Saints fans were shocked and stunned this morning

Nigel pearson has left St Mary's in a coaching shakeup that sees Dutchmen Jan Poortvliet as head coach backed up by Mark Wotte, reserve team boss Stewart henderson is also going to be heavily involved as is youth team coach Dave Hockaday, at the moment the future of Jason Dodd seems to be unclear.

As many will know this site has never beebn completely convinced about Nigel Pearson, although I acknowledged that he took over as the club was in freefall and that he brought a new discipline and team spirit to the Club, I remained unconvinced that he had what it took to be a manager in his won right as up until the final two games of the season to be frank, his team selections, substitutions and tactics were often found wanting.

Many would say that he did what he was brought in to do and that was keep Saints up, I would dispute this in that, when he arrived Saints were not in a relegation battle, indeed there were still murmerings of a push for the play offs.  

Having said this however, I do accept that he did enough to warrant that the club give him the chance to learn from his mistakes and stay at the helm for next season and i think thats a view that will be shared by most Saints supporters.

However it seems that the departure of Pearson and the arrival of the Dutch duo is mainly down to finances, if the official spin is to be believed (and I certainly dont believe all of it) these two are costing less on the wages front between them, than pearson was on his own, if this is the case then big questions need to be asked about how much Pearson was being paid and ifit was over the odds, many moan about how much Lowe was and is going to be paid at Saints, but if you read between the lines in the official statement the insinuation is there, that Pearson was paid far too much.

Ironically in making this appointment and pointing the way forward as bringing youth to the fore, Lowe is giving Saints fans just what they were crying out for last season, an irony that will probably be lost on many as they decry me for even daring to suggest this, week in week in last year I heard Saints fans moan about the likes of Jermaine Wright, Jason Euell and ask why Adam Lallana and even Andrew Surman couldnt get a game whilst these veterans put in a series of nondescript performances that didnt warrant a first team place, it seems that the emphasis will now be on youth and perhaps for the wrong reasons in that, this is all we can afford.

My main worry about these appointments is that in the Championship, as has been proved, getting out is about an experienced manager at the level, who knows what it takes and can mix a blend of old warhorses and quality loan signings from the premiership, just look at Hull, do these two have that experience, I would say no, do they have a back up on the coaching side who has that experience, again the answer is no.

This wont be a popular appointment by a long chalk, it will bring major critiscism of Lowe, there will be much shouting of "never going again" etc etc. But the fac is its happened and we have to move forward, this shift in planning will either result in a major disaster or could be the start of something big, at this moment in time no one can predict which, one thing is for sure though its not going to be an easy time in the next twelve months.  

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