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Danny Rohl Turns Down Rangers And Stirs Up Southampton Rumours

Former Saints assistant manager under Ralph Hasenhuttl, Danny Rohl was the favourite to take over the managers job at St Mary's back in the summer before Southampton eventually appointed Will Still, but events in Scotland have opened up speculation that Rohl could be arriving back on the South Coast.

Danny Rohl was the nailed on favourite to replace Simon Rusk as manager of Saints in the summer, he seemed to tick all the boxes for both the Southampton board and the supporters of the club, he had worked under Ralph Hasenhuttl as his assistant in the Premier League, he had subsequently gained considerable experience as an assistant coach at Bayern Munich and the German national team and then joined Sheffield Wednesday and saved them from relegation from the Championship after arriving and then in what would be his only full season steering them to 12th place despite issues with the owner and finance.

What was there not to like about about appointing him to the hot seat at St Mary's, the answer to that is the very large compensation fee, said to be as much s £5 million that the Owls owner had written into his contract.

That was eventually settled by mutual consent and Rohl was a free agent just before the start of the Championship season, however that was too late for Southampton who had already appointed Will Still.

In the past week Rohl seemed to be the leading contender to replace former Saints boss Russell Martin at Rangers and again that seemed nailed on, but suddenly Rohl made a U turn on his application and told the Scottish club he no longer wishes to be considered for the position.

Sky Sports announced the news by saying "Danny Röhl has told Rangers that he doesn't wish to continue in the process of becoming Head Coach."

That prompted speculation that Rohl suddenly wants to preserve his free agent status and that means that someone else has approached him.

Some media outlets including saintsmarching.com are now putting two & two together and suggesting that club may be Southampton.

The inference is that Rohl was always Saints first choice in the summer, but the compensation fee was too high, but now as a free agent that hurdle has been overcome.

The rumours are also fuelled by the below average start that Still has made to his career at St Mary's, with the squad that he has to hand both in terms of quality and quantity when compared to their Championship rivals, the feeling is that the team is massively underperforming.

Other accusations are that under Still the team has yet to establish it's identity on the pitch, that he has adopted a scattergun approach and changes players at the drop of a hat, rumours abounded when the news that a Championship club Captain had approached the board to express the squads dissatisfaction about the manager, that the man in question was Saints Captain Jack Stephens, these rumours were hardly quashed when Stephens found himself one of several senior players to be omitted from the starting line up shortly after.

So Danny Rohl turning down Rangers will make Saints fans ears prick up, whilst there has been no widespread rebellion against the manager it is fair to say that there are a sizable amout of the fan base who are not happy with the season's start and concerned that there appears to have been no progress made in the right direction since the start of the season back at the start of August.

They see a team with no pattern to their play and no confidence and that is something that is the managers responsibility.

So what is your take on the latest rumours, give your opinion in the comments below and vote in our online poll Still Will Or Let Danny Rohl In

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