Ivan Juric leaves Southampton with unwanted record after triggering relegation (2025)

The Croat has been sacked after the club's relegation from the Premier League was confirmed following a 3-1 loss to Tottenham

Ivan Juric is poised to exit his position as Southampton manager following the club's demotion from the Premier League.

The Saints' loss to Tottenham on Sunday left them a staggering 22 points from safety with just seven matches remaining.

This marks the earliest point in a season that a team has been relegated from the top-flight.

Juric managed only two victories after taking over from Russell Martin in December, one of which was in the FA Cup third round.

Juric's single Premier League triumph at the helm came against fellow strugglers Ipswich at the beginning of February.

He has failed to secure a win in any competition since then, suffering seven losses in their last eight games.

This leaves him departing St Mary's with one of the poorest records of any coach to lead a team in the Premier League.

Juric accumulated a mere 0.29 points per game, the lowest average for any top-flight manager who has overseen ten or more matches since 1992.

His 107-day tenure is the 11th-shortest managerial stint in the Premier League era, just one day longer than Claudio Ranieri's time at Fulham in the 2018/2019 campaign. Juric's reign was terminated using a relegation clause.

This is the second time this season Juric has been sacked, with the 49 year old also being dismissed by Roma back in November after winning only four of his 12 games in charge.

At this stage, it remains uncertain who might succeed him on a permanent basis.

First-team coach Simon Rusk is set to take the reins at Southampton until the end of the season following Martin's departure from St Mary's.

Club icon Adam Lallana is expected to play a significant role in the new coaching structure after Juric's staff exited with him.

The Saints squad were made aware on Monday morning of the decision to part ways with manager Juric amidst fears of recording the lowest points tally in Premier League history. In his last media briefing as boss, Juric conceded that his team was simply outpaced by the league's standards.

"What I noticed we missed the most in these three or four months that I'm here, [it's a] completely different physicality between us and the other teams in the Premier League. I think the same thing has happened to Leicester and Ipswich," Juric remarked.

He continued to highlight the vast difference in physicality between the Championship and the Premier League, emphasising the need to develop players not just for immediate success in the lower division but also to ensure they are prepared for Premier League challenges.

Further commenting on the support the team receives, Juric said: "I said to the players they have to be really thankful that they had fans like this, it was something incredible how they love their team. I think they really deserve much more. Every person that works at Southampton has to do it better and create something much more stronger than we did this year.

"It is a different culture and even for my mentality, it is something incredible and to show loving in these moments is the great English and Southampton culture, incredible. Now is a really important moment to understand all the mistakes the club has made the past three or four years and for the club to start to create something really good."