Saints are playing Tottenham Hotspur at the weekend so the media are looking to make up a few stories about managerial changes.

According to radio station Talksport's website this morning Saints could be facing a battle to keep Mauricio Pochettino with Spurs already considering ditching Tim Sherwood only a few months into an 18 month contract.

Whether Talksport have a link into the Spurs boardroom or this is just more media speculation based on nothing more than Spurs reputation for jumping on the managerial merrygoround will perhaps be tested in the summer.

From a Saints perspective they are keen to tie down the Argentinian Tactician (Copyright the Calgary Herald) to a longer contract with his present deal like Sherwood's only taking him to the end of next season and advanced talks are being held in that regard.

In my opinion Pochettino has done well at Saints, but he is inexperienced in English football and therefore has made mistakes, however he has taken Saints forward and if he continues to learn then there is no reason why Saints should not continue to make the progress they made not only since his arrival but from the foundations laid down by the previous two managers in the role.

Since Spurs pinched Glenn Hoddle off us in 2001, Tim Sherwood is the 8th manager they have employed in a little over 12 years and perhaps Pochettino would do well to read the circumstances that Hoddle left and what happened to his career after, indeed two years later Hoddle would be sacked, ironically after Saints went up to White Hart Lane and won 3-1.

That makes it 7 managers in 10 years for Spurs, but take out another ex Saints boss Harry Redknapp who presided in the WHL hot seat for just under 4 seasons, Martin Jol who lasted 3 and the average shelf life (Good pun !!!) for a Spurs manager is not even a season.

Jacques Santini lasted 5 months, two of those where the close season, Juande Ramos lasted exactly a year and Andre Villas Boas went after a season and a bit back in December.

Pochettino should note that Spurs are chasing a dream of matching the big boys and regular Champions League qualification, however they are not taking note that clubs like their big rivals Arsenal, Man Utd and now Liverpool are succeeding not by firing managers every time something goes wrong, but by looking for continuity, their goals are not short term but long term and perhaps until those responsible for hiring and firing managers on the Spurs board grasp that, then they are perhaps destined to keep repeating their history of the last dozen or so years when either they sack their manager after a year or when the first thing goes wrong later in his tenure, whatever the motto was on the old Spurs crest i dont think it translated to patience is a virtue.

So perhaps Pochettino will be the next Spurs manager, if thats this summer then I think that perhaps it will be a repeat of history for Spurs, Pochettino is still not experienced enough in the Premier to take on a job such as Spurs, his background so far has been taking Espanyol and Saints from relegation fodder to mid table, whilst that may be acceptable to Saints in their current phase of development, it isnt what Spurs are looking for, far more experienced manager such as Andre Villas Boas have tried to move Spurs up a place or two but have failed, whoever takes the Spurs job needs to have a robust reputation and the experience to handle the pressure at this sort of level.

What is surprising is the number of ex Spurs managers who barely work again or in some cases never work again after the sack from the job, George Graham never took another managerial position, Glenn Hoddle had a year out, went to Wolves for a couple of years, but since leaving there in 2006 and never been employed again as a manager.

Jacques Santini after his year in the job spent a year at Auxerre but never worked as a manager again.

So history tells us the Spurs job is a poisoned chalice, whilst they on the face of it like to employ a young coach with an up and coming reputation, the hard fact is that it hasn't worked out foe them when they have done so, in fact when that coach has been foreign its usually been a recipe for disaster, in the last 20 years they have employed 6 foreign managers, only Martin Jol has lasted more than even Villas Boas short tenure.

Mauricio Pochettino is an ambitious man Im sure he wants to work at one of the big clubs one day, hopefully for his sake he wont be yet another young manager seduced by Spurs only to find their career in tatters in a fairly short time later.

Photo: Action Images

simmo400 added 10:36 - Mar 19 Bigger club = Bigger money. Even if you fail they pay up your million pound contract and move on. Cant loose really.
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1962saint added 10:56 - Mar 19 Would hate to lose him now as we need stability in the club just as we're in a healthy state on and off the field. However the old cliché - no-one is bigger than the club. It is assumed that with Poch staying we will continue progressing next season, and I think we will, but this time last season West Brom were riding high and Swansea had won the League Cup and were in the top half of the table. Fast forward to this season both clubs had gone backwards and both Steve Clarke and Michael Laudrup had been sacked.

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davepid added 17:50 - Mar 19 Nic if he's not big enough for the job of managing Spurs why is he the right man for Saints who want to be as big as Spurs and bigger? I'm still of the view ,he's taken us as far as he can and I await one of your correspondents to convince me otherwise.
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abingdonsaint added 18:50 - Mar 19 Davepid....please see my post on the other earlier piece. Personally, I think Poch has star quality, and there appears to be a few on here seriously underestimating the job he is doing. I hope he stays with us a long time. If and when he does go, I suspect Spurs will not be big enough!
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cheltenhamsaint added 20:18 - Mar 19 Davepid - I suspect you'll never be convinced otherwise, which is your prerogative and as long as you support the Saints positively whilst he is in charge I/we can ask now more. I don't feel the need to justify why I think he has not reached the limit of how far he can take us but neither have you stated whom we should appoint as a manager to take us further. But you seem very keen on the CV being the basis upon which to make these judgements. That is, you said Pottechino's CV has nothing on it to suggest he can take us to 6th in the premier league next year (a realistic progress year on year). I agree with you. There is nothing there. So let's look at the Saints CV to attract the manager you want 1. Never been champions of England 2. Never higher than 8th in the EPL 3. Once came second in the old 1st Division 30 years ago 4. Usually are relegation candidates in the Premier League 5. Have entered administration in the last 5 years and played in the 3rd tier of English football 6. Have a history of being a selling club of any decent player we manage to nurture through our academy 7. Whilst not in significant financial debt we are a million miles away from having unlimited resources to buy any player the manager sees fit 8. Once won the FA Cup - nearly 40 years ago 9. Lost in an FA Cup final 11 years ago 10. Lost in a League Cup final a long time ago 11. Haven't reached a semi final and lost (in living memory) 12. Have a loyal attending fan base of 25k ish which is significantly below that of the teams we are attempting to overhaul 13. In recent years we won the Johnsons Paint Trophy, a competition for the two lowest professional leagues I await your comments on how you would sell that CV to any manager who has a higher pedigree (perhaps even a candidate name) that our current one. And please, please do not use the word "potential" in your answer.

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davepid added 20:18 - Mar 19 Abingdon Saint. I hope you are right and I'm wrong .
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davepid added 08:26 - Mar 20 Ok Cheltenham Saint here goes. 1. Man city's recent CV read a bit like the one you've posted for us but that didn't stop them letting to a higher level quickly. 2. I would sell Saints alongside the lines of our current owners C V. I've got ambition, look what my family have done here over the last 5 yrs , look at my investment, look at my non playing staff set up, look at my bank account. 3. I would say yes this club has had an underdog reputation but that's well and truly in the past. 4. Our academy is class. Think that's all at the moment. And. If that didn't work I would just repeat - Ok at the size of my purse.

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LostBoys added 10:08 - Mar 20 It is going to be very interesting after the new Chairman's comments as the rumours about Pochettino and almost every player we have leaving are now approaching relentless
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ExiledSupporter added 14:47 - Mar 20 Well done Cheltenham Saint a magnificent review of how utterly hopeless we as a club have been and plenty of evidence as to why supporting the Saints has so often, but not always, been a profoundly depressing experience. You are entirely right it is impossible to imagine 'selling' Saints to a top manager if we think about the past, but hopefully we could sell the idea to someone prepared to take a risk with their reputation if we emphasise our prospects, which of course is a much shorter list and rather lacks much in the way of facts but plenty in the way of wishful thinking. Oh well, the last three years have been really good, but perhaps as supporters we shall have to get used to reverting to type and trudging onwards but rarely upwards. I hope not, but...

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