Southampton have decided to part company with manager Mark Hughes after just eight months in charge, the boss was sacked on Monday following a 2-2 home draw against Manchester United on Sunday. Hughes leaves Southampton down in 18th place in the Premier League table with just one victory in fourteen matches. The club issued a statement confirming the sacking of the manager and also looking towards the future: "The search for a new manager to take the club forward is already under way." Assistant coach Kelvin Davis will take charge of the team for the Premier League match against Tottenham on Wednesday.
Mark Hughes had joined Southampton in March, a couple of months after being sacked by Stoke City. The Saints were just one point above the relegation zone at that moment, and Hughes led them to safety by recording two wins from their last four Premier League games of the season. The fans and the board were hoping for a new beginning this season, but the results were quite disappointing until now even though the Saints lost just half of their matches since the start of the campaign. However, recording just one victory in fourteen matches is a terrible record by any standards.
Assistant manager Mark Bowen and coach Eddie Niedzwiecki have also left the club along with Mark Hughes. Last weekend, just before the match against Manchester United, Mark Hughes said: "The perception is that we should be doing better. Is that realistic? I don't know because we were 17th last year. We are in and around that position at the moment." That statement hinted towards a lack of quality in the squad, even though the Saints spent around 56 million pounds on four new players this summer: central defender Jannik Vestergaard, winger Mohamed Elyounoussi, goalkeeper Angus Gunn and midfielder Stuart Armstrong.
51-year-old former RB Leipzig manager Ralph Hasenhuttl is the favourite for the job, he is 2/7 at SkyBet to become the new Southampton manager.
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