Jaidi Heads To The States
As revealed earlier this week Raidhi Jaidi is no longer head coach of the Saints U23 side, with a surprising twist.
We said in our article a few days ago that Jaidi was no longer in charge of the U23 side and that the club were delaying the announcement in order to find him another role and it seems that has now been done.
Jaidi is heading to the USA to become head coach of USL Championship team Hartford Athletic as part of a 12-month secondment.
Hartford Play in the USL Championship which is a second tier level in the States just below the MLS, it has 34 teams in it and 15 of those are affiliated to MLS clubs and it seems that this is the road Saints are taking.
But the standard is way below that of English League teams and is probably on a level with at best the Conference North/South, perhaps lower, indeed the only English player on the books is Ryan Williams who has played mainly in non League football aside from a spell 5 years ago with League 2 Morecambe where he was far from a regular.
The move signals the first stage of developing a partnership between Hartford Athletic and the Southampton Academy, which may in the future involve player loans. It also allows the club to strengthen the identification of talented young players in the US whilst sharing knowledge and experience of young player development.
Current Under-23s Assistant Coach David Horseman will lead the Under-23s on an interim basis and be supported by Head of Player Development David Hughes.
Academy Director Matt Hale said:
"The opportunity to become Head Coach of a senior team is an exciting proposition for Radhi and we wish him well for his spell with Hartford Athletic.”
"We are thrilled to welcome Radhi to Hartford as our next Head Coach,” said Hartford Athletic Chairman and CEO Bruce Mandell. "We thank Southampton Football Club for putting their trust in our organisation and look forward to our growing relationship.”
The news highlights the shambles the Saints coaching staff is in at the moment, this is dressed up as part of Jaidi's development and that is good, he does not yet have enough experience and the club are effectively sending him on a 12 month loan.
But given that those with less experience than Jaidi in Professional coaching now sit on the first team bench and training ground, it is a damning indictment on the standard of our coaching, if Jaidi is not yet good enough then how the hell are Kelvin Davis, Dave Watson & Craig Fleming qualified to do the job.
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