Saints have appointed Mauricio Pochettino to replace Nigel Adkins “for the club to progress and achieve our long-term targets,” according to Nicola Cortese.

We aren’t sure what those targets are, but presumably for Adkins to be replaced they must lie somewhere above back-to-back promotions and then keeping Saints in the Premier League.

If what Adkins was producing wasn’t going to meet Cortese’s long term targets, then logic dictates that at the very least they must involve establishing a top half team that can occasionally challenge for a European place.

Therefore, poor old Pochettino’s success or otherwise will have to be measured by that lofty gauge – and this for a guy who hits the ground running with zero experience of English football, speaking only pigeon English and with the club still looking over their shoulder in the table.

Merely keeping Saints in the Premier League doesn’t feel like enough anymore, given these standards.

Read the rest of Adam Leitch's comments in today's Daily Echo - plus a whole day of drama at St Mary's