‘It feels like I am in an electric chair’, said Mauricio Pellegrino when quizzed on his future as Southampton manager in January.
The south coast side had just fought out a creditable 1-1 draw at home to Tottenham but even that battling display was not enough to silence Pellegrino’s vocal critics in the St Mary’s stands.
While the timing of the Argentine’s sacking late Monday evening came as a surprise, given how few games his replacement will have mastermind a relegation great escape, Pellegrino has been a dead man walking for several months.
Unrest from an apathetic fan-base over a dour playing style, questionable tactics and in-game management and training ground rows with disenchanted senior players.
All in all the final weeks of Pellegrino’s ill-fated nine-month reign as boss were a complete car crash.
That he managed to cling onto his post for so long as Saints sleep walked into a survival scrap says more about the lack of direction from the boardroom – and a lack of football knowledge from absentee Chinese owners – than Pellegrino’s attributes as a coach.
No other Premier League chairman would let slide a run of one win in SEVENTEEN matches while averaging less than a goal a game over the season.
The toxic atmosphere Pellegrino’s continued presence on the touchline created in the crowd meant Saints stars were more comfortable playing away from home.
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Many inside the dressing room shared the fans’ concerns over the man leading their bid for Premier League survival and that all came to a head by their gutless performance in Saturday’s 3-0 defeat at Newcastle.
Vice chairman of football Les Reed had no option but to pull the trigger after Pellegrino publically accused his team of downing tools at St James Park.
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Saints supporters just hope the change has not come too late to halt the slide into the Championship which would have been inevitable had Pellegrino seen out the season as Reed planned.
Mark Hughes is the man likely to be named as the former Liverpool defender’s successor and his first task will be to reunite a fractious dressing room and get those frustrated fans back on side.
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