The Southampton hierarchy is divided about the club’s terrible start to the season, talkSPORT understands.
Dragan Solak, the club’s owner, is putting growing pressure on manager Russell Martin after his freshly promoted side only earned one point in their first six games. The Saints are also the lowest scorers in the Premier League, having scored only three goals and losing 3-1 to south coast rivals Bournemouth on Monday night.
Martin does have the confidence of sporting director Rasmus Ankersen, who recruited the former Swansea manager and is backing him to turn their fortunes around.
According to individuals close to the matter, Ankersen is also under examination from Serbian millionaire Solak.
Saints were demoted from the Premier League in 2023 after changing managers twice and making a lot of expensive deals that failed to pay off.
Martin led them back to the top division at the first attempt, defeating Leeds in the Championship play-off final, and was rewarded with a three-year contract extension in the summer.
The Saints manager also lost a crucial boardroom friend in Jason Wilcox, who left his position as director of football to join Manchester United.
Things are unlikely to improve significantly when they play title contenders Arsenal on Saturday.
Martin will be looking for a reaction from his players after laying into them following Monday’s setback.
“They make 20 fouls to our 10 or whatever it is — I think that sums up the whole game,” Martin told Sky Sports following the game.
“We were soft. The issue — forget style of play — is that if you don’t want to run and fight correctly, make contact, and take things personally, as in a duel, when we didn’t come out of the ball at all in the first half, it will be a problem.
“I thought I made enough of a point about Bournemouth and how they handled the game and how excellent they are at certain things, but apparently it wasn’t enough, because we appeared to be unprepared for it, which is strange given how much work we’ve done.
“I will never come out of here blaming the players; we are all together. I didn’t like most of what I saw, and I was disappointed by the lack of enthusiasm and determination.
“I told them that; there’s nothing I haven’t spoken in the locker room, but it’s always on the leader, and that’s my job to solve.
Only the Wolves are below the Saints, with a one-goal differential.
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