📰 Table Of Contents
The Saints sunk as 11-year stay in the Premier League comes to an end
Not so long ago, Southampton were heralded as the best-run club in the Premier League.
In the five seasons following promotion in 2012, the Saints qualified for the Europa League twice and reached a League Cup Final.
Led by Mauricio Pochettino and then Ronald Koeman, their team featured superstars including: Sadio Mané, Virgil van Dijk, Dejan Lovren, Morgan Schneiderlin, Adam Lallana, Victor Wanyama, Luke Shaw, Toby Alderweireld, Dušan Tadić and Graziano Pellè… I could go on.
2017/18 though was the season when the tide started to turn, with Mauricio Pellegrino (remember him?) sacked and Mark Hughes parachuted in to save them, doing so in the penultimate game of the season.
After Hughes came Ralph Hasenhüttl and, it turns out, the Austrian was working wonders, guiding the Saints to 16th, 11th and then back-to-back 15th place finishes.
After an underwhelming start to this season, new owner Dragan Šolak, who bought the club in January 2022, decided to sack Hasenhüttl and it was all down here from there.
Rubén Sellés did enjoy victories over Chelsea and Leicester early in his tenure but, in the end, the Saints failed to win any of their last 13 matches as they went down with a whimper.
A thrilling 4-4 draw with Liverpool on the final day did take Southampton’s points tally to 25, but this is the lowest, in terms of points-per-game (0.66), in the club’s 137-year history, and by quite some margin.
This is the fifth time the Saints’ have been relegated from any division and, to date, they’ve never gained promotion at the first attempt.
It’s going to require a lot of work if they’re to change that fact next season.
Will Russell Martin be the right man to take Southampton straight back up?
Unlike fellow bottom-three dwellers Leeds and Leicester, Southampton’s fate was sealed quite some time ago, and they’ve used this time to begin their managerial search.
It was widely reported last week that Russell Martin will take over, having led Swansea City to 15th and tenth place finishes in the Championship.
Even with Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Mohamed Elyounoussi and Theo Walcott out of contract, Martin will inherit a bloated, mishmash of a squad put, together by numerous managers and directors.
Last summer, they bought four youngsters from Manchester City, Gavin Bazunu, Juan Larios, Roméo Lavia and Samuel Edozie, recruitment led by former Man City academy director Jason Wilcox.
This was part of a project youth strategy, that also saw Armel Bella-Kotchap and Sékou Mara arrive, all of whom are aged 21 or under.
With relegation staring them in face, this plan completely went out the window in January as Mislav Oršić, Carlos Alcaraz, James Bree, Paul Onuachu and Kamaldeen Sulemana all arrived, with mixed success.
Bree followed Nathan Jones from Luton, that certainly didn’t work for either, while £6 million was spent to bring 30 year old Oršić from GNK Dinamo Zagreb, for him to score zero goals and start no matches.
The youthfulness of this squad does at least mean the Saints have numerous sellable assets, none more so than Lavia.
Chelsea actually attempted to buy the midfielder for £50 million on deadline day last summer, mere weeks after he’d arrived for only £12 million.
Lastly, has James Ward-Prowse made his 409th and last appearance for the club he joined as an eight year old in 2003?
Ward-Prowse needs just one more free-kick goal to break David Beckham’s Premier League record and, given his England aspirations, is unlikely to stay in the Championship.
