Southampton sack Ivan Juric following Premier League relegation

Southampton have sacked Ivan Juric as their head coach following their relegation from the Premier League.

The Athletic reported earlier on Monday that Juric, 49, would depart and Southampton later confirmed the news with a club statement.

Juric’s exit comes just a day after the 3-1 loss to Tottenham Hotspur confirmed the club’s relegation to the Championship with seven league games remaining. First-team coach Simon Rusk has been appointed interim manager until the end of the season and will be assisted by Adam Lallana, who has made 18 appearances for Southampton this season.

“Ivan came to Southampton at a tough time and was tasked with trying to improve a squad in a difficult situation,” a statement on Southampton’s website read. “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.

“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.

“The process of finding a new manager to lead us as we look to secure an immediate return to the Premier League has now begun and is being led by Group Technical Director Johannes Spors.”

Juric replaced Russell Martin in December, signing a contract until June 2026, but won only one of 14 Premier League matches. His tenure lasted just 108 days.

His last game in charge was the defeat by Spurs which left the club bottom of the league table and 22 points behind 17th-place Wolverhampton Wanderers.

0.29 – Southampton have picked up just four points in Ivan Jurić’s 14 Premier League games in charge (W1 D1 L12), giving the Croatian the lowest points-per-game average of any manager to take charge of 10+ games in the competition (0.29). Unsaintly. pic.twitter.com/nEwTfRfwgd

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) April 7, 2025

Southampton’s relegation after 31 games made them the first team to be relegated from the Premier League with so many matches remaining in a campaign, and they remain at risk of setting a new record low points tally for a Premier League season.

Their 10-point haul remains one point behind the unwanted record of 11 points set by Derby County in the 2007-08 campaign.

Juric’s only league win was the 2-1 away victory against fellow promoted side Ipswich Town on February 1. He also guided the team to a 3-0 FA Cup third-round home win over Championship side Swansea City, before losing in the fourth round 1-0 at home against second-tier outfit Burnley.

Juric previously spent two seasons as Hellas Verona coach before taking charge of Torino for three years, departing last summer. His last role before managing Southampton was a two-month stint in charge of Roma, which he left in December with the capital club 17th in Serie A.

This is the second successive Premier League campaign where Southampton, under the ownership of Sport Republic, have made two head coaching changes during the season. In 2022-23, they sacked Ralph Hasenhuttl in November and then Nathan Jones in February, with caretaker Ruben Selles then unable to prevent their relegation after 11 seasons in the top flight.

Southampton are next in action against Aston Villa on Saturday.

(Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)