Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl has revealed his desire to retire when his Saints contract expires in 2024.
The Austrian boss joined the Premier League club in December 2018 and has taken charge of 140 games so far.
He joined after a spell with RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga and has been in coaching since 2005.
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With one eye now on retirement, Hasenhuttl has insisted that he hopes to leave Southampton “on a very healthy footing” when the time comes.
The 54-year-old told Kicker (via Hampshire Live) in a translated interview: “I always wanted to prove to myself that I could very well work for a club for a longer period of time. Hopefully, it will be five and a half years here, that’s a damn long time in modern football, and then that’s probably it.
“Five and a half years in the Premier League, that’s a lot of energy, regardless of job satisfaction. I can’t imagine that I want to do anything else in the coaching job after that.
“And saying no to everything else is also a yes to yourself, and I want that,” he added.
Will Southampton soon need to prepare for life without Ralph Hasenhuttl?
The #SaintsFC manager has suggested he may retire from coaching once his current contract expires in 2024. pic.twitter.com/YxAnTfBfMC
— The Athletic UK (@TheAthleticUK) February 7, 2022
“That’s the solid plan and I hope I have the strength to pull it off. [I want to] put Southampton on a very healthy footing by 2024, but then that was it.
“Then I’ll be 57 years old,” he said. “I’d like to experience other things and not sit on the bench like Roy Hodgson at 74. Definitely not.”
Elsewhere, Roy Hodgson believes there were “virtually no negatives” from Watford’s goalless draw against Burnley in the Premier League on Saturday.
The Hornets’ clean sheet against Burnley was their first in 31 attempts but they are still one point adrift of safety.
“It was a positive, there’s no doubt about that, to get a point at a difficult venue away from home, like Burnley, has got to be seen as a step in the right direction for us,” Hodgson said.
“It was really nice to see that they could take that into the game and it produced the result. So I must say there are virtually no negatives from that game as such but of course, it’s a small step along the way.”
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