Saints Fans Need To Stay Calm As Koeman To Everton Stories Hot Up Thursday, 2nd Jun 2016 10:25 The media is trying to stoke up rumours of Ronald Koeman jumping ship to Everton again with stories of multi million pound transfer kitties and doubled wages, but Saints fans need to let it wash over them. A week or so ago it was generally assumed that Ronald Koeman was not going to be the new manager of Everton, it seemed that he was satisfied with Saints ambition and with the wage rise offered and had headed off on holiday saying that it was now in the hands of the lawyers etc. So what has changed in the last fortnight ? The answer is absolutely nothing apart from the fact that Everton have been increasingly desperate to land a top class manager after the realisation that they are not an attractive proposition to those managers with a reputation to lose. That has meant that they have had to abandon thoughts of attracting a big name with talk of history and tradition and get down to luring potential targets with cold hard cash, both in the form of well over the top wages and the promise of a transfer kitty. Sadly there is little Saints will be able to do in terms of wages, if Everton want to pay over the odds then that is their perogative. But in terms of where Everton are compared to Saints and the transfer kitty then that is a different matter. The reality for any incoming manager is that he might have £100 million to spend, but a chunk of that is going to be made up of money received from selling John Stones and Romalu Lukaku, in many respects that is a similar job to the one that Koeman came into Saints and had to tackle, but the big difference is that Saints still had the basis of a very good squad whereas take out that two and Everton do not have much quality after that, the likes of Baines, Barry & Jagielka aguably the backbone of their side are all in their 30's and after that there is only Barkley of any great pedigree. Koeman was of course aided in his transfer dealings by the system that Saints had had in place for a number of years to identify and evaluate potential signings, of course the Dutchman's knowledge was also a key factor, but he will not have the same level available to him if he joined Everton. The job at everton is frankly far more difficult than the one that Koeman took on at Saints, Southampton were a club on the up, Everton are on the down on the back of several years of decline. That means that £100 million to spend in the transfer market is a pittance, even if spent it would still not give Everton a squad the quality of Saints. Another factor is the fact that Koeman is an honourable man, he has stated that he will remain for the duration of his contract, but he is also a man who has his future planned in his own mind, he is not a man who uses clubs as stepping stones, in that respect he values his reputation, but he is looking at being the manager of a truly top club at some stage, either the likes of Barcelona or at International level with Holland. That being the case he would surely not take a backward step and therefore a gamble by joining Everton, yes if he repeated the job he has done at St Mary's then his reputation would soar, but he has more to lose by going to Goodison than he has to gain in the long run. So the actual substance behind the sudden surge of media outlet stories of Koeman to Everton have little substance other than a few sources close to Everton trying to dangle a carrot in front of Koeman through the press to either tempt him or perhaps more poignantly to try and convince Everton's own fans that their club are serious players. But football is littered with clubs who have billionaires take over and promise a lot only to find out that money does not guarantee success and that in actual fact more often than not it results in relative failure, with the fall out being that eventually the Billionaire loses interest and the club is in a worse state than when he arrived, look at Aston Villa or Newcastle United for evidence of that. The reality is that club's need a proper strategy and to be able to implement that going forward, there is a limit that Saints can move forward without spending more money, but there is also a limit on how far they can move forward however much money they spend. Saints supporters should therefore remain calm this summer, Ronald Koeman signing a new deal is not the be all and end all, the only question is not will he leave ? but when he will leave ! That being the case we should have faith that the club have the strategy in place for his successor and that being the case then they have a far better chance of getting the right man in, than Everton have waving little all else in candidates faces than a cheque book. Of course we all hope that Ronald Koeman signs a new deal and that he stays at the club for years to come, but the reality of Premier League football suggests that will not be the case, Ronald knows what he wants next, a contract no matter how long is not going to change that. Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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