SOUTHAMPTON, England - Southampton chairman Rupert Lowe has given manager Harry Redknapp additional time to decide if he wants to remain with the south coast club following their relegation from the Premier League on Sunday.
Redknapp was thought to have been handed a deadline of the middle of this week after a 2-1 defeat by Manchester United at St Mary's ended Southampton's 27-year-stay in English football's top flight.
"You would desirably want an answer quickly," admitted Lowe, "because there is planning to be done and we need to know if we are going to have Harry's experience and wisdom. I've told him we do."
But Lowe, who has got through eight managers since arriving at Southampton in 1997, said he was concerned about rushing Redknapp.
"We don't want it to be a decision made in haste and repented at leisure," he said Tuesday.
"We would rather get the decision that is correct.
"I've always tried to support the managers I've worked with and the first thing is for Harry to make his decision and for him and I to sit down and make our plans."
Former West Ham manager Redknapp, 58, walked out on Portsmouth in December, telling Pompey fans at the Fratton Park gates he was not about to "go down the road" to take the vacancy at arch-rivals Southampton.
But he enraged Pompey by doing exactly that and turning up at St Mary's within days of his emotional departure following a series of rows with Portsmouth chairman Milan Mandaric.
Now he haas said he will quot football management if he leaves Southampton and some have suggested he will not fancy another stint at managing in the Championship.
If Redknapp is prepared does stay, he has already spoken of the "major surgery " required to trim the current squad.
And he could also see his son Jamie, signed from Tottenham during the course of the season, forced to retire because of a longstanding knee injury.
Former England defender Graeme Le Saux, 36, has already confirmed his retirement, while midfielder Anders Svensson will return to Sweden next month.
But Lowe is already optimistic about keeping striker Peter Crouch - called up into the England squad for the forthcoming United States tour - a 2 million pounds buy from Aston Villa by Paul Sturrock at the start of the season.
"I think he's the kind of guy who will want to stay and put things right," said the chairman.
05/17/2005 15:33 GMT