23rd December 2024
December 23 – Premier League Southampton have confirmed Croatian Ivan Jurić as their first team manager.
Jurić watched from the stands at the weekend as Saints secured a 0-0 draw away to Fulham, only their sixth point of a miserable season that sees them bottom of the table and eight points away from safety with 17 games played. It is the third worst start to a Premier League season by any team.
Jurić takes over from Russell Martin who refused to adopt his playing philosophy for the holy grail of Premier League survival, something that the club had become masters at in previous years before takeover by new owners two seasons ago. Saints were relegated from the Premier League in the first season of new ownership, promoted back in their second but now hold a very lonely last place.
“I want us to be more aggressive, to do much more pressing and we have to be quick to change mentality because this is my idea of football,” said Juric on his appointment.
Ultimately Juric has nothing to lose as the club are so far behind the rest of the league survival looks an impossible task – not least because they have only managed 11 goals in league play.
“Despite the club’s current position in the Premier League, we remain focused on fighting for survival this season and believe this appointment will provide us with the grit and determination needed to improve results on the pitch,” said a club press release.
Juric has been given an 18-month contract that will see him through to the end of the 2025-26 season which Saints look likely to be playing in the Championship.
The 49-year-old’s management career has mainly been in Italy where he managed Mantova, Crotone, Genoa, Hellas Verona and Torino.
His previous job was with Roma which lasted just 12 matches before he was fired after the club slumped to 20th in Serie A.
Saints spent £103 million in the last transfer window. They are unlikely to be spending in January unless Juric can engineer an immediate turnaround in fortune over the business Christmas match schedule.
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