1995–96 Southampton F.C. Season

The 1995–96 Southampton F.C. season was the club's 95th season of competitive football, their 26th in the top flight of English football, and their fourth in the FA Premier League. It was the sole season to feature Dave Merrington as the club's manager, who took over from Alan Ball in the summer of 1995. After finishing 10th in 1994–95, their highest league position in five years, the Saints had a disappointing season as they finished 17th in the FA Premier League, avoiding relegation on goal difference only (with Ball's Manchester City side going down in their place). Outside the league, the club reached the sixth round of the FA Cup and the fourth round of the League Cup – the first time they had reached either stage since the 1991–92 season.

Southampton had a quiet transfer period ahead of the 1995–96 campaign, with Newcastle United full-back Alan Neilson their only first-team signing of the summer. Later in the season, Merrington signed right-back Barry Venison, goalkeeper Neil Moss and winger Mark Walters, as well as selling midfielder Paul Allen, centre-back Peter Whiston, winger Paul McDonald and striker Craig Maskell for small fees. The side played poorly throughout the season, picking up just nine wins in the league – their lowest tally in over 25 years – and scoring just 34 goals, the lowest in their 101-year league history. Southampton ultimately avoided relegation only on the basis of goal difference, with Manchester City's final day loss against Liverpool determining their relegation.

Outside the league, Southampton reached the sixth round of the FA Cup by defeating three sides in lower divisions: they beat local rivals Portsmouth of the First Division, made it past Second Division side Crewe Alexandra after a replay, and eliminated Swindon Town of the same division in the same manner. In their final game of the tournament, the Saints were eliminated by Manchester United, who went on to win the FA Premier League and FA Cup double. In the League Cup, Southampton beat Second Division strugglers Cardiff City and league rivals West Ham United, before facing elimination at the hands of First Division club Reading. This marked Southampton's best performance in both cups since 1991–92, when they reached the same stages.

Southampton used 25 players during the 1995–96 season and had 14 different goalscorers. In a low-scoring season, striker Neil Shipperley finished as the club's top goalscorer with just 12 goals in all competitions, including a joint-high (with Matt Le Tissier) seven in the league. Shipperley also made the most appearances for the club during the campaign, featuring in all but one league game across all competitions. Goalkeeper Dave Beasant won the Southampton F.C. Player of the Season award for 1995–96. The average league attendance at The Dell in 1995–96 was 14,822 – a slight increase on the previous season. The highest attendance was 15,262 against Manchester United in April; the lowest was 11,059 against West Ham United in October.

Background and transfers

Prior to leaving the club, manager Alan Ball made one signing for Southampton during the summer 1995 transfer window, bringing in full-back Alan Neilson from Newcastle United for £500,000. Ball's replacement Dave Merrington did not sign anyone else until October, when he paid £850,000 for right-back Barry Venison from Turkish club Galatasaray. The same month, midfielder Paul Allen was released on a free transfer to Second Division side Swindon Town and centre-back Peter Whiston – signed by Ball just over a year earlier – was sold to Shrewsbury Town (also of the third flight) for £50,000. The last transfer of the calendar year saw 20-year-old goalkeeper Neil Moss arrive from local Second Division club Bournemouth just before Christmas – the Saints paid £200,000 for the player, which rose to £250,000 based on appearances.

In the new year, Southampton signed winger Mark Walters from Liverpool on a free transfer. In February, Scottish winger Paul McDonald – who had spent most of the season on loan at Burnley – was sold to another Second Division side, Brighton & Hove Albion (who were then managed by former Saints midfielder Jimmy Case), for a fee of £40,000 rising to £75,000 based on appearances. Craig Maskell also moved to Case's Seagulls for £40,000 a few weeks later, following a two-month loan spell at Bristol City. Later in March a third player, Scottish defender Derek Allan, moved to Brighton on loan for the rest of the season – he would join permanently at the beginning of the next season.

Players transferred in

Players transferred out

Players loaned out

Notes

Pre-season friendlies

Ahead of the 1995–96 campaign, Southampton played nine pre-season friendlies. In July, they embarked on a short tour of Ireland which included three games against local opposition – a 1–2 defeat at St Patrick's Athletic (who went on to become champions of the Irish Premier Division), a 4–2 win over Irish First Division side Waterford United, and a 0–1 loss at Cork City. Back in England, they lost 1–2 at Second Division side Wycombe Wanderers and 0–3 at First Division side Millwall, before travelling over to the Netherlands where they drew 1–1 with Sparta Rotterdam and 2–2 with Volendam, both of the Eredivisie. Whilst in the Netherlands, the Saints concluded their pre-season preparations by taking part in the Paling Cup, a friendly tournament consisting of 45-minute games – they drew 0–0 with IJsselmeervogels before beating Spakenburg 3–1.

FA Premier League

Southampton opened their 1995–96 FA Premier League season at home to Nottingham Forest, who had finished third in the league the previous year. The end-to-end game finished 4–3 in favour of the visitors, with all three goals for the hosts scored by Matt Le Tissier – two from penalties given for fouls against him, one in the last ten minutes from a free kick. After a 0–2 loss at Everton the next week, the Saints picked up their first points of the season in two home games against last season's fifth and sixth place finishers, drawing 1–1 with Leeds United and beating Newcastle United 1–0 thanks to a second-half goal from Jim Magilton. They subsequently dropped into the relegation zone for the first time after three poor away results in a row: a goalless draw at recently-promoted Middlesbrough, a 0–3 defeat at Chelsea and a 2–4 loss at Arsenal. They stayed there into October with another goalless draw, this time at home to West Ham United, followed by another two defeats: 1–2 at reigning league champions Blackburn Rovers and 1–3 at home to fellow title challengers Liverpool. During the latter game, Le Tissier received the second of two career red cards when he was dismissed for "ungentlemanly conduct", following fouls on Ian Rush and Phil Babb.

After spending a few weeks in the bottom three of the table, the Saints picked up two crucial victories when they beat Wimbledon 2–1 (thanks to a Neil Shipperley double) and Queens Park Rangers 2–0, with both games featuring dismissals for the opposition. The improvement in form was short-lived, however, as two more defeats against top-tier opponents followed – first, the South Coast side lost 1–4 at Manchester United, who went 3–0 up within the first nine minutes; and two days later, they lost 0–1 at home to Aston Villa. A 1–0 win over fellow strugglers Bolton Wanderers and two more draws against Liverpool and ten-man Arsenal ensured the team stayed clear of the relegation places.

Southampton did not win again until 20 January 1996, when they overturned a 0–1 deficit to beat Middlesbrough 2–1 at The Dell. After another pair of draws against Manchester City and Everton, though, the Saints faced four consecutive defeats which saw them drop back into the bottom three. The run included a marginal 2–3 defeat at home to Chelsea in which they "dominate large chunks of the game", followed by a 0–1 loss at Tottenham Hotspur, a 1–2 defeat at Manchester City in which they saw a goal disallowed in injury time, and a 0–1 loss hosting Sheffield Wednesday, who scored the only goal of the game within the first minute. They moved up to 17th in the table with a 1–0 win over Coventry City, before losing again at Queens Park Rangers, who were also fighting against the threat of relegation, and mid-table side Leeds United.

The beginning of April saw Southampton pick up an unlikely 1–0 win over defending league champions Blackburn Rovers, thanks to an 80th-minute Le Tissier penalty. Another loss against Aston Villa was followed by another upset as the Saints beat league leaders (and eventual champions) Manchester United 3–1 at home, scoring all three of their goals in the first half (including Le Tissier's first in open play since the beginning of the season). This game became infamous after United changed from their regular grey away strip to their blue-and-white third kit at half time, claiming that the players were struggling to see one another on the field. Two weeks later, Southampton beat Bolton Wanderers 1–0 at Burnden Park to confirm the hosts' relegation, before confirming their own safety a week later with a goalless draw against Wimbledon – Manchester City, managed by previous Saints boss Alan Ball – went down in 18th place on goal difference behind Southampton and Coventry City, after failing to secure a win against final opponents Liverpool.

List of match results

Final league table

Results by matchday

FA Cup

Southampton entered the 1995–96 FA Cup in the third round against local rivals Portsmouth – the first FA Cup meeting between the two sides since 1984, and the first at The Dell since 1906. The top-flight hosts dominated the early exchanges against their First Division opponents and opened the scoring in the 12th minute, when Jim Magilton "bundled the ball in" after Pompey goalkeeper Alan Knight had saved a header by Neil Heaney from a Gordon Watson cross. The Saints came close to making it 2–0 later in the first half, eventually doubling their lead within 50 seconds of the restart when Matt Le Tissier "ran half the length of the pitch" but saw his shot saved by Knight, before Magilton replicated his first goal with another close-range finish. Magilton almost completed a hat-trick a few minutes later, but it took until the last ten minutes for Southampton to score a third, when Neil Shipperley converted a "straightforward chance" created by Le Tissier, completing a 3–0 win described by club historians as "one-sided".

In the fourth round, Southampton hosted Second Division side Crewe Alexandra, who were second in the third-flight league table at the time. Despite the difference in divisions, it was the lower-ranked visitors who opened the scoring after only five minutes, when a cross from Gareth Whalley "drifted" into the corner of Dave Beasant's goal. In response, the Premier League hosts created a number of opportunities to equalise, with Magilton, Shipperley, Richard Hall and Mark Walters all coming close to scoring in the run-up to half time. The Saints eventually drew level just after the hour mark, when Le Tissier "curl da delightful shot into the top corner" from a setup by Neil Maddison. They came close to winning the tie on multiple occasions towards the end of the game, with saves by Mark Gayle and a clearance off the line by Neil Lennon keeping Crewe in the tie and forcing a replay. Southampton triumphed in the first half of the replay at Gresty Road, with goals from Shipperley, Hall and Jason Dodd putting the visitors 3–0 up within half an hour. Despite their domination of the first half, Southampton came close to losing their lead after the break, as Crewe pulled two back through Rob Edwards and Ashley Westwood.

Another Second Division club, Swindon Town, hosted Southampton in the fifth round. Against the run of play, the Robins opened the scoring in the 32nd minute through Kevin Horlock. Dominating the second half just as they had the first, the Saints eventually equalised with just over ten minutes left to play, when Watson headed in a corner from Le Tissier to make it 1–1 and force another replay. In the rematch at The Dell, Southampton came close to breaking the deadlock on multiple occasions in the first half, but were unable to make it through Swindon's aggressive defensive line. They eventually opened the scoring just after the hour mark, when FA Cup debutant Matt Oakley side-footed in a ricocheted ball from the edge of the penalty area for 1–0. The visitors responded well and almost equalised not long after, but it was the Saints who struck again before the 90 minutes were up through Shipperley, who scored from inside the box from a setup by Magilton not dealt with by Swindon goalkeeper Fraser Digby.

In their first FA Cup sixth round appearance since 1992, Southampton travelled to Old Trafford to face Manchester United, who had finished the previous season as runners-up in both the league and the FA Cup. The hosts began strong, dominating possession and creating chances on goal, with Eric Cantona and Andy Cole coming close to breaking the deadlock up front. The Saints retaliated in kind and thought they had scored just before the break through a Shipperley header, but the goal was disallowed as Lee Sharpe had been pushed in the build-up. Shortly after the half-time break, United opened the scoring through Cantona, who "slotted home with the minimum of fuss" from a Ryan Giggs cross. Despite conceding, it was Southampton who dominated much of the second half, winning numerous corners but seeing chances denied by the home defence; and it was the hosts who finally scored a second goal, when Sharpe finished a move started by Cantona in injury time to make it 2–0 and send the Saints out of the competition.

League Cup

Southampton entered the League Cup in the second round against Second Division side Cardiff City. In the first leg at Ninian Park, the Saints eased past the Welsh hosts 3–0, with Matt Le Tissier's first-half opener followed by his second and a Neil Shipperley third within the first five minutes of the second half. In the second leg at home, the FA Premier League side took their aggregate win to 5–1, with Gordon Watson and Richard Hall converting in the second half after Cardiff's early opener to save their side from potential embarrassment. In the third round, the Saints hosted fellow top-flight side West Ham United. After Watson diverted a long-range shot from Shipperley in for 1–0 in the fourth minute, the Hammers responded just after the half-hour mark with an equaliser courtesy of Tony Cottee. It took until the 79th minute for the deadlock to be broken, when Shipperley headed in a cross from Jason Dodd to send Southampton through. The fourth round saw the Saints travel to First Division side Reading. On the back foot from the start, the top-flight visitors were forced to equalise just before the break through Ken Monkou following an early Reading opener. In the second half, Trevor Morley regained the lead for the second-flight hosts and eliminated Southampton from the competition.

Other matches

Outside the league and cup competitions, Southampton played one additional match during the 1995–96 season. In April 1996, ahead of the final two games of the FA Premier League campaign, the Saints travelled to face a team put together by the Bahrain national side. They won the tie 1–0 thanks to a 20-yard free kick from Matt Le Tissier.

Player details

Southampton used 25 players during the 1995–96 season, 14 of whom scored during the campaign. Four players made their debut appearances for the club, including three of their four first team signings (Alan Neilson, Barry Venison, and Mark Walters) and one signing from the previous season (Christer Warren). Walters also made his last appearance for the Saints during the campaign, as did departees Craig Maskell and Paul McDonald, plus four players sold the next season (Frankie Bennett, Bruce Grobbelaar, Richard Hall, Tommy Widdrington) and one sold the season after (Paul Tisdale). Striker Neil Shipperley, in his first full season at the club, made the most appearances for Southampton during the season, playing in 47 of their 48 games. Shipperley also finished as the club's top goalscorer with 12 goals in all competitions, including seven in the league – joint top with Matt Le Tissier. Goalkeeper Dave Beasant won the Southampton F.C. Player of the Season award for the 1995–96 campaign.

Squad statistics

Most appearances

Top goalscorers

References

Bibliography

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External links

Southampton F.C. official website

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