Saints have issued a statement regarding the departure of Ivan Juric as men's First Team Manager at St Mary's.
Why it has taken so long for Saints to make the change is anyone's guess, but it is better late than never and it is good that in the statement the club recognise the loyalty of the Saints supporters who have turned up in numbers both at home and away, I think that the empty seats at St Mary's for the visit of Crystal Palace, might well have been the wake up call they needed to realise that the supporters were not willing to stand for much more.
Anyway here is the statement.
"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.
I"van 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."
Of course words are easy, actions are much harder and Saints now need to lead from the front to get the club back on track.
I would also say that Ivan Juric himself has behaved with dignity and respect for the club and it's fans, no one could accuse him of not trying to get the club back into winning ways, sadly though he was not up to the task in front of him, this does not make him a bad man, just a poor manager in the history of Southampton FC.