Roger Moore scores: the Hod squad

“Regrets, I’ve had a few…” Well, it seems Frank Sinatra was in very good company with none other than the Southampton Board of Directors this week.

The decision not to appoint Glenn Hoddle as manager in the wake of Gordon Strachan’s departure was not one that I’d given much thought to over the past year. Yes, there were the occasional calls from those who speculated how God’s hand-maiden might have made a better fist of our relegation battle, but not in this quarter, well not for more than a fleeting thought at least.

For my sins I would have taken Hoddle back. Perhaps it’s age, maybe it’s cynicism, possibly even apathy with today’s eat-fast die-young society, but for me the concept of loyalty exists only between dog and master. He may have left under a cloud but find me a noble way to cheat on your missus. But the decision not to welcome Glenn and Eileen back to the fold seems to me the least likely reason for our subsequent demise.

I don’t like regrets, but if you’re going to have them, surely it’s better to regret what you did do rather than what you didn’t? You can always get off the path you’re on – you can’t re-trace a path you never trod at all.

So let’s look at some of the decisions our venerable board might have regretted. How about the sacking of Paul Sturrock two games into a new season? Or the decision to replace him at the highest level of domestic football with an un-proven youth team coach? Are these not slightly more complicit in our relegation than the ghost of Glenn Hoddle? Are the board telling us these were the ‘right’ things to do?

Astounding is all I can say about a board of Directors who (it seems) unanimously declare their affection for a manager who never was, in full hearing of the manager who is, and (I hope) the manager who will be for some time to come.

And how is that current manager to feel? Would it not have been more effective for club-morale to hear how the board regret not having access to our current manager sooner?

I don’t know the board of Southampton personally. For all I know they may be the most able individuals available to lead a football club. Let’s face it, who in their right mind would want the job? But once there, you have a responsibility and yes, just occasionally, that stretches beyond the shareholders to the customer base.

Directors have a duty not just to their accountants, but to set the real ‘tone’ and spirit of an organisation. Theirs is the obligation to build the type of football club of which you and I wish to feel a part. A club that looks forward and only back to reflect occasionally on past glory.

I have several regrets about last season. I regret that nobody closed down Van Persie at Highbury, that Danny Higginbotham came back to defend that Middlesborough corner and that Peter Crouch didn’t run into the corner against Everton.

Any one of these things would have meant Stoke City travelling to play West Brom at 3pm on Saturday and us hosting Alan Shearer and Michael Owen on Sunday afternoon.

You see, it really was that close. One kick either way and yesterday’s AGM would have seen happier faces discussing another near-miss and the plans in place to avoid it. Would Glen Hoddle have made a difference to our survival? Frankly, who cares?

A board with vision, passion, direction and belief can make a difference. Their only regret should be that they took their eye off the ball and that we’re all now paying the price. And this should be quickly followed by an apology and a promise to put it right.

Perhaps next time a Director of Southampton FC is asked about regrets, he would do well to remember the next line from Mr Sinatra; “then again, too few to mention…”