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Off-the-pitch philosophies face-off as Southampton visit Liverpool

By on February 20, 2015

Everyone was waiting for Southampton to fall off the cliff, for their luck to run short, as the holidays tend to restore order to the Premier League table; then, they didn’t. Attention turned as the figurative David not only beat Goliath, but continued to do it week after week. They drew Arsenal, beat Sunderland by an eye-popping 8-0 scoreline, and then went on a run of beating Manchester United, defeating Arsenal, and then drawing Chelsea.

Just the past summer Southampton were a pitiable sight, first losing their manager to Tottenham, then Calum Chambers to Manchester United and later Rickie Lambert, Adam Lallana, and Dejan Lovren all to Liverpool. After one good season, Southampton were plucked apart — but the story didn’t end there. Southampton were prepared for the summer overhaul. In the words of their Head of Football Development, Les Reed, Southampton aim “to be as far ahead with potential coaches as potential players.”

This idea alone, where a “technical director” character has control of the club is the heart of the philosophy that form the famous “Southampton Way”. Southampton were prepared for a new manager even before Mauricio Pochettino left the club and had the luxury of scouting managers who fit their philosophy, landing on Ronald Koeman. The club already knew well the direction they wanted to take, so didn’t have to start all over with a new manager; indeed, they progressed.

“Someone’s not going to come in here and say – ‘Scrap all that, I don’t want all that, this is the way I do it.” Les Reed speaking to Gary Neville

The Southampton Way also means developing youth talent, indeed, Southampton’s summer was perhaps their most successful yet, making a profit of £30 million selling their latest crop of youth talent and improving their team at the same time. Obviously, Reed — the center of this story, having “complete control” of the club — could not have been oblivious to the attention his star youth players gained from top clubs. Inevitably, he knew they would likely go and in turn used it to make his club even better.

In the famous “black box” lies the heart of the club. It is this, the club’s training ground suite for player recruitment, where Reed and Head of Recruitment, Paul Mitchell, are quoted to be relied on to scout players. With a system that can track and compare players from all corners of the globe, Southampton found bargains in Saido Mane, Dusan Tadic, Ryan Bertrand, and Graziano Pelle. At St Mary’s, Koeman doesn’t even have complete control of the club’s deals — that’s in Reed’s hands.

This weekend Southampton will face Liverpool. The Reds too achieve success in the Premier League, but in a different fashion these days; it was they who bought Lallana, Lambert, and Lovren from Southampton last summer. Manager Brendan Rodgers runs the show at Liverpool and is reported to have refused to work under the umbrella of a “technical director” upon joining the club. Liverpool are still a big-money club and act like one. Southampton run as an organization, but Liverpool’s philosophy remains at the whim of Rodgers.

Photo credit: Colin Smith at geography.co.uk

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.