LONDON A year ago, Southampton were readying themselves to play their 19th Premier League game of the season. They were ninth in the table on 27 points, and the mood around St Mary’s, despite a wobble in form and four recent league defeats, was upbeat.
In charge of the team was a bright, optimistic manager still relatively new to the division, Mauricio Pochettino. His first-choice XI were a blend of exciting homegrown talent, including Adam Lallana, Luke Shaw and Calum Chambers; cannily purchased foreign imports such as Dejan Lovren; and long-serving veterans still punching above their weight — Rickie Lambert being the prime example.
While 2014 hasn’t been an annus horribilis for the Saints, who end their sporting year by hosting league leaders Chelsea, it seemed like it might have been shaping up to be one in August.
Nicola Cortese, the dynamic but polarising executive chairman, had sensationally quit in January over a disagreement about control of the club with owner Katharina Liebherr.
This sparked fears of a mass exodus and although it did not transpire until the summer, Pochettino did indeed walk out — to Tottenham.
Then in one of the most hectic transfer windows the club has ever had, Lallana, Shaw, Chambers, Lovren and Lambert were all sold, for almost £90million combined, and eight new players arrived, including Fraser Forster, Dusan Tadic and Graziano Pelle, either on permanent moves costing almost £60m combined, or on loan, like Ryan Bertrand, from Chelsea, and Toby Alderweireld, from Atletico Madrid.
The million-dollar question is whether Southampton are worse off than a year ago, or have stood still, or become better.
The evidence suggests the latter, and not just because they are higher in the table and with more points as they ready themselves to play their 19th league game of the season. And not just because despite four recent league defeats, the mood is upbeat under a bright, optimistic manager still new to the division, Ronald Koeman.
But rather, according to executive director Les Reed, who is one of the unsung architects of a five-year revival from the brink of liquidation to pushing for Europe, because Saints continue to stay ahead of club targets in terms of tangible development of facilities, players and results.
A state-of-the-art new building at the club’s £40 million (RM217 million) training centre in Marchwood near the New Forest became operational in recent months.
Graduates of the club’s famous academy, which produced Gareth Bale, Theo Walcott, Alex-Oxlade Chamberlain, Lallana, Shaw and Chambers, are advancing to the first-team squad in greater numbers than ever. Two started last weekend against Everton and another five were on the bench.
Last week’s starters James Ward-Prowse, 20, and Harrison Reed, 19 are far from household names, yet. But as Reed argues, their progress “epitomises what we are doing here.”
Defenders Jason McCarthy, 19, and Matt Targett, 19, winger Sam McQueen, 19, midfielder Dominic Gape, 20, and striker Ryan Seager, 18, were also in last weekend’s 18-man squad. Midfielders Jake Hesketh, 18, Lloyd Isgrove 21, Omar Rowe, 20 and Josh Sims, 17, will likely join them.
Eighteen current Southampton players have been called up for England across all age groups. Five years ago that figure was zero. The depth of the senior squad is also getting stronger; against Aston Villa last month Southampton fielded a starting XI who were all full internationals — the first time that had happened in the club’s 129-year history.
Reed joined Southampton in 2009 as a consultant and became full-time in 2010 as head of football development. “When I first came here people quoted Walcott, Bale and Ox as the star products, and certainly there was a really good player now and again,” he says.
“But I said a successful academy should be bringing them through in fives and sixes, not just one every few years, and that’s what we’re working towards now.” AFP