When Jeremy Wilson the Chief Sports Writer of The Telegraph comments on Saints then he is usually doing so with an insider knowledge.

When Saints want to use the media to get a point across then more often than not they turn to Jeremy Wilson of the Telegraph, apart from being one of the most respected journalists in the national media, Wilson was also for a number of years a sports reporter for the Daily Echo and retains close connections to Saints.

The Telegraph is this morning carrying a story about Saints and how they may decide to split the role of outgoing football director Les Reed and are likely to consider an approach for former recruitment chief Paul Mitchell as part of their overhaul of the club’s off-field operations.

The article goes on to say that the Club is holding internal reviews about its structures around Hughes who at present the club still seem to have faith in.

Reed's role encompassed many areas including player recruitment, the development of Staplewood & the academy and also appointing a manager and the thought is that perhaps he had too much on his plate and that perhaps two men on the job might be better than one.

Wilson reports that Saints are finalising their future model and will then start approaching possible candidates with a view to having everything in place before the January transfer window opens.

But there is one interesting name that Wilson mentions in his article as one that Saints could be approaching and that is former Director of recruitment and scouting Paul Mitchell.

Mitchell was very successful in his first spell at the club after joining from MK Dons in January 2012 and can be credited for helping build the team that stayed up in it's first season back in the Premier League as well as the rebuild of the summer of 2014.

Wilson left soon after for Spurs and he raided two of his former clubs soon after signing Dele Alli from MK Dons and persuading Toby Alderweireld to renege on his arrangement to join Saints and go to White Hart Lane instead.

He is now at Red Bull Leipzig where he has been since February and with the German team currently in 3rd place in the Bundesliga and pushing for not only a Champions League place but an unlikely title, he might be difficult to prise away, but the fact that Wilson even mentions his name suggests that it may be something that could happen.

Ross Wilson, who is the club’s director of football operations and a board member, is expected to stay in his current role and will have a significant say in the future structure alongside chairman Ralph Krueger.

As mentioned the artcile states that Hughes is safe in the short term, it continues saying that whilst that is the thoughts at present that the club are not going to let the season drift, so it seems they have learned lessons from last year.

It quotes Krueger as saying.

"Results do not reflect the squad’s quality and there is no particular desire for an overhaul in January. We feel we have an extremely deep roster right now so at the moment we don’t plan to be active in January, We have the capability of being active but at the moment I would say we are not planning for activity in January.”

Although some might crassly dismiss this as more Americanism's by Krueger the sentiment is spot on, they feel that the squad has a month in which to prove itself, they feel that it is good enough, but if it doesn't pick up that we will not shirk in dealing with it, but on the surface they want to portray a club not pressing the panic button, it is likely though that they will already be identifying weak areas and where they can improve them, what they want to avoid though is alerting other clubs to firstly our targets and secondly to the selling club that we are desperate.

In the past couple of years Saints fans have criticised the club for a lack of communication, what some don't realise is that very few clubs actually make brash statements and prefer to keep their cards close to their chest, that is what Krueger is doing at the moment, using his media contacts to put out the right messages and quietly getting on with things.

Photo: Action Images

Aussiejosh86 added 13:33 - Nov 19 Lets hope Paul Mitchell comes back to the club and takes control of pucking the manager and coaching staff, plus does recruitment and retention of players.
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SanMarco added 13:38 - Nov 19 Selling clubs will be able to look at the league table to see how desperate we are. We need to have things in place quickly - we may soon be needing the right person to appoint a new manager. I am desperate for us to win at Fulham as we all are but if the worst comes to the worst I can't see Hughes surviving. I do worry that Krueger thinks we have enough quality. Reed presumably thought that too...

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BoondockSaint added 14:20 - Nov 19 It would be great if we could get Mitchell (typo alert: it's not Wilson) from RB Leipzig, but would they let him go? Or would he want to? He just signed a 2 1/2 year contract with them in February of this year.
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SAINTSNIL added 14:50 - Nov 19 I can only assume that the 'quality' is shown by the players in training-probably when they play attack vs defense-with both looking very comfortable!
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highfield49 added 15:35 - Nov 19 I tend to disagree with Krueger in as much as results do reflect the quality of the squad. If he ever wants my opinion on an ice hockey squad I'll be able to tell him, from my extensive lack of knowledge about the game, that everything is fine with his team.
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warrens76 added 15:46 - Nov 19 Nick, a question not an attack, to me you give the PROVEN liar Krueger a pass that literally 'every' fan I know disagrees with yet had problems with Cortese who for want of a better expression was a great chef but helped himself to a few bacon sandwiches...square the circle for me, you see we know each other going back a long way 70's, so you love this club BUT I have no idea why you support this board, bear in mind I look at the choices made as much from a businessman's perspective as a fans... Ralph lied about Kats intention, Jesus Nick it was common knowledge in Swiss circles she wanted out of the financial 'risk' of owning 'a' football club, she has no warmth for us whatsoever... Ralph lied about not selling players, about aiming for the ECL, indeed just about everything, when not using terminological inexactitudes he talks absolute grade A corporate/common purpose nonsense, it's like reading the job section of the Guardian..... Nick were am I wrong?

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underweststand added 16:52 - Nov 19 Restructuring you saId - rIght? YES . IMHO both Reed and Hunter had TOO much responsibility and what they handled was too diverse to have a good overview. We should avoid having TOO MANY managers, but no-one person should be left with making decisions about new Academy signings, and still have to handle the ails and problems of the first team squad and player recruitment. Rahdi Jaidi made a good decision in advancing Obafemi to the U23 's last season - even though he was still only 17. Hesketh and Sims would surely have has some game time with Saints had they not been loaned out so quickly - I wonder whose idea that was ? We kept back Targett and Gallagher, but hardly ever use them. - Why's that Mark? Koeman had a spell where he "disowned " our Academy starlets as "not good enough " and now it appears that Hughes has gone down the same road, by persisting with our present " lop-sided first team squad" whilst ignoring the promising youngsters. Future planning should divide up the different player levels and allow each "manager" to have a bigger say in coaching and player development. Recruitment is a special area and the likes of a DoF e.g. Paul Mitchell know what they are doing and need to have regular input that the club can adhere to with confidence. Les Reed has too much on his plate and had probably reached the generation that didn't burn for success in the same way as younger men still making their way in the game. I think we ought to see some advancement for the likes of Dave Watson AND Kelvin Davis who both know the club well-enough to be able to function in a new-er role. They should be able to help the club improve as, with their CV's - they might well be looking for "other opportunities" outside the club - if they don't get a leg-up in the Saints heirarchy. Wholesale calls for the "sacking of the Board" are nonsense when you consider that a Financial Director is not employed for his knowledge of football, any more than a Chairman whose experience is in another sport. They are not asked to scout players , or calculate the costs of a transfer fee and salaries. Each to his own. Whatever we (thought) of Messers Reed and Hunter ...they DAJFU in the past (and overall not bad ones either) but remember they began when we were a L1 side. Now they have gone we need to look for a new-style Premier League structuring of the club, and not revert to the dictatorial Cortese management style. I applaud his efforts in streamlining the administration, it was brilliant, but he plainly knew S.F.A about English football and the results of his foreign player signings created enormous debts that took years to pay off...if indeed we have cleared them yet. Surviving this season may give us a springboard for a new-look Saints, but we really need the players to start getting positive results and show some real consistancy - PDQ.

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SaintBrock added 17:00 - Nov 19 I'm not sure what's worse, May trying to negotiate herself out of a paper bag or Kreuger trying to find somebody / anybody to replace Reed. Since Rexit two weeks have passed and all we have is a few vague press stories that something may or may not be in the wind that may or may not be leaks. The dilemma is obvious, nobody worth their salt will touch SFC with a barge pole right now and why would they? Poor group of players, a crap manager and no money for bringing about change. As for Mr Mitchell don't raise your hopes or your expectations he won't be coming here, people move on not backwards. He's doing very nicely thank you very much.

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SanMarco added 20:50 - Nov 19 Rexit - like it SaintBrock. If this Mitchell does break his new contract and come back to us we will hardly be holding our breath in terms of future loyalty. He gets around.
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saintmark1976 added 21:31 - Nov 19 Krueger reminds me of Gus Hedges from Tv's Drop the Dead Donkey all those years back. Have a look for yourself on You Tube if you fancy a laugh. He was known to his staff as "captain bollocks" because he continually talked corporate speak and nobody understood a word he said. How the owners and board form the opinion that the playing squad is good enough is beyond me given that all factual evidence points to the contrary ie one place above relegation with a third of the season gone and only eight wins from the last fifty two Premiership fixtures. As SaintBrock suggests its a toss up between the Prime Minister and Krueger as to who is the most delusional with the PM winning it by a nose in my opinion.

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