When the final whistle went, Ivan Juric advanced on to the pitch and stared across at the corner where the away fans were gathered. Southampton had just suffered the earliest relegation in Premier League history, with seven games still remaining, but there was no bitterness. Juric, who seemed almost moved by their reaction, ensured his players applauded them.
“For me, this is something completely new, a new experience,” Juric said. “I said to the players they have to be really thankful that they have fans like this.
“It is something incredible the way they love their team even though we were relegated. They really deserve much more. It’s another type of culture [to Italy]. They show love in this moment; it is a great thing in English culture, Southampton culture.”
Juric seemingly wants to stay on and try to lead Southampton back into the Premier League next season. “If we take the long road to come back here, I am ready,” he said, speaking of the need to develop young players, such as Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Mateus Fernandes, Tyler Dibling and Kamaldeen Sulemana, so they can compete at Premier League level, rather than getting promoted then signing a new team.
“We have lots of young players, talented players. They are good but lack experience. There is a completely different physicality between us and other teams in the Premier League. The same thing happened to Leicester and Ipswich. The gap is huge but from this moment the players can grow up and improve and be ready for the Premier League; this is my idea.”
This season, all that remains is to try to surpass Derby’s record low tally of 11 points with a -69 goal difference. Derby, in the 2007-08 season, went down with six games left, as did Huddersfield in 2018-19 and Sheffield United in 2020-21. “I liked the second half today and the Crystal Palace game was good,” said Juric. “Our goal has to be to avoid being the worst in Premier League history, I want seven games like the second half today.”
Responsibility, he insisted, is collective. In three full seasons under the ownership of Sport Republic, Southampton have been relegated, promoted and relegated again. “It’s clear that the last two years in the Premier League we haven’t competed,” Juric said.
“We’ve been relegated too easily and that means huge problems in a lot of situations. Now it’s important to understand all the mistakes and try to create something good. You cannot see these fans in all places.”
Tottenham’s manager Ange Postecoglou was understandably focused on Thursday’s Europa League quarter-final first leg against Eintracht Frankfurt. “In the first half we were really disciplined, well-organised and every time we went forward we looked dangerous,” he said.
“The second half not so much. We became way too passive without the ball and let Southampton get a rhythm. But overall we got the win, everybody got through unscathed and now we’re ready for a big night on Thursday.”