2008–09 Southampton F.C. season

Southampton F.C.

2008–09 season
Chairman	Michael Wilde
Manager	Jan Poortvliet Mark Wotte
Stadium	St Mary's Stadium
Championship	23rd (relegated)
FA Cup	Third round
League Cup	Third round
Top goalscorer	League: David McGoldrick (12) All: David McGoldrick (14)
Highest home attendance	31,901 (vs. Manchester United, 4 January 2009)
Lowest home attendance	11,331 vs Birmingham City, 26 August 2008)
Average home league attendance	18,149
Home colours Away colours
← 2007–08 2009–10 →

The 2008–09 season was Southampton's fourth consecutive season in the Football League and their fourth also in the Championship.

Season summary

Having narrowly avoided relegation the previous season,^[1] Southampton looked to improve their position in the league in 2008-09. The season was even more disappointing, however, as the Saints finished second from bottom to be relegated to League One,^[2] which they would start with a ten-point deduction as a result of its parent company, Southampton Leisure Holdings PLC, entering administration.^[3][4] The season was equally unsatisfactory in the cup tournaments, as the club were knocked out of both the FA Cup and the League Cup in the third round, losing 0–3 to Premier League champions Manchester United^[5] and 1–3 to League Two side Rotherham United.^[6] The season was worsened still by a change in management – head coach Jan Poortvliet resigned from the club on 23 January 2009, and youth academy manager Mark Wotte took over for the remainder of the season.^[7][8][9]

Championship

Date	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance	League position
9 August 2008	Cardiff City	A	1–2	McGoldrick 45'	19,749	18th
16 August 2008	Birmingham City	H	1–2	Perry 43'	18,925	23rd
23 August 2008	Derby County	A	1–0	McGoldrick 58'	27,032	17th
30 August 2008	Blackpool	H	0–1		15,629	20th
14 September 2008	Queens Park Rangers	A	1–4	Lallana 53'	13,770	23rd
17 September 2008	Ipswich Town	H	2–2	Surman 12', Pekhart 68'	14,916	22nd
20 September 2008	Barnsley	H	0–0		14,836	22nd
27 September 2008	Doncaster Rovers	A	2–0	Mills 50' (o.g.), Surman 58' (pen.)	10,867	20th
30 September 2008	Norwich City	H	2–0	Robertson 29', McGoldrick 64' (pen.)	14,480	16th
4 October 2008	Coventry City	A	1–4	Surman 63'	15,518	20th
18 October 2008	Watford	H	0–3		17,454	20th
21 October 2008	Sheffield United	A	0–0		25,642	21st
25 October 2008	Swansea City	A	0–3		15,564	22nd
28 October 2008	Coventry City	H	1–1	McGoldrick 68'	14,226	22nd
1 November 2008	Preston North End	A	3–2	Pearce 64', Surman 69', McGoldrick 90'	11,508	20th
8 November 2008	Bristol City	H	0–1		14,535	21st
15 November 2008	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	1–2	Pearce 21'	17,812	21st
22 November 2008	Reading	A	2–1	Wright-Phillips 14', 49'	23,121	20th
25 November 2008	Plymouth Argyle	H	0–0		14,895	20th
29 November 2008	Charlton Athletic	A	0–0		20,831	19th
6 December 2008	Sheffield Wednesday	H	1–1	Wright-Phillips 14'	15,440	19th
8 December 2008	Crystal Palace	A	0–3		13,799	20th
13 December 2008	Burnley	A	2–3	Skácel 49', Surman 61'	11,229	21st
20 December 2008	Nottingham Forest	H	0–2		26,580	21st
26 December 2008	Plymouth Argyle	A	0–2		15,197	21st
28 December 2008	Reading	H	1–1	McGoldrick 74'	20,142	23rd
10 January 2009	Barnsley	A	1–0	McGoldrick 76'	11,789	22nd
17 January 2009	Doncaster Rovers	H	1–2	Saganowski 90'	15,837	23rd
27 January 2009	Norwich City	A	2–2	McLaggon 57', Saganowski 78'	25,271	23rd
31 January 2009	Swansea City	H	2–2	Saganowski 17', 76'	17,623	23rd
3 February 2009	Sheffield United	H	1–2	Surman 90'	13,257	23rd
14 February 2009	Bristol City	A	0–2		17,000	23rd
21 February 2009	Preston North End	H	3–1	Surman 19', Saganowski 29', 42'	14,790	23rd
28 February 2009	Cardiff City	H	1–0	McGoldrick 11' (pen.)	18,526	22nd
3 March 2009	Ipswich Town	A	3–0	Euell 30, 85', Paterson 88'	20,040	22nd
7 March 2009	Birmingham City	A	0–1		16,735	22nd
10 March 2009	Derby County	H	1–1	Perry 59'	17,567	23rd
14 March 2009	Queens Park Rangers	H	0–0		18,691	23rd
21 March 2009	Blackpool	A	1–1	McGoldrick 69'	7,947	23rd
4 April 2009	Charlton Athletic	H	2–3	McGoldrick 17', Wright-Phillips 84'	27,228	23rd
7 April 2009	Watford	A	2–2	Saeijs 13', 89'	16,066	23rd
10 April 2009	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	0–3		24,636	23rd
13 April 2009	Crystal Palace	H	1–0	McGoldrick 67'	23,220	23rd
18 April 2009	Sheffield Wednesday	A	0–2		24,145	23rd
25 April 2009	Burnley	H	2–2	Wright-Phillips 11', McGoldrick 44'	23,927	23rd
3 May 2009	Nottingham Forest	A	1–3	Wright-Phillips 16'	29,008	23rd

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40	41	42	43	44	45	46
Ground	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A
Result	L	L	W	L	L	D	D	W	W	L	L	D	L	D	W	L	L	W	D	D	D	L	L	L	L	D	W	L	D	D	L	L	W	W	W	L	D	D	D	L	D	L	W	L	D	L
Position	18	23	17	20	23	22	22	20	16	20	20	21	22	22	20	21	21	20	20	19	19	20	21	21	21	23	22	23	23	23	23	23	23	22	22	22	23	23	23	23	23	23	23	23	23	23

Last updated: Season end.
Source: League Matches
Ground: A = Away; H = Home. Result: D = Draw; L = Loss; W = Win; P = Postponed.

Pos	Club	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
22	Norwich City	46	12	10	24	57	70	–13	46
23	Southampton	46	10	15	21	46	69	–23	45
24	Charlton Athletic	46	8	15	23	52	74	–22	39

Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points

FA Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance
4 January 2009	Round 3	Manchester United	H	0–3		31,901

League Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance
12 August 2008	Round 1	Exeter City	A	3–1	Holmes 29', McGoldrick 77', 90' (pen.)	6,471
26 August 2008	Round 2	Birmingham City	H	2–0	Holmes 17', Lallana 86'	11,331
23 September 2008	Round 3	Rotherham United	A	1–3	John 61'	5,147

Squad statistics

No.	Pos.	Name	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Total		Discipline
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK	Kelvin Davis	46	0	1	0	0	0	47	0	0	0
2	DF	Chris Perry	38(2)	2	1	0	2	0	43	2	6	0
3	DF	Wayne Thomas	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0
4	FW	Marek Saganowski	14(5)	6	0	0	0	0	19	6	2	0
5	DF	Jan-Paul Saeijs	20	2	0	0	0	0	20	2	5	0
6	DF	Michael Svensson	4	0	0	0	1	0	5	0	0	0
7	MF	Rudolf Skácel	28	1	1	0	0	0	29	1	7	0
8	FW	Bradley Wright-Phillips	16(17)	6	0	0	1	0	34	6	1	0
9	FW	Grzegorz Rasiak	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
10	MF	Paul Wotton	18(11)	0	0	0	3	0	33	0	4	0
11	MF	Andrew Surman	44	7	1	0	3	0	48	7	7	0
12	MF	Lee Holmes	11	0	0(1)	0	2	2	14	2	0	0
13	GK	Tommy Forecast	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
14	FW	Stern John	4(3)	0	0	0	0(3)	1	10	1	0	0
15	FW	Jason Euell	18(6)	2	0	0	0	0	24	2	2	1
16	MF	Romain Gasmi	0(4)	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	0
17	FW	David McGoldrick	45(1)	12	1	0	3	2	50	14	7	0
18	MF	Nathan Dyer	1(3)	0	0	0	0(1)	0	5	0	0	0
19	MF	Morgan Schneiderlin	23(7)	0	0(1)	0	2	0	33	0	6	0
20	MF	Adam Lallana	34(6)	1	0	0	3	1	43	2	2	0
21	DF	Jamie Hatch	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
22	MF	Simon Gillett	23(4)	0	1	0	2	0	30	0	5	0
23	DF	Lloyd James	40(1)	0	1	0	3	0	45	0	11	0
24	DF	Oliver Lancashire	10(1)	0	0	0	1	0	12	0	3	2
25	GK	Michael Poke	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
26	MF	Jake Thomson	6(4)	0	0	0	1	0	11	0	0	0
27	DF	Kyle Davies	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
28	GK	Bartosz Bialkowski	0	0	0	0	3	0	3	0	0	0
29	DF	Jeffrey Imudia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
30	MF	Jack Boyle	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
32	GK	Andrej Pernecký	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
33	DF	Joseph Mills	6(2)	0	0	0	1(1)	0	10	0	0	0
34	FW	Jamie White	2(1)	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0
35	FW	Matt Paterson	1(10)	1	1	0	0	0	12	1	0	1
36	DF	Michael Byrne	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
37	MF	Oscar Gobern	4(2)	0	1	0	0	0	7	0	1	0
38	DF	Jack Saville	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
39	MF	Ryan Smith	7(6)	0	1	0	0	0	14	0	0	0
40	MF	Anthony Pulis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
41	DF	Zoltán Lipták	0(7)	0	0	0	0	0	7	0	0	0
42	FW	Kayne McLaggon	1(6)	1	0(1)	0	0	0	8	1	0	0
43	DF	Lee Molyneux	4	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	2	1
44	DF	Ben Reeves	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
45	MF	Callum McNish	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Players who left before the end of the season
5	DF	Andrew Davies	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
6	DF	Darren Powell	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
30	DF	Jack Cork	22(1)	0	0	0	2	0	25	0	3	0
31	FW	Tomáš Pekhart	2(7)	1	0	0	0(1)	0	10	0	0	0
38	FW	Jordan Robertson	8(2)	1	0	0	0	0	10	1	1	0
41	DF	Alex Pearce	6(3)	2	0	0	0	0	9	2	1	0

Transfers

In

Date	Pos.	Name	From	Fee
7 July 2008	GK	Tommy Forecast	Tottenham Hotspur	Undisclosed[10][11]
29 August 2008	MF	Anthony Pulis	Stoke City	Free[12][13]
1 January 2009	DF	Lee Molyneux	Everton	Free[14][15]
1 January 2009	MF	Ryan Smith	Millwall	Free[14][15]

Out

Date	Pos.	Name	To	Fee
2 July 2008	DF	Alexander Östlund	Esbjerg	Released[16][17]
2 July 2008	DF	Darren Powell	Unattached	Released[16][17]
2 July 2008	MF	Jermaine Wright	Blackpool	Released[16][17]
2 July 2008	MF	Mario Lička	Baník Ostrava	Released[16][17]
2 July 2008	MF	Iñigo Idiakez	Unattached	Released[16][17]
2 July 2008	FW	Cédric Baseya	Lille OSC	Free[16][17]
7 July 2008	MF	Youssef Safri	Qatar SC	£275,000[18][19]
1 August 2008	MF	Jhon Viáfara	Once Caldas	Released[20][21]
19 August 2008	DF	Andrew Davies	Stoke City	Undisclosed[22][23]

Loan in

Date from	Date to	Pos.	Name	From
21 August 2008[24][25]	1 January 2009[24]	DF	Jack Cork	Chelsea
26 August 2008[26][27]	29 December 2008[28]	FW	Tomáš Pekhart	Tottenham Hotspur
1 September 2008[29][30]	End of season[29]	MF	Romain Gasmi	RC Strasbourg
26 September 2008[31][32]	26 December 2008[31][32]	FW	Jordan Robertson	Sheffield United
3 October 2008[33][34]	3 January 2009[33][34]	MF	Ryan Smith	Millwall
30 October 2008[35][36]	1 January 2009[35][36]	DF	Alex Pearce	Reading
9 January 2009[37][38]	End of season[37][38]	DF	Jan-Paul Saeijs	Roda JC
2 February 2009[39][40]	End of season[39][40]	DF	Zoltán Lipták	Újpest

Loan out

Date from	Date to	Pos.	Name	To
18 July 2008[41]	End of season[41]	GK	Michael Poke	Torquay United
8 August 2008[42][43]	31 December 2008[42]	FW	Marek Saganowski	Aalborg BK
15 August 2008[44][45]	End of season[44][45]	FW	Grzegorz Rasiak	Watford
26 September 2008[31]	26 December 2008[31]	MF	Nathan Dyer	Sheffield United
24 October 2008[46][47]	End of season[48][49]	FW	Stern John	Bristol City
14 November 2008[50][51]	8 January 2009[52][53]	FW	Jamie White	Shrewsbury Town
2 January 2009[54][55]	End of season[54][55]	MF	Nathan Dyer	Swansea City
8 January 2009[56][57]	19 February 2009[58]	MF	Jake Thomson	Bournemouth
23 February 2009[59][60]	End of season[61]	DF	Joseph Mills	Scunthorpe United
18 March 2009[62][63]	End of season[62][63]	GK	Bartosz Białkowski	Ipswich Town

References

1. "2007/08 Coca-Cola Football League Championship League Table". The Football League. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
2. "2008/09 Coca-Cola Football League Championship League Table". The Football League. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
3. Szczepanik, Nick (9 July 2009). "Markus Liebherr completes takeover of Southampton". London: The Times. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
4. "Strach favourite for Saints return". Daily Star. 11 July 2009. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
5. McNulty, Phil (4 January 2009). "Southampton 0-3 Man Utd". BBC. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
6. "Rotherham hope for Man Utd draw". BBC. 24 September 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
7. "Poortvliet resigns as Saints boss". BBC. 23 January 2009. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
8. "Wotte takes over as Southampton's manager". ESPN. 23 January 2009. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
9. "Wotte new Southampton coach after Poortvliet quits". USA Today. 23 January 2009. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
10. "Saints sign Spurs keeper Forecast". BBC. 7 July 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
11. "Southampton Forecast looks good after snapping up rookie Spurs keeper". London: Daily Mail. 7 July 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
12. "Saints add Pulis on two-year deal". BBC. 29 August 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
13. "Saints complete Pulis signing". Southern Daily Echo. 29 August 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
14. "Saints seal double deal". Sky Sports. 1 January 2009. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
15. "Happy Molyneux Year!". Southern Daily Echo. 1 January 2009. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
16. "Five players to leave Southampton". BBC. 2 July 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
17. Brown, Rich (3 July 2008). "Jan Poortvliet releases six Southampton players from St Marys". London: The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
18. "Safri to leave Saints for Qatar". BBC. 7 July 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
19. "Safri heading out of St Mary's". Southern Daily Echo. 7 July 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
20. "Viafara moves on from Saints". Sky Sports. 1 August 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
21. "Viafara leaves by mutual consent". Southern Daily Echo. 1 August 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
22. "Davies completes Stoke transfer". FIFA. 19 August 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
23. "Davies completes move to Stoke". Southern Daily Echo. 19 August 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
24. "Poortvliet bolsters defence". Southern Daily Echo. 21 August 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
25. "Poortvliet plumps for Cork". ClubCall. 21 August 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
26. "Tottenham pair sent out on loan". BBC. 26 August 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
27. "Saints land Spurs striker". Sky Sports. 26 August 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
28. "Saints look to extend loan deals". ThisIsHampshire. 29 December 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
29. "Southampton sign midfielder Gasmi". BBC. 1 September 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
30. "Saints sign Gasmi". Southern Daily Echo. 1 September 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
31. "Blades agree loan swap for Dyer". BBC. 26 September 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
32. "Saints seal Robertson raid". Football.co.uk. 26 September 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
33. "Southampton sign Millwall winger". BBC. 3 October 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
34. "Southampton Take Smith On Loan". goal.com. 3 October 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
35. "Southampton sign Pearce on loan". BBC. 30 October 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
36. "Clean sheets come from being consistent, says new signing Alex Pearce". Southern Daily Echo. 31 October 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
37. "Saints bag Dutch stopper". Sky Sports. 8 January 2009. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
38. "Saints swoop for Saeijs". Virgin Media. 8 January 2009. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
39. "Southampton seal Liptak loan move". BBC. 2 February 2009. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
40. "Saints bring in Hungarian defender". Football.co.uk. 2 February 2009. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
41. "'I was never going anywhere else!'". Herald Express. 18 July 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
42. "Saganowski loaned out to Danish side". Southern Daily Echo. 8 August 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
43. "Striker deal wrapped up". ClubCall. 8 August 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
44. "Watford clinch Rasiak loan deal". BBC. 15 August 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
45. "Rasiak joins Hornets on loan". Sky Sports. 15 August 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
46. "Saints' John moves to Ashton Gate". BBC. 24 October 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
47. "John makes Robins loan move". Sky Sports. 24 October 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
48. "John extends Bristol City stint". BBC. 29 December 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
49. "John extends Robins loan". Virgin Media. 29 December 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
50. "Saints striker White joins Shrews". BBC. 14 November 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
51. "Shrews sign Saints starlet". Sky Sports. 14 November 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
52. "White back with Saints". Virgin Media. 8 January 2009. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
53. "Town hit as Saints recall White". Shropshire Star. 8 January 2009. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
54. "Dyer completes Swansea loan move". BBC. 2 January 2009. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
55. "Dyer joins Swansea City on loan". Southern Daily Echo. 2 January 2009. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
56. "Cherries make double loan swoop". BBC. 8 January 2009. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
57. "Cherries swoop for duo". Virgin Media. 8 January 2009. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
58. "Thomson loan halted by officials". BBC. 19 February 2009. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
59. "Scunthorpe sign Trotter and Mills". BBC. 23 February 2009. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
60. "Iron seal double deal". Sky Sports. 23 February 2009. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
61. "Iron extend loan deals". Sky Sports. 25 March 2009. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
62. "Bialkowski in Ipswich switch". Sky Sports. 18 March 2009. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
63. "Bartosz on loan to Ipswich". ThisIsHampshire. 18 March 2009. Retrieved 27 May 2010.