9:30am Sunday 5th July 2009
By Adam Leitch
MARK WOTTE has admitted he booked his flights to Egypt expecting to quit Saints and take a job there – but changed his mind after Pinnacle dropped out of the race to buy the club.
Wotte’s loyalty and integrity over a very difficult summer was rewarded this week when his academy director contract was officially changed to give him the job title of manager.
But it only came weeks of uncertainty and increasing frustration as potential new owners identified managers to take over from him – as he still trained the first team.
Matt Le Tissier’s snapped meeting with Kevin Keegan was bad for Wotte’s morale, mention of Peter Reid in connection with the Marc Jackson group was awful but the tipping point came when Michael Fialka, Pinnacle’s ‘money man’, appeared on TV and discussed appointing a new manager.
At that point Wotte decided to quit Saints for his own pride and accept a lucrative job offer in Egypt.
But, once the Pinnacle deal collapsed, he changed his mind and is now looking forward to the start of next season.
He said: “To be honest I booked my flight to Egypt for July 1 but when the Pinnacle group pulled out it changed everything.
“I was ready to leave – not because I didn’t like Southampton, I really wanted to stay, but for my pride I didn’t want to continue preparing the team for somebody else.
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