Nathan Jones was up against it from the off.
He inherited a struggling squad containing some players who were already growing resigned to this season being the one when they go down and needed to somehow inspire a change of belief.
He was not the unanimous choice of the Southampton hierarchy, with strong support for Torino manager Ivan Juric among others outweighed by key decision maker Rasmus Ankersen’s long-term interest in Jones dating back to the former’s Brentford days.
And then there were the supporters, underwhelmed by the appointment of a manager from a Championship club and doing little to hide it, leaving Jones shocked by some of the vitriol coming his way from the stands before he had even managed to reach the half way point of his first Premier League home game.
Jones has been unable to deliver the results to help him overcome those significant obstacles.
Just three months and 14 games into his reign it was brought to an end to much relief among supporters, Southampton having to accept their gamble in appointing him had failed.
They turned to Jones in November after sacking Ralph Hasenhuttl. The Austrian was seen as a good coach but unpopular with many of his players, a manager some felt they could not talk to.
In that respect Jones was considered something of a breath of fresh air.
He did interact with his players, had a human touch and both the Welshman and his coaching staff were well-liked by the squad as people.
He was considered a good coach by most of the squad too.
The major problem, though, was the disconnect between what he was trying to coach and the players he had at his disposal to put that coaching into practice.
Jones was appointed with the brief of replicating his overachievement and style at Luton.
As he described, perhaps infamously now, following the 3-0 battering at Brentford that pushed him to the brink, they excelled in categories such as those related to pressing, entries into the box, defending their own area, aggression, shots on goal, set pieces.
Jones realised fairly quickly he did not have what he needed for that task at Southampton but was left torn – or ‘compromised’ as he explained after Brentford - given that was what he was brought in to deliver, a demand he was being reminded of from within his own coaching staff too.
Jones’s squad also knew they did not have enough of the athletic players for the task either and many were keen for a change in their style of play. In their eyes however, any attempt to make those changes did not come quickly enough.
And, in the end no middle ground was settled on and the lack of clarity in approach was evident in Southampton’s most important results – one win and seven defeats in Jones’s eight Premier League games.
Jones’s bid to reproduce the defensive improvement hoped for was undermined by injuries.
Jones was ready to make a change in goal following the World Cup and bring back Alex McCarthy.
It was felt that the older McCarthy’s greater experience would help him marshal Southampton’s defence a bit better than young prospect Gavin Bazunu could at this stage of his career.
But just before McCarthy was due to make his return he turned his ankle and has not made a squad since.
Armel Bella-Kotchap has struggled with injuries which have at times have left him unable to train for half a week.
Duje Caleta-Car has been trying to manage hamstring and other fitness issues, hence his recent B-team appearance as part of attempts to get him up to speed.
January signing Mislav Orsic’s fitness has also been a concern.
What Jones needed before all that was some early wins to calm the storm and quell the doubts bubbling under the surface among his players about whether a manager appointed from the Championship could keep them in the Premier League.
But they never arrived – he lost his first four league games before finally winning his fifth and only one at Everton - and the initial buzz following his appointment was replaced by a fading belief in him among the squad when results did not back up the methods.
At times he was also considered too emotional in his reaction after games, something else that caused concern. He was said to have appeared distraught after one game in particular.
His post-match response to defeat at Brentford was a more public example of that and, with hindsight, Jones may look back at some of his media interactions with some regret.
That occasion at Brentford included a playing down of talented midfielder Romeo Lavia, after his substitution led to anti-Jones chants, raised eyebrows in terms of how he chose to handle speaking about a young player publically.
Sadly for Jones, with Southampton’s results and the impossible-to-ignore disapproval in the stands, there was far less surprise when the axe fell just before 10am on Sunday morning.