The bookies wasted no time in opening the books on Mauricio Pellegrino's replacement, but ho accurate are they going to be.
First name being mentioned is Marco Silva, although with rumours rife that he is lined up to replace Sam Allardyce at Everton in the summer, it is likely that Saints might gamble on Silva as a short term option to lead them to safety allowing for a more thorough search in the summer.
Another favourite with the bookmakers although not neccessarily the fans is Mark Hughes, certainly Hughes knows what is needed to drag a team clear of relegation and has a lot of experience, however his reputation for putting out physical teams does not make him a favourite with the fans who would question as to whether Saints have a physical enough squad for him to be able to implement his usual tactics.
Slavan Bilic is probably third favourite, he was highly rated for a while at West Ham and lead them to 7th and 11th in his two full seasons, but clearly this season there have been issues at the Hammers and he seemed to have lost the faith of the owners.
After that the candidates get a bit less of an attraction, Gordon Strachan would be an outside punt for Saints fans who think that their side lack fitness and passion, something that Strachan seemed to instill in his side when he joined the club in 2001.
Then is the real outsiders, Brendan Rodgers is being mentioned even Martin O'Neil and Harry Redknapp, strangely also Frank De Boer, but most of these merely because they have been in the frame before.
Perhaps it could be a real coup, someone like Thomas Tuchel, linked with the club before and still out of work, perhaps this could be something that appeals to hi.
One thing is for sure Saints have to do something fast, there is noone at the club with the credentials and experience to manage the team, Kelvin Davis and Raidi Jaidhi have been mentioned but neither have the track record and the job needs someone who has been there and done it at the highest level.
Hopefully Saints have not fired Pellegrino without being fairly sure they have his successor lined up, but then again this is Saints !