Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Ex-Dundee No 2 set to take charge of Premier League clash

Mark McGhee's Dens Park assistant Simon Rusk has taken caretaker charge at Southampton.

Former Dundee assistant manager Simon Rusk. Image: Shutterstock
Former Dundee assistant manager Simon Rusk. Image: Shutterstock

Former Dundee assistant manager Simon Rusk will take charge of a Premier League match this weekend.

Rusk was No 2 to Mark McGhee as the Dark Blues plummeted out of the Scottish top-flight in 2022.

Between them they won just one of 14 matches in charge before being sacked, with McGhee going down as the Dundee manager with the worst win percentage ever.

The pair had been together at Stockport County previously, this time with the younger Rusk as manager and more senior McGhee as assistant, but were sacked after an ill-fated nine months in charge.

After leaving Dens Park, Rusk took on the role of England U/19s boss before joining Nottingham Forest as set-piece coach in December 2023.

Simon Rusk in his Nottingham Forest training gear
Simon Rusk in his role with Nottingham Forest. Image: MI News/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

That move, however, was short-lived and he arrived at newly-promoted Southampton in July as their U/21 coach.

Now after a disastrous start to the Premier League season the Saints have parted ways with manager Russell Martin.

And in interim charge will be Simon Rusk.

“We can confirm that we have taken the difficult decision to part ways with our men’s first team manager, Russell Martin,” Southampton said in a statement.

Dundee manager Mark McGhee (right) with assistant Simon Rusk (left) at Dens Park. The pair are holding up a Dundee FC shirt
Dundee manager Mark McGhee (right) with assistant Simon Rusk (left) at Dens Park. Image: Dundee FC

“Current U/21s manager Simon Rusk will take charge of the team on an interim basis until we announce a permanent replacement.”

His first match in charge will be against league leaders Liverpool in a League Cup quarter-final.

Then it is Fulham away on Sunday before hosting West Ham United on Boxing Day.

Southampton are rock bottom of the Premier League with five points from 16 matches and are currently nine points adrift of safety.

Conversation