With the international break providing the first natural pause since Selles took over from Nathan Jones in mid-February, the Spaniard sat down with the Saints media team to discuss his journey and the earliest days of his tenure. Initially joining Saints in the summer as part of Ralph Hasenhuttl’s staff, Selles’s path to the South Coast took him all across Europe in various coaching roles before eventually making the leap to British soil. And when the Jones era disintegrated in just eight league games, it was the experienced coach – and first time manager – Selles, who was chosen as his replacement, initially on an interim basis before getting the job until the end of the season.
Ruben Selles said: “I don’t know what a comfort zone is, to be honest with you. I’ve been living out of that comfort zone for 15 years. I think it says about me that I can do almost everything that I want to do, I am ready to invest what I think is the proper thing to invest. Sometimes we need to be separated for a long time with the family, but as a family we decide to do it. I think it just put me in a position where I can understand almost every single point of view, but it is also making my life easier – I have 17 nationalities in the dressing room with different backgrounds, different religions, but because of my past I have touched almost everything in one country or another country, so I know exactly how they feel and exactly what they need. I think it is a big advantage.”
As well as taking him to a wide range of locations, Selles’s football life has seen him adopt numerous roles across the fitness side, analysis departments, coaching and management.
Ruben Selles added: “I think it just says that I was a person that didn’t wait for the opportunity – just go and try to get it, and try to be as honest and direct as possible, and adapt himself to a different scenario, which I think is a very, very important quality in life. Now when we are here talking, when I have a fantastic technical staff in Southampton, I know what is required to make every single activity they make, so I can demand exactly what I can demand from them, and I know how to not overload them. That is a big advantage for me. I know how much it takes you to analyse a football match and it is not something you can make from one hour to the other. I know how much it takes for you to prepare a training session, or a video session, or to analyse the game from a statistical point of view – I did almost every single job in football, so I understand and I can demand.”
