Les Reed has spent eight years as Southampton’s chief executive, turning the Saints from a League One to a Premier League team.
There was allegedly a sacking at Southampton on Thursday morning, but it was not manager Mark Hughes.
According to The Echo, the axe has swung on vice-chairman Les Reed with the Saints’ chief paying the price for a dismal start to the new Premier League season.
Reed has spent the last eight years working behind the scenes at St Mary’s and, for the most part, has done a wonderful job in turning Southampton into a Premier League team.
The Saints were in the third tier of English football in 2010 but, under the 65-year-old, they have established themselves in the top flight, reached the League Cup final and played Europa League football.
And Reed will remain fondly remembered by many for his fine work with the academy and the recruitment department, not to mention the role he played in the appointments of Mauricio Pochettino and Ronald Koeman.
Speaking to Jim White on talkSPORT (8 November, 10:00am), Dean Saunders has paid tribute to Reed with his departure confirmed.
“Les Reed put the model in place that produced so many players out of Southampton. It was his idea that they would have six players for every position so they could sell and keep winning,” Saunders said.
“So I bet he could list some (impressive) players that he brought into the club.”
Reed’s reputation has been tainted by a difficult couple of seasons at Southampton, with the club narrowly avoiding relegation last season after the botched appointment of Mauricio Pellegrino.
The impressive, intelligent signings appear to have dried up, while homegrown youngsters have stopped appearing on the first-team stage, too, with Southampton winning just one of 11 league games this season.
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