Will Still departed St Mary's over two weeks ago, but there is still no sign of a replacement being named, are Saints, leading some fans to claim the club is not in control of the situation, but are they dithering or just hedging their bets ?

Many thought that Southampton FC had waited too long to sack Will Still, that it was obvious to all but the club itself, that it wasn't working out, rumours were emanating from St Mary's that the manager had lost the dressing room, that he was not forceful enough in the way he was managing the squad and that he had alienated the bulk of his coaching squad, instead of using the knowledge of his assistant manager Paul Trollope & coach Adam Lallana, he was not consulting with them on major decisions.

That was largely unseen by the supporters although they could see the body language on the bench was not all it should be, they were more concerned about why with his baffling team selections and even more puzzling scattergun substitutions, that what was on paper one of the biggest and best squads in the Championship was so badly underperforming.

The one hope that Saints fans clung to was that Johannes Spors had waited before acting as he was lining up Still's successor first.

But here we are two weeks later and no nearer a replacement being named, although bizarrely that has not affected the bookies view of where Saints will be at the end of the season, they are still 7th favourites for promotion.

So have Saints been dithering over a replacement and if so why ?

One theory is that although they are wary of repeating the mistake of keeping Ruben Selles in charge 3 years ago after winning two out of his first three games, they are impressed by Tonda Eckert's work in the last fortnight and as we go into the 3rd week of his tenure as caretaker manager, they are holding on to see if his two wins were a flash in the pan against two sides who were either in the bottom 3 or lower mid table or he really has something.

Between now and the end of the month, Saints face 3 tough games, Charlton away on Saturday, Leicester at home next Tuesday and then a trip to Millwall, what happens in those 3 games could determine whether Eckert is given the chance to take on the job or whether they appoint a new man.

In essence this is Southampton FC hedging their bets, they are not giving Eckert the job on a permanent basis, they are waiting to see what happens next, and if he keeps winning then they will make it permanent

Southampton fans probably won't be too impressed by this, they see the club of lacking experienced leadership both on and off the pitch, they want to see someone who has a presence in the dressing room born from having done the job and done it well at other clubs.

The last 3 years have see too much turmoil, too much indecision and too many managers, the fans want to see stability, not another experiment with a young relatively inexperienced manager.

So by 2.30pm on Saturday we should have a good idea where Saints intentions lie, one one hand the travelling Saints fans may well be applauding a third victory in a row and starting to believe that Tonda could be the man, or they could have just witnessed another car crash defeat and will be singing "You don't know what your'e doing" to the board or perhaps in the next few days Johannes Spors will shock us all and make a decisive appointment.

The bookies seem to feel that Eckert will be the man, his odds are now 4/7 and he is the favourite, Gary O'Neil is hanging in there in 2nd at 3/1, Brendan Rodgers at 4/1 and fans favourite Michael Carrick who has gone out to 8/1.

Worryingly Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is moving up the betting, most will have forgotten just how experienced that he is as a manager, he has overseen 471 matches across Molde, Cardiff City, Manchester United and recently Besiktas, but is he the right man, all but Cardiff where clubs who were big in their own Leagues, it was a different task to the one that he will face at St Mary's.

So we will wait and see what happens, that is all we can do.

All Photos Via Reuters