History of Southampton F.C. - in The Championship

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 12th.

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 stikers Grzegorz Rasiak and Marek Saganowski and 17 year-old left back Gareth Bale have all had great runs in form. A drastic loss in the team's form overall, coupled with inept 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 6th place, the last play-off position. They lost the home leg of their playoff semi-final to Derby County, and on 15 May achieved parity on aggregate but lost on penalties in a thrilling encounter.

2007–08 initially looked to be an unremarkable campaign, with the club in mid-table for the first half of the campaign. Once again though, Southampton experienced a major loss of form in the spring, not helped by managerial instability caused by the resignation of George Burley followed by caretaker spells by John Gorman and then Nigel Pearson, and were left in serious danger of relegation to League One on the last day of the season. Fortunately a win combined with some other favourable results ensured their survival for another year, but the enforced sale of most of their star players combined with the general inexperience of the remaining players and yet more changes in the managerial seat (Pearson was replaced by Jan Poortvliet prior to the start of the season, before Mark Wotte took over midway through the campaign) led to a disastrous 2008–09 season, in which the club were never outside the bottom five at any point in the campaign, and never left the relegation zone after Christmas.