Uncertainty about the division they’ll be competing in next season, uncertainty about who the manager, uncertainty at the top of the club after a raft of staff departures, and uncertainty with the playing squad in terms of who will actually still be at St Mary’s in three months time.
Ruben Selles said: “I haven’t seen any distraction but it’s true that May is a gossip month. For everybody. For the club, for the coaches, for the players. Rumours, situations, end of contracts, new transfers, where do I play, where could be better for my family, where could be better for my future…It’s something that is in football in the transfer window in general. So I haven’t seen any distraction from any players or the technical staff but I know it is there. Not only for Southampton players and coaches but for every single player, coach, or sports director in football, in the Premier League or in any competition. If you ask in any other club there are players that are not playing that expect to make a move for next season. Teams that are going to be promoted, players that don’t know if they’re going to be there or not, same thing with coaches. Players who don’t want to play for one coach or who want to go play for another coach. So there are a lot of different situations and it doesn’t really matter which situation you’re in because it’s always going in one way or another.”
Saints will be hoping to keep their comatose season alive when they visit Nottingham Forest on Monday night. While Selles’s side enter the weekend six points adrift of safety, all their relegation rivals are in action prior to the bank holiday kick-off. Selles and his team could cut the gap to safety to just three points should results go their way and they successfully beat Nottingham Forest and the Saints boss insisted on Friday afternoon that his players still believe they can stay up.
Ruben Selles said: “Players know they can do it and it’s not a game where we feel we’re completely out of it. We compete against every team and it’s our belief we have been competitive but for some reason or another we haven’t got the points. If there is a time to do it then it is now.”
