Club: Southampton F.C.
High Position: 2nd in the First Division (top tier) 1983-1984
Current Position: 23rd in the Coca-Cola Championship (relegated and docked 10 points for 2009-2010)
The story of the last generation or of Southampton’s history begins in 1980 with the signing of Kevin Keegan. While Keegan’s time with the club was short, the club achieved its best-to-date finish of 6th in the old First Division in 1980-81. Two years later they improved their best ever finish and qualified for Europe, but as has been the case for many teams in this feature, the “Heysel Ban” kept them from ever taking part in European competition. Following the 1984-1985 season, McMenemy left. He was replaced by Chris Nicholl, who kept the team in the top tier through the rest of the 1980′s. He was followed by Ian Branfoot who guided the team into the Premiership with help from perhaps Southampton’s greatest ever player, “Fat Matt” Le Tissier.
Southampton struggled during its early years in the EPL, generally finding themselves in the bottom half of the table and this led to Branfoot being dropped in favor of Alan Ball, who would leave for Manchester City after only two seasons. He was replaced by Dave Merrington, who kept the club in the EPL, but couldn’t keep his job. He was replaced by the great player and thoroughly mediocre manager Graeme Souness- he lasted one season. Next on the managerial merry go-round was Dave Jones. Jones also kept the club in the EPL, but he quit during the 1999-2000 season because he was embroiled in a court case where he was accused of abusing children at a group home where he had once worked. As it turned out, he was completely innocent. The club replaced him with crazy person- and former England player and manager- Glenn Hoddle.
Like his predecessors, Hoddle kept the club in the EPL and then promptly left when a better opportunity- Tottenham- came along after only a single season. Hoddle was followed by one of his coaches, Stuart Gray. Gray muddled through the rest of the season and the beginning of the next before the Saints found another high-profile manager to take over- Gordon Strachan. Strachan did well to push the club into the top half of the EPL table, but he would leave- “for personal reasons”- during the 2004 season. In the wake of Strachan’s resignation, the club would chew up and spit out Paul Sturrock and reserve team coach Steve Wigley. Wigley was replaced by the club’s fourth manager in 2004, Harry Redknapp of arch-enemy Portsmouth. This was not a popular move and became even less so when Redknapp promptly guided Southampton into relegation from the top tier for the first time in almost thirty years. Harry was gone by mid-season…back to Portsmouth.
With Redknapp gone, George Burley was brought in to right the ship. He was able to keep them in the Championship, but not able to gain promotion back to the EPL. Burley left in the middle of the 2007-2008 season to take the job as Scotland manager. Burley was replaced by Nigel Pearson (three months), then Dutchman Jan Poortvliet (eight months- one win), and finally, reserve team coach and fellow wooden shoe wearer, cheese eater, and windmill enthusiast Mark Wotte. Wotte was in charge in 2009 when the club’s relegation to League One was ensured and the club were punished with a 10 point deduction (to be applied in 2009-2010) as a result of their shell holding company going into administration.
So, what went wrong at Southampton? Southampton have always been “reaching,” they seem determined to be a bigger club than they are. This has manifested itself in always wanting the “biggest” manager they could get, whether he was the right fit for the club or not. Graeme Souness, Glenn Hoddle, Gordon Strachan, Harry Redknapp, etc. have all done well at various clubs at various times, but, with the possible exception of Strachan, they did nothing at Southampton. This collection of underachieving egos may have been one reason the club hasn’t been able to lure much talent to the South Coast.
*Please also note that I have spared you the financials/investor/administrative details. Needless to say, Paul Allen (the Microsoft guy) never did buy the club.
Next week…Brighton and Hove Albion F.C.
Harry Redknapp said at one point that he would stake the club monetarily so that they would never end up in administration. I guess he wasn’t quite telling the truth, now was he? If you had told me ten years ago that some of these clubs would be in the third tier, I’d have said you were barking. And here we are.