Southampton parted ways with manager Nathan Jones on Sunday after the Welshman won just one Premier League game during his three-month tenure to leave the south-coast club rooted at the bottom of the standings.
Jones is the second Saints manager to lose his job this season after the former Luton Town boss was appointed in November as Ralph Hasenhuettl’s replacement a few days before the World Cup break.
While the Saints reached the fifth round of the FA Cup and the semi-finals of the League Cup after beating Manchester City, the club failed to get out of the relegation zone in the league.
“Southampton Football Club can confirm it has parted company with men’s first team manager Nathan Jones. First team coaches Chris Cohen and Alan Sheehan have also left the club,” the club said in a statement.
In Jones’s eight league games in charge, Southampton’s sole victory came against a similarly struggling Everton last month while they lost the other seven matches.
Poor form
Jones’s last game in charge was Saturday’s defeat by 10-man Wolverhampton Wanderers who came back from a goal down to win 2-1 to leave the Saints on 15 points in 22 games, four points from the safety zone.
Jones’ sacking was the culmination of poor form and bizarre excuses that earned him no favours. He was also on borrowed time after failing to win over the supporters at St Mary’s Stadium.
After a 3-0 defeat at Brentford earlier this month, the 49-year-old was heavily criticised for saying he had compromised on his style of management due to fan pressure.
He said he had not put his stamp on the team but had instead pandered to his players.
He eventually accepted responsibility for their performances but the damage was done as the atmosphere at the ground turned toxic with fans chanting, “You don’t know what you’re doing” and “Get out of our club”.
Southampton said first team lead coach Ruben Selles will take charge of training and prepare the squad for next Saturday’s game against Chelsea.
Premier League managers who lasted less than 100 days in the job:
Colin Todd at Derby County: 98 days
Todd won two league titles with Derby in the 1970s as a player when he had a seven-year spell at the club but his managerial stint lasted just 14 weeks.
An assistant manager before he took over the reins in October 2002 after Jim Smith resigned, Derby lost 11 of the 17 games he was in charge of to leave them second from bottom before he was sacked.
Nathan Jones at Southampton: 95 days
Appointed in November 2022 after Ralph Hasenhuettl was sacked, Jones failed to drag Southampton out of the relegation zone.
He won just one of his eight league games in charge and losing the rest to leave them bottom of the standings when he was sacked.
The Welshman was unpopular among the fans and may have had a shorter stint if not for the November-December World Cup break.
Terry Connor at Wolverhampton Wanderers: 91 days
Connor took charge of Wolves in February 2012 after Mick McCarthy was sacked but they did not win a single game under the Englishman, picking up only four points and losing seven in a row at one point.
Wolves were relegated after finishing last and Connor was replaced in the summer.
Quique Sanchez Flores at Watford: 85 days
Flores was one of three managers to lose his job at Watford in the 2019-20 season thanks to the trigger-happy owners but his second stint at Vicarage Road was one of the shortest in the league in recent years.
Having helped newly-promoted Watford secure a notable 13th-placed finish in his first stint in 2015-16, there was no repeat in 2019 as Watford won just once in 10 games while they were also thrashed 8-0 by Manchester City.
Bob Bradley at Swansea City: 84 days
Bradley was the first American coach to take charge of a Premier League team in October 2016 but he had a tough time right from the start after fans accused the American owners of hiring him only because he was their compatriot.
He quickly found himself out of his depth at Swansea as the club picked up only eight points in 11 games and conceded 29 goals -- the most by any Premier League club during his tenure.
His replacement Paul Clement eventually guided Swansea to safety in the final month of the season.
Frank de Boer at Crystal Palace: 77 days
De Boer’s reputation preceded him when he arrived at Palace having won four Dutch Eredivisie titles on the trot with Ajax Amsterdam between 2010-2014, but the warning signs were there when he had lasted less than three months at Inter Milan.
He took charge of Palace prior to the 2017-18 season but was sacked in September after the club lost their first four league games without scoring, earning the tag of the “worst manager in the history of the Premier League” by Jose Mourinho.
The Dutchman’s replacement Roy Hodgson turned things around as Palace finished 11th.
Rene Meulensteen at Fulham: 75 days
A first team coach under Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, Meulensteen took charge of Fulham in 2013 when Martin Jol was sacked with the club flirting with relegation.
But a run of defeats in January left Fulham bottom of the table and the club sacked Meulensteen, replacing him with Felix Magath who could not keep them up in the top flight.
Les Reed at Charlton Athletic: 41 days
The author of the book ‘The Official FA Guide to Basic Team Coaching’, Reed took over at Charlton in November 2006 when Iain Dowie was sacked but he managed only one win in his six-week tenure.
The club were knocked out of the League Cup by fourth-tier side Wycombe Wanderers and their poor record under Reed earned him the nickname ‘Les Miserables’.
He was sacked before Christmas and his replacement Alan Pardew could not keep Charlton in the top flight.
