Think Tank: Why ‘Puel out’ may be the scapegoat for everything else wrong with Southampton

It is such a popular saying nowadays. ‘Puel out’ is as common of phrase as ‘how are you?’ and ‘what’s for dinner?’. You won’t be overzealous saying that anymore, which should be frightening to the fan base that we have gotten to this point.

Claude Puel has endeared hardship since the day he walked through the door at Southampton. He was brought in significantly later than most people would feel comfortable bringing in a new manager. He was not the people’s choice of who they wanted, and so he has had a short leash his entire stay.

It has been up to Puel to decide his fate. Find success, and you will reap the benefits of a loyal fanbase. Fail or take us backwards, and you get to go through this type of treatment. I was a little shocked about the mindset though that what he has done this year has been considered unsuccessful, but that’s not the point.

Puel is not alone on what is happening in the organization. It is so easy as fans to point at Puel and say ‘sack him’ when everyone besides him may be at fault. Do we truly know what is going on behind the scenes? Is the Frenchmen being forced into some kind of style or play? Are our players just naturally poor attitudes?

There are so many questions I personally feel need to asked. If the turnover of Puel does occur, it will be the beginning of an entire potential overhaul to this organization.

Let’s start with Executive Director Les Reed. People seem to praise him for the ability to regenerate the talent that we get rid of. What is wrong with that statement? Can you imagine the team we would field if we just decided we were going to keep our best player each year?

I understand that in business practicality it is necessary for you to sell players in order to make a profit towards the club, but there comes a point where you have to keep some of your talent, or even go negative in the transfer window to get better.

Les Reed has a knack of selling the top talent for top dollar, then he turns around and buys young players discounted in order to make a profit. It’s like flipping homes, when you buy a house that has potential and sell it for way more than it’s worth. That is Les Reed strategy and he is really good at it. What do we know about people really good at that job? They are rich.

Now, I don’t want to be the person that is speculative to what is going on, but something seems out of place. We are in the top-5 in terms of ‘club worth’ and we do have money. Last year, we ranked 20^th out of 20 in net spending for the transfer market. We ended up selling £64.48 million worth of players while only bringing in £44.12 million worth of players.

Being at the bottom of the league in spending should be frightening knowing that we continue to sell our best players. Something is going on with our spending and I personally believe that it is the greed of Les Reed to get richer and not put money into the organization, but rather in his pocket.

I am not saying that we go and blow all of our money, but I am saying that if you do not have a strategy to replace the talent you are selling, don’t sell them at all. I can see the day in the near future where Les Reed will be departing, and at the end of the day, that may be significantly more effective than actually getting rid of Puel himself.

More from Saints Marching

• Grading the Southampton Transfer Window Part 2: Arrivals
• Grading the Southampton Transfer Window Part 1: Departures
• It’s time to talk about Gavin Bazunu
• Rain clouds on the horizon? Southampton beat Plymouth Argyle
• A lament for Southampton legend James Ward-Prowse

Players are also to be at fault for this situation. Why do we not hold the players more accountable for the faults within the season. Can you really put everything on the manager?

They aren’t the one’s out there on the field kicking the ball around. I can guarantee you if Puel had the chance, he would sub himself on and work his tail off. I believe there are some attitudes and things going on behind the scenes that people are unaware of.

Maybe there is a particular player that truly is causing a headache in the locker room. It is not uncommon to have one player be such a big distraction it causes an extreme lack of chemistry. At the end of the day, maybe it is Puel’s fault. But why does it have to be only Puel’s fault?

I have always believed that players need to be held more accountable than the coaches. Any time that they fail to be at the level of play in which we expect the negative football is put on the manager. How does that make sense?

As a coach, you can only do so much. There will come a point when it is up to the players, and I personally have not seen those killer instincts that will requirea team such as Southampton to be at the top level.

Next: Claude Puel confirms first-team players will feature for under 23’s

Les Reed recently said that he expects a quiet transfer window. I can tell you now, if we want to move forward with our program we will need much more than a quiet transfer window. If we rank 20^th again in net transfer spending, I can firmly say that I believe we will rank amongst the bottom half of the league, regardless of what manager we have.

There are so many reasons why the club is showing negative football. The easy solution is to point at the manager and fire him. That will surely fix everything, right? It is time for us to not make any uneducated decisions and really look upon what is happening within the organization.

What really needs to be changed? If we dive in and realize it is Puel, then so be it. Let’s not use only him as the reason for the downturn.