After McMenemy
Lawrie McMenemy left at the end of the 1984–85 season to be succeeded by Chris Nicholl, who was sacked after six years in charge despite preserving the club's top flight status.
He was replaced by 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. During his time with the Saints, Le Tissier was approached more than once by several bigger clubs (including Manchester United) but chose to stick with the Saints despite never winning a major trophy or experiencing European football with them.
From 1989 to 1992, Le Tissier was regularly partnered up front by another notable player - Alan Shearer, who as a 17-year-old had scored a hat-trick on his Saints debut against Arsenal in April 1988 and became a regular player in the 1989–90 season, and by 1991-92 was firmly established as one of the English league's highest rated strikers. After months of speculation that Shearer was going to join Manchester United, he was sold to Blackburn Rovers for a national record of £3.6million in July 1992. He went on to enjoy an illustrious career as one of English football's leading goalscorers of all time, as well as collecting a league title with Blackburn Rovers in 1995, and becoming the world's most expensive footballer with his £15million move in July 1996 to Newcastle United, where he remained until his retirement as a player 10 years later. Shearer was also capped 63 times for England, scoring 30 goals.
Read more about this topic: History Of Southampton F.C.