Best Saints Reserves Manager

[ART]

I was wondering what members thoughts were on the best Saints Reserves/Under21's manager. I have felt for some while losing Stewart Henderson has been a big let down. With not having a Reserve team for the past couple of seasons he kind of became obsolete. However I think he did a great job and we could do worse than renew his services at the club. Even Jan Poortvliet got a lot of good out of the younger players. Certainly we are in need of a good appointment in this area.

[The Kraken]

I'd rather we concentrate on the progression of player's abilities rather than focus more heavily on winning matches. The amount of players we've had come through the ranks recently suggests we're doing ok in that department, with JWP the latest in the line of players coming through with spot-on technique.

[Minty]

Certainly we are in need of a good appointment in this area.

Are we? Martin Hunter has done an excellent job of helping the Development Squad progress, and there is no greater testimony to that than the promotion of four players into the First Team squad.

 

I've seen a huge number of reserve team games over the years, Daren Wheeler and I and various others were regulars behind the away dugout at Staplewood during Rofe's time when we were consistently up near the top of the Combination league that was, and since then... but it never really helped the first team, and that is ultimately what it is all about.

 

From what I've seen recently, we have no such need of any appointment in this area.

[Give it to Ron]

I always like Malcolm Elias at Staplewood - he seemed to have the lads respect and knew the game well.

I am trying to think of the name of the youth team guy we had here that went off to a job at the FA

he seemed really good at his job as well.

[Golden Balls]

A lot of academy players seemed to rave about George Prost. He got them playing some wonderful football and a lot of players were promoted to the first team while he was here.

[Crazy Diamond]

Martin Hunter is a top appointment. It has made me wonder though, will there be the same progression in coaching as there is planned with players? By which I mean, will we take on good youth coaches, train them up, get them doing the reserves, and then eventually when the time comes, the first team? After all we are looking for a similar system to Ajax and Barcelona, where the same type of play is carried on throughout the age groups, so the man who starts by coaching the kids and eventually becomes manager knows all he needs to.

 

Could Martin Hunter be a future Southampton manager?

 

A lot of academy players seemed to rave about George Prost. He got them playing some wonderful football and a lot of players were promoted to the first team while he was here.

 

He was a great man. I was amazed it took as long as it did for him to go back to France and work at a top club over there.

[Give it to Ron]

 

He was a great man. I was amazed it took as long as it did for him to go back to France and work at a top club over there.

 

He had a very bad cancer scare....think that was what made him go back in the end.

[Saint Charlie]

Prost was probably the best thing Lowe ever did at Saints.

[Give it to Ron]

I always like Malcolm Elias at Staplewood - he seemed to have the lads respect and knew the game well.

I am trying to think of the name of the youth team guy we had here that went off to a job at the FA

he seemed really good at his job as well.

 

Huw Jennings was who I was thinking of.

[Crazy Diamond]

He had a very bad cancer scare....think that was what made him go back in the end.

 

I distinctly remember an interview with him in a matchday programme, most likely the 2005/06 season, he had cancer, recovered and was enjoying life. Think he regularly went back to France - he must have done, as he had a property out there whilst working over here.

[ART]

A lot of academy players seemed to rave about George Prost. He got them playing some wonderful football and a lot of players were promoted to the first team while he was here.

George Prost was the best appointment ever made by he whose name I shall not mention. Sadly due to cancer he returned to France.

 

In posting, I am not criticising those people involved at the club, just that since a week ago we have an Under 21 side (although under 21 does not describe the fact it's a Reserve team that includes many over 21 year old). I feel the creation of this new side, this new league opens the door to a higher level, more internationally experienced coach/manager as was George Prost.

[ART]

 

 

He was a great man. I was amazed it took as long as it did for him to go back to France and work at a top club over there.

 

George Prost joined us from Olympic Marseille after the Bernard Tapie scandal and clear out of all the clubs management and coaches. George's manager at Marseille was Rolland Courbis, an amazing, if not tainted coach, who was behind my local club, Montpellier's rise to success, before serving a couple of years prison for his involvement with Tapie. Courbis developed many youth players and is currently running the Niger national team.

 

If anyone could reproduce the high standards of Prost it has to be Rolland Courbis, though Nicola may find his past undesirable at Saints.

[Minty]

Prost was indeed a top man. I got to know Huw Jennings and Stewart Henderson well whilst they were at Saints as it was at the time I was covering the Youth Academy sides for the Echo... both very accommodating and easy to talk to and the Academy did well under their stewardship.

 

To be honest, we've generally had good people in a lot of the Academy/reserve roles over the years, and we probably wouldn't be as accomplished today if it were not for the foundations laid by those previous staff.

 

Back to the current U-21 team, this is no different to the side that Hunter has run for the last couple of years, aside from the fact that we now have a league to play in, so we're already well set for the new dawn IMO, and Martin Hunter is exactly the right person.

 

As for other younger coaches, there are plenty in the Academy although I have no idea how each of them are progressing or how they are viewed by the guys at the top, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if Les Reed and co didn't have some significant succession planning built in to some extent.

[Crazy Diamond]

As for other younger coaches, there are plenty in the Academy although I have no idea how each of them are progressing or how they are viewed by the guys at the top, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if Les Reed and co didn't have some significant succession planning built in to some extent.

 

You'd think so, wouldn't you? As long as it's done in the right way, I'm okay with it. But throwing someone in like Steve Wigley, who wasn't even that good a coach (somehow he always finds employment, I cannot understand why), is not an option for us anymore. It'll destroy everything all over again. We must remember that Nigel won't be around forever, so I'm hopeful of a system to educate young coaches as well as players.

[Golden Balls]

You'd think so, wouldn't you? As long as it's done in the right way, I'm okay with it. But throwing someone in like Steve Wigley, who wasn't even that good a coach (somehow he always finds employment, I cannot understand why), is not an option for us anymore. It'll destroy everything all over again. We must remember that Nigel won't be around forever, so I'm hopeful of a system to educate young coaches as well as players.

 

Sorry but as someone who was coached regularly by him, Steve Wigley is a very good coach. Just not a very good manager which has tarnished his reputation a bit.

[wireframebox]

Dave Hockaday seemed pretty decent?

[Crazy Diamond]

Sorry but as someone who was coached regularly by him, Steve Wigley is a very good coach

 

I respect your opinion but disagree with it.

[S-Clarke]

Whats wrong with Hunter? Is it juts because we lost 1 game that this area is now not good enough?

 

Hunter is an excellent coach who turned down an opportunity to assist England at U21 level. We're lucky to have him.

[paulwantsapint]

Maybe not reserves but DAVE MERRINGTON needs a mention for his work with youth teams

[david in sweden]

I was wondering what members thoughts were on the best Saints Reserves/Under21's manager. I have felt for some while losing Stewart Henderson has been a big let down. With not having a Reserve team for the past couple of seasons he kind of became obsolete. However I think he did a great job and we could do worse than renew his services at the club. Even Jan Poortvliet got a lot of good out of the younger players. Certainly we are in need of a good appointment in this area.

 

it depends on how far back you want to go.

 

despite their disappointing sojourns as either; " caretaker / short-term manager/ or, hold the fort, Steve " there are quite a few candidates over recent decades.

 

Wigley, of course got caned horribly when forced to take the reins for a month or so (back then), but his performances with youth players were excellent.

 

likewise, Stuart Gray, Micky Adams and Dennis Rofe all did well at the job on various occasions.

 

However, if you base it on eventual first-teamers who made it BIG, then we only have one candidate; Dave Merrington.

Those of you who criticise his very individual style of commentaries on Solent, should have paid more attention to the 10 years or so (from 1984- ) that he managed the youth sides that started with Matt le Tissier, the Wallace brothers, Alan Shearer (where have I heard that name before ?)...Neil Maddison, George Lawrence, Craig Maskell, Frannie Benali, Jeff Kenna, David Puckett, Ian Juryeff, Martin Foyle who all made League careers, and many, many more, who eventually clocked up hundreds of games between them.

 

He may not be everyone's favourite voice on the radio, but on the training pitch with the youngsters .....he got great results season after season.....

Edited 11 August, 2012 by david in sweden

[Victor]

Ian Branfoot was a winner so grudgingly deserves a mention.

[FreemantleSaint]

I followed Minty in following the Saints academy sides for the Echo in the early to middle naughties and totally agree that Georges Prost was not only a superb football coach but also a truly lovely bloke, shy but friendly with a nice sense of humour and a twinkle in his eye when he talked about his talented young players. He did indeed have a very serious cancer scare circa 2005 but recovered well to return the following season and, as far as I am aware, was in very good health when he returned to France. As Minty said Stewart Henderson and Huw Jennings were also both very accomodating and helpful and very good at their jobs.

 

Before then, as purely a fan, it has to be said that Dave Merrington did an awesome job and not only produced great footballers but also did his very best to develop decent human beings and well-rounded people. Anyone who attended Youth Cup matches at The Dell during Dave's era will well remember his huge voice booming instructions which echoed around the mostly empty ground! Somewhere on youtube there is a short clip of Shearer scoring for the youth team at Northampton and you can hear Dave very clearly in that!

 

But I have to say that the current academy and development staff also appear to be doing an absolutely first class job. As a now exiled fan I saw Ward-Prowse and Shaw for the first time in the televised Ajax game and was blown away by how good they are technically and also by their confidence and maturity for such a young age. For all that people on here knock Cortese, his concern for the long-term development of the club cannot be faulted.