With the transfer window about to open in a months time, the season for speculation is starting, the latest reports from Germany suggest that one Bundesliga club has identified someone at St Mary's.
getfootballnewsgermany.com is reporting that Wolfsburg are in the market for a new Sporting Director after sacking the previous incumbent of the job two weeks ago.
They had a target in mind, Hoffenheim's Andeas Schicker, but were unable to prise him away from Hoffenheim and now are turning to other targets.
The three names being mentioned in the German media are Hannover's Marcus Mann, Elversberg’s Nils-Ole Book & our own Johannes Spors.
Spors had come under fire from Southampton supporters earlier this season who accused him of appointing the wrong manager in Will Still and then his transfer strategy with the claim that our summer recruitment had been poor.
The last few weeks has seen Spors stock rise amongst the St Mary's faithful as Tonda Eckert after being appointed interim manager, suddenly turned round the teams fortunes with 4 straight wins and the summer signings played a big part of that, flourishing under Eckert who finally played to their strengths, something that Still failed to do.
But in Germany his stock has always been high and he has worked at a number of clubs in his home country as well as abroad and he has been one to watch for many.
Now it seems that we may be bracing ourselves for an approach from Wolfsburg, the hope though is that, this will not be attractive for Spors.
At the moment he is part of a project rather than being just at one club, he is a Sporting Director of Sport Republic as well as also fulfilling his role at Southampton Football Club.
After a shaky start when he inherited a mess back in March with a team heading for relegation, top heavy with signings that had barely been used by the previous managers last season, he wasted no time in getting to work, paying off Ivan Juric for the final months of his contract and putting in Simon Rusk to try and calm the turbulent waters in the dressing room, rather than let them further fester.
In the summer he also oversaw some astute signing both permanent & on loan, this was not immediately apparent, but Spors also was not afraid to make a tough decision in sacking Will Still and putting his faith in Tonda Eckert, which immediately produced improvement not just in results but in the way the team played and the spirit in the dressing room with the likes of Tom Fellows, Leo Scienza Caspar Jander & Finn Azaz all suddenly showing just why we bought them in the first place.
From a Saints perspective this is yet more deja vu, two years ago with Jason Wilcox appointed as Director of Football we looked to be back on track, some good signings made and promotion secured, sadly Wilcox was not there to celebrate it having been poached by Manchester United and leaving the club before the end of the regular season.
The mistake made after that was not appointing a replacement for almost a year, I am not saying that we would have stayed up, but we surely would not have become the car crash we became as we drifted aimlessly and directionless without a DOF to guide and counsel the manager.
So Spors has not been an instant success, but he has turned things round at the club and now it is looking like we have made some astute signings and perhaps may have a manager who can take us forward.