Ronald Koeman has told the press about when he will be ready to discuss a new contract at St Mary's.
Several months ago Ronald Koeman stated that he would not discuss a new contract till the end of the season and he has once again confirmed that as his stock rises due to Saints amazing run of games as late.
Koeman's aim is to take the pressure off Saints as they go into an important run of three games in a week, a period that could see them propel themselves into the running for a Champions League place if they can get a good haul of points and other results go well for us.
However I'm sad to see that the Echo have used the headline "Ronald Koeman says he's not ready to discuss a new contract at Saints" it is sensationalist and of the sort you would expect from the Red Tops desperate to insinuate that Koeman is ready to leave and it is not accurate of the actual situation.
Koeman has long said that he prefers to concentrate on what is happening on the pitch during the season rather than contract talks, so this is about selling newspapers even if it ruffles a few feathers in the corridors of power in St Mary's.
I ave always been a big advocate of the Echo, indeed when they were banned at St Mary's I was a lone voice at some points talking of how a local paper is vital to a football club, normally although a local paper will not shirk at tackling a subject and so it shouldn't, it will report it with accuracy and lave the sensationalism to the Nationals.
When you read the Echo story it then concentrates on what Koeman actually said, however perhaps the headline "Koeman content with life at St Mary's" does not sell !
Speaking to the press Koeman said this about his future at Saints.
"This is the second year of my three year contract at Southampton,”
"I am a happy at the moment and we are doing well and I know what can happen in football.
"If everything is going well, you have to be prepared about a difficult time.
"If you’re in a difficult time, what we had during November and beginning of December, you need to support everybody because we like to change that bad run.
He added: "I’m still only on my second season. It’s too early to make conclusions or to talk about the future.
"Let me first finish this season and try and continue what we are doing until now.
"I don’t like to talk about my future because it is not the most important thing at the moment.”
That is exactly what the Dutch manager has been saying over the last few months, he needs to focus on what is happening on the pitch and not what is happening on it, he has more important priorities than contract discussions.
He is right this is when managers contracts should be discussed, but he is a very shrewd man, if he were to sign a new deal now he would probably get less than he would be able to negotiate in the summer should Saints have qualified for the Europa League again and if they should pull off a miracl and qualify for the Champions League then almost certainly he would be able to build bigger bonuses in, not to mention a bigger basic.
So it is right that Ronald Koeman should put his negotiations back to the summer, the reality for any manager is that a contract is no less likely to prevent them being poached by a big club whether it has a year to run or three, so from this perspective Saints fans should not see this statement as indicative of anything.