In a statement of the official website of Southampton Football Club Ralph Krueger has revealed that Saints are not sitting on their laurels as the search for a new manager begins.

Ralph Krueger speaking on the clubs official website www.saintsfc.co.uk has revealed that the process of finding a new First Team Manager is already moving quickly, as Saints look to identify Mauricio Pochettino’s successor.

There are many people interested in what we’re doing here"
Ralph Krueger

Krueger says the support structure in place behind the scenes at the club both locally and abroad, is busy gathering information and relaying profiles to help the board make an informed decision on the man who will step into the St Mary’s dug-out as Pochettino’s replacement.

No timeframe has been disclosed on naming a new manager, but the Saints Chairman stressed that there’s no shortage of interested parties who are determined to build on the club’s current impressive standing as he also refuted talk of scaling back ambition, and reiterated the target of European football at St Mary’s.

“We have the highest quality managers in Europe knocking on our door,” Krueger stated.

“We also have the highest quality available players and their agents knocking on our door. There’s a lot of exciting people that want to come here.

“Right now, the focus is on people leaving, but that’s normal news broadcast. Behind the scenes there are many people interested in what we’re doing here. I believe the fact there’s so much interest in our manager and our players is also a sign that we’re doing the right things here in Southampton.

“Les Reed (Saints’ football director) is inundated right now with managers who are interested in taking this club forward and I believe we’re in the strongest position that this club has ever been in.

“We have 20 people working full-time on scouting and recruitment. We have seven people all over Europe, seven domestic and four to six in the office. These people are not playing cards, they are out there collecting data, statistics, profiles etc. and not just on players.

“This same group was involved with finding Mauricio Pochettino, and they were involved out there searching and recruiting profiles which they continue to do because that’s their job. A club does not invest in 20 recruitment people if it doesn’t want to improve or have ambitions to play European football, so we have all of these people employed which is a clear example of what we’re trying to do.”

Krueger added that the wheels are firmly in motion to ensure a smooth process for the arrival of a new manager, but understands the need to make a decision sooner than later.

“It’s really important that we move swiftly on this,” he said. “We’ve lost some time now since the season ended 16 days ago and I think it’s in all of our wishes not to rush the situation but to have a certain speed to it so that we can move. The preparation that’s been done by our scouts and recruiters make us feel we can move quite quickly to the next step to then present a shortlist of managers that we are considering, and then we can then move forward on the players, because we want the manager to make some decisions and be involved with who comes and goes, and they need to be able to continue to push the Saints forward.

“This process needs to just run naturally and we will allow that,” Krueger added. “There are times when in the interests of the club we can’t give information, and we just went through one of those time periods. It was difficult for me to keep my mouth shut but it was in the best interests of the club so I did and I believe it’s within the best interests that we just all have patience and trust in what we have here.

“I’m off to watch four of our Academy players at Under-19 level represent the nation against Ukraine tomorrow, and those are things that should excite us moving forward.

What we also know is that we will have a competitive team ready to play on the 16th August.”

Photo: Action Images

ItchenNorth added 19:02 - May 28 No mention of Cortese, Nick; are you feeling alright !
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SonicBoom added 19:20 - May 28 To be precise he didnt reveal anything. He just said we are looking. Im not sure about this guy and his business lingo. Continually talking about 'sports', and even when he says 'the saints' it sounds like hes talking about some ghastly American soccerball franchaise. Still time will tell. He does say we are inundated with top managers from across Europe. In that case it should a relatively quick and simple process to appoint a good one then shouldnt it. Or is he including malky makay and Neil lennon in that list. Plus I very much doubt he has heard of any of them. No pressure then les.....

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brianletiss added 19:28 - May 28 I am amazed at some of the vitriol aimed at the Board on this and other sites following the loss of MP. I am disappointed to see him go as he did a great job at St Mary’s. But I was more upset at the time when Adkins was sacked and before that Pardew. MP obviously wanted to go. He must see it as a great opportunity which sometimes you only get offered once in your career. If reports are correct and he has paid to Saints the equivalent of a year’s salary then he must have really wanted the Spurs job. Good luck to him – I hope he does well except for games against the Saints. I have been supporting Saints for over 50 years and whilst it is good to have ambitions they have to be tempered by what is realistic. Everton could not keep Moyes, Arsenal could not keep Van Persie and Spurs had to let Bale go. Contracts unfortunately are meaningless in football if someone wants to leave. I think finishing eighth was a fantastic achievement and it could have been even better. We let a lot of leads slip. But even under MP we were not assured of eighth or better next season even if we kept all our players and strengthened a bit. Look at Swansea, West Brom and Newcastle over recent seasons. We could be the same next season if we have a bad start. Why should the Chairman throw multi millions at players transfers and wages. We very nearly went bust recently and I don’t want to be a hostage to fortune again. Look at our friends down the road. It only needs the rich benefactor to depart and you are stuffed. Saints and Champions league could happen long term but we ain’t going to overtake the current top seven any time soon. United won’t be as bad next year. Being courteous to former players and the local rag is what I would expect from any decent business. Lets have faith in the board. As far as I can see they haven’t done much wrong yet.

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IanRC added 20:12 - May 28 Agree entirely BRian
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cheltenhamsaint added 20:26 - May 28 Well said Ralph and "brianletiss", Should keep the "don't know what you doing" crowd at bay until Monday. Then can you tell the football world what is the transfer kitty for the next manager so we have to pay top whack for any in coming players. And if we do decide to sell Shaw do it early so other clubs know we have £27m or thereabouts burning a whole in our pocket. With no axe to grind and probably innocent said, interesting that the recruitment team were involved in the process for MP appointment. I was under the impression Cortese single handedly scouted, researched and recruited him using his years of football back ground/experience to assess that he was the right replacement from NA. Well that is what he claimed anyway. The day after disappointment I am excited again. Why oh why did my parents move to Southampton when I was two. What were they thinking?

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schatfield added 21:26 - May 28 I love the fact our chairman has said what he said.....I really think Saints are a step above many other clubs in the way they look for talent and no different when searching for a new first team coach. Sure, he sounds North American in his phrasing, but who cares...he also sounds like he has his head screwed on right. How many chairman from other clubs have we seen do the exact opposite. they run like a business now, and they will do everything in their power to keep us an established force, so don't start to think otherwise.

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ExiledSupporter added 10:45 - May 29 While I am pleased that Krueger's statement dispels any sense of complacency for the moment at least; I also feel that we should give the guy some space to find his feet and display his mettle, what he needs to do is prove his managerial acumen and ability to learn fast. As always my concern is Les Reed's contribution which over the few years since his appointment has been very underwhelming indeed (not to mention costly because of his disasterous misjudgements). Nevertheless a club that has chosen to dismiss its U18 management team, had its first team management cadre snatched away en bloc and looks likely to sell at least two of its leading players and has a large deficit on its training ground finance and an inexperienced Chairman and Chief Exec cannot really be considered in an altogether stable condition. The wolves of the Prem League perhaps smell blood and an opportunity to destabilise us further. No time to be lost, but no time to make the wrong decision either.

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REEDYREEDOREEDZ added 11:45 - May 29 Well said brianletiss
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