Mark Hughes: Southampton sack manager after eight months in charge

Mark Hughes has been sacked as
Southampton
manager after eight months in charge.
The Saints, who drew with Manchester
United in
the Premier League on Saturday, are 18th
in the
table.
Southampton confirmed the move in a
statement,
adding: "The search for a new manager to
take
the club forward is already under way."
First-team assistant coach Kelvin Davis
will take
charge of the team for the game against
Tottenham on Wednesday.
Hughes, who also had a spell at the south
coast
club during his playing career, joined
Southampton in March, two months after
being
sacked by Stoke City.
The club were one point above the
relegation
zone at the time and the 55-year-old led
them to
safety last season by securing two wins
from
their last four games.
However, they have struggled again this
season
and, across his spell, have won just three
of
their 22 league games.
Before the draw against Manchester
United,
Southampton were beaten 3-2 by
relegation
rivals Fulham and knocked out of the EFL
Cup on
penalties by Leicester.
Along with Hughes, assistant first-team
manager
Mark Bowen and coach Eddie Niedzwiecki
have
also left the club.
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Analysis
Phil McNulty, BBC Sport chief football
writer
Southampton's hierarchy were never going
to
make the same mistake as last season
when
they almost left it too late to sack
Mauricio
Pellegrino as they dropped towards
relegation.
It meant added pressure on Mark Hughes,
who
presided over their survival, and his dismal
win
record of three wins from 22 league games
made this decision inevitable.
Hughes has told regular hard luck stories
this
season but eventually the script becomes
tired
when performances, even though they
were
decent enough on occasions, simply do
not get
results.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing but
Southampton
may now reflect on their decision to give
Hughes
a three-year contract in the afterglow of
retaining their Premier League status
rather than
thanking him for his efforts and returning
to the
drawing board.
Saints' vice-chairman Les Reed and
technical
director Martin Hunter have already gone
and
the sweep has continued with Hughes'
sacking.
These are changing times at St Mary's.
As for Hughes, it is hard to see where he
will go
next after successive sackings at Stoke
and
Southampton in so short a time.
He now joins other old managerial heads
like
Sam Allardyce, David Moyes and Alan
Pardew on
the margins.
Mark Hughes record in the Premier League
Games Wins Draws Losses Go
for
Blackburn 147 58 39 50 18
Manchester
City 55 22 13 20 91
Fulham 38 11 16 11 49
QPR 30 6 6 18 33
Stoke 174 58 45 71 19
Southampton 22 3 8 11 20
TOTAL 466 158 127 181 57