Ivan Juric has left Southampton after the club’s Premier League’s relegation was confirmed on Sunday, the club has said.
The club said in a statement on its website: “We can confirm that we have today reached an agreement with our Men’s First Team Manager, Ivan Jurić, to end his spell at the club.
“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 writing has been on the wall for a long time for the south coast club, but Saints’ fate was sealed with their 3-1 away loss to Tottenham.
No Premier League team’s relegation has ever been sealed after 31 games.
It beat the record previously jointly held by Ipswich and Derby County, who both dropped out of the league with six matches left to play in 1994-95 and 2007-08, respectively.
Juric, 49, who succeeded the sacked Russell Martin on an 18-month contract in December, was only in charge at St Mary’s for 108 days.
The Croatian manager, who guided the squad to just four points and one win from his 14 games, leaves the club with the team at the bottom of the Premier League table – as they were when he arrived.
That single victory was over fellow strugglers Ipswich on 1 February.
Southampton are still a point short of equalling Derby’s record low 11-point haul from 2007-08.
Juric paid tribute to Southampton’s “incredible” fan base following the defeat at Spurs before news of his departure emerged on Monday morning.
Having suffered relegation in 2023, Saints came straight back up after beating Leeds in the final of last season’s Sky Bet Championship play-off final at Wembley.
Southampton, who have since won just twice in the league, registered only five points from 16 games before sacking Martin in the wake of a humiliating 5-0 home defeat to Tottenham on December 15.
Saints’ other point this term came in a goalless draw at Fulham under caretaker boss Simon Rusk, a game former Genoa, Torino, and Roma coach Juric watched from the stands.
Rusk has been appointed interim manager, assisted by homegrown midfielder Adam Lallana.
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Southampton have been linked with 35-year-old Sheffield Wednesday boss Danny Rohl, who previously worked at the club under former manager Ralph Hasenhuttl.
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Saints’ miserable season continues on Saturday at home to high-flying Aston Villa.
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They will then face West Ham, Fulham, Leicester, Manchester City, Everton, and Arsenal before dropping back into the second tier.
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