According to reports in the press Mauricio Pochettino is about to become manager of Tottenham Hotspur withing the next day.

It cannot be denied that in the past few days Spurs have upped their intensity to persuade Pochettino to join them as manager, over the past few weeks their has been a concerted campaign from certain journalists to keep this story running, but a week ago even they seemed to have cooled a bit as it seemed likely that Spurs would appoint their number 1 target Frank De Boer.

But in the last week De Boer seems to have dropped down the ranking and Pochettino seems to be coming up on the rails.

This seems to be prompting meltdown, not at Saints but in certain parts of the Saints support who seem to think that things would have been oh so different if Nicola Cortese had been in charge and that if he had stayed then so would Pochettino and all the players as we were assured of Champions League qualification next year, these people conveniently forget the pedigree of the 7 clubs that finished above us last season and our failure to take that many points of them in total.

I would be sad to see Pochettino leave, not because i think that we would be heading up the league next season, but because I want to see stability and that at present he represents our best chance of achieving it.

But stability is needed off the pitch as well as on it, the Daily Echo is complaining that the openess promised by the club is not being shown, I disagree in that in any football club there has to be a time when things have to be kept quiet and that time is usually when it involves transfers and changes of manager, business has to be done quietly.

So it is our supporters who need to recognise that stability is in the hands of Katharina Liebherr and her team, it was never there under Cortese, there was plenty of brash talk about commitment to push on to the Champions League, but the reality was that this was not what the owners wanted for the club and it should be remembered nor did Markus Liebherr, he wanted the club to be self sufficient not to be something he would have to plough millions into, remember the summer of 2010 when after missing promotion we expected big signings for another big push, this did not happen because Cortese had blown the summer transfer budget in the January window.

That shows one thing and that is even under Markus, Saint were never going to be bankrolled to Manchester City or Chelsea levels by Markus or his family, this was not a business he wanted to plough multi millions into, it effect it was his train set, something he played with and enjoyed in his time off from work.

So now we have to face up to reality and if Pochettino leaves then that is the reality of the Premier League as shown by the fact that even after only 18 months at St Mary's the Argentinian is one of its longest serving managers.

The reality is that we have to back Katharina Liebherr to take the club forward,some of the vitriolic filth I have seen directed towards her on social media sites is pathetic and will only fan the flames and help bring the club down not take it forward.

I don't fear losing Mauricio Pochettino nor do i fear losing Luke Shaw, all I fear is that we will make a bad decision replacing them, that is the key over the next month, players and managers come and go, perhaps we have been out of the Premier league too long, but it has changed since 2005, now loyalty is rare and when it is apparently present, it is all down to money, nothing else !

So will Pochettino leave ? we are about to find out what his motivations are, do i think that he has a real affinity to this club ? Im not sure even under Cortese he kept his counsel and rarely showed any real passion for the club and city itself, that being the case I always suspected that we were nothing other than a stepping stone for him, he would leave the only question how soon, if Spurs offer him enough money then he will go there, what manager would not prefer to be paid a lot more and have a squad with more investment in it than his present club could afford, that's the nature of todays game im afraid, I think given the current situation Pochettino would go to Spurs whoever was in charge at Saints if he was offered the right money.

Photo: Action Images

LostBoys added 09:36 - May 27 I think it appears now to be an almost done deal. My irritation is that the Club should have issued a statement that they had offered Pochettino an extended contract and more money. Not to have done so is naive as it concedes the moral high ground and makes it appear to outsiders that we were not bothered about keeping him. I always expected him to move on to a bigger club but not now and to a continental name not Spurs. My worry is that he is moving due to an absence of financial commitment for the squad as he had this situation at Espanyol.

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slynch added 09:48 - May 27 "Should I stay or should I go now? If I go there will be trouble...... ......So come on and let me know This indecision's bugging me." The Clash
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simmo400 added 09:55 - May 27 If you believe all the media hes on his way. Nicks right it will all about WHO we bring in and the players who will be here. David Moyes would have been a great choice a year ago...........could he be our new manager with a kitty of 100m ? Could be worse.
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SanMarco added 10:00 - May 27 I totally agree with every word of this article. The departure of MoPo, LS and AL were all pretty inevitable and I think people 'shocked' by it have had their heads in the sand (or up somewhere in NC where the sun doesn't shine). The idea that we could invest tens of millions in some sort of further 'project' was unrealistic. It is a great shame that this has happened but let's forget the blame game and look forward. It would have set a dreadful precedent for a managerial ultimatum to set spending policy. Say we spent millions and came 6th next year. What then - spend twice as much the next season? I have 2 questions for MoPo though: 1. Name the last Saints manager who left us, against our will, for 'bigger' and 'better' things and actually succeeded? 2. Name the last manager that went to Spurs under Levy and left with their reputation enhanced? Big risk MoPo - I think your vanity and ambition are leading you down a dangerous path - I hope for your sake that you are the exception that proves the rule...

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thegeneral added 10:33 - May 27 I think MP has been flattered by the talent he's had available to him and several good young players coming through to the first team. Tactically i don't think he's that good, as soon as our opposition worked him out he couldn't change it. We only had three wins against the top ten teams (as the league finished) and a total of 16 points from 18 games against these teams. The downside is he seems incredibly popular with the players and i think his staying would encourage many of our players to stay as well, with him gone it could be 4,5 or 6 key players following him out the door. I think its naive of anyone to buy a premier league club without realising that a huge level of investment is required to compete, its a bottomless pit, ML must have known that promotion to this league would mean big cheques, and if KL won't do it then i feel the best thing to do is put the club up for sale, you just don't buy football clubs as an investment, you buy them because you've got so much money you don't know what to do with it. I don't know the figures but KL could well make a profit as well.

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BLEEDRED added 10:35 - May 27 If he is talking to Spuds the club must have given permission as he's under contract
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REEDYREEDOREEDZ added 10:44 - May 27 The reality is that this is a shrewd move by Pochettino. He knows he's probably taken Saints as far as he can. When you look at the seven teams ahead of us it would be very difficult to finish above them when some of your key players are going to be sold. Poche knows he can walk into Spurs and turn an underperforming team into a cohesive unit. They have a great squad and with only a couple of additions can challenge for top 4. So Pochettino will leave, Shaw will be sold for a huge amount of money, Lallana too. If the fire sale ends there then its not a disaster. We'll learn a lot about the new board and how competent they are with their dealings in the next month or so. The key is to make the right appointment next, and it has to happen in the next couple of weeks. My shortlist would be: Ranieri, Di Matteo, Hoddle, De Boer, Laudrup, Klinsmann, Rijkaard. David Moyes would definitely not be on my list! I think its important they appoint a manager who wants to play modern, attractive football. If Saints can get a top manager in quickly then the rest of the squad might be more inclined to stay, and the new manager will have time to organise the squad and spend the fifty/sixty odd million in the transfer kitty.

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SaintNick added 10:56 - May 27 Some sense spoken by everyone above, I think the club are caught between a rock and a hard place here with regard to an announcement about what they have done to keep him, if they go public and say that he has been offered a crazy deal to stay then its actually counter productive in that if he does stay then some supporters will question why he didnt sign it staraight away etc Better to keep quiet, if he stays then it can be spun as how loyal he is and if he goes we can tell the world how much we offered him then.

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SaintGeorge added 10:57 - May 27 It's all very well saying "onwards and upwards," but the loss of the manager and the two or three outstanding players of 2013-14 won't only have an effect on results / league position. It will be catastrophic for the style of football we play. When you see Lennon and Poyet touted as replacements, and you think of Saints playing like Sunderland or, worse still, Scottish PL style footy next season, it is heartbreaking.

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aceofthebase added 11:12 - May 27 The POX may be going, but he has no Champions league pedigree and the highest position on the premier league is with Saints. I can't see him lasting six months at Spurs wiyh his now predictable style, he has been unable to find a formula to beat the top clubs, with the one exception a Suarez less liverpool. The POX made a big thing that he thought he should fulfill his contract when NC left so what has changed? The filthy lucre! Stability is the key for Saints, so I still have fingers crossed that the POX will stay and the rest of the team likewise.

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IanRC added 11:40 - May 27 Don't think MoPo going would be the end of the world but would be reluctant to see our young talent depart. If he goes, and he may just be looking at his options, club needs to make a quality appointment quickly and reassure the players. Not sure that you have the Leibherr's aspirations for the club right may just be MoPo being ambitious although I think he will find Spurs a big mistake career wise.

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cheltenhamsaint added 11:41 - May 27 Perhaps it is just intelligence gathering about one of our competitors? If Levy wants to tell MP what Spurs plans are for next year why not? And every day that other clubs don't know if they have bought their transfer target is a day lost in preparing (elsewhere) for next season. The one thing I liked about Cortese was his view that you had to steal a competitive edge where you could (if competing financially was not an option) Just my glass half full view of things (and it makes a very good betting opportunity on the exchanges for those of you that enjoy a punt)

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saintmark1976 added 12:19 - May 27 SanMarco- I agree with most of your views. It is time for younger Saints fans to get real. If Mo Po wants to go then so be it. The same applies to Adam and Luke. They are ambitious and who can blame them. Having said that in my opinion Mo Po must be bonkers going to Spurs who have had Ten previous managers in Thirteen years so i believe. Us older fans can remember thinking that it was the end of the world when Martin Chivers went to Spurs and Alan shearer to Blackburn not forgetting of course Mick Channon to Man City. Was it really worlds end? Of course not. New players came in and the club goes on Put simply, it is not now possible for us to complete against the top teams and for us to win the Premiership or obtain a place in Europe. We do not have the fan base or the size of ground to attract Man Uniteds 76000 or Arsenals 60000. That does not mean that we can not win the odd cup competition,but only of course if we put out our best team! Looking forward if we do need a new manager then I would find Poyet hard to stomach bearing in mind his attitude towards us when he was at Brighton.Maybe Moyes deserves a second chance after being let down at Man United? Especially with a decent amount of money to spend.

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ExiledSupporter added 12:41 - May 27 MP has had a very considerable effect upon our outlook and the style of play we have adopted, though that's not to say that I haven't been critical of some of his tactics, selections, signings and adaptability. My problem is that he was chosen for his skills in getting the squad to play high quality possession football under pressure (and getting the best from youngsters) and this has been a style chosen for the academy players in the interests of continuity. To ensure that that legacy is not squandered will require the recruitment of a manager with a similar heritage and track record of success, I certainly don't think that Lennon for instance fits into that mould...possibly Laudrup (good record of bringing in classy players relatively cheaply), bit unlikely with Moyes etc. A swift appointment becomes vital to stem the departures to just Shaw and Lallana (who will probably now go to Spurs) and to stabilise the remainder of the squad and to have input into new acquisitions which cannot be left to Les Reed to oversee alone (if at all). His sudden outburst a few weeks ago now looks pretty questionable in terms of reliability. Yes, what we do next is vital to get right, but why do I feel that the club have missed a trick with MoPo and yet again Spurs have taken us to the cleaners?

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REEDYREEDOREEDZ added 12:58 - May 27 Another good article: http://www.footyplace.com/features/saints-right-to-stay-silent-but-departures-ar
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ItchenNorth added 13:43 - May 27 If Pochettino goes then so be it. You either want to be part of the club or not. What the Saints board must do if MoPo goes though is secure someone that can continue the project. Laudrup has to be that man for me. Yes Swansea struggled this season but this was mainly down to a draining Europa League campaign (thank god we are not in that next season now) and loss of Michu for large parts. But their system and style of play matches Saints to a tea. What we do not want is the likes of Lennon changing everything. I still hold hope that Pochettino might stay but if not; we go again. Just don't cock it up Saints; over to you now Kruger and Liebherr, talk is cheep action is everything.

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BoondockSaint added 13:51 - May 27 Good article Nick and I agree with most of the comments. Trying to get any higher in the league with out a huge fanbase, large stadium (with filled seats), giant sponsor money and a owner who will just keep throwing money away is impossible. Anyone who though so should put the bong down! Like MP's attack attitude, but like most, don't like his subs or inability to change tactics when needed. This Spurs talk could be just his agent trying to get a better deal (or get other clubs to take a look his way).Does he really think things will be better at Spurs? Look at their track record with managers! He may think the grass is greener, but as Erma Bombeck said "It's always greener over the septic tank!"

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