'He's a lot different to (Ronald) Koeman,’ an employee at Southampton's Staplewood training ground says of the new manager, Mauricio Pellegrino. 'It's not “my way or the highway”. He listens to the players.’
Sometimes, single-mindedness can be what a club needs. Koeman's style might not be in vogue after his Everton tenure but he set two record Premier League finishes at Southampton and got them into the Europa League.
It has, however, been questioned quite how different Pellegrino is to his predecessor, Claude Puel. Southampton ruthlessly axed the Frenchman, Koeman’s replacement, last summer after a season of relative success; he made the EFL Cup final and finished eighth.