During the 1991–92 English football season,

Southampton F.C. Southampton Football Club () is an English professional football club based in Southampton, Hampshire, which competes in the . Their home ground since 2001 has been St Mary's Stadium, before which they were based at The Dell. The club play in ...

competed in the

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

Season summary

In the 1991–92 season, Ian Branfoot took over as Southampton boss but their fortunes fared no better and only managed to secure a 16th-place finish despite reaching the Full Members Cup final at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

only to lose 3–2 against

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

. During the summer of 1992, Branfoot became "the most popular manager in English football", as he took telephone calls from clubs "trying to bargain with players they don't want plus cash", conceding that he would be forced to sell 21-year-old top scorer

Alan Shearer Alan Shearer CBE DL (born 13 August 1970) is an English football pundit and retired football player and manager who played as a striker. Widely regarded as one of the best strikers of his generation and one of the greatest players in Premie ...

, following a season of speculation about Shearer's future, with the likes of

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

and

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

being linked with Shearer's signature in the autumn of 1991. Despite this interest, Shearer decided to stay at Southampton until the end of the season before making a decision about his future. Although Branfoot eventually accepted that a sale was inevitable, he claimed that "whatever happens, we are in the driving seat".Quoted in Eventually, Shearer was sold to newly promoted Blackburn Rovers for a national record fee of £3.6 million, with Blackburn's top scorer

David Speedie David Robert Speedie (born 20 February 1960) is a Scottish former footballer who played for several clubs in England during the 1980s and 1990s, most notably Chelsea, Coventry City, Liverpool and Blackburn Rovers. He accumulated more than 500 f ...

reluctantly moving to The Dell as part of the deal. Despite Branfoot's claim to be "in the driving seat", Saints failed to include a "sell-on clause" in the contract.

Squad

Transfers

In

Out

Loaned Out

Final league table

Results

First Division

League Cup (Rumbelows Cup)

FA Cup

Full Members Cup (Zenith Data Systems Cup)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1991-92 Southampton F.C. season Southampton F.C. seasons

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...