Sources In Italy Claim Nathan Jones Was Southampton's 2nd Choice
Reports from Italy today have claimed that Saints were turned down by their first choice to replace Ralph Hasenhuttl and that only they went for Nathan Jones afterwards.
The man who is being named as Saints preferred option is Ivan Juric currently at Serie A side Torino.
The 47 year old Croatian enjoyed a long career as a player and earned 5 caps for the Croatian International side, after retiring he has been involved in coaching over the past decade or so.
He had three years as manager of Genoa, bizarrely being sacked twice and reinstated between 2016 and 2019 before spending two years at hellas Verona and joined Torino in the summer of 2021.
In most respects he fits the profile that Sports Republic look for in a manager and Italian media outlet La Stampa have run a story that Southampton had tried to bring Ivan Juric from Torino. It’s said that happened at the start of November.
The story claims Juric was actually open to the possibility, as he ‘listened, took note, reflected’ about Southampton’s offer, but ‘in the end, he said no’.
After being knocked back by Juric, Saints went straight to their second choice Nathan Jones.
What to read next:
Should they stay or should they go?Leeds United have issued the retained list for the 2024/5 season, and while much of it confirms what we already know, on the face of it there are a couple of surprises.
Can Red Bull help Leeds to fly back to the top?Today Leeds announced that Red Bull have bought a minority stake in the club, and will take over as the main shirt sponsor, but thankfully there will be no change in the name of the club or the colour of the shirt.
Marathe admits that PSR is likely to force player salesThe 49ers have plenty of cash available to invest in Leeds United, but defeat in the 49th game of the League season means that some key players will be leaving to keep the club with the Profitability and Sustainability (PSR) regulations.
Wembley AwaydazeAs you probably know already, our play-off final against with Southampton kicks off at 3pm on Sunday. And if you didn’t manage to get your hands on a ticket, it’s live on Sky Sports.
Leeds crush Norwich to cruise through to play-off finalWith our recent form being what it was, I was expecting a nervy encounter, with Leeds struggling to get through the Norwich City defence, but how wrong I was! Suddenly we recovered the swagger we have shown for much of the season, and not a moment too soon.
Farke happy with the result after bore draw at NorwichMany neutrals have complained on social media that yesterday’s game at Norwich City was a bit on the dull side, but the Leeds team wasn't set up to please them. For us it was the result that mattered, and it should leave us in a better position to get through to the final.
Norwich AwaydazeFor the second time this season we are visiting Norwich City, this time for the play-off game at high noon on Sunday, and the kick-off time is of course thanks to our good friends at Sky Sports. You’ll find Carrow Road is about a mile to the south-east of the city centre.