After The Ugly Inside revealed this morning that Claude Puel's position at St Mary's was under thread with the Club's board unhappy with the situation, now those rumours have grown with several national papers running stories.
The Daily Star claims that several members of the squad are unhappy with the Frenchman's style of management and have bust ups with him and Ryan Bertrand and Nathan Redmond are named, with other players said to be disgruntled and have approached Les Reed with their unhappiness at the club at the moment and the Star claims that Bertrand will seek a transfer if Puel remains at the club.
These two names come out of the blue and on top of Dusan Tadic and Shane Long who have had public spats with the manager of late.
A club source is also quoted as saying.
"The next few weeks are critical to Puel.
"Recent performances have not been good and he is under the spotlight.
"The board are aware there are a lot of unhappy players in the dressing-room and that is far from ideal going into the summer.”
"The board share fans’ concerns over Puel’s negative style of play and were also unhappy at seeing Saints crash out of the Europa League despite being drawn in a weak group."
The Telegraph also carry a more balanced view suggesting that Saints are considering their options and that the club constantly update a list of managerial targets should they be forced into or decide to make a change and club chiefs will study which names on it could be available.
Puel has also reportably told friends in France he is uncertain if he will stay beyond the end of the season seemingly backing rumours earlier in the season that he could not settle in England.