Matt le Tissier and Francis Benali – there’s two more.  One day, hopefully we’ll see their kind again.