Southampton ended on a roll last season, going 21 league games undefeated before being denied the opportunity to play for a place in the Premier League at Wembley.
Tonda Eckert’s side found a vein of form in January following the loan signings of goalkeeper Daniel Peretz and striker Cyle Larin, and never looked back, making it all the way past Premier League Fulham and Arsenal to the FA Cup semi-final stage.
The only things that stood in the way of the Saints winning immediate promotion back to the Premier League were the Spygate scandal, which saw them removed from the play-offs, and an extremely poor start to the campaign.
Under manager Will Still, the Saints won just two of their first 13 league games. The side sat just three points above the relegation zone in 21st in November, and hopes of promotion looked lost.
Come the penultimate game of the season, Southampton remained with an outside chance of the automatic spots. A faster start to the season would have revolutionised their position today.
A lesson to learn
Southampton cannot afford another start to next season as they did under Will Still in 2025.
The Saints looked without any tactical ideas or real purpose and, on the whole, were ineffective, leading to the young manager’s sacking in November.
Still’s replacement, U21’s manager Tonda Eckert, quickly proved that Southampton had a worthy playing squad. Top Championship players like Finn Azaz and Taylor Harwood-Bellis quickly improved, and the Saints were the better side in the division from then onwards.
Despite losing just five matches for the rest of the season, their dreadful start ultimately cost them.
The Saints will be hoping a better start to next campaign leaves them in a more fruitful position this time next year, and they’ll be confident of doing so.
Why Southampton have a better chance
Just three of Southampton’s starters against Wrexham on the opening day of last season can now call themselves starters at the club.
Apart from captain Jack Stephens and midfielders Shea Charles and Flynn Downes, the Saints put out a poor team consisting of Gavin Bazunu, inexperienced Josh Quarshie, eventually-sold Ronnie Edwards, Ryan Fraser, Jay Robinson and Adam Armstrong.
Will Still simply didn’t have any ideas for the kind of team he wanted at St Mary’s - but Tonda Eckert clearly does.
With the same squad as last season available to him, and the addition of forward Lewis Dobbin, the Saints are well put to begin where they left off.
Just the verdict from the FA’s investigation into their manager’s involvement remains a potential hurdle.
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