Speaking at this afternoon's press conference Ronald Koeman has spoken of hs confidence that Southampton Football Club will continue to grow in the coming years.

Ronald Koeman has great optimism that Saints are on the right track and will continue to progress on and off the field, although he realises that the success of last season has led to greater expectations from the supporters.

“When we started this season I knew it would be a tough season because the expectation will be the same as last year,” he told reporters ahead of Saturday’s game against Crystal Palace — another club with a desire for a strong finish in the top half.

“Maybe what we showed last year is a title, the best of the rest.

"That will not happen every season, but if we can grow, and it will take more than one year, we can grow.

“We believe that we can make steps in the future, but all those kind of steps will be controlled, without too much risk, and that’s the way how Southampton works. That’s the way, honestly, what I like.”

Koeman added: “In every sport it’s so easy to tell everybody ‘Ok, we are happy in the position of 11th or 12th’, but we have ambition to grow, to continue what we did last season.

“I believe in our structure in the club, and the qualities of the players, and the organisation in the team and the way how we play football that we can do it much better than the bottom of the Premier League, and we show that. It will happen again this season.”

Good words from the Dutch manager and statements that will give optimism that he may remain at the club for longer than 2018 when his current deal expires.

If he stays to then though he will have lasted longer than the average manager in today's top flight, after the sacking of Garry Monk, Koeman is currently the 8th longest serving Premier League club manager, indeed of the 20 Premier League clubs only 9 have managers that have been in the job for more than a year and if you consider that of those , Eddie Howe has not been a Premier League manager for long, the shelf life of a manager is very short. In fact only Arsene Wenger has more than 3 years at the same club in the top flight.

If Koeman is to outstay his curren contract it will probably depend on what jobs are available nearing the end of his current contract, if the Barcelona or Holland positions were open then it would be very tempting for Koeman.

Whatever happens though it is good to see that Saints are getting together a definite strategy and Koeman's role over the last 18 months should not be underestimated, f he where to leave then he would leave Saints in a far better position than at any time in the past three decades

Photo: Action Images

IWOZTHERE added 23:53 - Dec 10 Yes, fine words and I really hope he believes it and stays. He's not looked comfortable lately though, going public on the need for 'new blood'.
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SaintNick added 09:39 - Dec 11 Thats not unusual in football for a manager to subtly say a few things, sometimes its to stir up the board sometimes to stir up the players
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bstokesaint added 12:45 - Dec 11 I sincerely hope Ron stays with us for some time. Every experienced former player/manager knows that teams have that bad spells, indifferent periods and winning streaks. At the moment we're definitely at the point where some of the players need to take a good look at themselves and if they're performing for their manager. I'd say at least 5-6 are below their game. I guess that must frustrate Ron more than anything. On the positive side not many teams have capitalised on this poor run of form and we're still well within touching distance.

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Jesus_02 added 14:34 - Dec 11 Consistency is the key to success in football, from Chairman down to the players. Unfortunately for saints we have very little consistency with players , fortunately for us most clubs are in the same position. T he result is that the whole league is volatile. Leicester are top because they have consistency, if they lose Mahrez and Vardy they will suffer. Its uncomfortable as a saints fan, it feels like we are at a tipping point we are only 5 points off of Spurs in 5th but we are also only 8 points from the relegation positions. A run of form will cool our nerves but a run of defeats and the team are in an unfamiliar position

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SaintBrock added 15:42 - Dec 11 I am worried about Ron's PC demeanour lately, happy he is not and my fear is he is losing patience with his squad and interest in our project. You can speculate that he now realises he's been sold a pup instead of a bulldog; that we don't have the money to buy the players and build the dream team he would really like. The exit signs are growing brighter in this dark period that we are in now.

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