Saints turn to no-nonsense Rioch

Bruce Rioch will be named Southampton manager in the next 48 hours, with caretaker Stuart Gray becoming his assistant.

The controversial Rioch, son of a regimental sergeant major, will bring a disciplined regime to the club after Saints chairman Rupert Lowe ruled out another former Arsenal manager, George Graham, for the job over the weekend.

Lowe was impressed by Rioch's record, particularly at Middlesbrough and Bolton, whom he took through the divisions to the top flight.

He has a reputation for being as hard a boss as he was a player for Scotland, Derby, Aston Villa and Luton, and Lowe believes Rioch will spend carefully while extracting the utmost from his players.

Though Southampton had earmarked a board meeting tomorrow to decide on Glenn Hoddle's successor, that now seems a formality.

Rioch, 53, born in Aldershot, can soon claim the old Tommy Docherty tag of having had more clubs than Jack Nicklaus. Southampton will be his ninth management job since he started at Torquay in 1982, having also been at Middlesbrough, Millwall, Bolton, Arsenal, Queens Park Rangers (as No. 2 to Stewart Houston), Norwich and Wigan.

He has endured several bitter partings and Saints fans will wonder about his shock departure from Wigan in February when they were chasing Millwall for promotion from Division Two.

His CV was spoiled by Arsenal sacking him after only a year, in August 1996, to make way for Arsene Wenger. Chairman Peter Hill-Wood said then: 'He hardly talked to us. We did not know what was going on or what his thoughts were and that is not healthy. We employed him in good faith and thought he was the right man for the job. He was not.'

However, Rioch signed striker Dennis Bergkamp during his year at Highbury and could claim he wasn't given enough time.