Ranking Southampton FC's last 7 managers including Martin from worst to best | OneFootball

Highlights

Southampton FC are aiming for an immediate Premier League return under the management of Russell Martin.

In recent years, Southampton have been on a varied Premier League journey in which they have experienced all of the highs and lows which top-flight English football club can endure.

They've enjoyed their trips to Wembley for FA Cup semi-finals and a League Cup final whilst also being wounded by infamous 9-0 Premier League defeats.

7 Ruben Selles

Southampton's most recent manager prior to the appointment of Russell Martin.

Now the manager of League One Reading, Ruben Selles took his first step in English football management with Southampton after the club sacked his predecessor Nathan Jones in February 2023.

During his 17 game tenure as interim manager with the Saints, Selles steered the club to just two Premier League victories.

One of those two wins was a narrow 1-0 victory over fellow relegated side Leicester City as Carlos Alcaraz netted the winner.

Southampton finished 20th in the Premier League table and 11 points adrift of safety after a miserable season which was overseen by three different managers.

Selles was also at the helm as the Saints were infamously dumped out of the FA Cup by League Two outfit Grimsby Town.

Bizarrely, the Spaniard had a decent record against the Premier League's biggest names.

Put April's 4-1 loss against Manchester City to one side and a win over Chelsea and draws in high scoring matches with Arsenal and Liverpool make a rather pleasant reading for Selles.

Following a torrid time at Southampton, Selles took up the managerial post at League One Reading, a club tainted by ownership issues.

6 Nathan Jones

Nathan Jones is one of the greatest Football League managers of all time however he was unable to work his magic in the Premier League for Southampton.

He was a fantastic manager for Luton Town who he guided from League Two all the way up to the Championship in an initial tenure which lasted from 2016-2019.

After a brief and unsuccessful spell at Stoke City, Jones returned to the Hatters and guided the club to the Championship playoffs in 2022.

Despite all of his EFL exploits, Jones was simply not good enough to turn Southampton's Premier League season around when he was employed by the club to do just that in November 2022.

In a short spell at St Mary's lasting from November 2022 up until February 2023, Nathan Jones' Saints won just one Premier League match.

The Welshman did however manage four cup wins in his time at Southampton including a League Cup quarter-final victory over Manchester City.

5 Mauricio Pellegrino

Hailing from Argentina, Mauricio Pellegrino's previous management experience included a successful spell at Spanish club Deportivo Alaves who he guided to their first ever Copa Del Rey final.

He took the Southampton job in June 2017 following the departure of Claude Puel.

At the time of his appointment, Pellegrino seemed like an exciting manager who had the potential to continue Southampton's positive style of football.

However, under Pellegrino's stewardship, Southampton won just five Premier League games from the start of the 2017-18 season up until the manager was sacked in March 2018.

He did though, guide the side to the FA Cup quarter-finals.

Cue the appointment of Mark Hughes.

4 Mark Hughes

Having previously managed a variety of clubs including Queens Park Rangers and Manchester City, Mark Hughes was thrown into the deep end at Southampton as he took over from Mauricio Pellegrino who left the Saints in a lowly 17th position in the Premier League table with just eight matches remaining.

Hughes' first game in charge of Southampton was an FA Cup quarter-final tie away to Wigan Athletic who had already disposed of three Premier League clubs including Manchester City on their way to the last eight.

The Saints won that cup tie 2-0 thanks to goals from Pierre-Emile Hojberg and fullback Cedric Soares.

Hughes' team would go on to lose the FA Cup semi-final to eventual champions Chelsea despite their best efforts at parking the bus in the Wembley sunshine.

Following that semi-final heartbreak, Southampton would go one to pick up two wins and a draw in their last three Premier League outings which was just about enough to avoid the drop.

A last day victory over Swansea City, in which Maniolo Gabbiadini bagged the only goal of the game was enough to steer the Saints clear of the dreaded drop.

Southampton finished 17th which is exactly the same position in which Mark Hughes had found them.

It wasn't a glamorous job at all however, Hughes did his primary job which was, of course, to keep the Saints in the Premier League.

He also provided the Saints faithful with a memorable day out at Wembley for the 2018 FA Cup semi-final.

Hughes went on to be sacked in December of the same year after a dismal start to the 2018-19 Premier League campaign in which he managed just one league win before being dismissed of his duties.

3 Russell Martin

In at number three, it's Southampton's current gaffer Russell Martin.

After a horrendous 2022-23 campaign, Russell Martin has really brought back the feel-good factor to Southampton.

Although they had somewhat of a mixed start to the season after being knocked out of the League Cup in August by League Two Gillingham and also suffered a couple of heavy defeats in September, the Saints then turned things around.

A somewhat surprising 3-1 victory over Leeds United at the end of that month, in which the Saints played some stellar football which they will hope to continue throughout the season.

After being relegated from the Premier League by such a large 11 point margin, there was a distinct possibility that Southampton would struggle to bounce back.

However, the calmness and composure of Russell Martin has instilled itself into his playing squad.

The possession based philosophy Martin has imposed upon his players is somewhat of a throwback to Southampton's glory days under the likes of Mauricio Pochettino and Claude Puel.

The former Swansea manager has brought clear direction back to a club who had lost their way prior to his appointment.

2 Ralph Hassenhuttl

Ralph Hassenhuttl did endure some very turbulent times towards the end of his four-year tenure at Southampton.

At the time of his sacking in November 2022, Southampton sat 18th in the Premier League table following a run in which they suffered six defeats in nine matches.

However, Hassenhuttl should go down as an overall successful Saints boss.

For a start, things only got worse for the club except for a League Cup run which turned out to be mere respite from a torrid campaign.

We will never know if the club would have survived the drop had they not pulled the trigger on the Austrian.

For much of his spell in charge of the south coast outfit, Hassenhuttl was largely successful.

He guided the club to a very decent 11th placed finish during the turbulent 2019-20 season.

Prior to Hassenhuttl's appointment, the club had finished in the Premier League's bottom five for both of the previous two seasons.

During that 2019-20 campaign, Hassenhuttl was able to get the very best out of Danny Ings, who scored 22 goals, which is testament to how good of a coach the Austrian was.

1 Claude Puel

At the top of this list sits Claude Puel who was a class manager for the Saints.

He guided Southampton to an eigth placed Premier League finish in a 2016-17 campaign in which the Saints truly were the best of the rest.

Only clubs who belong to what you may call the Premier League's traditional top seven finished above Puel's side that season.

In addition to a successful league campaign, Puel also steered Southampton to the 2017 League Cup final.

On their run to the final, Southampton defeated giants Liverpool in the semi-finals as well as Arsenal in the fifth round.

In the final itself, Southampton fell 2-0 behind to Manchester United but impressively clawed themselves back to 2-2.