HEAD of Saints Women, Marieanne Spacey-Cale, admitted her sadness at not having the opportunity to say goodbye to exiting men’s manager, Ralph Hasenhuttl, in person.  

The Austrian was relieved of his duties after nearly four years leading the Premier League side last week, following a 4-1 defeat to Newcastle United.

When Hasenhuttl arrived in December 2018, Spacey-Cale was already five months into her role at Staplewood Campus – with her office based just down the corridor.

She had previously told the Daily Echo of bumping into Hasenhuttl and being able to fire ideas across the entire first-team coaching department.

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But in last week’s sacking, which saw the new manager, Nathan Jones, appointed just 72 hours later, there was little time for farewells.

Daily Echo: Southampton FC Women's Head Coach Marieanne Spacey-Cale prior to the FA Women’s National League Play-Off Final between Southampton FC Women and Wolverhampton Wanderers Women at Edgeley Park. (Pic: Tom Mulholland)

“I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye in person which I was quite sad about, but I did drop him a message,” Spacey-Cale revealed.

“I wished him all the best and made sure he knew we were thinking of him. That’s important because it’s the ups and downs of football.

“You always miss people when they’re not around but you do also look around and see what they’ve achieved.”

She added: “It’s easy to look at the last moments and see where people will turn and say, ‘this is his time, his time has come,' but we have to remember that these are human beings and they’re still trying to do the very best they can.

“Ralph is testament to that. Under a lot of pressure, he still tried to do everything he believed in and worked hard every day to turn things around.

“It’s a shame because it’s a part of football and can happen to any of us, but it’s also important we respect and celebrate what was achieved and now we can look forward to what happens in the future.”

As Spacey-Cale alludes to, with Luton Town boss Jones coming in, and already taking his first Premier League game with the visit to Liverpool last weekend, the club moves on.

Daily Echo: Nathan Jones watches Saints against Sheffield Wednesday (Picture: Stuart Martin)

Spacey-Cale has already been able to discuss long-term vision and ideas with the Welshman, who made his first coaching steps in the women’s game.

“We had a catch-up and it’s about building those relationships, ensuring that the focus is on progressing our club whether it’s me, someone else in the women’s programme,  Nathan or somebody else – we have this one-club mission,” Spacey-Cale declared.

“We had that conversation and it’s important we all understand we are all here for the club to succeed, not one person or one team.

“We are very supportive and we are very supported, so as long as that continues we have a big support network around us that we can use on a daily basis.”

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