Ivan Juric Sacked as Southampton Manager

Southampton Football Club has announced the departure of manager Ivan Juric following their relegation from the Premier League. The decision comes after the team’s 3-1 defeat at Tottenham on Sunday, which sealed their fate as the first team to be relegated this season.

Relegation with seven fixtures left gives Southampton, last season’s Championship play-off winners, an unwanted Premier League record, surpassing Derby and Huddersfield’s relegations with six games left in 2008 and 2019 respectively.

Juric, who took over from Russell Martin in December, struggled to turn the team’s fortunes around, winning only one league match during his tenure. The 49-year-old’s side lost 25 of their 31 top-flight games, setting an unwanted Premier League record for the earliest relegation with seven fixtures left to play.

Saints have lost seven of their past eight league matches.

Simon Rusk will assume the role of interim manager for the remainder of the season, assisted by Adam Lallana. In a statement, Southampton expressed gratitude to Juric and his staff for their efforts, acknowledging the challenges they faced.

“We can confirm that we have today reached an agreement with our men’s first-team manager, Ivan Juric, to end his spell at the club,” said a Southampton statement.

“Ivan came to Southampton at a tough time and was tasked with trying to improve a squad in a difficult situation.

“Unfortunately, we haven’t seen performances progress the way we had hoped, but we would like to thank Ivan and his staff for their honesty and hard work as they fought against the odds to try and keep us up.”

The Saints statement added: “With relegation to the Championship now confirmed, we believe it is important to give fans, players and staff some clarity on the future as we head into a very important summer.

“We remain incredibly grateful for the ongoing support of our fans. Their continued dedication and passion, despite what has been a very tough season, is remarkable and is appreciated by everyone at the club.

“Despite the challenges that relegation will bring, our goal is to restore a sense of pride for them in their team and club once again.”