Rusk leaves Southampton as Still names new staff
Written by
Simon Austin
June 30, 2025
Simon Rusk has left Southampton as the club announced a raft of changes across both their First Team and Academy.
Rusk joined the Saints in July 2024 as Under-21s Head Coach and went on to become First Team Coach and then Interim Head Coach following the sacking of Ivan Jurić in April 2025.
In earning a 1–1 draw against West Ham soon after his appointment, Southampton reached 11 points and avoided breaking Derby County’s record for the lowest points tally in a Premier League season.
Will Still was appointed as Southampton’s new Head Coach at the end of May and has now named his coaching staff.
Former Bristol Rovers Manager Paul Trollope joins as Still’s Assistant.
The 53-year-old made almost senior 500 appearances as a player, as well as winning nine caps for Wales. He managed Bristol Rovers for five years, winning promotion to League One, reaching the EFL Trophy final and leading them to a first FA Cup quarter-final in 50 years.
He has also held coaching roles at Birmingham, Norwich, Cardiff, Brighton, Nottingham Forest and most recently Luton, where he assisted Rob Edwards. Trollope also worked on the Wales coaching staff when they reached the semi-finals of Euro 2016.
Adam Lallana, who has now announced his retirement from playing, will continue as First Team Coach, as will Carl Martin.
New to the club is Rubén Martínez, who joins as Goalkeeping Coach. The 48-year-old represented Barcelona’s B team as a player and later worked alongside Tito Vilanova on the club’s coaching staff.
Martínez has since held coaching roles at Brighton and Watford, as well as Maccabi Tel Aviv, RB Salzburg, Saint-Étienne, Olympiacos, Celta Vigo and Stade Reims, all alongside Óscar García, before working with Still for a period at Reims.
His most recent role was with the Spanish FA, helping Spain reach the final of the 2023 European U21 Championship and winning the gold medal at the Paris Olympics in 2024.
As well as Rusk, Goalkeeping Coach Dean Thornton and First Team Tactics & Insights Analyst Ben Parker, who both joined with Russell Martin in the summer of 2023, have also departed.
Academy changes
Meanwhile, there have been a number of changes in Southampton’s Category One Academy.
U21s Head Coach Calum McFarlane, who led the side to the final of the Premier League 2 play-offs last season, is leaving to join Chelsea. This means the club are looking for a fourth U21s Head Coach in a year (to follow Adam Asghar, Rusk and McFarlane).
Callum Martin, the twin brother of First-Team Coach Carl Martin, has joined the club as U18s Assistant and will work alongside new Head Coach Andrew Surman.
Martin has been Individual Coach and Pathway Manager (between the Academy and First Team) for Cambridge United for the last year.
Genoa Assistant Tonda Eckert, who is only 32, is set to be appointed as Southampton’s new U21s Lead, replacing McFarlane. Eckert has previous experience in England, as Assistant to Gerhard Struber at Barnsley, and knows Southampton Technical Director Johannes Spors, and Assistant Technical Director Elliott Stapley, from their time together at Genoa.
The Italian club was previously part of the 777 Group, where Spors and Stapley held senior roles before joining Southampton.
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