Rupert Lowe has been speaking about his time at Southampton, and some interesting revelations have been made.
The former chairman is a maligned figure among the Saints fan-base following his tenure at the club during their times of financial struggle, and he has recently opened up to The Athletic about his tenure at St Mary’s.
Lowe discussed how the club was being run under his stewardship, and also made astonishing claims about the near misses in the transfer market.
Southampton, as per the former chairman’s comments, had identified Didier Drogba and Florent Malouda as targets, only to pass up the chances to sign the pair, who both went on to enjoy success for Chelsea in the Premier League.
Drogba, in particular, was apparently turned down for a quite remarkable reason. After Saints’ European scout Terry Cooper had spotted him in action for Guingamp, he put forward the idea of signing him to Ray Clarke, who was identifying possible transfer targets Southampton manager Gordon Strachan at the time.
After taking a look at Drogba, who would go on to become a Chelsea legend and one of the Premier League’s most heralded forwards, Clarke opted against a move because of concerns regarding the Ivorian’s first touch.
Read Southampton’s verdict
Well, if that doesn’t just about sum up how poorly the club was being run at the time, then nothing will. It seems as though there was incompetence from top to bottom, and missed opportunities like that of failing to sign Drogba went on to cost us.
Lowe’s interview with The Athletic is, in simple terms, a complete show of arrogance. To this day, he seems to struggle with the notion that he was responsible for much of our club’s demise, but those who were forced to suffer Southampton’s regression know only too well just who was accountable.
Drogba might not have enjoyed success to the extent he did in the Premier League if he had joined Southampton, but it’s fairly likely that our forward options would have been in a bit of a brighter state…
