Ralph Hasenhuttl has spoken to the Daily Echo about his long term plans for the club and the important role the academy will play in it.
The first job for Ralph Hasenhuttl is of course to keep Southampton Football Club in the Premier League and so far he has made a good job of doing that and our League position belies the job he has actually done with his points per game ratio since his arrival being one of a mid table even top 10 team.
The problem over the past few years though has been that several of our managers have not thought long term, you cannot blame them for that, a manager arrives at a Premier League club outside of the top six and his aim is survival, he is not interested in the potential of youth only of signing those who can hopefully immediately improve the team and thus keep him in a job.
That has been the case in our last three managers prior to Hasenhuttl and it could also be levelled at Ronald Koeman and Mauricio Pochettino, truth is these days Premier League clubs blood very few youngsters who actually make the first team for any significant time, indeed from the 24 man England Under 20 squad back in 2012, only 6 including our own James Ward Prowse are now playing in the Premier League, most are at best n the Championship and some below that.
So it is refreshing to hear Ralph Hasenhuttl talking about looking long term and the academy playing a part of that.
Much has been made of The Southampton Way and certainly over the years we have produced more than most starting with Ted Bates back in the 1950's, it should also be noted that after the emergence of what could be described as our golden period in the late 1980's early 1990's and the likes of Le Tissier, Shearer etc, for well over a decade we produced relatively few home grown stars up to the emergence of Theo Walcott when the conveyor belt burst back into life.
Few people will want to give him credit for this, but we do owe Rupert Lowe a thank you here, for it was he back in 1999 who completely revamped the youth team set up and put focus on it, Lowe might have been far from perfect as a Chairman, but he should be given praise where he has done well and we do owe him for this.
Ralph Hasenhuttl had this to say about his plans for the club.
"I know the Under-23s are doing very well,”
"It’s important for the young players that they know we are looking at them.
"A lot of them are now a part of our training sessions and get the chance to show up and train with the first team professionals.
"I think this part helps because they have more motivation and it makes them work harder.
"They also know that it’s a tough way to come up because it doesn’t mean that if you are part of the first team once that you will stay there.
"You have to show in every training session that you deserve to be there.”
Hasenhuttl also revealed he has regular meetings with Radhi Jaidi the Academy U23 coach.
"Every time we have the chance to speak about young players, we do it. I need this feedback,”
"I need to have a good view in this team with one of my assistant coaches [Craig Fleming] who knows every player in the Under-23s.
"When they are coming up to us, he is the first manager who speaks to them and to take care of them.
"He works on their deficits, so he has a good relationship with them which helps me.
"At the moment, we are concentrating on our team because this situation takes every person of my team to work with the first team.
"But for the future, I have big plans for the academy.
"I want to bring a good philosophy to Southampton Football Club.”
This is harking back to the early years of the Liebherr era when we were able to reap the rewards with the likes of Adam Lallana, Luke Shaw and James Ward Prowse to name but three breaking through, they had been at the club pre the Liebherr era but the work had been done in the past decade to make sure we signed the best youngsters in our catchment area.
The Austrian manager is keen to keep integrating with the first team, his method is one of encouragement and support and showing them what they could achieve and helpng them to do so.
"At the moment we have [Jake] Vokins and [Kayne] Ramsay.
"We also have Alife Jones, who was on loan but is back now, and Josh Sims.
"We have Yan Valery and Matt Targett, who are also players coming up from the Under-23s.
"There still a few guys we have in our focus.
"There is still the chance for them to show up and if we make the decision then it doesn’t take long for them to get their chance to play.”
The good news for Saints supporters is that Hasenhuttl is talking long term, of course managers will come and go, but it seems that Ralph is keen to stay for a longer period than his predecessors and that when he does leave he leaves behind a club with a strategy and a philosophy that will sustain them going forward, something we have lacked in the past couple of years.
The message out of St Mary's seems to be that the past is the past and the future is the future, that they are clearing the decks of some of the more experienced players to not only give the youngsters the chance, but also to be able to bring in key signings in the summer.
It will be hard to offload all they would like to and it could be some might return and be reintegrated into the squad, but the message is clear, their is now a strategy in place and going forward the future can be very bright.
But before this can all happen we need to make sure we stay up, that needs everyone behind the club, after the win over Fulham and the display at Manchester United you felt that there was a change in mindset not only in the squad but the supporters, the accounts then showing that Gao was not taking money out of the club then silenced a few of the sceptics leading to an atmosphere at St Mary's for the Spurs game not seen for a long time.
At that game the fans were with the team from the start to the finish and raored it home, the difference between now and a year ago is light years, The Southampton Way is slowly but surely returning to it's true path.