Perhaps Most Important Appointment Of Summer At Southampton Imminent Saturday, 14th Jun 2025 08:36 When Saints enjoyed a golden period under Ronald Koeman, the key was the appointment of an assistant manager experienced in England, once again we need history to repeat itself, to give Will Still the one thing he truly lacks. Will Still has a lot of attributes that ticked the boxes for Southampton FC, but he lacks one very important factor and that is experience in English football, that was the case for Ronald Koeman back in 2014, he was of course a lot more bigger in terms of his managerial experience, but he had none in the Premier League and nor did the backroom staff he was bringing with him. Saints were in turmoil themselves at the time after the departure of then CEO Nicola Cortese and Katharina Liebherr having to get back into the club and completely revamp it both on and off the pitch.
But what she had to hand was a Director of Football in Les Reed and he not only recruited well in Koeman, but also he knew the need for Koeman to have someone English as his right hand man to guide him in the areas that he had no knowledge of that man was of course Sammy Lee. Lee wasn't Koeman's choice as such, whether they knew each other before joining up at St Mary's is unclear, but it was a partnership that worked, Lee's role was laid back, but he was a constant at the side of the Dutchman, giving him an independent viewpoint as such and counselling him.
If we point the finger at where in all went wrong in 2024/25, perhaps the biggest factor was a lack of a Director Football for almost a year after the departure of Jason Wilcox, it was clear that there was no one in charge on a day to day basis to oversee the football side of things and it lead to disaster, a manager who ran his own agenda in Russell Martin, slapdash transfer decisions, where the new men barely played and then the car crash of Ivan Juric. But now with Johannes Spors running the show, it is clear that something major has changed in the way the club is being run. Spors has made an appointment of a manager based on what the club needs and not on so called names.
Now it seems that he is taking note of the lessons learned 11 years ago and according to sources close to the club, in this case The Daily Echo Spors is about to appoint an assistant to Will Still with the experience to compliment the younger man's methods. The name is not a shock, it has been mooted before it is Paul Trollope and it seems that before the weekend is out he could well be the assistant to Will Still. This seems to be a good appointment, Trollope is a man with a long playing career in England, almost 400 League games across all the 4 top divisions in England and likewise coaching & managing experience, again in all the top divisions in this country over a 20 year period.
Like Sammy Lee in 2014, he does not seem to have any direct links to the man he will be assistant to, that is good, he will bring a different perspective and hopefully complement Will Still's style of management and help Still in the areas where he needs the experience. You would think that Still himself has been involved in the process, that he will have spoken to Trollope and discussed how the relationship will work before agreeing the appointment, there is no point in a partnership unless both parties are singing off the same hymn sheet. The problem with Russell Martin and indeed Ivan Juric was that they had their own men alongside them, so they ploughed their own furrows with all of them ploughing the same furrow, there was no one counselling when things were not going right. Trollope will hopefully be that counsel to Will Still, our new manager in some respects can be compared to Russell Martin in that they are both young coaches, low on managerial experience, but high on doing things differently, as we know from Martin, left to his own device, he could not adapt.
Still however is different, he is known for his ability to adapt, but that alone is not enough, he needs a sounding board and not one where the man next to him will just agree with him Trollope knows what it takes to get a club promoted, most recently with Luton Town where he helped in their promotion winning campaign of 2022/23. That ended in relegation the following season, but when he was Chris Hughton's assistant in 2016/17 he helped lead them to promotion in 2016/17 to the Premier League and perhaps just as importantly helped keep them up there the following season and establish themselves in the top flight of English football. So although Will Still might not be the "Name" manager many had called for and Paul Trollope not a high profile coach, between them like Koeman & Lee a decade before them , it looks a good fit with contrasting strengths hopefully bringing stability back to the dug out at St Mary's. Still will bring the strategy and Trollope the experience of managing and coaching players in England, having a blueprint isn't enough in football management, 92 managers start each season with a blueprint and most fail, so it is the ability to man manage the strategy and man mange the players and that is where Trollope will come in, the link between players and the manager. I think that in a years time we might look back and see this as a pivotal moment at St Mary's, perhaps the day that it started to become clear that with a Director of Football now bringing direction to the club that is has lacked for most of the last 3 years or so, that things are now getting back on track.
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