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Koeman exit stirs unrest where Southampton least expected but Saints will rebound

By on June 7, 2016

Coach Ronald Koeman’s abrupt exit to Everton will leave lingering feelings of resentment at Southampton but the Saints will come to embrace the change as always.

Life in the Premier League is unforgiving, which is exactly why Southampton have made it a policy to embrace change even when it is unwelcome. The club have endured several tumultuous years as a successful seller’s club in the world’s most competitive league and have forged an unlikely haven of stability in the upper half of the Premier League. Success has been built on the foundations of a strong academy, innovative backroom staff and shrewd scouting system.

In fact, these factors were the drivers behind this change in the 2012/13 season, their first return to top flight football in nearly a decade. The club sacked beloved manager Nigel Adkins in the winter and although the decision raised eyebrows at the time, it paid off handsomely as Mauricio Pochettino took over and steered them clear of relegation.

Since a breakthrough 2013/14 season in the Premier League, when Pochettino propelled a bright, young side to third in the league at Christmas, the Saints have endured several more mass exoduses. Southampton’s fairy-tale title chase in 2014 ended far short of any silverware, but they have paved the road for other unlikely challengers like Leicester City and are still, if less spectacularly, forging new ground.

Respectfully, pundits worldwide were expecting their imminent downfall soon after their promising eighth-place finish. Sure enough, Pochettino left for Tottenham Hotspur and bright young stars Luke Shaw, Adam Lallana, Dejan Lovren, and Calum Chambers all departed that summer for a total sum of around $130 million.

Yet Southampton made sure to keep ahead of the game and were prepared for the turnover. In the months before the mass exodus, they had hired a new executive chairman, Ralph Krueger, to break new ground with the club and they almost immediately signed Dutch manager Koeman, who rebuilt a new-look team around the same old morals that the club have trusted in during their journey from the third their to the top end of world football.

Graziano Pellè followed Koeman to Southampton from Feyenoord and Dušan Tadić, Sadio Mané and Shane Long all formed the groundwork of Southampton’s rejuvenated squad. They even secured Belgium national team defender, Toby Alderweireld, on a year-long loan from Atletico Madrid.

The Saints have steadily improved year over year in the Premier League, from fourteenth-placed to eighth, then seventh in Koeman’s first season in charge and sixth in this past season, their highest finish in thirty-one years.

This recent success all makes Koeman’s departure seem much more abrupt and unexpected than Pochettino’s.

Koeman, to be fair, might feel as if he has run his course at the club and taken them as far as he can; Everton will provide a new challenge with bags of potential and history. The overwhelming sense from St Mary’s, though, is that monetary incentives pulled the deal over the line. They may not have been the only reason for Koeman’s departure but the promise of a massive budget from Everton’s ambitions majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri is seemingly the only advantage the Toffees have over Southampton. The nature of this departure, more so than any before, leaves a bitter taste in Southampton’s mouth.

There will certainly be a sense of schadenfreude for the Saints if Koeman struggles at Everton amid the harsh realities of the Premier League, and history is not on the Dutchman’s side. Of the many who have left Southampton to seek bigger and better things away from the South Coast, only a select few have come away with more to show from their risk. Luke Shaw’s career at has been harrowed by injury since leaving for Manchester United; Adam Lovren, Calum Chambers, and Rickie Lambert have all been engulfed by the relentless pressure at Liverpool; and Morgan Schneiderlin, having struggled to break into the starting lineup in his first season at Manchester United, will have to endure a tumultuous summer as Jose Mourinho reshuffles the Red Devils.

While Southampton are aggravated that Koeman has appeared to mislead the club, previously stating that he planned to finish the last year of his three-year deal at St Mary’s, but they have already begun the process of moving on. It is said that they always keep a list of possible managers for the club in desperate cases like this and whomever the new manager might be, they will have the opportunity to compete in the Europa League with Southampton for the first time (they were kicked out in the qualifying playoffs last year) and lead them farther than ever before.

The change might yet be another blessing in disguise. Southampton are upset, of course, but still prepared. They’re always prepared.

Homepage photo credit: Ronnie Macdonald [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

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.