On the latest edition of the Total Saints podcast, The Athletic’s Southampton correspondent Dan Sheldon has made a claim regarding a private message sent by the Saints board to their staff and players.
Southampton earned a hard-fought point on Friday night after playing the majority of their game against Leicester City with 10 men on the field.
Will Hasenhuttl leave Southampton this summer?
Yes
No
Following the game, Sheldon claims a message was sent out by the Southampton superiors to the players and staff to show their pride as the south coast side edged one step closer to Premier League security for next season. Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side are still not mathematically safe, however, with four games remaining for 18th-placed Fulham it would require something pretty incredible to leapfrog Southampton who sit 10 points ahead of the Cottagers.
The Athletic journalist says (20:10) there had been a message sent by the Saints board following the game which pleased many high up in the Saints hierarchy: “It came to my attention, actually, on Saturday when I was having a couple of conversations with some contacts outside the club that a message had been sent around Friday night from the top, which, I guess would be the board, maybe Martin [Semmens] if I’m going to guess.
“A group chat type message maybe, that went out to the players and staff, basically kind of saying, airing how proud they were. And this is the way forward and you know, if we all pull in the right direction; we can all move forward together.”
“I thought that was interesting, and there really is this kind of sense that Friday could be a turning point. I think Ralph would have realised a lot of things on Friday night, I think, by the sounds of the message that went out from above Ralph, perhaps they realised a lot on Friday night as well.”
TIF Thoughts on Sheldon’s comments…
The draw against the Foxes on Friday night was pretty impressive from the Saints. Even had they managed to keep all 11 players on the field, that would have made for a solid point in their battle against the drop.
However, to earn a point against the high-flying Foxes with just 10 men on the pitch clearly impressed the Saints board who felt the need to share their delight with both the players and the staff.
It has been a turbulent season for the Saints with some incredible highs and damming lows but following Fulham’s defeat to Chelsea on Saturday, they need just one more win to secure their spot in next season’s Premier League.
In other news: ‘Let’s not kid ourselves’ – TalkSport pundit makes big claim over key Saints player’s future