"Hapless" - Swansea City & Southampton slammed as double manager search continues | OneFootball

Adrian Clarke has criticised Swansea City and Southampton's lack of forward planning

Former Premier League midfielder Adrian Clarke has criticised Swansea City and Southampton for their lack of forward planning following the decisions to sack Alan Sheehan and Will Still earlier this month.

The two clubs have yet to find a permanent replacement for the dispensed paid, with the November international window now having come and gone.

The two-week break presented an opportunity for the two Championship sides to bring someone in before the glut of fixtures that will see most sides play 11 games in the next six weeks.

Meanwhile, Norwich have appointed Philippe Clement as their replacement for Liam Manning, with the former Rangers boss arriving earlier this week in a bid to save the Canaries from relegation.

Middlesbrough are reportedly closing in on the arrival of Kim Hellberg as their latest head coach, but the Teesside outfit were forced suddenly into the managerial market when Rob Edwards made the move to Wolves, rather than being sacked.

Adrian Clarke criticises Swansea and Southampton manager search with no appointments in sight

Clarke has claimed the situation at Swansea is hapless, as they continue to search for a replacement for Sheehan over a week after his dismissal.

He’s highlighted the names being linked to the role in ex-manager Russell Martin and former Liverpool coach Vitor Matos, suggesting that he’s far from impressed at the lack of recognisable faces in the mix.

“It all just feels a little bit hapless, doesn’t it? This doesn’t feel like good management, it certainly doesn’t feel like strong management,” said Clarke, via the What the EFL?! podcast.

“You would’ve thought these clubs would’ve had a plan in mind when they made their changes, but it appears that’s quite unlikely.

“I like Kim Hellberg, I don’t know was he really on Boro’s radar, obviously it was well-publicised that he was being interviewed by Swansea, but he was nowhere to be seen on the odds for Boro, so they’ve swooped in.

“Swansea, who knows what they’re going to do now.

“There’s a couple of [names mentioned], Russell Martin’s been linked, I think there’s a manager from Portugal, the second division, who is being strongly linked as well.

“You just think, can they not do better than that, Swansea?

“Can they not get someone a bit more recognised? I don’t know.”

Clarke also believes that Southampton would be making a big mistake if they fell into the trap of appointing the caretaker Tonda Eckert as the permanent successor to Still, despite having won both his matches in charge against QPR and Sheffield Wednesday.

“For Southampton, I think they’re falling into the trap of appointing the caretaker, Tonda Eckert, 32,” Clarke added.

“I think that’d probably be a mistake, it’s a big club, high expectations, it’s a heck of a big ask for someone of his lack of experience, that’d be a mistake.

“And then you’re looking at Norwich.

“Gary O’Neil, you got some really big names linked with that job, names I think could do a really good job, and it appears they’re going to go for Philippe Clement (who has since been appointed officially).

“Rangers fans couldn’t stand his football, constantly complaining, I can remember, sideways football, loads of long balls, very direct.

“It feels like Norwich and Swansea are having a mare and Southampton are about to.”

Clement has been appointed at Norwich, but Southampton and Swansea are yet to confirm their respective decisions on their next permanent head coach.

Lack of forward planning could hurt Swansea and Southampton in the coming weeks

Swansea’s new owners aren’t making a strong first impression when their strategy so far has seen them stick with Sheehan for only a few months, and then have nobody lined up to replace him once Hellberg was no longer on the table.

Going back to Martin, or bringing in the inexperienced Matos could work out, but the process in which they’ll arrive at a new manager hasn’t been smooth, and lessons must be learned as they’ve wasted the break.

Meanwhile, Southampton surely cannot stick with Eckert long-term and expect success, as his lack of experience at this level is likely going to show - and that is what the majority of fans think too.

The lack of noise around other names does lead to the expectation that those two wins were enough to convince Sport Republic and main man Dragan Solak that he’s the man, but that shouldn’t be all it takes to become Southampton manager these days.

It's thought that Eckert will have the next three games to further prove his credentials, but that in itself shows that there's no real proper plan among the hierarchy at St Mary's Stadium.