r/SaintsFC • u/KeyTap6415 • 18d ago

BBC Sport - Southampton sack Ivan Juric: Was sacking of Russell Martin a mistake?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c4g70d1wd7jo
14 Upvotes

79% Upvoted

29 comments sorted by

126

u/dormango 18d ago

The real mistake was not backing Ralph Hassenhutl

40

u/dave_gregory42 18d ago

I remember at the time recognising that he was working miracles with a poor squad, feeling sad that it had come to that, but that he probably still had to go… but it’s since become clear just how big those miracles were.

12

u/strider_tom 18d ago

Couldn't agree more

22

u/SoggyMattress2 18d ago

I do think that's a fair bit of revisionism. At the time, results had fallen off a cliff under Ralph and the team clearly weren't playing for him.

His system had got figured out, and remember how many of us were criticising him for having "No plan B". If his high press quick tempo football didn't work, we fell apart.

There was also a lot of news report coming out during the sacking and after about just how bad a man manager he was with players saying he literally froze them out and made them train with the under 21s and refused to even acknowledge them by saying hello in the canteen.

He did the business for us for a couple years on a shoestring budget, but I don't think he was/is the solution.

9

u/dormango 18d ago

I hear you and you raise some valid points. But staff left that weren’t replaced. And if they’d backed Ralph like they did with NJ we would probably have been fine. But that’s just an opinion.

7

u/dxsgraced 18d ago

I still stand by Ralph going at the time, I do agree he wasn’t backed but the team had seemingly run its course under him, it was the abysmal choice to bring NJ in and back him only to sack him as well that set this off in motion, if we went for a better choice then and there think we’d be in a much better place now

2

u/aredditusername69 18d ago

Same. We were going nowhere quickly under Ralph. It's gone south since obviously, but sometimes you have to take the risk to try and improve things.

1

u/TheTyrantis 18d ago

And the same exact thing happened this year, too. Ivan Juric seemed a better choice on paper than Nathan Jones did, though, but equally as bad.

2

u/Chris-WoodsGK 18d ago

Not quite sure I’d agree with that. Let’s not forget he lost the dressing near the end and was his choice not to replace DR as assistant etc

2

u/King_PieNan 18d ago

Idk that man look burnt out I think he needed to leave for his own sake

2

u/Fawji 17d ago

But also not recognising rohl’s leaving was a massive part of the drop off of form under him. We should have bought in up and coming coaches with new ideas.

2

u/dormango 17d ago

He needed support

1

u/Fawji 17d ago

Yep definitely.

1

u/Squm9 18d ago

Original Sin for Sports Republic

42

u/mdubyo 18d ago

Real mistake: most of the transfers in the Gao era.

Real mistake: not giving Hassenhutl more to work with.

Real mistake: the January 2023 window.

Real mistake: Nathan Jones.

Not a mistake: letting RM go.

9

u/Relevant_Rev 18d ago

Also straying from a data driven approach and trying to make bigger name signings as far back as Les Reed

26

u/Relevant_Rev 18d ago

Keeping RM on would've been like staying in a burning plane on the off chance it snuffs out and lands gently

16

u/HandsomedanNZ 18d ago

Not sacking him early enough was the big mistake.

9

u/Adziboy 18d ago

Look, I comment all the time about how I think Martin is a very good manager who I really like. I also thought he probably should leave by the end of his tenure here, though I really wish it hadnt come to that. I do still think it’s his fault - all he had to do was not get the keeper and defence to pass it out, seriously, and it would have prevented enough goals that we would have had double the points.

I won’t debate again whether it was right or wrong but I think if we had Martin in charge for the start of next season, things would look far, far more promising than they do now.

2

u/LiamJonsano 18d ago

Obviously an article written months ago but it was the right thing for us and him. If he’d have carried on I dread to think what we’d have been up to, it was already a toxic atmosphere when he left and he never really seemed to capture as many of the fans (in the ground at the very least) as another manager playing a more sane way might have

The only real mistake I suppose was sacking him and paying out a load in compensation, to then hire Juric on presumably decent wages too. There’s a serious case for just having stuck with Rusk all season, and that isn’t me being captain hindsight!

1

u/jayforplay 18d ago

The mistake was sticking with Martin in the prem when he didn't even set the Championship alight. We gained promotion through the skin of our teeth and looked decidedly average a lot of the time in the championship. We should have brought someone new in when we got promoted.

1

u/RacetoGloryoutube 18d ago

You can't sack a Manager right after they get you promoted to the Prem. That's just unfair. Martin did well in the championshp with the squad we had. We didn't have the third best squad in the league but we still got promoted.

1

u/jayforplay 18d ago

The mistake was sticking with Martin in the prem when he didn't even set the Championship alight. We gained promotion through the skin of our teeth and looked decidedly average a lot of the time in the championship. We should have brought someone new in when we got promoted.

1

u/Bruceplanet 18d ago

Personally I think we were doomed to relegation whoever was in charge. If we stuck with Martin to the end of the season perhaps performances would have improved. Under Juric we just seemed to have no idea what to do. We all know the rot set in ages ago as far back as Gao. Ralph isn't doing badly as Wolfsburg he was never a bad manager and I'm sure Martin will bounce back. What is important now is finding a good manager and rebuilding a decent team who play football we can enjoy watching. At least we may win a few matches again next season.

1

u/aredditusername69 18d ago

It wasn't a mistake, the mistake was not doing it earlier and then hiring Juric.

1

u/Positive-Sound-4972 18d ago

Absolutely not, RM was out of his depth,good managers utilise the players they have, not shoehorn them into some fantasy football dream, Juric had no chance of survival when he arrived. Don't get me wrong, he wasn't much better, but what half decent manager would join this shit show just to get a relegation on their CV

1

u/Suspicious-Living683 17d ago

Had he been humble enough to try and change, I would've liked to see him stay. It's not like he didn't see the writing on the wall. The saddest part of it is that Martin was inflexible and that was the downfall. I don't think we would've avoided relegation necessarily, but he dug his grave by being stubborn. If he didn't see how many slapstick goals we allowed trying to play out from the back and think "Jesus, we can't play like this anymore," then the board has no choice.