FORMER Saints striker Gordon Watson insists Ronald Koeman is the perfect manager to carry on building strong foundations at St Mary’s.

Watson, who played for the club back in the 1990s, has seen a lot of Koeman’s new-look Saints in the early weeks of the 2014/15.

He has been left very impressed.

Unlike most fans, however, Watson has also been to Staplewood to watch Koeman oversee training.

Unlike most fans, Watson has been granted access to Koeman’s office.

And he has left very impressed again.

“When you walk into Ronald’s office you seen a photo of him on the wall in the Barcelona team of 1992,” said Watson.

“You see Ronald in the same team as Guardiola, Laudrup, Hagi, Zubizarreta, Stoichkov.

“There is another picture of Ronald with Rinus Michels.

“Those pictures say it all really.

“When you are a player aiming to get somewhere, Ronald Koeman has already been there.

“You are going to listen to a person like him.”

Koeman famously scored the winning goal when Barcelona won their first European Cup 22 years ago at Wembley.

That came four years after the greatest moment of his international career, when he was part of Michels’ Netherlands squad that won the European Championships.

Among his colleagues were fellow Dutch legends such as Ruud Gullit, Marco Van Basten, Frank Rijkaard and Arnold Muhren.

Koeman is a massive name in his home country, and very highly respected.

“Listen, the Dutch journalists reckon Manchester United appointed the wrong Dutchman,” Watson remarked.

“That says it all.

“I have spoken to Ronald, and I have seen him on the training ground, and I was left really impressed.

“Not just him, but all his staff.

“Sammy Lee knows the Premier League inside out, and Dave Watson is a workaholic and has an OCD with little things.

“It’s all looking good.

“Of course, it’s early days but we can only go on what we’ve seen so far.

“They could have won at Liverpool after going behind and the response after going behind at West Ham was outstanding.

Watson added: “I went up the training ground last season at times the players were tired by the end of Friday.

“That showed in the amount of late goals we conceded.

“Now the same is happening at Tottenham, they have conceded late goals and we could have equalised late on last weekend.

“Ronald has it that the players are almost at the top of the mountain by the end of Friday, and then the following day they are ready to climb to the top.

“They are looking comfortable, they are looking fresh, they have options, they can change a game from the bench, they are playing with freedom, it’s all good.

“We are looking strong and I’m excited about the future, but I said before the season started that I was excited.

“If they finish in the same position as last season they will have done superb given all the changes.

“Everton and Tottenham are the clubs they must be looking to overhaul if they want to finish higher.

“Saints must now aim to become one of those clubs that finish just outside of the top five.

“They should have money to spend in the next window.

“After all, they brought in almost £100m last summer and they’ve only spent around £50m of that.”