Saint Albert

The Sun says that Saints want Pellegrino: https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/3823873/mauricio-pellegrino-southampton/

Good. Giggs really needs to adjust his sights and start at the Championship/ L1 level. It also claims that Saints are keen on FdB. The Echo mentioned that he's still in the running today along with Pellegrino and A.Nother. I'm starting to think that the Independent article may have been wrong on FdB.

Blanc?

Apparently Conte went on holiday thinking VVD was in the bag, and is now displeased that VVD is out of the bag thanks to Liverpool's attempt at hijacking the transfer: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/06/16/chelsea-will-not-rip-winning-formula-appease-manager-antonio/

BJB: You look older than I thought you would be in that picture with Virgil..

Unfortunately it is one of my kids' favourites.

He can have his game shirts printed on the back as Davis MBE. Congrats he comes across as a top bloke.

I don't find Pellegrino at all appealing. If he's appointed it would be off the back off one decent year in Spain where he apparently played 10 men behind the ball with a weak Alavés side. Tony Pulis has had more than a few "decent" years playing a similarly uninspiring style and achieving decently mediocre or sub-mediocre results with under skilled teams. Why not just get him off WBA? (for the hard of sarcasm please note that I am not serious). I can't help thinking that his name is coming up purely because he's not English. I'd take Dyche over him any day of the week. Even FdB sounds better in comparison. At least his career as a player will get some respect out of the squad. By the way, does anyone know why Pellegrino left Alavés?

Would anyone like some Schitt? http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1spv4rm It's rather long, and covers a few different issues but most of it provides more details on Puel. Not sure how much of it is new after the info provided by Wilson and Le Tissier. I'll leave it to others to debate his ITK-worthiness. He mentions a few interesting other names re managerial candidates. Summary: Puel was on a hiding into nothing from day one because of lack of stature and poor communication skills. As Le Tissier noted yesterday, the board were open to keeping him but in the end of season review he could not see that there were any problems with the team's playing style, so they decided to pull the trigger. J-Rod really wants to leave, VVD will only go for circa £75 million, and Bertrand has been professional, has not thrown his toys out of the pram, but was upset with the Europa debacle and is looking to leave for the right opportunity but still likes the club and could still stay.

I find myself hoping that option C - the unamed candidate on Wilson's reported shortlist - will be more inspiring than FdB and Pellegrino. Perhaps it's someone who is presently employed elsewhere, hence the secrecy?

FdB. No thanks. That being said, this seems like an awfully flimsy reason for not appointing him last summer: De Boer was close to being appointed last summer when Southampton eventually opted for Puel but the perception then of hiring another high-profile Dutchman immediately after Ronald Koeman had left for Everton was understood to have been a factor.

There are other forms of communication, but I found nothing re Puel on the official Twitter accounts of: VVD, Austin, Bertrand, JWP, Stephens, Davis, Long, Cedric, and McQueen. I gave up after that.

Talking of random, a blog that I read last night on the VVD debacle stated that our future new owners have lined up AVB back in China.

I'm not much of a Twitterer but I was interested to see how the players reacted to Puel's sacking. Found this from Romeu. As classy as ever: https://mobile.twitter.com/OriolRomeu/status/875274486521757696

Commentary by Leitch on the sacking. Mentions Puel's reaction to the abuse he got during/ after the Stoke game. Made me a little sad: http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/saints/15348102.COMMENT__Adam_Leitch_on_the_sacking_of_Claude_Puel/

I hope that the recruitment team does not spend the next few weeks trying to find a manger who exactly fits their long list of criteria, aligns with the minutiae of the club's footballing and human resources philosophies and ticks every single little box in their recruitment chart. Puel ticked every one of their boxes, looked alright on paper and as it turns out alienated a significant chunk of the players, along with a portion of the fanbase. Quit fannying about and sign the best manager available.

There seems to be a deficiency in class among JRod's family members. I wonder if his dad has chimed in yet.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/06/14/claude-puel-sacked-southampton/

I thought (or hoped) that the last bit of the statement in the press release about searching for a management team meant that Black was out on his ear as well.

Pelligrini has surfaced in C. Palace rumours today. Not sure about Pellegrino.

I'm not surprised. Saints certainly let it drag on for too long, in my opinion. I feel bad for the fellow but he probably earned more money for slightly less than a year's work than I will earn in my lifetime, so I don't feel that bad. Anyway, thanks for the League Cup run. Best of luck and all that. I just hope that the club have a decent replacement lined up.

...he's apparently more valuable than 85th placed Virgil van Dijk. Who knew.

Eric, I really hope that your bits and bobs are right.

Going into the Wales game, Tadic had scored in 4 of Serbia's last 5 WC 2018 qualifying games - at least according to the commentators on my feed.

Michael Edwards was born in Southampton? You couldn't make this up.