Ronald Koeman has spoken of his disappointment of leaving St Mary's, but is he telling the whole truth ?

Ronald Koeman has spoken in the press as to why he is no longer Southampton manager claiming that it was because he was unhappy with their contract offer at the end of last season, but is this just a smokescreen.

What the now Everton manager is saying is slightly contradictory as to what he has said before and even in what he is saying now.

Koeman told the Premier League show

'The main reason was that we did not agree about my last year of contract. I mentioned to the club I would like to continue, and go into my last year then during the season we would have time to discuss about the future.

'There was no way for the club to do that, they came with the new offer and I was really disappointed about the offer to continue in Southampton.

'With Everton, you start to listen to the project, and I say ok, it’s a good time to move now, because it may be impossible to keep that level with Southampton.'

So given that Koeman was happy to continue at Saints into the final year of his new contract and wanted to negotiate new terms during the following season, why would he be unhappy at being offered a new deal for more money ?

Yes of course it might not have been as much as he would have hoped, but he knows more than most that contracts are negotiated and that both sides start from opposite ends and hopefully find common ground in the middle.

If every player and manager who was offered a contract by a football club walked out after the first offer figure then no one would ever sign a deal.

At the time Koeman was very public about the fact that he did not want to sign a new deal for three years, he wanted a rolling one year deal as he had had at Feyenoord, this of course left him easily able to leave for little compensation should his dream jobs at Barcelona or as Holland manager become available.

Understandably Saints wanted a little more stability, Koeman had signed a three year deal in 2014, they wanted a similar length of time now, Saints have a structure and they wanted to do as much as possible to make sure that the structure was stable.

The situation changed when Everton suddenly kept upping their offer, from derisory figures that Koeman felt able to turn down as it was little better than what he was on at Saints and indeed if sources close to Saints are believed then initially Saints more than matched Everton's intial offers.

When Koeman left St Mary's after the final game he fully expected to be returning as Saints manager after a short holiday, contract talks were ongoing and whilst Saints were not happy that Koeman had not agreed a deal the truth was the issues were concerning the length of the deal rather than monetary.

But then something changed !

That something was Koeman changed his agent !

Then the game changed, new agent Rob Jansen was rumoured to have close links with Everton shareholder Farhad Moshiri and it seemed from then on both Everton FC and Rob Jansen were determined to get their man at any cost.

It would be any cost, Koeman's contract at Everton was somewhere between £6 - 7 million depending on what report you believed, to put it in context he was now in the top 6 highest paid football managers in the World at more than double what Everton had originally offered and indeed the last figure that Saints had put on the table.

Saints offer was just short of the deal that Mauricio Pochettino had signed at Tottenham, that probably tells you that although we were not willing to pay what the likes of Manchester United, City or Chelsea where, we were serious competitors outside of that clique.

At the start of May Saints first offer was lower than perhaps Koeman had expected but it would still have put him in the top 7 highest paid managers in the Premier League this season and the improved offer would have made him 6th.

In context he is still sixth highest after the latest raft of changes, but he is on nearly double that of Pochettino in 7th.

The stumbling block for Koeman was always the length of the contract and not money, indeed as recently as March he had said he could not understand why managers took jobs merely for the pay packet.

Bu every man has his price and the fact is Koeman was offered far more than any other club was prepared to offer him, so his morals went out of the window.

Now perhaps he has time to think bout it you sense that he is not happy with the decision he has made, he will talk about the Everton project, but so far Moshiri the man who has lured him to Everton hasn't put the transfer kitty on the table, Everton have barely spent the £50 million received for John Stones, let alone the £100 million extra that Koeman was promised.

A decent start to the season is now seeing results tail off and only one win in the last 6 Premier League games aligned with 3 defeats sees Koeman at a crossroads, they have some winnable games in the next six as well as some toughies, by the end of the year Everton will know where they stand.

Opinion polls on Everton fan websites showed that only 65% were happy with him and 35% wanted him out, of course these polls are very knee jerk and came after a crushing defeat at Chelsea, but the Everton fans knew their team had played without passion, something that could rarely be levelled at him as manager of Saints.

So it seems that in speaking out Koeman is perhaps not wanting just to convince the footballing public that he loves his new job and does not regret leaving St Mary's, he is trying to convince himself.

Deep down he knows that he went back on everything he has stood for in football and I don't think he is completely comfortable with that.

I loved Ronald Koeman during his time at Saints and I cannot deny I was devastated by his departure, however everything moves on and I knew that certainly included footbal managers.

Now I think we may just have a better fit for the job than Koeman, Claude Puel is more in tandem with what we are trying to achieve and how we are gong to achieve it, we will build foundations and although it is a footballing fact that we cannot take on the big clubs in monetary terms, we can take them on on our own terms and that means developing talent and keeping doing so.

That is the reason behind three top ten finishes, we are not throwing money at problems year in year out like Manchester United, Liverpool or no supposedly Everton, we are building solidly and that is why we have competed against all three of these clubs and indeed finished above them in recent years.

Deep down I think Ronald Koeman wishes he was still at St Mary's building these foundations with a patient well structured club behind him, rather than where he is now with both a major shareholder and a fanbase demanding things that cannot be delivered in the current Premier League footballing structure.

An FA Cup semi final and a top 11 finish was not enough to keep Roberto Martinez in the job, but realistically can Koeman take Everton higher than 7th ?

When Ronald Koeman returns to Southampton next weekend he should be warmly welcomed, he did a superb job, sadly he was not the man we thought he was, but I think deep down the man who knows that fact the most is Ronald Koeman himself !

Photo: Action Images

darthvader added 12:57 - Nov 18 Another money grabber he lied telling everyone he would be with us regardless and then when the money called he phucked off . Shame I really liked him . Now I despise him
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corkcitysaint added 13:26 - Nov 18 I agree with darth on this. I was well in his camp whilst he was here. For me, maybe despise is too strong a word as he did do a good job for us. However, we as a club have moved on and I am now fully behind Puel. Seems RK is coming out with this now to try to appease Saints fans somewhat as we play them in a couple of weeks. It's all a game really with fans as pawns..

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BoondockSaint added 13:28 - Nov 18 The key part of this whole interview is "... it’s a good time to move now, because it may be impossible to keep that level with Southampton." He found out that the board planned to sell their two best players at the end of the season, and not replace them-as per their usual "business plan" His stock had risen with the success of the previous year and continued success would put him in line for dream jobs like Barcelona. But not buying proper replacements (or as we have seen, just not buying at all) would mean a slide down the table and with that his status as a top manager. So Everton, even though it was a move sideways (or lower) for him it seemed a better path to top jobs.

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steve73 added 13:32 - Nov 18 I know it's not really important in the grand scheme of things but I just liked how we somehow felt like a bigger club when he was in charge. I've nothing at all against Puel but he's got pretty big shoes to fill which is probably why he was judged so harshly and so quickly.
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ItchenNorth added 13:41 - Nov 18 The Saints Board also had underlying concerns that Koeman was not prepared to blood the youngsters as much as they felt was appropriate to the business model of the club. So when Koeman asked for more money after the first tabled contract offer was rejected, Saints held firm and responded with a take it or leave it and with no real regrets about the scenario that had played out. The appointment of Puel, who would have been on Saints radar for a season or two at Nice for the way in which he integrated youth into his side; fitted the profile of manger and business model Saints were after. That made to decision easier to accept in their eyes no doubt. Personally I like Koeman, he did a hell of a job for us at a challenging time. Although short lived, they were some of the best seasons we've seen in 20/30 years. Things change all the time in football, so you just have to live it and love it and move on.

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SaintNick added 13:41 - Nov 18 Sorry Boondock but you are wrong, yes he knew players were going to leave Saints, but when he went to Everton there was exactly the same spec with Stones (who did leave) and Lukaku who didnt but Koeman now says should looking to go. Why where Saints "not going to replace them as per their usual business plan" that plan under Koeman was "Usual" to sign a better replacement than those who have left. In the main we did that after Koeman arrived and I would still say we have so far this season. At Everton he had a lot of money to spend or supposedly, but a far worse squad than Saints.

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grab68 added 13:54 - Nov 18 I have read with interest this article and do not agree with many of the sentiments expressed. First and foremost, you ask if Koeman 'can realistically take Everton beyond 7th'? What short memories football fans have. Everton, under Martinez, finished 5th but then had two poor seasons finishing in the bottom half. Before Martinez, David Moyes had Everton regularly competing in the top six, and even got the Toffees into the top four. So why, backed with Moshiri's millions, will the Merseysiders struggle to get back to where they where just three seasons ago? You claim that Koeman 'clearly only left for the money'. Clearly, that fits your agenda, so you and most Saints will run with it. Again, with the short memories, Southampton fans must have erased from their minds the fact that every season under Koeman, he had to rebuild after seeing the Saints' best players sold from under him. Maybe, the thought of it happening again this season (remind me what players you lost this season) coupled with the prospect of not having a sufficient budget to keep finding replacements who were better, or at the very least like-for-like, was a bit wearing for the Dutchman. Couple that together with the fact he had an offer from a club historically better and bigger in every way, shape and form, with the prospect of a shiny new stadium on the horizon, the ability to keep their best players (Lukaku, Barkley, Coleman, Baines etc) and have guarantees of a sizeable transfer kitty with which to improve the squad and the ability to take backroom staff from the Champions and the likes of Man City, then it doesn't exactly take some mammoth leap of faith to work out why he might be attracted to the challenge. But no, let's just call him greedy and have done with it. Also, the tone of the article indicates that Saints fans are happy with the replacement (well stop harping on about Koeman then), believing Puel to be a 'better fit', conveniently overlooking the fact that Southampton have won one Premier League game in five, yet Koeman's record of one win in six makes him at a 'crossroads'. No doubt when Koeman and Everton rock up at St Mary's the Everton manager will be subjected to howls of derision and boos aplenty. Well, we are approaching panto season, I suppose. Oh yes we are...

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highfield49 added 14:15 - Nov 18 Quite frankly I really don't care any more, let's move on.
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froggysaint added 14:19 - Nov 18 I think that Koeman has at the very least been disingenuous in his utterings. I'm sure you are right that his departure was precipitated by his new agent. As to whether he'll ever see the massive transfer budget he was promised by the toffees, I have serious doubts. Farad Moshiri made his money in Steel and in oil in Russia; I suspect these days he's not feeling as flush as he used to. RK did a decent enough job for us, but I do share the view that he didn't do enough to bring on and integrate our own home grown players, so he may have done us a favour. I have very high hopes for Claude Puel, I think he's an excellent fit for Saints and is proving to be an excellent manager for us.

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BoondockSaint added 14:34 - Nov 18 Hi Nick I understand your point-I did mention that Everton was a move sidesways or down, so salary had to be the tipping point. But I think his (and our) worry is you can only roll the dice so many times-sooner or later you run out of luck. Yeah, he's gone and there's no use picking at an old scab-it just takes my mind off thinking about tomorrow's game-if both teams play to form, we are going to get no end of abuse from the pundits and even worse, their fans.

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SaintNick added 14:52 - Nov 18 But rolling the dice is all football clubs do, if you keep on rolling the same dice every time it wont always come up with what you want it to. There is no guaranteed for success, Manchester United have kept all their players and bought new ones and they arent in a much better position than us, your right in what you said about Koeman there is no use picking at an old scab, but in reverse with our strategy of selling high and buying lower there is no use saying at some stage we will run out of luck, we just have to keep riding that luck knowing with every passing year it becomes a little bit less about luck and more about having the right strategy in place to give us a better chance of succeeding

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SaintNick added 14:55 - Nov 18 Grab 68, we are not the one that is harping on about it, the Everton manager seems to want to mention that he would have still been at Southampton at far too many interviews than is decent when he is there to talk about his new club. Would Manchester United fans be happy if Jose Mourinho kept saying he would rather still be at Chelsea
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ThereIn76 added 15:11 - Nov 18 I doubt Keoman ever had any intention of signing a new deal. The irony is he'd have done his three years and then left as a hero if we had another good season and Saints would've got no money. As it is Everton had to buy out his contract so we got a few million and a manager who is at least as good. All part of the business plan.
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arthurfane added 15:12 - Nov 18 Would love to know your sources Nick. How are you quite so in the know about the contract offers Saints put on the table? In my opinion, the situation was simple - Saints put an offer on the table, hoping he would sign and continue his great work with us. Saints weren't happy with Koeman's "we'll see next season". In my opinion it was very clear he was biding time, making himself more attractive to future employers (no signing on fee). Saints offer was probably so derisory then, because they realised RK was playing them really. I think we're better off in the long-run with Puel in charge. As others have said, he seems more invested in the club and our fantastic youth academy. I won't welcome him back on 27th, but I won't boo him either - Koeman did a fantastic job at Saints, it's just a shame it ended so sourly.

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larry12 added 16:10 - Nov 18 Yes.
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pete_boggs added 16:42 - Nov 18 Les Reed is the problem that's why Koeman left, and he cannot tell the full story as he's probably signed a confidentiality agreement that lasts into perpetuity like the "bars of academy gold" he's sold and the managers that have gone. Luckily Reed is the perfect man for the job - he has just stated that himself on the BBC Sports website so no worries for relegation then. Phew and I was worried because we're 3 points from 18th.

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dirk_doone added 17:12 - Nov 18 grab68's post seems to be more factual and less wishful thinking than the original article. Perhaps it should replace it.
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SanMarco added 18:53 - Nov 18 Saints were afraid that Koeman would have a 'lame duck' year - he was happy to stay but just for a year and Saints wanted more. So off he went - I have forgiven him and I have also forgiven the club. Whether Puel was the right replacement - the jury is still out, lose these next couple of games and we will be in the bottom 6.
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abingdonsaint added 20:11 - Nov 18 Koeman has gone, so I don't really care any more, but it is interesting and I do agree with Nick on a lot of this, which is not always the case! We will probably never know the true story, but for what it's worth, my opinion on what happened is as follows. This is based on a number of factors, including comments on social media from not just Koeman, but also Jan Kluitenberg, and the so-called 'insider' on the Sotonians thread. (A lot of the stuff on Sotonians, particularly on the signing of Boufal, has come to pass by the way!) Bear with me..... At the end of last season, I have no doubt Koeman, and most certainly the rest of his back room staff, were perfectly happy to stay with Saints. RK had a history of honouring contracts, and had a year left. With the usual speculation around, Saints were obviously looking for some stability, so wanted hIm to extend, and I believe RK verbally agreed this before going to his villa in Portugal. While he was there, the agent wanting to muscle in told him about Everton's interest, and they were clearly offering far more money. After two successful seasons, RK thought he was bulletproof at Saints so when he came back, tried to use this as a lever to renegotiate the offer he had previously agreed with us. However, whilst successful on the face of it, and popular with the fans, our board had some reservations. Our success is based on the 'Southampton Way', and his attitude towards our youth players, including apparently a particular incident with Matt Targett, amongst other issues, meant that he was not quite as indispensable as he thought. So, he was told to sign what we had already offered, or move on. He basically called Saints bluff, and lost! For all those thinking this is about 'ambition', and going as far as he can with us, nonsense! Our club is incredibly ambitious. We sell players as part of an overall strategy, and through financial necessity. I have bored everyone with the reasons for this before, but we are the best run club in the Premier League. Don't get me wrong. I liked RK, and he was the right man at the time, but I was far more disappointed when Poch left, and I think Puel is actually a much better log term fit. Keep the faith!

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abingdonsaint added 20:13 - Nov 18 Long, not log!
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abingdonsaint added 20:37 - Nov 18 PS.......Les Reed is not a problem. He is one of the main reasons behind our continuing success. Wake up!!
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Lazz added 09:33 - Nov 19 He's just popped up because we play them next week the snake and wants us to be nice to him, That's not gonna happen come on you saints.
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grab68 added 12:25 - Nov 19 SaintNick, I believe Koeman talked about his Southampton departure because he was asked directly in an interview about it - as he has been several times previously. Presumably, the reason he keeps getting asked is because the Southampton fans are still bellyaching about him leaving.... despite now having a 'better fit'.
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SaintBrock added 20:12 - Nov 19 It matters not one jot! We'll never know the truth as opposed to the 'truths' offered by parties with a vested interest, so all the rest is speculative flim-flam or political mumbo-jumbo. Koeman is no longer our manager, end of story. In the same way that Peter Shilton is no longer our goalkeeper.
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helpineedsomebody added 08:04 - Nov 20 His reputation is now tainted like he always told us a good contract makes a player stay. He now has a huge contract at Everton but in 3 seasons time will they give him an improve contract for saints in his 2 year stay he did a superb job results wisee &for that I would give him around of appluse
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