As newspapers claim that Mauricio Pochettino is going to be the next Spurs manager or maybe not, there is the possibility that this could all be an elaborate smokescreen by the North London club.
Thirteen years ago former Saints Chairman Rupert Lowe described Spurs as a bunch of North London yobboes for the despicable way in which they poached Glenn Hoddle the then manager at the Dell, it wasn't that Hoddle had gone, but the mannerin which Spurs acted that so upset Lowe and indeed all Saints fans.
Now if you believe certain newspaper journalists then Pochettino is the red hot favourite, these journalists seem to be lead by Neil Ashton of the Daily Mail who over the past year after first writing some gushing articles in praise of Nicola Cortese, seems to have made it his personal mission to spread muck about Saints, why this is the case it is anyones guess, but Ashton more than most never seems to miss a chance to try and spread one rumour or another and once a rumour starts it spreads like wildfire.
Of course Ashton has been at the root of the rumours that Spurs are after Mauricio Pochettino as he is also at the root of Lallana to Liverpool and Shaw to United, but strangely earlier in the week Ashton seemed to change direction on whether he thought Pochettino was Spurs man.
Prior to the early part of this week for Ashton it seemed to be a done deal, but by Thursday he seemed to have changed his tune, saying in a major two page spread in the Mail
"Levy is not convinced the Argentine has enough experience"
So why the turnaround ?
Well in the case of Ashton personally it may just be that he wants to retain a bit of credibility, if he keeps putting out rumours about Pochettino to the very end he could look silly in the eyes of his editor if he is shown to be so completely wrong, perhaps he has taken his vendetta against Saints as far as he can without losing credibility in the eyes of his editor.
But perhaps it is something more, yes Ashton may have well be fed stuff by Spurs about Pochettino, but perhaps now they are feeding him a different line, perhaps they were happy to let Ashton do their dirty work which made it easier to sack Sherwood and whilst the eyes of the footballing world are all looking at Saints and Pochettino, they can quietly get on with chasing their real target without attracting any attentions that may upset their plans.
I have always found it strange that Spurs would want Pochettino, after the last couple of years they have had with managers, they need to make the right appointment to appease Spurs supporters, that means bringing in an experienced manager used to dealing with a club the size of Spurs, that means a manager who knows what it takes to win trophies, who has the reputation that can not only attract quality players to White Hart Lane, but who can give the illusion that Spurs are on an upward trajectory.
If that is the case then is Pochettino their man, his reputation is high at the moment after the season he has had with Saints, but is that enough for Daniel Levy, Ashton is now pointing a tthe doubts that Levy now has, yes some like wanting him to speak English in press conferences are petty and distracting, but the "Experience" one may be very telling.
Pochettino's experience is doing exactly what he has done at Saints in the last 15 months or so, that is taking a club with a small squad who are relegation candidates to a comfortable mid table position, he did that for several years at Espanyol and he has done that in his season and a bit here.
Now that is great for the size of a club like Saints, but is it enough for ottenham Hotspur and their fans, I would say not, if it was then why arent Spurs after the likes of Tony Pulis, who has a far better points per game ratio at Palace this season than Pochettino, or even Mark Hughes who has turned things round at Stoke City and has big club experience both as a player and a manager.
Ultimately this lack of experience might just be what turns Levy against appointing Pochettino, if he had any intention of doing so in the first place, certainly it won't be an appointment that will please Spurs fans, anymore than Pulis or Hughes would be.
So given what I have read from Ashton this week I would be surprised if Pochettino is chased anymore by Spurs to any great degree, Levy will chase a "name" manager with the track record required, of course with the poisoned chalice aspect now associated with being Tottenham boss, it could be that Pochettino at some stage might be the last man standing and therefore they will have to offer him the job, but in the short term I don't see any real movement to take him to WHL.
Regards Pochettino himself, of course he will be flattered by the Spurs interest, like all managers he will have a self belief in his abilities, he will feel that he has had to coach to the ability of the squads at Espanyol and Saints, that if he had a big squad etc he would be able to change his ways, however history doesnt usually back that up, managers are successful doing what they do in a certain way, thats why the likes of Pulis and Allardice etc are best when tackling a certain sort of club and a certain sort of job, they ultimately have to stick to what they know. If Pochettino leaves then he has to change his style or suffer the same fate as a string of Spurs managers.
The up side for Pochettino is that it puts him with great bargaining power at St Mary's, firstly for his own contract and secondly for money to spend if he does stay and that could be good news for Saints supporters.