Saints go Scottish

After relegation to Div 3 English Club Southampton have put their hopes on a return to Div 2 in the hands of Scottish Manager Niall Taylor, we spoke to Niall on how he’s settled into his new surroundings.

Taylor on Southampton:

When the offer came in i couldn’t board the plane quick enough to leave Russia, things started well over there and we were early pace setters in the promotion chase from Div 3 but we went on an awful loosing streak, so i contacted my agent and when i hear Southampton were interested I jumped at the chance.

Taylor on the Squad:

The previous managers have done very well with player recruitment, with the likes of Stark, Milik & Kramaric, my thoughts are the squad does not need much changes only a few squad players added, though we are very short in the central Midfield areas so this is certainly an area we shall be looking to strengthen going forward.

Taylor on Player Recruitment:

As i have said we wont be seeing huge changes, the previous managers have done very well in that sense, and i also feel there is no ‘value’ in the current transfer market, I feel this summer has seen some heavily on sided deals, alot of teams have certainly become weaker because of it, some mangers have applied aggressive tactics during the close season and it has certainly paid off, as i write this we have completed 2 deals this morning, this will see a deal with my former club Lokomotiv, which will see Dos Santos depart and joining us will be two players i signed when i was manager there Argentinian defender David Abraham, David will come in as back up and also come into the side if we switch to a 3 at the back system, also moving to St Marys as part of that deal & one for the future is Scottish youngster Scott Mckenna, I have high hopes for Scott and he is certainly  one for the future.
Today also saw reserve keeper Joel Robles move along the cost to Brighton and joining Southampton is another player i signed while in Russia Spanish keeper Vicente Guaita and finally and two early transfer was completed days into my stint here, which saw Gueye move to Milan and winger Bofim Marlos move to England, and Leonardo Pavoletti followed me from Moscow with Havard Nordtveit moving to Russia.

I have been delighted to bring these players in but with that comes the need to move others on so we have had to make the following players available for transfer.

Lars Stindl, Andre Hahn, Chadrac Akolo, Joao Novais have been made available for transfer, and we would like to taken Central Midfielders to Southampton is exchange, and at time of writing no other first team members will be leaving St Marys.

Taylor on the Season ahead:

Ive had 2 seasons in Div 3 one with Lyon and one with Lokomotiv and both times we have started well and ran out of steam come the last quater of the season, this is something i hope to put right with Southampton, I’ve signed a 2 season deal and in that time i hope to gain promotion, though if this is not the case then i will sit down with the board and see where my future lies!