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

barry_sanchez added 13:00 - Nov 7 He was a part of the problem but not totally it, we're a low aspiration club with no actual real goals, I'd rather we went down and had something to look forward every week with hope and a goal of getting promoted, I say this as the club aren't arsed in the sense of progression, they simply want the TV money scraping by and fleecing the fans.
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ItchenNorth added 13:02 - Nov 7 Top man. He gave everything for Saints. I wish him well. Whoever the next manager is; they are going to have to find a finisher in this squad or go out and buy one in January.
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Block8 added 13:14 - Nov 7 Nathan Jones you've been gone too long
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smartjoe added 13:19 - Nov 7 In my opinion there is a lot of sentimental rubbish on the comments here. Ralf, in my opinion, has been a disaster for this Club. It is like praising the dead. What he has achieved is mainly in spite of him.......not because of him. One must look at his record here. He has broken so many performance records, and that that itself is a record for a manager keeping his job for so long. For the last two years or so he has made so many stupid decisions with tactics, team selections and substitutions that it left me in despair. The only conclusion left for me being that he didn't know what he was doing.

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I_would added 13:25 - Nov 7 Rubbish manager who didn't have a proper plan. I wanted him to go 3 years ago when he fell in love with Joggy Joggy. Who knows perhaps Joggy might be dropped now, I know he won't be on the plane.
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deanosfc8 added 13:25 - Nov 7 Today is the first day since Mark Hughes I feel genuinely worried about our PL status. All of you Ralph out brigade have got your wish! As they say "Be Careful What You Wish For" Nathan Jones!! I say no more...
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deanosfc8 added 13:30 - Nov 7 Today is the first day since Mark Hughes I feel genuinely worried about our PL status. All of you Ralph out brigade have got your wish! As they say "Be Careful What You Wish For" Nathan Jones!! I say no more...
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SanMarco added 13:56 - Nov 7 You can't avoid change just because the next one might be worse can you Deano? With that logic Hughes wouldn't have been sacked in case his successor was worse. I know nothing about Nathan Jones and I am certainly not jumping on the "Jones Out" bandwagon quite yet. If he is worse than Ralph then we will go down, but relegation was also the most likely outcome of keeping Ralph - so what is to lose?

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jameslastfan added 14:05 - Nov 7 If Nathan Jones is the answer, we aren’t asking the right question. A mistake on many levels. #ralphin
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AmericanSaint added 14:08 - Nov 7 So the way this season has gone, this was an inevitable decision considering we can't score goals. I think there is a lot of blame to go around from RH and some of his team selections and tactics, to the players like CA, ME, JWP for not converting goals they should be and by the Saints board, who chose a youth transfer policy without getting a proven goal scorer. All of these things combined for us to be where we are. I like RH, but think his tactics were too naïve sometimes as he put his trust in some players who could not play the way he wanted to play. I also think we were just unlucky sometimes as other teams go the bounce / ricochet to favor them. Yesterday's Almiron and Wood's goals are examples of this, but there seemed so many games this year that the opposing team got that favorable bounce that lead to a goal. I know that sounds daft, but I re-watched highlights of of our games this year and it is uncanny how this happened in the build up play to the goals. So now we move on and hope the team gets the right manager for the job. I hope it makes a great difference, but if the club does not invest in a proven goal scorer, then I fear it will not matter. So thanks Ralph for keeping us up in your first 3 years and wish you all the best.

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AmericanSaint added 14:19 - Nov 7 Oh and Nick, I think you are off-base on the fan issue. I think a lot of fans gave him a good chance but without the results, their frustrations grew. They roller-coaster ride we had with Ralph was frustrating for many as we could do well against bigger clubs but then not show up for the teams at the bottom. I was one of them and when he selected certain players who did not show up for the previous game(s), this made fans even madder. It's all water under the bridge now, but I believe the majority of fans wanted him to succeed, but various factors including his own doing, caused the club to come to this final decision.

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bartley41 added 15:02 - Nov 7 Nathan Jones, now Manager of Luton Town, very interesting! Don't know much about him except I believe he was Manager at one time of Stoke City and is I think Welsh, nothing wrong in that, but so was Mark Hughes! As for Ralph we wish him well, playing Theo Walcott on Sunday was for many a clear indication that he had lost the plot. To the Clubs great credit they did not sack him after the two nine nil defeats, both loses caused by players getting Red Cards early on in the game, it is not always the Manager at fault but the players. Shame but that's Football.

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bartley41 added 15:15 - Nov 7 Nathan Jones of Luton Town? Very interesting, I believe he was Manager at Stoke City and is Welsh, no problem with that at all, similar to Mark Hughes! To the Clubs great credit Ralph was not dismissed after the two nine nil defeats both of which were caused by players getting Red Cards early in the games. Just think Ralph lost the plot and playing Theo Walcott yesterday did not help. A good man we wish him well.

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1885_SFC added 16:00 - Nov 7 Managers will always come & go, but the fans are here forever. Thanks for your time here Ralph. Yes we did get embarrassingly hammered a few times over the years alright! But we should also remember the cracking games too... not least the Pompey cup stuffing on their own patch & some terrific away days (and wins) in the Premier League. I certainly enjoyed some of the pressing/counter-attacking quick football that we played under Ralph. Good luck to whoever takes over. One thing for sure being a Saints fan ; it is, and always will be, a rollercoaster ride.

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Kingsland34 added 17:03 - Nov 7 I guess we will never fathom the enigma that was Ralph, duffer or genius, or a bit of both according to the weather? Did he play Walcot yesterday in desperation, as an act of defiance or was it a nice sentimental gesture so Theo could reach 400 games? Whatever, best wishes for his and our futures. Perhaps we can now get away from the state of stale depression we have sunk into. And then and then along came Jones!

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saintpete01 added 18:22 - Nov 7 We Turn the page Ralph you always gave 100% and very passionate I thank you for that But it was the square pegs in round holes and tactics Was you’re undoing But for the Future all the very best
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Stevebish added 18:22 - Nov 7 They have a chance to get a good manager to push us on and up but don't know if Nathan Jones is the man to do it
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Peterx added 06:57 - Nov 8 To me we lost the plot when we let Oriel go after we knew Lavia was injured. This is a person with a contract that still had to run a year that we needed in that moment. RH's niceness actually cost him his job when we could have delayed the move till the world cup and then would have time to scout and get a suitable replacement. I feel a little like I did when Adkins got the boot, sorry about it but thinking it probably is for the best on balance. I think he can do well in his next role and I wish him well. On the next manager I would be happy with Dyche, Solsjkaer, Rangnick, all who may be in our budget.

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Saintaxidriver added 10:08 - Nov 8 I think most Saints fans thought he was a decent bloke but many of us were just baffled by his tactics at times and his team selections on a regular basis. The feeling that it is good he has left is not personal but we all knew it was coming with the failure this season added to the problems before that. Wish him good luck for the future but now hopefully we can get a manager who can do a better job of organising the defense and making the most of the players we have.

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