Southampton have placed Simon Rusk and Adam Lallana in charge until the end of the season following the sacking of Ivan Juric.
The newly relegated Premier League club will now run a thorough process for their new head with Sheffield Wednesday’s highly-regarded Danny Rohl believed to top their list of permanent replacements.
Southampton’s new technical director Johannes Spors, who previously worked with Rohl at RB Leipzig, is leading the hunt for Juric’s successor after Southampton activated the clause in the Croatian’s contract to let him go once relegation was confirmed following Sunday’s loss away to Tottenham Hotspur.
Lallana, 36, and still a player at Southampton is considering making a move into management and coaching and will work with Rusk for the final seven games of the season. Sources in France have claimed there is also interest in Strasbourg’s Liam Rosenior.
In a statement, Southampton said: “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.
“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.
“In the meantime, Simon Rusk has agreed to take charge of the team as Interim Manager for the remaining seven fixtures of this season and will be assisted by Adam Lallana.
“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.”
Juric sacked after 108 days as manager
Juric had hoped to stay with the club and try and bring them back from the Championship but his dismal reign has been brought to an end having overseen just one win in 14 Premier League games.
Rusk took temporary charge following the dismissal of Russell Martin in December and before Juric signed a deal taking him up to June 2026. Instead the former Roma coach’s tenure lasted just 108 days.
Indeed Southampton’s defeat to Tottenham meant they were the first team in the Premier League to be relegated after just 31 games. Their points total of only 10 is still one behind the worst-ever record held by Derby County in 2007-08.
The sacking means it is the second successive Premier League campaign in which Southampton have made two managerial changes during the season. In 2022-23, they sacked Ralph Hasenhuttl in November and then Nathan Jones in February, with caretaker Ruben Selles unable to stop the rot as they lost their top-flight status after 11 seasons.
Rohl previously worked at Southampton under Hasenhuttl and was targeted after Martin was sacked. However, at that time talks stalled over the compensation clause in his contract at Wednesday which was believed to amount to £4 million.
However, if the 35-year-old German does not leave for a Premier League club that figure is expected to be lower.
Southampton will also look at other candidates and take their time but their chances of hiring Rohl have also been improved by the financial crisis at Wednesday with many players taking to the pitch for Saturday’s loss defeat to Hull City having not been paid for March.
Club owner Dejphon Chansiri explained earlier in that the club is on the brink of a three-window transfer ban. If the players are not paid in full today, according to Chansiri, the ban will come into effect. There is already uncertainty over Rohl’s future which was fuelled by his downbeat post-match comments and his demeanour.
