Most Southampton supporters assumed that Danny Rohl was the next Southampton manager, according to one report so did Johannes Spors as the man making the decision on who would get the job, so what made him change his mind.
Only one man can answer the question as to why Will Still is now in the St Mary's hot seat and not Danny Rohl, but attackingfootball.com have a theory as to why that is now the case.
They say that Technical Director Spors had two main criteria for who would be the next manager of Southampton FC.
The first was that his footballing philosophy should be about playing high-tempo football, similar to the ‘Jurgen Klopp way’ and secondly that he should have had experience managing a club in the Championship.
Rohl fitted both of Spors wants and also had the added bonus that he had been the assistant manager at the club under Ralph Hasenhuttl, not to mention coaching at Bayern Munich and the German national side.
So why the U tun by Johannes Spors ?
Well attackingfootball.com also have a theory, they say that Rohl was reticent to manage another club in the same division as Sheffield Wednesday his current position and that in articles he has expressed an interest in managing in the Premier League or Bundesliga, this may have rung alarm bells with Spors who wanted to make a quick appointment .
So whilst still interested in Rohl he decided that he also needed to look elsewhere.
Apparently Tom Cleverley was interviewed and then came the game changer, Spors found out that Will Still was looking to leave Lens in order to spend time with his partner Sky Sports reporter Emma Saunders, Saunders was diagnosed with encephalitis and is having treatment in England.
But the fact that Still was looking to come to England was far from the sole reason Spors was still after Still.
He looked deeper at his track record and what struck him was Still's adaptability, his ability to set out his teams to counter the opposition threat, not just in starting line ups, but during games.
Still might not have fulfilled Spors second requirement of having managed in the Championship, but his footballing philosophy and adaptability convinced Spors that Still was the man for Saints.
It was the lack of adaptability that got Saints in this position in the first place, Russell Martin's utter refusal to compromise his possession football game one iota, even when it was clear that other teams had sussed out the style and were waiting to press and force errors, Martin refused to change.
This probably struck a chord with Spors, who in Still saw a man who had publicly stated that he is not concerned about sticking to one style, but adapting to the situation at any given time, his focus is on winning games, not running his own agenda.
Attacking Football go on to say this about Still.
"He could still easily utilise a high-tempo system, as demonstrated at times with Stade de Reims and Lens, but he will prioritise control in possession while competing in the Championship.
"His Lens 2024/25 side averaged 54.1% possession in Ligue 1, showing that their edge in control of games is important to their success. Lens had the fourth least possession in their own defensive third but the fourth most in Ligue 1 in the final third, juxtaposing Martin’s style.
"This would see the increase in directness that Spors wanted. So while Still isn’t quite the Röhl that would bring back the ways of Southampton cult hero Ralph Hasenhüttl, he has the ability to bring this out of the Saints squad.
Of course appointing Still is a gamble, but football has changed over the years, there is no guarantee that a manager who has been successful at one club will be successful at another, slowly but surely the journeymen managers who get teams up or keep them up are going.
From this respect Saints supporters should be happy, Spors has not invented the wheel, Southampton FC have been appointing managers for 70 years who are very much up and coming rather than established.
Neutral observers have noted that Southampton a club now in the second tier of English football have secured the services of a manager from the top flight of French football whom he has steered to a top half finish only a few points off of a European qualifying place.
They might counter that we have punched above our weight in this appointment.
Certainly since Sport Republic arrived at St Mary's they have made mistakes, they firstly let the old board run things and that resulted in relegation two years ago, they then appointed Jason Wilcox who oversaw a successful promotion campaign, but left just before it's conclusion.
We then soldiered on without a Director of football and we paid a high price, we were directionless again on the footballing side of things.
The arrival of Johannes Spors has seen stability return to St Mary's and the appointment of Will Still shows the thought that has gone into the process, this isn't the panicking of sacking Ralph Hasenhuttl and then Nathan Jones and Selles in quick succession.
It isn't the leaderless situation that allowed Russell Martin to run his own agenda and then the baffling arrival of Ivan Juric.
This is a reset of the was that the club is run, Sport Republic have made mistakes, hopefully they have learned from them and we have addressed the issues we have had and can once again move forward.
On Saturday morning I was unsure about the wisdom of appointing Will Still over Danny Rohl, the more I read about our new manager and the thinking behind his appointment, the more confident I am that this club can compete next season.