It's certainly all change down at St Mary’s. Last season, Southampton escaped the ignominy of relegation to the third tier of English football by the skin of their teeth. If they have a similar experience this coming season it certainly won’t be because of a lack of change of personnel.

Since the end of last season Rupert Lowe, a man whose popularity is equally split among Southampton supporters, has returned to run the club and the manager who kept them up last season, Nigel Pearson, has departed. He has, somewhat ironically, gone to manage Leicester City, the club that he sent down as a result of their last-day victory.

Dutchman Jan Poortvliet is in the manager's chair. He had a distinguished career as a player with 19 international caps for Holland, representing them in the 1978 World Cup. When he retired in the early 90s he became a manager and has been in charge of a string of lower league Dutch clubs.

The appointment of Poortvliet raised many eyebrows as he is almost completely unknown in this country and his knowledge of Championship football must be fairly limited. The fact that the salaries of Poortvliet and his assistant together come to less than what Saints were paying Pearson goes some way to explain the appointment.

Poortvliet has wasted no time in stamping his authority on the club in both the transfer market and in terms of discipline. He has released seven players from the club. Defenders Darren Powell and Alexander Ostlund, and midfield trio Inigo Idiakez, Jermaine Wright and Mario Licka have all moved on, while reserve striker Cedric Baseya, 20, has also returned to his native France to join Lille on a Bosman free transfer. Youssef Safri has also left Saints to play his football in Qatar.

New signings include 21-year-old Tottenham keeper Tommy Forecast, together with Lee Holmes, Paul Wotton and Morgan Schneiderlin.

On the disciplinary side, Poortvliet has dealt firmly with Nathan Dyer who has refused to sign a new contract. Dyer has been banished to train on his own, away from the first-team squad. Poortvliet said: "We need players who are happy to be here and whose heart is with Southampton."

As an outsider, it looks to me as though Poortvliet is a man who knows his own mind and is prepared to take total responsibility for the playing staff and the results they achieve. Most fans will be quietly impressed with what they have seen so far. The only fear might be the question of whether all of these decisions have been taken by Poortvliet or whether Lowe is still pulling the strings.

We will know much more when the season starts, but Saints might just have pulled off a bit of a coup by bringing this unknown man in to rescue them from their lowly position.