According to the Portugese media Claude Puel is on a five man shortlist to take over the vacant managers job at Porto.

Porto sacked their manager Nuno Santo yesterday the Portugese media are claiming that the club have a five man shortlist that they want to interview for the vacant position, Marco Silva, Claudio Ranieri, Paulo Sousa and Sérgio Conceição are four of them and they are apparently joined by Claude Puel.

Given that Silva and Ranieri have already been linked with Saints with some sources claiming that Silva's first choice is St Mary's, this is a real managerial merry go round.

Porto have been impressed by Puel's record at Saints this season although the issues that Saints supporters have with Puel is not how well he has done on paper, after all it was only three years ago that we were celebrating Mauricio Pochettino getting us to the same 8th position that Puel has achieved this season and back then we did not have the addition of a cup final.

It is the style of play and Puel's inability to find any consistency due to his rotation policy that has upset the Saints support, there are mitigating circumstances as to why it hasn't been as good as we had hoped, but in the final third of the season Puel has done himself no favours with the team failing to score in the final five home games.

The selections in the final games varied greatly and with rumours of discontent in the squad there are probably a sizable portion of Saints supporters who would drive him to Portugal themselves if he was to be offered the job.

However there are still those who believe that Puel has done well under the circumstances and perhaps try to look at the bigger picture, sometimes you have to step back and take a look at how others see you and certainly Puel seems to have no shortage of clubs who would be willing to offer him a job should Saints decide he has to go.

Photo: Action Images

petedoors1 added 11:19 - May 23 Good luck to him I his new job at Porto. bye bye.
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charlie357 added 11:43 - May 23 Puel leaving for Porto might be the most elegant solution for all parties. Puel would get a more prestigious job (with much better weather!), we would avoid sacking him and we would also pocket some compensation since he still has a couple of years on his contract.
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patred added 11:51 - May 23 it shows that it's not only Saints fans that think he is gone..even other clubs can see the writing on the wall.
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Sanguin added 11:51 - May 23 I’m still not convinced Puel will leave, but the Stoke result and the atmosphere around the ground after Stoke scored won’t do him any favours.
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richsaints added 12:01 - May 23 don,t bear him any malice at all he,s just not the man for saints never was hope he goes straight into another job.
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Consigliere added 12:20 - May 23 I have always felt that sacking the manager would be a knee-jerk reaction and that he needed another season to prove what he can do, although I also found him maddening in his tactics and selection, and erratic in his decision making. My last post effectively gave him 51% support. I confess that I have changed my mind as a result of the last two games. Man U were there for the taking and an attacking formation with two up front should have lead to a win for us, or at the very least, a watchable battle. Stoke offered little throughout the game save for what was admittedly a well-taken goal by Peter Crouch (who we should never have let go in the first place) yet we continued to fiddle around in midfield and then took off our striker when what was required was the addition of another one! Boufal (who frankly should be rendered down for spare parts) was clearly not the answer and the crowd's reaction said it all. The net result is that for me, Puel has slipped below the 50/50 threshold. The supporters don't run the club but when they streamed out en masse rather than endure the "lap of appreciation" that sends a message to the Board " We are paying to watch entertaining football and we are not happy!" Football is a business and if the customers are not happy in the end the business will fail. The Board cannot afford to ignore the message that is being sent for very much longer. Time to change therefore, though I'm, not sure who yet. Ranieri?

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WestSussexSaint added 12:46 - May 23 The key thing right now is the club take quick and decisive action regarding the manager's position, regardless of whether Puel stays or doesn't. Dithering about could lead us to miss out on our preferred choice (if Puel goes) as there are plenty of other clubs with new vacancies and seeking to fill them and we could be left with the dregs in terms of a replacement or worse - Moyes! If he is staying then back him quickly and get on with planning for next season.

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ItchenNorth added 12:54 - May 23 Can you just cut to the chase TUI. Let’s have a straight answer from you. Do you want Claude Puel to stay or go ?
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aceofthebase added 13:22 - May 23 TUI on his back from the first game as were many of the moaning minnies on here. He is better than all the managers being speculated for the job
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aceofthebase added 13:22 - May 23 TUI on his back from the first game as were many of the moaning minnies on here. He is better than all the managers being speculated for the job
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Jesus_02 added 15:45 - May 23 @ charlie357: I wouldn't be too greedy I would accept mutual agreement and move on. We haven't Knee Jerked with Puel we gave him a fare crack of the whip. I think we need someone to come in a and resurrect some of our players shattered confidence. Davis, Long, Classie and Hoeburg are all broken figures. Boufal and Tadic are both Talented players but have been rightly accused o being headless chickens, the problem is the direction is supposed to be determined by the manager

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IanRC added 21:47 - May 23 I am sure Virgil and others will have been very encouraged to stay by the mass exodus ahead of home support prior to the lap of appreciation. Looks like we are becoming a club with supporters with short patience just like the big six we all like to deride (but without the silverware).
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SaintBrock added 14:24 - May 24 The papers this morning suggest the Porto job has gone to A.N.Other already. Les will as Les always does, dither and waffle, waffle and dither and hope the problem solves itself in the meantime so that he doesn't have to make a judgement, bit like Ward-Prowse being given the ball really.
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