Southampton fans will be apprehensive of next season already, as the Saints will have to address their gaping wounds from Spygate.
Indeed, with a four-point deduction automatically in place, as well, testing times could be ahead for the South Coast outfit in the Championship when they're so used to being in the promotion conversations.
Strangely, next season will also see the bruised team play an unfamiliar opponent in Bolton Wanderers, as the Greater Manchester side return to the second tier for the first time since the 2015-16 campaign.
It has been even longer than that, amazingly, since the two sides butted heads in league action...
Southampton very rarely play against Bolton
At one stage in their shared histories, Southanpton versus Bolton was seen as a Premier League staple.
Between 2001 and 2005, the Saints and the Trotters faced each other a mammoth eight times in the top-flight.
Yet, looking at their head-to-head record, their final league meeting was on the 19th April 2005, as Kevin Phillips - partnered up top with Peter Crouch for the day - secured a 1-1 draw for Southampton on their travels up North.
They did face each other in 2010 in the League Cup, as a Saints XI that had the likes of Jose Fonte and Rickie Lambert lost 1-0 at St. Mary's.
But it has been a staggering 21 years since they last shared a division together, with Bolton over the moon to be back in the Championship, after many seasons of being swamped in the suffocating environment of League One.
Steven Schumacher's men could have Southampton's number too when their 21-year hiatus of league fixtures is finally broken, with the Trotters once a bogey team for the Saints to overcome, looking even deeper into their head-to-head numbers.
Bolton used to be a bogey team for the Saints
You would have to go all the way back to 2001 for the last time Southampton got the better of their foes from Greater Manchester.
The Reebok Stadium - now named the Toughsheet Community Stadium - had only been opened for four years at the time, and it was Marian Pahars who would climb off the bench late on to hand the South Coast visitors a slim 1-0 victory.
Since that win, it has been a remarkable ten games since Southampton last got the better of Schumacher and Co. in all competitions.
The last ten results between Saints & Bolton:
Date | Match | W/D/L | Final result |
|---|---|---|---|
27th Nov 2001 | Bolton v Southampton - League Cup | Draw (loss on penalties) | 2-2 (loss on penalties) |
23rd Feb 2002 | Saints v Bolton - PL | Draw | 0-0 |
28th Sep 2002 | Bolton v Saints - PL | Draw | 1-1 |
3rd May 2003 | Saints v Bolton - PL | Draw | 0-0 |
8th Nov 2003 | Bolton v Saints - PL | Draw | 0-0 |
16th Dec 2003 | Bolton v Saints - League Cup | Loss | 1-0 |
24th Apr 2004 | Saints v Bolton - PL | Loss | 1-2 |
25th Aug 2004 | Saints v Bolton - PL | Loss | 1-2 |
19th Apr 2005 | Bolton v Saints - PL | Draw | 1-1 |
24th Aug 2010 | Saints v Bolton - League Cup | Loss | 0-1 |
Three 0-0 draws have taken place between the two sides across this ten-game stretch, which will hardly excite either set of supporters reading on, with Bolton hoping they have shooting boots on when facing the Saints next season, having just trounced Stockport County 4-1 in the Wembley heat to win an emphatic promotion.
With Lincoln City leaping into the division as convincing champions, as well, the Championship is set to be an enthralling league to watch again next season, with some unpredictable results surely set to happen.
Saints fans will just hope their team can swim, and not sink, as they try to push forward after all the agony from Spygate.
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