Southampton Football Club have announded that they have parted company with manager Ralph Hasenhuttl after 3 years and 11 months in charge at St Mary's, read on for the full statement.

Saints have just released the following statement.

Southampton Football Club can confirm it has parted company with Men’s First Team Manager Ralph Hasenhüttl.

First Team Assistant Coach Richard Kitzbichler has also today left the club.

Hasenhüttl, who was appointed in December 2018, departs having made a significant contribution to the club, overseeing some memorable results and also playing a key role in the development of our club infrastructure, identity and playing squad.

However, we now believe it is an appropriate time to make a change.

Everyone involved with the club would like to express their sincere thanks to Ralph for all of his efforts, as well as the unwavering commitment he has shown throughout his time as manager.

First Team Lead Coach Rubén Sellés will take charge of the side on an interim basis for our game on Wednesday night. The club will be announcing a permanent replacement in due course."

This is of course no surprise and many Saints supporters will be delighted, personally I am a little saddened, Ralph Hasenhuttl was a decent man and as the manager of Southampton FC perhaps the worst thing that you can say about him was that he kept us in a mid table position during his time here.

He is sacked with Saints in almost exactly the same position as they where when he joined in December 2018, in the bottom three, the difference between then and now though is that we have the basis of a young exciting squad and I feel that with or without Ralph we would have pulled clear after the international break.

But sometimes you have to make a change in football and perhaps that time is right, it is hard to gain momentum when there is a lot of negativity surrounding the situation, it needs a clean break and re charging of the batteries for both the players and the fans with a new man at the helm.

As indicated in an article earlier today, perhaps the new man in will be Marcelo Gallardo who is about to leave River Plate.

In the meantime Ruben Selles will take charge, although I think it doubtful that he is ready for the challenge of being the repla cement for Ralph

So farewell to Ralph Hasenhuttl, I for one thank him for the work he has done at Southampton FC, he brought stability and he helped reshape the club, if he had won two more games this season then the Premier League would look much different, sadly he didn't and instead of sitting in and around the top 10 we are in the bottom 3 and he has paid the price.

Photo: Action Images

geezershoong1 added 10:26 - Nov 7 The last paragraph seems to make it all about this season... Nope.
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Boris1977 added 10:36 - Nov 7 If............ Nice bloke but should have been pushed at the end of last season. Good luck to him but something needed to change because regardless of players coming into the squad the results and the oddness remained the same. Blaming the fans for Ralph getting the ack is wide of the mark. Results (some record results) and lack of winning matches (and recording breaking runs of losses) get the manager the sack rather than fans. COYR's

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SaintPaulVW added 10:37 - Nov 7 Shame but on balance probably the right time. What a mad world football is in that a year ago we were worried he might be poached by a bigger club! Brought stability and worked with a tight budget. However football's a results business. Hampered by lack of a clinical striker this season but seemed to have no answer to work around this. Wish him all the best and thank him for the excitement and total commitment he instilled in our team's style of play. COYR

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Number_58 added 10:38 - Nov 7 Will the idiot(s) who allowed the club to go in to the season without a decent goalscorer also be sacked?
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HythePeer added 10:38 - Nov 7 🕺🏻
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Centurion added 10:41 - Nov 7 In defence of Ralph, it must have been a massive blow not to get a promised high quality and experienced striker in the summer. That is the difference.
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DorsetIan added 10:45 - Nov 7 Henry Winter sums it up perfectly: "No real surprise that Ralph Hasenhuttl finally ran out of his nine-nil lives. Delivered some good moments, fans loved his passion, but could have gone earlier. It had gone stale, not helped by imbalanced squad & lack of decent strikers. That needs addressing in January."
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saintmark1976 added 10:50 - Nov 7 Nick, I take your point in the last paragraph but really it’s not just recently is it ? You can’t expect to continue in position when the team you are responsible for has only taken 17 points from the last 78 available.
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underweststand added 10:53 - Nov 7 In a precarious profession, Ralph managed to keep us up for 3 seasons without any major investment and with perhaps only Danny Ings being regarded as any sort of successful buy, and amidst 8 new signings during this summer the club still missed the opportunity to sign a recognised striker, this being the one area that we genuinely needed someone. Ralph DAJFU whilst some other managers have fallen by the wayside, and we've seen good clubs getting relegated, whilst we survived and we should thank him for his efforts, but reluctantly agree that it really has come to the time for a change. I only hope we get it right this time.

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Block8 added 10:55 - Nov 7 Bottom line is it is a results driven business, and it is a business lets not forget that! To his credit Ralph has definitely improved most of the players he has brought to the club, hopefully with different tactics and formations that will show in future performances. The biggest problem I can foresee is that the whole club has been encouraged to play the Ralph way, a good idea in principle but maybe not so in practice?

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WestSussexSaint added 11:02 - Nov 7 I don’t disagree with the comments about having brought stability and being a “decent bloke” but he was increasingly a manager who had lost faith in his own tactical approach and was desperately scrambling for any player/formation combination that seemed to work. I have no doubt that in the history of the club Ralph’s time will, on balance, be looked as positive. However he had run out of ideas and steam so it was the right time for him to go. I don’t suppose the irony was lost on anyone at the ground yesterday when Nigel Adkins was interviewed at HT and when asked if he was looking for another job in management it brought the loudest cheer of the afternoon.

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Ifonly added 11:06 - Nov 7 Glad to see that the club bit the bullet and made the decision. To many of us this has looked odds on for a long time now. Most fans had lost faith in him already but yesterday it looked like the players had too. The main difference between the sides was that NUFC had belief and confidence - and we didn't. When confidence has gone you see the sort of mistakes at both ends that we saw yesterday. It will take a hell of a good manager to turn this around.

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sidsaint added 11:10 - Nov 7 Inevitable I suppose and fitting in a way that the lack of a proven goalscorer which I'm sure he would have wanted in the summer was the final nail in the coffin. Ellyannoussi's miss of the season and Che having a really bad day in a game when I thought we played some descent football. Thanks Ralph for your work and good luck in the future where I hope you will have a supportive board.

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felly1 added 11:28 - Nov 7 Time was ripe for a change. Good luck Ralph and thanks for those exciting periods of football you occasionally squeezed out of a limited squad. I'm sure Nick will be berating the fan base for many years to come.. Aka Puel!!
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landsdownsaint added 11:28 - Nov 7 One thing that some of us will agree on is that Ralph will be a very hurt upset man this morning . I believe he gave everything too our club , he won’t be like a lot of these managers walking off with a massive payement thinking “ never mind “ it’s a sad day for me & my family coz knew we had a really good manager & man at saints , we’re gonna miss him , goodluck to u Ralph for the future

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wrathoftazz added 11:29 - Nov 7 Hmm OK it's the supporters fault (mine)... yep I put the 2 teams out that lost 9nil... it was me that made the tactical decisions and dodgy subs... it was also me that went on tv and berated players last season... Come on Nick... get real.... yes Ralph was a nice, decent bloke. What he did OFF the pitch was amazing and if he had those same results on the pitch, he would still have a job. He wasn't tactically savvy, blamed everyone apart from himself and simply ran out of ideas/plans in the second half and/or final 3rd. It's right that he has gone, he should have gone last season, so in all fairness, I could blame fans like yourself if we get relegated this season, after all, your one that wanted to keep him here despite the results and league position. Although, just maybe, you would have changed your mind in Feb, when bottom 2, maybe a few more drubbing and the occasional 1 win every 8 games..... I doubt it though

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DPeps added 11:33 - Nov 7 He did ok with limited resources under Gao. Only more recently has he been able to create a team in his image, but he's not really improved the performances or results Two reasons why he's been sacked at this point, I think: 1. World cup break 2. Unlike previous seasons, it's hard to see who's going down this season. The bottom is better quality than usual. Under Ralph I fear we'd have got relegated

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IanRC added 11:38 - Nov 7 Think we may still be in danger of relegation. Replacement needs to be a good choice and they need to sign the striker we were promised in the summer.
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SanMarco added 11:40 - Nov 7 Yes, it was inevitable. I think most fans are sad but had come to accept that it had to happen. We will all have different ideas about the turning point but the 0-4 at Villa and that awful 0-6 vs Chelsea (could have easily been a third 9 or more) were key moments. The feeling of waiting for the axe to fall began to affect everything and , in retrospect, it would have been better if this had happened before the season started. New regime, new broom, new manager etc. Not sure that the owners/top brass at the club covered themselves in glory by letting it be known that the axe was going to fall soon, although maybe of course that didn't happen. Either way it didn't help. A sad day for anyone who respected Ralph's decency and enthusiasm. I wonder if playing Walcott was a final defiant gesture as he knew the inevitable was coming - shame it didn't work.

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athripp added 11:43 - Nov 7 A very sad day. Thanks Ralph for your services to our club. You are a thoroughly decent guy who in my view has been let down far too many times by the over paid, under skilled numpties on the pitch. Strikers that can’t strike and a captain that frankly has been anonymous most of this season, being two such examples. I wish you well whatever the future holds for you. Back home in Austria I hope you reflect on the positives from the last four years, breathe in the Alpine air and re charge your batteries. Thanks again Ralph.

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halftimeorange added 11:45 - Nov 7 This was inevitable, albeit I'm sad to see a genuine man dismissed. He was always honest but, sometimes misguided as with playing Theo at all, never mind too long, yesterday. That did show, however, how desperate he was for someone to convert our chances into goals. Who is going to come here with a proven reputation for doing that when we are currently looking relegation-bound is another matter. Only someone from a lower division which hasn't worked with Che or Adam or (hopefully) a Mane from some obscure league. Whoever comes in as manager has one hell've job as a lot of confidence has been shattered - particularly that of our goalkeeper.

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davidargyll added 12:03 - Nov 7 A manager has to be able to instil confidence in his team. Sadly signs that he was no longer able to do it started a couple of months ago. And as I said then, when rumours of having lost the dressing room start regrettably it’s only a matter of time before it’s Night Night. Whatever has now happened I have seen some truly wonderful games during Ralph’s tenure. But one helluva lot of absolute dross as well. So Farewell Then Ralph. I’m sure you will be able to continue your career elsewhere although I think your ideas are best suited to a club where the players’ abilities are rather greater than ours.

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saintinexile added 12:18 - Nov 7 Inevitable. And very very late
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Centurion added 12:26 - Nov 7 Agree with the comments on this thread. I have said it before, but what the hell happened at Villa Park last March? IMO, this was when the decline really started.
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HythePeer added 12:36 - Nov 7 Nathan Jones is the fav so far 🤦🏻‍♂️
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