Southampton: Ralph reveals what his new Saints “playbook” will include

Reports from various reporters close to Southampton have revealed recently how Ralph Hasenhuttl and his staff are putting together a new training plan for the club.

Now, in an interview with BBC Radio Solent, the Saints boss has revealed what it includes and how it will be used by players and coaching staff.

Hasenhuttl is expected to sign a new contract at St Mary’s in the near future in a bid to show equal the commitment that club showed him early in the 2019/20 season.

Speaking to Radio Solent reporter Adam Blackmore, the Austrian explained:

"“We call it the SFC playbook. We are trying to create a digital book that we can use in the future for the youth players, new players and the first-team. This is a huge project and takes a lot of time.“It provides a clear, structured and detailed book that shows exactly what we are demanding. This should help the youth players and the coaches to understand how I train and what I am training with these exercises.”"

For Saints fans, these words and actions from Ralph should be very positive to see and hear.

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There would be no point in him putting all these plans for the future in place if he felt he was on the brink of leaving, and his desire to bring through more youth players will only start bearing fruits after multiple seasons.

When he joined Saints back in December 2018, he admitted that he had turned down the opportunity to talk to Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich and felt that he needed more on his CV before taking a job of that calibre.

It is foolish to say that Hasenhuttl will be with Saints for a long time, but his commitment to the club could well help Saints back to consistently fighting in the top-half of the Premier League – a return to Europe being the pinnacle.

The Coronavirus pandemic has forced many clubs like Saints back a step in terms of finance. Rebooting the youth system at the club’s Staplewood training ground could help to steal a march on other teams though.

Instead of buying in talent, Hasenhuttl clearly wants to start creating players in specific moulds to fit his team, and this means that he doesn’t have to rely on competing with other clubs for the players he wants.

Saints used to have the academy that everyone looked to try and replicate, and a return to these high standards will hopefully see this become the case again.