During Dragan Solak’s reign as Southampton owner he has so far witnessed two relegations, one promotion and now five different permanent managers.
But while the downs might have outweighed the ups, Solak, in a wide-ranging interview, said he had “no plans” to sell the club and also suggested that Russell Martin “would definitely” still be the manager had the video assistant referee (VAR) not taken “eight points” off the team.
The 60-year-old Serbian’s company Sport Republic acquired a majority stake of the Saints in early 2022.
Yet, only now, three and a half years on, has he spoken publicly to BBC Sport for the first time in one of the very few media interviews Solak has given.
Rewind the clock a year and Southampton were still celebrating after a thrilling Championship play-off final win over Leeds United at Wembley to secure promotion to the Premier League.
But the campaign to follow was a damaging one for the club’s reputation as they were relegated back to the second tier after a record number of defeats in a season.
“We have had some really great highs and enjoyable moments but we have also had devastating and sad periods – but I guess that’s the sport,” Solak told BBC Radio Solent.
“But the good thing is that my love, respect and loyalty for Southampton is just growing through all of this.”
Will Still’s appointment makes him the fifth permanent head coach of Solak’s tenure after Ralph Hasenhuttl, Nathan Jones, Russell Martin and Ivan Juric.
Last season, Saints struggled to adjust from the Championship to England’s top tier, not helped by director of football Jason Wilcox leaving for Manchester United even before they had been promoted.
Solak said Saints had “reluctantly” allowed Wilcox to depart after just six months in the role.
“I really liked working with Jason during his time here but I understand it, if you get the call from Manchester United, you go,” Solak added.
“We suddenly lost a man who [had] started building something, we didn’t replace him fast enough so we went into the challenge of the Premier League without a leading figure in our football department and that was very, very costly.”
