Brought in the summer to be Ralph Hasenhüttl’s assistant manager at Southampton, Rubén Sellés was also caretaker for the Saints for one game this season.
The Premier Lague club’s decision to sack the Austrian led to the Spaniard to be in charge of the EFL Cup tie against Sheffield Wednesday, which they walked away from with a win on penalties.
He wasn’t in charge for long, mind, as Southampton moved quickly to snap up Nathan Jones from Luton Town to take over.
Still, speaking to Tipsbladet in Denmark, the 39-year-old relished the experience to be in charge of the Saints for a game.
He said: “I know every part of the process and I enjoyed the match. It was an epic finish where we went through on penalties. We should have closed the game earlier, but it didn’t happen. It was a great feeling to have everyone around me. The crowed were also good.”
Sellés stepped back into his assistant manager role as soon as Jones took over, and the reason for that is that it wasn’t Hasenhüttl who asked for him at the club, but a contingent from St Mary’s after the club was acquired by Sport Republic, who have Rasmus Ankersen.
The Spaniard explained: “I have had conversations with some of them [the Danish owners, ed.] before, so when we finished the season in Denmark with FCK, they approached me with a very specific offer. After that we had some conversations over the course of two to three days and then they decided to offer me the position.
“I know Rasmus well, but it wasn’t him directly. I spoke to him regarding the final details of the contract. It was Southampton’s sporting director who approached me, then I met with the director and the manager and finally Rasmus.”
Still, Sellés wasn’t originally planning on switching clubs, and his plan was “actually to stay at FC Copenhagen”, where he had been working for a year as assistant manager.
However, when Southampton came in, everything changed.
He added: “Their offers was in many respects, not only financially, a step forward for me. It’s a big role in the best league in the world, so I decided to switch, as Southampton were also very clear about the fact they wanted me. When someone is so ready, it’s just a pleasure.”
Prior to both moves to Southampton and Copenhagen, Sellés has travelled Europe, starting off as a fitness coach at Aris Saloniki, before moving to Villarreal’s youth team in the same role.
He then moved to Shinnik Yaroslavl in Russia as assistant manager, before returning to Greece in the same role for a year, ahead of a move to Neftchi Baku in Azerbaijan to be the assistant to Aleksandr Pobegalov and Igor Ledyakhov.
Following that, he was the Chief Analyst at Strømsgodet, before heading back to Azerbaijan as Qarabag’s assistant manager.
Jobs at Aarhus (assistant manager) and Valencia’s U18s (manager) followed which then led to his role at the aforementioned Copenhagen.
