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Southampton F.C.

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Southampton Football Club (originally St. Mary's YMA) is an English football team, nicknamed The Saints. Based in the city of Southampton in Hampshire, the team was formed in November 1885. In 1898 the team moved into The Dell, the ground which was to be their home for over 100 years. However, as a result of a limited stadium capacity, the team moved to St Mary's Stadium in 2001. The current stadium is more than double the size of its predecessor, and has staged England internationals. The club's parent company Southampton Leisure Holdings Plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Their finest hour was their FA Cup win in 1976, when they beat Manchester United 1-0. They also were the runners-up in 2003 against Arsenal and runners-up in the 1979 League Cup final against Nottingham Forest. Southampton also finished runners-up in the Football League Championship to Liverpool in 1983/84.

Following the departure of manager Harry Redknapp on December 7 2005, George Burley was appointed to the position of Head Coach on December 22 2005. They have since sold 17-year-old Theo Walcott, arguably their best home grown player since Matt Le Tissier, to Arsenal.

Southampton reached their first F.A Cup final in 1900, losing to Bury, but had to wait until 1976 to win the trophy - beating Manchester United 1-0 at Wembley. In 1984 they finished second in the league to claim their highest-ever league finish. They were founder members of the Premier League in 1992 and competed in its first 13 seasons before finally being relegated in 2005.

Significant former managers of the Saints include Gordon Strachan, Glenn Hoddle, Alan Ball, Graham Souness and Lawrie McMenemy. Significant former players include Matthew le Tissier, Kevin Keegan, Mick Channon, Alan Shearer, Wayne Bridge, Peter Shilton and Antti Niemi.

Contents

History

Cup Glory

Although Southampton had made several appearances in the First Division of the English league, they never really grabbed the headlines until the 1975-76 season—when they were a Second Division side. A Southampton side managed by Lawrie McMenemy reached the FA Cup Final, playing Manchester United at Wembley Stadium, and surprised all observers by beating United 1-0 thanks to a goal from Bobby Stokes. Southampton continued to progress well under McMenemy's stewardship, finishing runners-up in the league in 1983-84.

Lawrie McMenemy left in 1986 to be succeeded by Chris Nicholl, who was sacked after five years in charge despite preserving the club's top flight status. He was replaced by former Southampton player Ian Branfoot, who until the end of the 1990-91 season had been assistant manager to Steve Coppell at Crystal Palace. By this stage a key player in the Southampton lineup was Guernsey-born striker Matthew Le Tissier, the best-loved player in Saints' recent history. He was voted PFA Young Player of the Year in 1990 and later made seven appearances for the England team—he finally retired in 2002 at the age of 33.

Southampton in the Premiership

Southampton were founding members of the Premiership in 1992-93, having played in the top flight of English football since 1978. In May 2005 they were relegated to the 2nd tier of English football for the first time in 27 years.

Ian Branfoot was sacked in January 1994 with Southampton battling relegation. He was replaced by Exeter manager Alan Ball, who like Branfoot was a former Southampton player. Ball secured the Saints' survival for the 1993-94 season and guided them to a respectable tenth-place finish in the Premiership in 1994-95, with inspirational performances from Matthew Le Tissier. But Ball was lured to Manchester City in the summer of 1995 and Southampton turned to long-serving coach David Merrington to take charge of the team in 1995-96. Southampton finished 17th with 38 league points, avoiding relegation on goal difference. Two important wins during the final weeks of the season did much to ensure that Saints and not Manchester City would achieve Premiership survival. First came a 3-1 home win over eventual double winners Manchester United, then came a 1-0 away win over relegated Bolton Wanderers. Merrington was dismissed a few days after the end of the season and replaced by former Liverpool and Rangers manager Graeme Souness.

Southampton fared little better in 1996-97 despite the arrival of Souness, whose track record included two Scottish league titles with Rangers and an FA Cup victory with Liverpool. He resigned after just one season in charge, which had seen Southampton finish 16th in the Premiership, and Southampton's directors turned to Dave Jones—one of the most respected managers outside the Premiership who had won promotion to Division One with Stockport County as well as reaching the League Cup semi finals.

With such an inexperienced manager, Southampton were tipped by many observers to be relegated from the Premiership in 1997-98. But thanks to the addition of young striker Kevin Davies, and the acquisition of a few others, Southampton achieved a respectable 11th place finish in the table. Their form dipped in 1998-99 but they avoided relegation on the last day of the season. In 1999 Southampton were given the go-ahead to build a new 32,000-seat stadium in the St Mary's area of the city, a welcome move after playing in the cramped Dell since 1898.

During the 1999-2000 season, Dave Jones quit as Southampton manager to concentrate on a court case after he was accused of abusing children at the children's home where he had worked during the 1980s. The accusations were later proved to be groundless but it was too late to save Jones's career as Southampton manager and he was succeeded by ex-England team manager Glenn Hoddle.

Glenn Hoddle helped keep Southampton well clear of the Premiership drop zone but having received an offer from a higher profile club, he moved to Tottenham Hotspur just before the end of the 2000-01 season. He was replaced by first-team coach Stuart Gray, who oversaw the relocation to the St Mary's Stadium for the 2001-02 season. At the end of the 2000-01 season, in the last ever competitive match at the Dell, talismanic Matthew Le Tissier came on late to strike the last ever goal in sublime fashion. Southampton finished the match 3-2 against Arsenal, providing a fairy-tale ending to the days at The Dell. But Gray was sacked after a disastrous start to the following season, and in came ex-Coventry manager Gordon Strachan as his replacement.

Gordon Strachan did much to revitalise Southampton during the 2001-02 season, and they finished in a secure 11th place in the final table. They did even better in 2002-03, finished eighth in the Premiership and coming runners-up in the FA Cup to Arsenal. Strachan resigned the following March and was replaced by Paul Sturrock, who was in the process of guiding Plymouth Argyle to their second promotion in three seasons.

Paul Sturrock suddenly announced his resignation just after the start of the 2004-05 season, and first-team coach Steve Wigley was put in charge of the first team. But a bad run of form saw Southampton once again battling near the foot of the Premiership table, and the club's directors felt that a more experienced manager was needed. So they turned to former Portsmouth, West Ham and Bournemouth manager Harry Redknapp.

On 15th May 2005, Southampton were relegated from the Premiership following a 2-1 home defeat to Manchester United, thus ending 27 successive seasons of top division football.

Saints' Managerial Merry-go-round: a recent history

The last three years have seen considerable managerial instability at a club once known for rarely changing its bosses. Following the departure of Gordon Strachan (who had led the Saints to their first FA Cup final since 1976), Plymouth manager Paul Sturrock was appointed to the job in March 2004. However, rumours of player dissatisfaction and personal problems dogged Sturrock, and he was replaced just five months later by reserve team coach Steve Wigley.

Wigley's tenure proved disastrous, with Southampton slipping further and further down the Premiership table. Frenchman Christian Damiano was brought in to assist, but after a run of only one win in 14 games, both men's contracts were terminated. Wigley's short, tumultuous term as manager had parallels with a previous internal promotion, Stuart Gray, a talented coach who was sacked as manager prior to Strachan's appointment in 2001.

The chairman overseeing this 'revolving-door' policy was Rupert Lowe, who risked further fan ire when he appointed Harry Redknapp manager on December 8 2004. The news shocked much of the football world, as Redknapp had resigned as manager of Saints' arch-rivals Portsmouth just days previously. Lowe and Southampton continued to make headlines after former England Rugby World Cup-winning coach Sir Clive Woodward joined the club - eventually being appointed Technical Director.

Redknapp failed to rejuvenate the Saints, and the club were relegated to the second tier of English football for the first time in 27 years. Saints made a disappointing start to the season, with the emergence of young star Theo Walcott as a rare cause for optimism. Yet even more shocks were to await the fans.

On November 24 2005, Portsmouth manager Alain Perrin, the man who himself replaced Harry Redknapp at Southampton's arch-rivals, was sacked by chairman Milan Mandaric. Rumours gradually grew apace that Mandaric and Redknapp had resolved the dispute that caused Redknapp to walk out in the first place, and that he was poised rejoin his former club.

With these rumours seemingly reaching breaking point in the media—not to mention the bookmakers—Redknapp walked out on Southampton on December 3 2005. The two rival clubs found themselves at loggerheads over legal compensation, which threatened to leave Redknapp in limbo, but with the dispute eventually resolved, Redknapp rejoined Portsmouth on December 7 2005. After three matches under caretaker manager Dave Bassett and assistant Dennis Wise, George Burley was unveiled as the club's new manager on December 22 to work alongside Clive Woodward, who was promoted from Performance Director to Director of Football.

In the wake of overwhelming calls for him to stand down, Lowe eventually resigned on June 30 2006, a few days before an Extraordinary General Meeting that was predicted to see him removed from the club's board.

The Saints Trust

[The Saints Trust], a [democratic], not-for-profit organisation, committed to strengthening the voice of supporters in the decision making processes at Southampton Football Club, was officially launched on the 3rd of February 2006. The aims of the trust are to:

- Strengthen the bonds between the Club and the local community.
- Work for the football and financial success of the club.
- Encourage and promote supporter representation on the club's board acting as communication to the supporters.
- Acquire shares in the club, formally creating a supporters' stakeholding.

The trust currently now over 350 members and the proxy control of some 374,557 shares, approximately 1.25% of the club.

Scummers and Skates: The Southampton-Portsmouth Rivalry

Southampton nowadays enjoy a fierce derby rivalry with Portsmouth F.C. whose fans have dubbed Southampton supporters "Scummers", an epithet derived from the naval port looking down on its commercial neighbour. Southampton supporters have taken to referring to their local rivals as both "Scum" & "Skates", the latter a derisive term used in Portsmouth to describe sailors. Portsmouth enjoyed a much-superior record over their neighbours until the 1950s - however, from the 1960s onwards, Southampton found themselves in the ascendancy, being in a superior division nearly every season and beating their rivals whenever the two sides met in cup ties.

With Southampton's dominance during the 1990s, the two clubs' rivalry was arguably a little subdued during this time, flaring up only sporadically. Indeed, events such as the death of Portsmouth goalkeeper Aaron Flahavan, a Southampton-born footballer whose brother Daryl had played for the Saints, seemed to indicate a slight thaw in relations. However, events of recent years have altered this markedly.

Portsmouth's promotion to the Premiership in 2003 evened matters and reignited the clubs' rivalry - the first time the two teams had met in regular league competition since the 1986/87 First Division season. Honours were initially evenly shared, but the rivalry was galvanised with the appointment of Harry Redknapp as Southampton manager in the 2004/05 season, just days after he had resigned as manager of Portsmouth. In one of his first matches in charge, the Saints memorably won a fiery FA Cup clash, with former Portsmouth striker Peter Crouch scoring the decisive penalty.

However, Portsmouth were to have the last laugh as Southampton embarrassingly lost 4-1 away at Fratton park in their next league encounter and were relegated from the Premiership on the final day of the 2004/05 season.

The acrimonious departure of Harry Redknapp to Portsmouth has served only to further sour relations between the two clubs, which arguably lie at an all-time low. Chairmen Rupert Lowe and Milan Mandaric have publicly criticised one another on a number of occasions, with the Saints supremo most recently calling for an inquest into irregular betting patterns in the run-up to Redknapp's re-appointment.

As of 2006, rivalry remains fierce, but Southampton will have to wait at the very least another year to be able to play Portsmouth in the league, with Pompey managing to survive in the Premiership against all odds.

Famous Saints - Past and Present

   

Managers

Club records

Biggest wins - 9-3 against Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C., Sept 1965 8-2 against Coventry City F.C., April 1984 7-1 against Ipswich Town F.C., Jan 1965 6-0 against Luton Town F.C., 1995

Biggest losses - 0-8 against Tottenham Hotspur F.C., March 1936 0-8 against Everton F.C., Nov 1971

Most appearances - Terry Paine - 809 : 1956-1974

Most goals - Mick Channon - 227 : 1966-1977, 1979-1982

Most goals in one season - Derek Reeves - 44 : 1959/60

Youngest player - Theo Walcott - 16 years 143 days. Against Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C., 6/8/2005

Most capped player while at Southampton - Peter Shilton - 49 (125 in total)

Record transfers - IN - Rory Delap. £4,000,000 from Derby County F.C. OUT - Dean Richards. £8,100,000 to Tottenham Hotspur F.C..

Record home attendance - 32,104 against Liverpool F.C., 18/1/03 (1-0 to Liverpool)

Current playing squad

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Out on loan

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Non-Playing staff

Non-executive Chairman Ken Dulieu

Executive Directors Jim Hone (chief executive), Lee Hoos (operations director), David Jones (company secretary)

Non-executive Directors Patrick Trant, Michael Wilde, Leon Crouch, Brian Hunt, Paul Thompson, Keith Wiseman

Football Manager George Burley

Technical Support Director Sir Clive Woodward

Coaches Glynn Snodin (first team), Simon Hunt (chief scout), Malcolm Webster (goalkeeping), Stewart Henderson (reserve team)

Sports Scientists Paul Balsom (head of sports science), Scott McLachlan (performance analysis), Andy Barr (head of sports medicine)

External links

 

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.

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