Saints keep mum on Hoddle

Southampton chairman Rupert Lowe remains tight-lipped on reports that Glenn Hoddle is set to make a controversial return as manager of the club.

Press reports claim that Hoddle is set to take over from Gordon Strachan as early as next week. However Lowe told the BBC this morning: 'No decision has been made about a new manager. We are keeping our options open and will name a new manager when it is right for us.'

However, the move may not go down well with Saints fans. Southampton supporters sang anti-Hoddle songs and asked 'Are you listening Rupert Lowe' during last weekend's 0-0 draw against Fulham.

Similar chants may be heard tonight at Arsenal, where Gordon Strachan is expected to take charge of the club for the last time before he takes a year's sabbatical from football.

Hoddle was also linked this week to the vacancy at Nottingham Forest, but they are expected to appoint Joe Kinnear instead.

After being sacked by Spurs in September, he made no secret that he wanted to return to football. He was interviewed twice for the Reading job, but it was eventually given to Steve Coppell, and he also flew out to Qatar to discuss a management deal at club level.

He managed Southampton for 14 months up to March 2001, during which time he steered Southampton to seventh place in the League and had won five successive matches.

But he angered the club's followers by leaving for Spurs and then returning to buy defender Dean Richards for £8.1million.

It will surprise many that chairman Rupert Lowe has turned back to Hoddle after the acrimonious nature of his departure last time.

Lowe was upset that Hoddle did not inform him of Spurs' interest straight away and said he was 'disappointed that Glenn had chosen to turn his back on the club that gave him the opportunity to resume his career in top-flight management and on a squad... which had given him their unconditional loyalty.'

However, most of the Saints' board anger was directed at Spurs directors, who Lowe described as "North London yobbos".

Hoddle's reputation has suffered since his first spell in charge at Southampton, but the club credit him with beginning their resurgence from a struggling lower table team to one capable of regularly competing for Europe.

The 46-year-old's coaching is still well regarded, but serious doubts have been raised about his manmanagement skills since his time with England.

Tim Sherwood, Teddy Sheringham and Steffen Freund all left Spurs on bad terms with Hoddle.

England striker James Beattie, one of more than half a dozen players who remain from Hoddle's first stint at Southampton, has also said: 'I know that he annoyed some of the senior players. His manmanagement wasn't good and they were irritated by the way he treated them.'

If Hoddle arrives, it will bring a premature end to the reign of Strachan, who announced last month that he would not renew his contract at the end of the season. The Scot is taking a break from football to spend time with his family.