Are Southampton the ultimate comeback club?

In the space of ten years, Southampton have gone from a Premiership club to a League One club and back again. They've gone from relegation fighters to competing in the UEFA Europa League. They've lost player after player and manager after manager yet they are still able to achieve impressive league finishes and compete with the best clubs in England. They suffer setbacks every year and manage to overcome them despite the critics. The pundits will soon have to realise that it isn't luck that's kept them at the top.

In 2012, Southampton began their first top flight campaign since the 2004/2005 season and they had worked their way up with two consecutive promotions under Nigel Adkins. Important players were brought in to help fight relegation with Clyne, Rodriguez, Davis and Yoshida all joining the club. Despite sitting in fifteenth in the league, Adkins was sacked as manager in January 2013. The man who lead the Saints from the third tier of English football to the Premier League was replaced by a seemingly inexperienced Argentine in Mauricio Pochettino. The loss of the much loved Adkins did not affect the team's performance as Pochettino lead them to safety with a fourteenth place finish. The next season saw more new faces join the team as Wanyama, Lovren and Osvaldo were brought in to help Pochettino in his first full season in England. Things went even better for the club as they managed to avoid any second season problems and managed to finish in eighth instead of fighting the drop as so many thought they would.

The 2014/2015 season started awfully for the Saints as they lost manager Pochettino, who left to join Spurs and they also lost a number of key first team players. They had already lost their top scorer Rodriguez to injury so he was unable to play in a single match in the 2014/15 season, and they lost goalkeeper Boruc to Bournemouth and also Cork to Swansea. They also lost Chambers to Arsenal, Lovren and Lambert to Liverpool as well as Lallana and Shaw who were Southampton's representatives in the PFA team of the year for the previous season. They were sold for big money to Liverpool and Manchester United respectively. Ronald Koeman was brought in to manage the team and had to buy a lot of players to replace the outgoing ones. Tadić, Pellè, Long, Forster, Mané, Bertrand and Alderweireld on loan were all brought in. They managed to achieve a seventh place finish in the league and qualified for the UEFA Europa League.

Koeman's second season started with just as many problems as his first. He lost a couple of key players as Schneiderlin joined Manchester United, Clyne joined Liverpool, Alderweireld's loan ended and he joined Spurs and Forster was ruled out until the new year due to injury. They lost their Europa League qualifying game against Midtjylland 2-1 on aggregate. They had to make a few additions to their squad to once again fill in the gaps left by their sales. Van Dijk, Cedric, Clasie, Romeu, Stekelenburg and Austin were all brought in as replacements and as cover for the squad. They went on to finish sixth in the league. Once again qualifying for the Europa League but they were only three points off Manchester City, who finished fourth.

This season began with another crisis for the Saints as they lost manager Koeman to Everton, top scorers of the last two seasons, Pellè and Mané were both sold as was Wanyama. Things quickly turned around as Claude Puel was brought in. Redmond and Boufal were signed and Austin took the opportunity and became the main man upfront. They have had their first proper taste of European football since the 1970's as they participated in the Europa League group stage and competed against well known clubs from across the continent such as Inter Milan and Sparta Prague. They only just missed out on reaching the knockout rounds because of their head to head record after finishing level on points with second place Hapoel Be'er Sheva. They have made it to the EFL cup semi finals and if they get past Liverpool, they will be in their first major final since the 2003 FA Cup final and as 2016 ends, Southampton find themselves in ninth in the Premier League


If they achieve another top ten finish this season, they can look back on the season with pride as they have to overcome the unfortunate truth that a lot of players and managers who join Southampton see it as a stepping stone so they can join a so called "bigger club". They have so far dealt with everything and managed to establish themselves as a Premier League club but they know that they will likely go through it all again next season.