MATT Le Tissier has spoken of his “surprise” that Saints opted to appoint former academy director and reserve team boss Mark Wotte as Jan Poortvliet’s sucessor.

Poortvliet’s decision to quit due to the club’s poor home form was announced late last night along with confirmation that Wotte was to take over as Saints new head coach on a permanent basis.

While club legend Le Tissier was not overly surprised that Saints’ dismal home form this season has led to a managerial change he described the decision to appoint Wotte rather than a completely new manager as “the cheap option.”

“You look at the home form this season and it has been absolutely abysmal,” Le Tissier said.

“The only surprise to me is the appointment of Mark Wotte.

“He has come in and is one of Jan’s men and they just seem to have passed on the baton.”

When asked on Sky Sports’ Soccer Saturday whether appointing a fresh face would have been a better course of action for Saints to take, Le Tissier said: “You would have thought so.

"That would be the normal thinking but sadly at board level at the moment normal thinking goes out of the window sometimes.

“It (appointing Wotte) is the cheap option and it’s probably the only option we could afford because things are not looking too bright on the financial front at the moment.”