Saints gamble on double Dutch
Last updated : 02 June 2008 By Chris C
The lack of communication from the club has been palpable this week leading to speculation that Saints may finally have found an investor and one who could attract a big name, with names such as Sam Allardyce and even Glenn Hoddle mentioned.
The reality was somewhat different with the unfortunate Nigel Pearson released after finally putting some passion back in the side to keep us up.
The irony is that Pearson is the type of young, hungry coach that Lowe normally favours. We can only hope that he soon finds another club after working exceptionally hard and showing great dignity under very difficult circumstances.
So what of the new boys? Wotte will be a somewhat familiar name (
Wotte the Lok is going on) to Saints fans having narrowly missed out on the Saints job when Lowe pulled George Burley out of the bag. Lowe may well wish that he had had the courage of his convictions and be making up for that now.
Wotte does have a decent pedigree as a number two and academy boss having been a manager in his own right, plus technical manager of Feyenoord and having worked with youngsters at various levels of the Dutch international setup.
Poortlivet enjoyed a more stellar playing career with the highlight being a World Cup final as part of the great Dutch side of 1978. His managerial career has been less high profile with spells in Belgium and mostly in the lower Dutch leagues.
He claims though a decent track record at getting the best out of meagre resources and bringing youngsters through. Just as well with Saints under huge financial pressure and with the academy the key to Lowe's plans, despite this being a big ask.
Poortlivet wants to bring 'total football' to St Mary's as part of a free flowing 4-3-3 to emulate West Brom's success in playing their way out of the league. However, after the inevitable departures Saints squad will be a long way short of West Brom's squad buoyed as it was by parachute payments.
The real concern is that neither Dutchman has any experience of English football let alone the Championship. Good intentions of free flowing football may soon fade given the limitations of the squad and the highly physical nature of the Championship.
A big name would be given time, but the Dutch duo will be under pressure if results start going against them with fears that another Lowe experiment has gone wrong.
In truth, Saints may well have little option but to try something different with so little money to spend. Perhaps a continental set up buoyed by a flourishing of talent from the academy can be the difference.
The worry is though that the academy is not what it was after three years on Championship budgets and that if we do unearth players able to step up to Championship level instantly that they will attract the Premiership vultures.
Let's just hope that Poortlivet and Wotte can change the tide of failed Lowe experiments after Gray, Wigley and Woodward and even more so that Saints can find the investment they need to compete for the best players without gambling everything on the academy.
