Thursday’s headlines for Southampton were dominated by news of vice chairman Les Reed’s departure from the club as we now look to go in a new direction – or at least get back to our old direction.
There was also a second departure at Staplewood but whether by oversight or design, this one wasn’t publicised on the official site and nor the official social media feeds. The Echo confirmed the news though and I believe BBC Radio Solent provided their own confirmation later in the day.
Technical director Martin Hunter was the second casualty following his own eight year tenure with us and with some great successes at Under 23 level, as it’s now called, as a number of youngsters made a pathway through from the Academy into the first team, that has been another source of frustration for fans in recent years as the doors seemed to have closed.
Some would say a fresh approach is needed at that level, others would point to more recent managers seeming to be pathologically against giving youth a fair crack of the whip.
That’s for each fan to answer I suspect but it wasn’t a departure many were expecting.
