An article yesterday in the Daily Mail drew some interesting comparisons with Jan Poortvliet.

Certain sections of Saints support have been very been very vocal in their condemnation of Jan Poortvliet, questioning whether he is good enough to manage a club in the Championship, however an article on Hull manageer Phil Brown posed some interesting questions and comparisons between the two.

Two seasons ago, no make that a year ago, not many Saints supporters would have clamoured for Brown to come to St Mary's yet today he sits on the verge of Hull's debut in the top flight, a minor miracle some would say and one that most would admit has been to Brown's work ethic and management.

But Brown's ethics are shown to be very similar to those of Poortvliet's, both seem to be big on team spirit as well as fitness, then there is the structure of pre season training, once again Brown favours a mixture of fitness, fitness and football and then a combination of the two, again in kilter with Poortvliet's pre season here.

Then there is the pre season fixtures, whilst some saints fans have been quick to critiscise even reserve team friendlies, Brown s keen to express the view that the only two results that he is really concerned with are the two directly preceeding the season, all of the others are about players getting 90 minutes under their belts, to quote Brown

"Im not really bothered about the football and organisational side until early August when we play Hearts and Osasuna, the friendlies before that are about getting 90 minutes under their belts"    

Doesnt this all soundd a bit familiar, now at this moment in time Phil Brown is considered the template for a manager to get a club out of this division, I would say that with Poortvliet, the early signs are encouraging that we could have a man in the same mould.

Of course things are not completely the same, some would point out that Brown had a good grounding in the game in England and knew the division and the players, having said that though, his background was as number two to Sam Allardyce at Bolton and to be blunt, Bolton set out their stall in the Premier by buying in players on short term deals from Europe, not discovering gems from the lower leagues, indeed Brown's first spell as a manager at Derby County was not great, in his short spell there his record wasnt great, winning only 7 of the 33 games he was in charge and losing 12.

The fact is in this division you cannot buy your way out of it, the template for managers to do well is the likes of Brown, Billy Davies before him even, it has been about blending experience, youth and loan signings, pretty much what Poortvliet will have to do this season out of neccessity rather than choice.

So I would contend that whatever their feelings about Rupert Lowe, Saints fans would do well to judge Jan Poortvliet on his own merits , OK his track record isnt that great so far, but neither was Phil Brown's, we dont know whats in store for us yet, but the early indications so far is that Poortvliet is not a man who will be messed around.  

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