Southampton chief BACKS Nathan Jones at fans’ forum despite growing pressure from supporters, with CEO Rasmus Ankersen insisting: ‘I think it’s fair he gets the chance to show what he can do’
- Southampton have lost six of seven Premier League games under Nathan Jones
- Rasmus Ankersen, CEO of the club’s owners Sport Republic, said he backs Jones
- However, he understands the fans’ frustrations with the 49-year-old manager
Southampton chiefs have given their public backing to under-fire manager Nathan Jones.
Jones and his future was in the spotlight at a fans’ forum event on Tuesday night after winning just one of his seven league games in charge.
Rasmus Ankersen, CEO of the club’s owners Sport Republic said: ‘It’s no secret that if you keep losing games you cannot do that forever, at some point you hit the point where it’s enough.
‘I appreciate you’re looking at it from the outside and have certain reference points and we are on the inside we have a lot more reference points.
‘We see what goes on every day, we see the quality of the work carried out, relationship with the players.
The pressure is growing on Nathan Jones after Southampton’s 3-0 defeat at Brentford
Rasmus Ankersen, CEO of the club’s owners Sport Republic, said he backs Jones to succeed
‘Do these things look right? Are we comfortable there is quality in the day-to-day work at we think over time will lead to better results?
‘We are not happy with results, you’re not happy with the result. Our job is to try and improve it.
‘As long as we think the work being carried out by Nathan and team and players at the training ground every day is high quality then we have something to believe in that this is going to get better and we can turn it around.
‘Another thing worth taking into consideration is we’ve just been through a transfer window where we’ve invested a significant amount of money trying to address some of these weaknesses the team has especially in creating chances and converting some of the chance we create.
‘Nathan has been part of selecting these players and selling the project to them and I think it’s fair he gets the chance to show what he can do with the weapons that he now has.’
Ankersen went on to add: ‘We’re in a really difficult situation, I understand the frustration but I promise you we are working really, really hard 24/7 to try and get out of it.
‘We’re not trying to make any decisions that are not in the best interests of the football club.
‘Sport Republic invested a year ago and are here for the long term. We want to build Southampton to be a top Premier League football club again and that’s what we’re working hard to do.’
He finished by saying: ‘The point of no return is when we believe is the point of no return is. We have a belief we can improve with what we have now and we will keep believing in it until we don’t believe it anymore.’
Southampton have lost six of seven Premier League games under their current manager