|
Southampton F.C. (originally St. Mary's YMA) is an English football team, nicknamed The Saints. Based in the city of Southampton in Hampshire, the team was formed in November 1885. In 1898 the team moved into The Dell, the ground which was to be their home for over 100 years. However, as a result of poor stadium capacity, the team moved to St Mary's Stadium in 2001. Their finest hour was their FA Cup win in 1976, when they beat Manchester United 1-0. They also were the runners-up in 2003 against Arsenal and runners-up in the 1979 League Cup final against Nottingham Forest. Southampton enjoy a fierce rivalry with Portsmouth Football Club; despite Southampton being in a superior division for much of the 1980s and 90s, this derby was recently reignited by Portsmouth's promotion to the Premiership in 2003. On 4 March 2004, Paul Sturrock was named as Southampton's manager, succeeding Gordon Strachan. However, just over five months later, on August 23, 2004, it was announced that Sturrock was leaving the club 'by mutual consent', after a disappointing run of form and rumours of boardroom dissatisfaction with his management. He was replaced by Steve Wigley as head coach, despite rumours at the time that former England Rugby Union coach Sir Clive Woodward was to switch codes to football. On October 11, 2004 Frenchman Christian Damiano was unveiled as the Saints' 1st team coach, to work alongside Wigley. However, following a string of 14 Premiership games with only one win under the leadership of Wigley, Harry Redknapp was appointed as manager on December 8, 2004, signing an eighteen-month contract. This shocked much of the footballing world as Redknapp had recently resigned as manager of the Saints' arch rivals Portsmouth. Famous Saints - Past and Present
Current playing squad - Antti Niemi
- Jason Dodd
- Graeme Le Saux
- Jelle Van Damme
- Claus Lundekvam
- Andreas Jakobsson
- Kevin Phillips
- Matthew Oakley
- Neil McCann
- Michael Svensson
- Anders Svensson
- Paul Smith
- Peter Crouch
- Alleddine Yahia (on loan to AS Saint-Etienne)
- Martin Cranie
- Marian Pahars
- Rory Delap
- Danny Higginbotham
- David Prutton
- Jo Tessem
- Darren Kenton
- Olivier Bernard
- Dexter Blackstock (on loan to Plymouth Argyle)
- Michael Poke
- Matthew Mills
- Leon Best
- Alan Blayney (on loan to Rushden & Diamonds)
- Fabrice Fernandes
- Leandre Griffit (on loan to Leeds United)
- Yoann Folly (on loan to Nottingham Forest)
- Chris Baird
- Paul Telfer
- Kenwyne Jones
- Mikael Nilsson
- Brett Ormerod
- Henri Camara (on loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.)
- Jamie Redknapp
- Callum Davenport (on loan from Spurs)
- Nigel Quashie
Non-Playing staff Chairman - Rupert Lowe
Directors Manager - Harry Redknapp
Assistant Manager - Jim Smith
Coaches - Kevin Bond
- Christian Damiano
External link - Southampton F.C. official website (http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/)
|