When a manager is appointed at any club the long term is discussed, however in the Premier league the reality is a lot different and at Saints we are no different.

Continuity is not a term associated with the position of manager of Southampton Football Club, since Chris Nicholl was sacked in the summer of 1991 after 6 years in the job we have had 18 permanent managers (including Nigel Pearson who was on a short term contract but was permanent) of those 18 not one of them has managed to stay in the job for three years.

So that is 23 years with an average lifespan for a Saints boss of around 1 year 3 months, of course the average is brought down by some of the shorter term appointments Stuart Gray was only in permanent charge for a couple of months as was Steve Wigley, but the fact that no man has had a 3rd anniversary card in well over two decades is made even stranger by the fact that in the previous 36 years we had had a mere 3 managers.

Mauricio Pochettino stay was just about average, those who just about made a year include Harry Redknapp, Alan Pardew, Alan Ball, Glenn Hoddle, Dave Merrington, Graeme Souness.

So who were the long serving managers ? Ian Branfoot was 2 years 7 months in the job as was Dave Jones, Gordon Strachan was 2 years 4 months and George Burley 2 years 1 month and Nigel Adkins 2 years 4 months, these were the only men to make much more than a year in the job, this is a damning statistic, in 23 years only 5 managers have got past 2 years in the post, in fact its worse as the next longest serving manager would be Alan Ball with 1 year 5 months, indeed 10 of the 18 didnt get past a year.

So the pattern here is clear, we would all love a manager to be here for the long term, but in modern football that is not the case, as i have always said, managers come and go in quick succession not just at Saints but in the Premier league as well, this being the case the issue is not that they have gone, but what we do next.

Photo: Action Images

Horndeansaint added 16:19 - Jun 16 Well he has signed a 3 year deal but we all know that the paper bit only. Great appointment IMO, lets see how it pans out.
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aceofthebase added 23:57 - Jun 16 Proof, for those doubters or critics, that the owners and management team mean business and that they are intending to advance the club. Bye bye the POX and welcome Ronald
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