Saint easy to keep hold of Hasenhuttl
AT the end of October, Southampton sat in 18th place on eight points, having just been thrashed 9-0 at home by Leicester.
The local Daily Echo wrote: “Embarrassing. Humiliating. Desperate. The look of shame on the faces of some of the honest, hardworking staff who serve this fantastic place with pride and integrity should be shown to the people who brought this feeling upon them.”
Manager Ralph Hasenhuttl said he’d never felt anything like it in his 13 years as a coach, and was unsure how he could pick the team up from such a shattering psychological blow. But he did, and the Saints’ 3-1 win at Watford on Sunday took them to 40 points and Premier League safety.
The players and manager (with midfielder Nathan Redmond, left) clearly registered the shame brought on the club by that defeat and put it right in the best possible way. Which says a lot about them.
But especially Hasenhuttl who had already done an excellent job the previous season when he inherited a side that had won only three in 22 games and looked doomed.
You can see why Saints have just given him a four-year contract extension. Although you fear they may soon be once again on the end of another swoop from a bigger club for their main man.
It only seems a matter of time.
ALAN PARDEW’S eightyear contract at Newcastle, handed to him by Mike Ashley in 2012, finally expired this week. Looking back I’m not sure if it made a greater mockery of the fit-and-proper test of football ownership or the messiah status applied to some managers after one decent run of results.