You say 'disastrous' As I understand it, after a 3-2 home win over Blackburn Paul Sturrock asked Lowe to back him against one of the Saints' staff he was forced to keep when he first went there. It was clear that one of them was leaking negative stuff to the newspapers and Luggy made it clear it was 'him or me'. When Lowe refuse to back Luggy he left. I went to watch a home game not too long after Luggy went there it was noticeable that the man in question stayed sat behind the new manager, arms folded and I did not see a word pass between them. And that was season before Paul walked away from St Mary's. I cannot be sure but when I moved to Southampton some years later a Saints' fan at work told me a story that was very similar.
I wouldn’t have said a 38% win rate was a disaster for Southampton in the Premier League at that time.
Without naming names ex Exeter City player Steve Wigley was Caretaker Manager at Southampton prior to Luggy’s arrival. Following Luggy’s premature departure Steve Wigley became full time Manager of Southampton. There was also some player power involved in Luggy’s demise. As for Wigley he had what can only be described as an unsuccessful spell as Manager and is currently in charge of the Fulham Academy team.
Thank you. I never realised about the Exeter connection. I was working near Southampton then so I was aware of the rest. I was well pleased at his poor performance when he took over. 3 wins in 17 games with one of them against a League One outfit and another over a League Two club. Of course, Portsmouth hero Harry Redknapp then took over and made absolutely sure that they were relegated. He did have a late scare when with two games a victory over Norwich lifted them out of the bottom 3. But a loss and a draw ensured Harry delivered relegation.
It was strongly rumoured that one of the players (I wont give his name for obvious reasons), was using recreational drugs and Luggy became aware of it. Lowe did not want the story leaked as the player was worth about 10m at the time. Luggy didn't want to play him, Lowe did. Lowe made the choice.
Indeed
Luggy brought in Peter Crouch which did not go down well with everybody because they thought he was going to play the long ball game.
