Southampton captain James Ward-Prowse has said “sliding standards” at the club have resulted in Saints’ relegation from the Premier League.
The defeat was their 24th this season – the most in a season in the club’s history.
“From day one of pre-season until now you can tell the standards at the club have gone down,” Ward-Prowse, 28, told BBC Sport.
“We have to go individually and as a club and assess whether we did everything we could. I don’t think we did and that’s a shame.”
Saints sacked longtime manager Ralph Hasenhuttl in November and his successor Nathan Jones only lasted three months in a three-year contract before Ruben Selles was installed until the end of the season.
“I think as a team and as a club as a whole we will think about the season that has passed,” added Ward-Prowse.
“Were the decisions good? Did we do everything we could on the pitch? I think we should play at a better level than we did.”
The England midfielder is confident the club will learn lessons to bounce back, but said he was “not thinking too far ahead” of his own future at St Mary’s with summer interest in his services all but inevitable.
“I’ve been here since I was eight, I’ve seen the club’s journey, all the ups and downs, the good times and the bad – and this is a bad time,” he added. .
“But I’m sure with the right people at the club he’ll be back in the Premier League in no time. It will be a testing period for everyone, but the club have done it before and I’m sure that he will do it again.”
“The Saints could use a big cleaning”
However, Ward-Prowse admitted relegation “came” during a difficult campaign and BBC Sport pundits Martin Keown and Anita Asante are worried about how difficult it will be for Saints to bounce back.
“It’s a proud record for Southampton to bring players through the academy, but it’s just not enough – they could need a big clearance,” said the former Arsenal defender and from England Keown at BBC Final Score.
“You look at the teams that have come back from the Championship and they have a core. What is the core of this Southampton team? Will Ward-Prowse stay?
“It’s going to be tough. There are so many games in the Championship and it will be Southampton’s toughest season.
“They will have to rebound quickly while the parachute payments are there.”
Former England defender Asante felt the Saints were not just paying the price for bad decisions this season, but on wider recent history.
“It’s been a long time coming and not just this season – it’s been two seasons of bad transfer windows,” she added.
Southampton were taken over by Sport Republic in January 2022 and the company on behalf of investors Dragan Solak, Rasmus Ankersen and Henrik Kraft after relegation was confirmed.
“We want to reassure our supporters, partners and staff that we remain fully committed to ensuring the club’s long-term success at the highest level,” he said.
“Now we need to reflect on the lessons to be learned from this season and start preparing for the challenges ahead in the Championship.
“Our goal is to get back to the Premier League as soon as possible and make sure we stay there.
“We understand that significant improvement is needed, and at the end of the season we will announce our immediate next steps and provide details on how the club will operate going forward.”
“If anyone’s to blame, it’s me” – Selles
The Saints have won two of caretaker boss Selles’ first three games after he took office in February but followed that up with eight losses in an 11-game winless streak that relegated them to the second tier.
They were in relegation trouble long before he took over, however, having been in the bottom three since November, when Hasenhuttl was sacked and replaced by Selles predecessor Jones.
But the Spaniard, who briefly lifted the Saints off the foot of the table in March with the victory over Leicester, dismissed any idea that the damage had been done before the start of his reign.
“I won’t make that excuse – when I took over I was convinced that I could get this team out of relegation and I didn’t succeed, and I’m primarily responsible for this run,” said he told Match of the Day.
“From the start, I thought we could do it – so if anyone is responsible for the last three months, it’s me.”
Southampton have lost at least seven times under each of their three different managers in the league – eight in 14 games under Hasenhuttl, seven in eight games with Jones and nine defeats in 14 with Selles.
“There’s not just one reason – one of the things we didn’t find over the course of the season was enough unity, enough trust in each other,” Selles added.
“It’s not just about a player or a coach, it’s about the relationship between us.”
Like Ward-Prowse, Selles’ future at the club is unclear but he insisted: “This club has enough quality to bounce back immediately, with or without me.”
