Southampton owner suggests VAR cost Martin his job as manager

Since becoming owner of Southampton, Dragan Solak has gone through two relegations, one promotion, and now five different permanent managers.

Solak, however, claimed in a detailed interview that he had “no plans” to sell the club and that Russell Martin “would definitely” still be the manager if the video assistant referee (VAR) had not “taken eight points” off the team.

In early 2022, Sport Republic, a 60-year-old Serbian business, bought a majority stake in the Saints.

However, only three and a half years later, in one of Solak’s few media interviews, has he made his first public appearance with BBC Sport.

When the clock struck a year ago, Southampton was still celebrating after the heartfelt Championship play-off victory over Leeds United at Wembley to advance to the Premier League.

However, the subsequent campaign had a negative impact on the club’s reputation because they were forced to return to the bottom after a season-record number of defeats.

“We have had some really great highs and enjoyable moments, but we also have devastating and sad periods,” Solak told BBC Radio Solent.

“But the good news is that all of this is just helping to grow my love, respect, and loyalty to Southampton.”

With the appointment of Will Still, Ralph Hasenhuttl, Nathan Jones, Russell Martin, and Ivan Juric will become Solak’s fifth permanent head coach.

Saints struggled to transition from the Championship to England’s top flight last season, which was hindered by Jason Wilcox, the director of football, leaving for Manchester United even before they were promoted.

Solak claimed that Saints “reluctantly” allowed Wilcox to leave after only six months in the position.

“I really liked working with Jason while he was here, but I now understand that if you get a call from Manchester United, you go,” Solak continued.

Rasmus Ankersen and Henrik Kraft founded Sport Republic, a British sports investment company, in which Solak is the lead investor.

Additionally, they play for West African side FC Mali Coura, Goztepe in Turkey, Valenciennes in France, and Valenciennes in France.

Solak refuted reports that suggested he might be considering selling Southampton.

Solak stated, “I never intended to sell the club.” We have a number of very exciting projects in the works.

I might invite some partners to join me if and when we are promoted to the Premier League because I believe there will be more [investment]needed.

Solak claimed that Southampton’s former head coach Russell Martin was “unlucky” to be fired despite being “rooted to the bottom of the table” at the time in his extensive interview.

The Scot had won just one game and lost 13 games before losing to Saints in the Premier League.

After six months in charge, Martin, 39, has been ascended to the position of Rangers’ head coach.

Without bad luck, Solak believes he could have remained in charge of St. Mary’s.

In a setting like the Premier League, Solak said, “I really believe he was completely, fundamentally behind his idea of football,” Solak said. “That is not easy in a way like that.

“But to give him credit, we were quite unlucky,” Russell’s team said, “I don’t even know how to characterize some of the VAR decisions that we made,” but in my opinion VAR took eight points.

I believe he would probably lead the team the entire season if he had those eight more points in December.

Leicester, Ipswich, and Southampton were the only three teams that came up last season, but all three of them went straight back and didn’t really put up much of a fight.

Bottom Saints finished 26 points adrift of safety, but the gap between the 17th and 18th positions was 13 points.

According to Solak, “the difference is too big, that’s for sure.”

The Championship and the Premier League will both suffer in the future unless the gap is narrowed in some way, according to the statement.

Will Still, a former manager of Lens, made his first appearance as manager in English football in May as Saints’ new head coach after departing from Ligue 1.

When Reims, a Ligue 1 club, appointed him as the youngest coach in Europe’s top five leagues at the age of 30, in October 2022, he was 30 years old.

I spent some time with him, and I must admit that he is undoubtedly a very intelligent person, Solak said.

He believes it’s a wise decision for him to join a top-tier team in France because he believes his place in British football should be.

In the Premier League, Saints finished comfortably safe in 15th place with 40 points despite a disappointing season that ended with four straight defeats.

However, Solak’s board decided to leave the St Mary’s for the following campaign after taking just 12 points out of 14 games.

Following Selles’ brief but brief interim caretaker position, they signed Luton manager Nathan Jones to a three-and-a-half-year contract.

After only 95 days in charge, Jones was sacked as the club’s shortest-serving manager, losing nine of his 14 games.

By that time, Saints were on the verge of relegation to the Championship, and Fulham’s home defeat in May sealed their fate.

The team quickly established itself as a top Championship side despite losing some key players in the first half of the following season.

Saints won the play-off spot and advanced to the final, beating Leeds at Wembley, after Martin’s possession-based football had gained notoriety.

However, Saints struggled even more, sacking Martin in December after Tottenham blew them up by five points to take safety.