Southampton v Swansea, Tuesday 26 Dec 15:00
It’s Boxing Day and we meet Southampton at St Mary’s Stadium in our first clash with them since relegation from the PL.
Our manager Russell Martin was lured to Southampton last June after two mediocre seasons with us, compensation still not agreed between the clubs. His entourage of backroom staff followed him, assistant manager Matt Gill. goalkeeper coach Dean Thornton, physical performance coach Matt Willmott, and performance analyst Ben Parker.
Left-back Ryan Manning, who’d purposely run his Swans contract down, also departed for the Saints and former Swan Flynn Downes went there on loan from West Ham.
They sold 7 players for £178m, loaned out 3 players for £5m, a further 8 players departed and 4 loanees returned to their clubs. They spent £22.5m on 2 players and brought in 5 loanees, 4 from PL clubs
Southampton are on a roll of eleven undefeated matches since late September and will be a tough nut to crack. They are not unbeatable though, losing at home to the top two in the division Leicester and Ipswich.
Swans manager Michael Duff was sacked after only six months in charge due to poor results which left us languishing near the bottom of the table.
First team coach Alan Sheehan has been placed in temporary charge since and has garnered two wins a draw and a defeat from his four games so far.
Meanwhile our newly appointed Chairman from the thrifty USA owners, a novice to British football, hesitates and takes his time appointing a new manager.
So a tough task ahead this afternoon, especially now with our club in disarray. A certain win for the Saints most would say, but football results are so unpredictable, especially during this festive period, when any team can beat the other on the day.
Let’s hope the Saints players have ate too much turkey!