Having survived for many years on a budget a fraction of most of their Premiership rivals, Southampton were finally condemned to relegation in the season of 04/05. even after the sale of their star players such as beattie and crouch, southampton could only afford to bring in bit-part players and players from previous generations such as the likes of gregory vignal. the only thing that saints fans could look forward to is the emergence of the highly talented Theo Walcott.
But for all the talent of Walcott the Saints made a disappointing start to life back in the second tier of English football. In the Championship Southampton's off-the-field controversy affected their on-the-field fortunes substantially during 2005–06, and at one point they were in real danger of a second successive relegation. But their form improved during the final weeks of the season and they finished a secure twelfth.
The good form which secured Southampton's Championship status in 2005–06 was carried through to the start of the 2006–07 season, and the turn of the year saw the team in fourth place in the table. The new board of directors had spent a club record £6 million on transfers. Polish strikers Grzegorz Rasiak and Marek Saganowski and 17 year-old left back Gareth Bale all had great runs in form. A drastic loss in the team's form overall, coupled with poor displays against fellow promotion hopefuls, saw the team drop to eighth place by mid–March 2007, and rapidly losing touch with the promotion race. However, with other promotion rivals dropping points and a small run of form in late April, Southampton were able to reach sixth place, the last play-off position. They lost the home leg of their playoff semi-final to Derby County, and on the 15th of May achieved parity on aggregate but lost on penalties in a thrilling encounter.
Since relegation, the club has had to sell players to meet the shortfall in income. A number of players from the club's academy have been sold for large sums, such as Theo Walcott and Gareth Bale.
The 2007–08 season went much worse for Southampton with George Burly revealing that players such as Gareth Bale and Kenwyne Jones had to be sold to stop the club going into administration and that not getting promoted put the club in serious financial troubles. New players such as Youssef Safri and Stern John were brought in, but Southampton made an inconsistent start to the season being lodged in mid-table around the Christmas period. However, manager Burley left the club in January to take over as Scotland manager and in the January transfer window two more important players in Grzegorz Rasiak and Rudi Skacel were loaned out. Jason Dodd and John Gorman took charge initially for what was intended to be the rest of the season. However, they failed to win a league game, and the team slipped alarmingly near to the relegation zone. In February Southampton appointed Nigel Pearson as manager. Under Pearson's management Southampton did narrowly avoided the drop by beating Sheffield United 3–2 on the final day of the season.
Even though Pearson kept the Saints up, the Southampton board did not renew his contract, because of financial constraints. By now, Michael Wilde and Rupert Lowe had replaced Leon Crouch as chairmen, and the new board brought in the relatively unknown Dutchman Jan Poortvliet as manager. The Club's financial troubles continued to mount, resulting in more players being sold or loaned out to lower the wage bill and parts of St Mary's were closed off to reduce costs. Due to their financial troubles, the club had to rely on youth and put out a very young side. Although they had a poor first half to the season, young players such as Andrew Surman, Adam Lallana and Morgan Schneiderlin emerged as potential stars.
On 23 January 2009, Poortvliet resigned with the club one from bottom in the Championship, with Mark Wotte taking over managerial duties.
After failure to beat Burnley in the penultimate game of the season on 25 April 2009, which ended in a 2–2 draw, Southampton confirmed their relegation from the Championship. This also meant that they would start in League One(for the first time in 50 years) with minus 10 points, within six years of being Fa-Cuo runners-up, Uefa Cup participants and the eighth placed team in the Premier League.
On the 1st of July in a desperate attempt to halt the slide down the leagues, Markus Liebherr has appointed unheard of manager Fred Shannon. Fred Shannon released a statement on the second of july stating ' i am absolutely delighted to have been given this oppurtunity to manager so far up the leagues in his first term of management, i cannot wait to get stuck in and get this team back up to where it should be. i am not expecting it to be easy and we may well not even go straight back up this season but my long term aims are to get back to the premier league in the next four seasons and secure a midtable/european position within six, thankyou and that is all i have to say'
---------- Post added at 05:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:41 PM ----------
well as i have just started my second season i shall just update you on the league table, stats and big games from last season
---------- Post added at 06:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:44 PM ----------
im sorry but i cant seem to attach anything so can someone please close this
But for all the talent of Walcott the Saints made a disappointing start to life back in the second tier of English football. In the Championship Southampton's off-the-field controversy affected their on-the-field fortunes substantially during 2005–06, and at one point they were in real danger of a second successive relegation. But their form improved during the final weeks of the season and they finished a secure twelfth.
The good form which secured Southampton's Championship status in 2005–06 was carried through to the start of the 2006–07 season, and the turn of the year saw the team in fourth place in the table. The new board of directors had spent a club record £6 million on transfers. Polish strikers Grzegorz Rasiak and Marek Saganowski and 17 year-old left back Gareth Bale all had great runs in form. A drastic loss in the team's form overall, coupled with poor displays against fellow promotion hopefuls, saw the team drop to eighth place by mid–March 2007, and rapidly losing touch with the promotion race. However, with other promotion rivals dropping points and a small run of form in late April, Southampton were able to reach sixth place, the last play-off position. They lost the home leg of their playoff semi-final to Derby County, and on the 15th of May achieved parity on aggregate but lost on penalties in a thrilling encounter.
Since relegation, the club has had to sell players to meet the shortfall in income. A number of players from the club's academy have been sold for large sums, such as Theo Walcott and Gareth Bale.
The 2007–08 season went much worse for Southampton with George Burly revealing that players such as Gareth Bale and Kenwyne Jones had to be sold to stop the club going into administration and that not getting promoted put the club in serious financial troubles. New players such as Youssef Safri and Stern John were brought in, but Southampton made an inconsistent start to the season being lodged in mid-table around the Christmas period. However, manager Burley left the club in January to take over as Scotland manager and in the January transfer window two more important players in Grzegorz Rasiak and Rudi Skacel were loaned out. Jason Dodd and John Gorman took charge initially for what was intended to be the rest of the season. However, they failed to win a league game, and the team slipped alarmingly near to the relegation zone. In February Southampton appointed Nigel Pearson as manager. Under Pearson's management Southampton did narrowly avoided the drop by beating Sheffield United 3–2 on the final day of the season.
Even though Pearson kept the Saints up, the Southampton board did not renew his contract, because of financial constraints. By now, Michael Wilde and Rupert Lowe had replaced Leon Crouch as chairmen, and the new board brought in the relatively unknown Dutchman Jan Poortvliet as manager. The Club's financial troubles continued to mount, resulting in more players being sold or loaned out to lower the wage bill and parts of St Mary's were closed off to reduce costs. Due to their financial troubles, the club had to rely on youth and put out a very young side. Although they had a poor first half to the season, young players such as Andrew Surman, Adam Lallana and Morgan Schneiderlin emerged as potential stars.
On 23 January 2009, Poortvliet resigned with the club one from bottom in the Championship, with Mark Wotte taking over managerial duties.
After failure to beat Burnley in the penultimate game of the season on 25 April 2009, which ended in a 2–2 draw, Southampton confirmed their relegation from the Championship. This also meant that they would start in League One(for the first time in 50 years) with minus 10 points, within six years of being Fa-Cuo runners-up, Uefa Cup participants and the eighth placed team in the Premier League.
On the 1st of July in a desperate attempt to halt the slide down the leagues, Markus Liebherr has appointed unheard of manager Fred Shannon. Fred Shannon released a statement on the second of july stating ' i am absolutely delighted to have been given this oppurtunity to manager so far up the leagues in his first term of management, i cannot wait to get stuck in and get this team back up to where it should be. i am not expecting it to be easy and we may well not even go straight back up this season but my long term aims are to get back to the premier league in the next four seasons and secure a midtable/european position within six, thankyou and that is all i have to say'
---------- Post added at 05:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:41 PM ----------
well as i have just started my second season i shall just update you on the league table, stats and big games from last season
---------- Post added at 06:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:44 PM ----------
im sorry but i cant seem to attach anything so can someone please close this