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Southampton: Journalist drops claim as Jesse Marsch and Ruben Selles enter manager race
Journalist Josh Williams has noted the contrast in the top two candidates to replace Nathan Jones at Southampton, with Jesse Marsch and Ruben Selles thought to be frontrunners to succeed him on the south coast.
The Lowdown: Saints in disarray
Southampton are now on the hunt for their third manager this season and it’s not even the end of February, with their Nathan Jones experiment failing miserably, as he won just won league game since taking over last year.
Jones came out with interesting comments in his press conferences over the last few weeks, which certainly won’t have helped his cause with the Southampton board and the media.
Sport Republic must now find a replacement quickly and ensure they are the correct appointment, so seeing current caretaker manager Selles and recently sacked Leeds United boss Marsch being tipped for the vacant role (as per The Telegraph) may well worry the St Mary’s fanbase.
The Latest: Marsch and Selles in contention
It appears as though the Saints board aren’t too worried about hiring someone with little experience managing in England judging by these two links, which were discussed by Williams on Sky Sports.
He said: “They have Ruben Selles, who is currently a coach at Southampton, so it would be an internal replacement for Nathan Jones and it is Jesse Marsch, funnily enough, who is the former Leeds United coach, former Red Bull graduate of the system.
“It’s a bit of a bold decision, I must admit, to involve Jesse Marsch, who has just lost his job, of course, during this season. But Southampton, they’ve been willing to make a change, I think Nathan Jones gave it a good go. He’s had two proper spells where he’s done fairly well at Luton Town. Coupled in with that, he’s now had turbulent spells at Saints and Stoke City, really.
“So, I think it was a change that was destined to be made, but obviously, Saints can go in two really different directions here in terms of appointing a man who’s just lost his job in the Premier League or appointing a man from internal ways.”
The Verdict: Both appear to be risky appointments
The fact Southampton appointed Jones earlier in the season despite being inexperienced at the top level and having previously failed when leaving Luton Town, it would be amazing if they went for another manager with little experience.
Selles would indeed already know the club, culture and a lot of players given he’s been working with the Saints, but it would be a huge ask for him to keep Southampton in the league in his first managerial role.
For Marsch, there should be no reason why Southampton would go anywhere near him as he won just eight league games as Leeds manager, and despite being heavily backed in the transfer market, he has put Leeds in the same relegation battle as the Saints, so he wouldn’t likely offer any hope on the south coast.
