Ruben Selles will be leaving Southampton FC at the end of of the season, although it seems that he will be in charge of the team for the final game of the season against Liverpool, which does seem rather strange

It was not a shock when Saints announced on Wednesday lunchtime that Ruben Selles contract would not be renewed when it expires.

A short and abrupt statement from the club read:

"Southampton Football Club can confirm that it has held conversations with Men’s First Team Manager, Rubén Sellés, and decided that his contract will not be renewed when it expires at the end of the season.

The club wants to place on record its thanks to Rubén for taking on the managerial position at a difficult time for the club and for giving his all as we attempted to stay in the Premier League.

Rubén will take charge of the team for the final game against Liverpool on Sunday at St Mary’s. We wish him all the best for his future career. "

This seems a very vague statement though, it doesn't really clarify whether Selles is leaving the club altogether or stepping back into a coaching role, from the Spaniard's recent comments it would seem that he will be leaving all together and that it is his coaching contract that is also not being renewed as well as his short term contract to manage the first team, if indeed there was a separate agreement.

It is also strange the timing of the announcement, either do it after the game against Liverpool or if you are doing it now make it a clean break and don't put him through what will be a rough ride for him in front of the Saints fans.

It means that he will be making a very undignified exit and whatever your feeling about him as a manager, he does not deserve to take all the blame for this season's woes.

It would be far better to let him leave before Sunday, quietly and without having to step out into the bear pit of St Mary's, this will have no positive outcomes at all. How can he pick a team and motivate the players with all knowing that he is gone and so will be some of them.

My fear is that by the weekend Saints will have announced that Russell Martin is the new manager of the club and my bigger fear is that Selles will be allowed to step down to let Martin take change.

That will probably rile up the fans even more than letting Selles take charge, it will create a toxic atmosphere around the club that will continue through the summer.

It would be far better to get this season out of the way and then after a decent wait appoint Russell Martin and that will give the fans time to come to terms with the appointment and get used to it and perhaps a good pre season would take the sting out of the tail from the fans anger.

Seeing Martin walk out of the tunnel on Sunday and take his place on the Saints bench will have no benefit to anyone, certainly not Martin himself who will be the subject of abuse.

Photo: Action Images

DellBoyWally added 16:19 - May 24 Typical of SR! Decision-making has been strange all season. Seemingly trying to appear positive but making horrendous decisions. Not exactly hopeful for the future. It seems we are paying "a six-figure sum" for Martin. £1,235.48p seems rather a lot!!! All we can do is try and restrain ourselves on Sunday, make our disappointment clear to the owners and board (will they all be present??), try to stay positive through the close season and hope that the future is brighter. After all, we are joint favourites to win the league!!!??

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landsdownsaint added 16:46 - May 24 The clubs an embarrassment, i ain’t going against Liverpool as I’m not going too welcome RM as our manager , as I see it we’re being taken for fools by a bunch of yuppies “who think they know what’s best for our club , this time last year wasn’t great but our manager keeps t us in the PL , I really don’t want too boo RM & for the first time in my life I can see this happening so I best stay away

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Block8 added 16:56 - May 24 Common sense would have said Let him go and give Dave Horseman the reigns for the last game? I'm certainly not going to throw abuse at Russel Martin regardless of what happens. Lets give the bloke a chance and see where we go next season, and who with player wise. All we can ask for on Sunday is a bit of effort & maybe just a glimpse of some of next seasons stars! COYR
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pintsizedsaint added 19:23 - May 24 Lots of speculation here! Who knows what has been discussed. What we do know is that Reuben was very clear that he wanted to have a discussion and be told to his face if he was staying or not. SR have done exactly that. He may have been asked if he would feel comfortable/want to manage the last game and he said yes. We also don’t know whether SR needed to act on securing Martin or not. Swansea’s owners were quite keen to keep him, so who knows? Not sure it’s a major issue for Reuben to say goodbye at the last game. In fact I think that’s quite honourable. Any fan having a go at him - well, they need to grow up. He was dealt a bad hand and wasn’t able to make it work. He wasn’t really crap either!

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Bowlercow added 20:24 - May 24 I will not cheer or boo if RM is introduced on Sunday SR have gone for a root and branch clean out It is possibly a the right thing and long overdue Certainly since Kat sold to Gao Semmens did at least get rid of Reed and the hockey coach
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SanMarco added 12:48 - May 25 Selles was clearly out of his depth. Anyone who has spent a week managing an under-8s team had more experience than him. Respectful applause and good luck for the future I would say. It wasn't his fault - he was handed a task that even a very experienced manager would have struggled with, and as Nick has often pointed out, he was given very little support. As for RM I think they would be stupid to 'introduce' him on Sunday. The mood before kick-off will be glum to say the least and this will cheer no one up. Leave it until the first pre-season match. We will be cutting our noses off to spite our faces if we are vocally against him from the start. Give the guy a chance is all we can say. My fear with such an unexciting appointment is that it really puts the pressure on to have a very good start next season. Anything else and this newish phrase 'toxic atmosphere' will soon be in place. That, however understandable, will do no good at all.

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