1995–96 Southampton F.C. season

Southampton F.C.

1995–96 season
Chairman	Guy Askham
Manager	David Merrington
Stadium	The Dell
Premiership	17th
FA Cup	Quarter-finals
League Cup	Fourth round
Top goalscorer	League: Le Tissier/Shipperley (7) All: Shipperley (12)
Highest home attendance	15,262 vs Manchester United (13 Apr 1996, Premier League)
Lowest home attendance	11,059 vs West Ham United (25 Oct 1995, League Cup)
Average home league attendance	14,820
Home colours Away colours
← 1994–95 1996–97 →

During the 1995–96 English football season, Southampton Football Club competed in the FA Premier League.

Season summary

Amidst rumours of lack of support from the board, Alan Ball was lured to Manchester City in the summer of 1995 and Southampton turned to long-serving coach David Merrington to take charge of the team in 1995–96. Southampton finished 17th with 38 league points, avoiding relegation on goal difference. Two important wins during the final weeks of the season did much to ensure that Saints achieved Premiership survival and relegating Manchester City. First came a 3–1 home win over eventual double winners Manchester United, then came a 1–0 away win over relegated Bolton Wanderers. Despite achieving survival, Merrington was then sacked as manager after just one season and replaced by Graeme Souness, who had won silverware earlier in his managerial career with Rangers and Liverpool.

Final league table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Manchester United (C)	38	25	7	6	73	35	+38	82	1996–97 UEFA Champions League Group stage
2	Newcastle United	38	24	6	8	66	37	+29	78	1996–97 UEFA Cup First round
3	Liverpool	38	20	11	7	70	34	+36	71	1996–97 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup First round ^1
4	Aston Villa	38	18	9	11	52	35	+17	63	1996–97 UEFA Cup First round
5	Arsenal	38	17	12	9	49	32	+17	63
6	Everton	38	17	10	11	64	44	+20	61
7	Blackburn Rovers	38	18	7	13	61	47	+14	61
8	Tottenham Hotspur	38	16	13	9	50	38	+12	61
9	Nottingham Forest	38	15	13	10	50	54	−4	58
10	West Ham United	38	14	9	15	43	52	−9	51
11	Chelsea	38	12	14	12	46	44	+2	50
12	Middlesbrough	38	11	10	17	35	50	−15	43
13	Leeds United	38	12	7	19	40	57	−17	43
14	Wimbledon	38	10	11	17	55	70	−15	41
15	Sheffield Wednesday	38	10	10	18	48	61	−13	40
16	Coventry City	38	8	14	16	42	60	−18	38
17	Southampton	38	9	11	18	34	52	−18	38
18	Manchester City (R)	38	9	11	18	33	58	−25	38	Relegation to 1996–97 Football League First Division
19	Queens Park Rangers (R)	38	9	6	23	38	57	−19	33
20	Bolton Wanderers (R)	38	8	5	25	39	71	−32	29

Updated to games played on 5 May 1996.
Source: Premier League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
¹ Liverpool qualified for the Cup Winners' Cup as FA Cup runners-up, as winners Manchester United already qualified for the Champions League.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.
P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points

Results

Southampton's score comes first^[1]

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

FA Premier League

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
19 August 1995	Nottingham Forest	H	3–4	15,164	Le Tissier (3, 2 pens)
26 August 1995	Everton	A	0–2	33,668
30 August 1995	Leeds United	H	1–1	15,212	Widdrington
9 September 1995	Newcastle United	H	1–0	15,237	Magilton
12 September 1995	Middlesbrough	A	0–0	29,181
16 September 1995	Chelsea	A	0–3	26,237
23 September 1995	Arsenal	A	2–4	38,136	Watson, Monkou
2 October 1995	West Ham United	H	0–0	13,568
14 October 1995	Blackburn Rovers	A	1–2	26,780	Maddison
22 October 1995	Liverpool	H	1–3	15,245	Watson
28 October 1995	Wimbledon	A	2–1	7,982	Shipperley (2)
4 November 1995	Queens Park Rangers	H	2–0	15,137	Dodd, Le Tissier
18 November 1995	Manchester United	A	1–4	39,301	Shipperley
20 November 1995	Aston Villa	H	0–1	13,582
25 November 1995	Bolton Wanderers	H	1–0	14,404	Hughes
2 December 1995	Liverpool	A	1–1	38,007	Shipperley
9 December 1995	Arsenal	H	0–0	15,238
16 December 1995	West Ham United	A	1–2	18,501	Bishop (own goal)
23 December 1995	Sheffield Wednesday	A	2–2	25,115	Heaney, Magilton (pen)
26 December 1995	Tottenham Hotspur	H	0–0	15,238
1 January 1996	Coventry City	A	1–1	16,818	Heaney
13 January 1996	Nottingham Forest	A	0–1	23,321
20 January 1996	Middlesbrough	H	2–1	15,151	Shipperley, Hall
31 January 1996	Manchester City	H	1–1	15,172	Shipperley
3 February 1996	Everton	H	2–2	15,136	Watson, Magilton
24 February 1996	Chelsea	H	2–3	15,226	Widdrington, Clarke (own goal)
2 March 1996	Tottenham Hotspur	A	0–1	26,320
16 March 1996	Manchester City	A	1–2	29,550	Tisdale
20 March 1996	Sheffield Wednesday	H	0–1	13,216
25 March 1996	Coventry City	H	1–0	14,461	Dodd
30 March 1996	Queens Park Rangers	A	0–3	17,615
3 April 1996	Leeds United	A	0–1	26,077
6 April 1996	Blackburn Rovers	H	1–0	14,793	Le Tissier (pen)
8 April 1996	Aston Villa	A	0–3	34,059
13 April 1996	Manchester United	H	3–1	15,262	Monkou, Shipperley, Le Tissier
17 April 1996	Newcastle United	A	0–1	36,554
27 April 1996	Bolton Wanderers	A	1–0	18,795	Le Tissier
5 May 1996	Wimbledon	H	0–0	15,172

FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	7 January 1996	Portsmouth	H	3–0	15,236	Magilton (2), Shipperley
R4	7 February 1996	Crewe Alexandra	H	1–1	13,736	Le Tissier
R4R	13 February 1996	Crewe Alexandra	A	3–2	5,579	Shipperley, Hall, Dodd
R5	17 February 1996	Swindon Town	A	1–1	15,035	Watson
R5R	28 February 1996	Swindon Town	H	2–0	13,962	Oakley, Shipperley
QF	11 March 1996	Manchester United	A	0–2	45,446

League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R2 1st Leg	19 September 1995	Cardiff City	A	3–0	9,041	Le Tissier (2), Shipperley
R2 2nd Leg	4 October 1995	Cardiff City	H	2–1 (won 5–1 on agg)	12,709	Watson, Hall
R3	25 October 1995	West Ham United	H	2–1	11,059	Watson, Shipperley
R4	28 November 1995	Reading	A	1–2	13,742	Monkou

Squad

^[2] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Bruce Grobbelaar 2 DF Jason Dodd 3 DF Francis Benali 4 MF Jim Magilton 5 DF Richard Hall 6 DF Ken Monkou 7 MF Matt Le Tissier (captain) 8 FW Gordon Watson 8 FW Neil Shipperley 10 MF Neil Maddison 11 MF Neil Heaney 12 MF Tommy Widdrington 13 GK Dave Beasant

No. Position Player 14 DF Simon Charlton 15 DF Alan Neilson 16 MF David Hughes 17 MF Paul Tisdale 19 MF Mark Walters 21 FW Frankie Bennett 22 DF Barry Venison 23 GK Darryl Flahavan 24 MF Christer Warren 25 MF Paul Sheerin 26 DF Matthew Robinson 27 MF Matt Oakley

Left club during the season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 19 MF Paul Allen (to Swindon Town) 22 DF Peter Whiston (to Shrewsbury Town)

No. Position Player 20 DF Paul McDonald (to Brighton & Hove Albion) 18 FW Craig Maskell (to Brighton & Hove Albion)

Reserve squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player GK Neil Moss

Transfers

In

Date	Pos	Name	From	Fee
1 June 1995	DF	Alan Neilson	Newcastle United	£750,000
20 December 1995	GK	Neil Moss	Bournemouth	£250,000
18 January 1996	MF	Mark Walters	Liverpool	Free transfer

Out

Date	Pos	Name	To	Fee
11 October 1995	MF	Paul Allen	Swindon Town	Free transfer
24 October 1995	DF	Peter Whiston	Shrewsbury Town	£50,000
16 February 1996	DF	Paul McDonald	Brighton & Hove Albion	£25,000
1 March 1996	FW	Craig Maskell	Brighton & Hove Albion	£40,000

Transfers in: £1,000,000

Transfers out: £115,000

Total spending: £885,000

References

1. http://www.statto.com/football/teams/southampton/1995-1996/results
2. http://www.footballsquads.co.uk/eng/1995-1996/faprem/southam.htm