2005–06 Southampton F.C. season

During the 2005–06 English football season, Southampton Football Club competed in the Football League Championship after relegation from the premier league the previous season. It was their first season in the second tier since 1977–78.

Southampton

2005–06 season
Chairman	Rupert Lowe
Manager	Harry Redknapp (until 3 December) George Burley (from 23 December)
Stadium	St Mary's
Championship	12th
FA Cup	Fifth round
League Cup	Second round
Top goalscorer	League: Ricardo Fuller (9) All: Ricardo Fuller (9)
Highest home attendance	30,173 (vs. Leeds United, 19 November)
Lowest home attendance	19,086 (vs. Luton Town, 11 December)
Average home league attendance	23,613
← 2004–05 2006–07 →

Southampton endured a poor to largely indifferent season after relegation from the Premier League the previous season and finished in a lowly 12th place in the Championship. Although the south coast side started the season well, they ended up drawing too many games (19 games by the season's end) and a run of five wins from 35 games dragged them into the lower reaches of the table and put Southampton in danger of a second successive relegation. Manager Harry Redknapp, unable to establish consistency and unhappy with the appointment of former rugby coach Sir Clive Woodward to the coaching staff, had resigned in December,^[1] returning as manager of Southampton's archrivals Portsmouth. His replacement, former Ipswich Town manager George Burley,^[2] was unable to turn the club's form around until the back end of the season, with five wins from their last six games taking the team from 20th to 12th. The late run of form gave fans hope that next season Southampton could mount a sustained attempt at promotion.

Kit

The season's kit was manufactured by the club's own brand, Saints. The kit was sponsored by English life insurance company Friends Provident.

Final league table

Main article: 2005–06 Football League

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
10	Luton Town	46	17	10	19	66	67	−1	61
11	Cardiff City	46	16	12	18	58	59	−1	60
12	Southampton	46	13	19	14	49	50	−1	58
13	Stoke City	46	17	7	22	54	63	−9	58
14	Plymouth Argyle	46	13	17	16	39	46	−7	56

Updated to match(es) played on 2 December 2011. Source: RSSSF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

Results

Southampton's score comes first^[3]

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

Championship

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
6 August 2005	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	0–0	24,061
9 August 2005	Luton Town	A	2–3	9,447	Oakley, Jones
13 August 2005	Sheffield Wednesday	A	1–0	26,688	Jones
20 August 2005	Norwich City	H	1–0	23,498	Quashie (pen)
27 August 2005	Crewe Alexandra	H	2–0	20,792	Belmadi, Quashie
29 August 2005	Coventry City	A	1–1	23,000	Fuller
10 September 2005	Queens Park Rangers	H	1–1	25,744	Higginbotham
13 September 2005	Ipswich Town	A	2–2	22,997	Powell, Wise
18 September 2005	Derby County	A	2–2	22,348	Ormerod, Fuller
24 September 2005	Plymouth Argyle	H	0–0	26,331
28 September 2005	Reading	H	0–0	24,946
1 October 2005	Preston North End	A	1–1	15,263	Davidson (own goal)
15 October 2005	Hull City	H	1–1	23,810	Oakley
18 October 2005	Leeds United	A	1–2	18,881	Walcott
22 October 2005	Millwall	A	2–0	10,759	Walcott, Fuller
29 October 2005	Stoke City	H	2–0	24,095	Walcott, Belmadi
5 November 2005	Leicester City	A	0–0	21,318
19 November 2005	Leeds United	H	3–4	30,173	Pahars, Quashie (2, 1 pen)
22 November 2005	Hull City	A	1–1	18,061	Kosowski
26 November 2005	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	0–0	24,628
3 December 2005	Burnley	H	1–1	21,592	Higginbotham (pen)
11 December 2005	Luton Town	H	1–0	19,086	Walcott
17 December 2005	Norwich City	A	1–3	24,836	Belmadi
26 December 2005	Watford	A	0–3	16,972
28 December 2005	Sheffield United	H	0–1	27,443
31 December 2005	Cardiff City	A	1–2	13,377	Blackstock
2 January 2006	Brighton & Hove Albion	H	2–1	24,630	Blackstock (2)
14 January 2006	Queens Park Rangers	A	0–1	15,494
21 January 2006	Ipswich Town	H	0–2	22,250
25 January 2006	Crystal Palace	H	0–0	24,651
31 January 2006	Plymouth Argyle	A	1–2	15,936	Surman
4 February 2006	Derby County	H	0–0	21,829
10 February 2006	Reading	A	0–2	23,845
15 February 2006	Preston North End	H	0–0	19,534
25 February 2006	Sheffield Wednesday	H	3–0	26,236	Higginbotham, Rasiak, Jones
4 March 2006	Coventry City	H	1–1	21,980	Rasiak
11 March 2006	Crewe Alexandra	A	1–1	6,588	Madsen
20 March 2006	Watford	H	1–3	19,202	Madsen
25 March 2006	Sheffield United	A	0–3	22,824
28 March 2006	Burnley	A	1–1	10,636	Bardsley (own goal)
1 April 2006	Cardiff City	H	3–2	22,388	Lundekvam, Fuller (2)
8 April 2006	Brighton & Hove Albion	A	2–0	7,999	Fuller, Chaplow
15 April 2006	Stoke City	A	2–1	16,501	Rasiak (2, 1 pen)
17 April 2006	Millwall	H	2–0	22,043	Jones (pen), Fuller
22 April 2006	Crystal Palace	A	1–2	20,995	Fuller
30 April 2006	Leicester City	H	2–0	26,801	Fuller, Surman

FA Cup

Main article: 2005–06 FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	7 January 2006	Milton Keynes Dons	H	4–3	15,908	Prutton, Quashie, Walcott, Kenton
R4	28 January 2006	Leicester City	A	1–0	20,427	Jones
R5	18 February 2006	Newcastle United	A	0–1	40,975

League Cup

Main article: 2005–06 Football League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1	22 August 2005	Southend United	A	3–0	6,358	Blackstock, Dyer, Ormerod
R2	20 September 2005	Mansfield Town	A	0–1	3,739

First-team squad

Squad at end of season^[4] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 2 DF  SWE Alexander Östlund 3 MF  POL Kamil Kosowski (on loan from Wisła Kraków) 4 MF  ENG Darren Potter (on loan from Liverpool) 5 DF  NOR Claus Lundekvam 6 DF  ENG Darren Powell 8 MF  ENG Matt Oakley 10 MF  ENG Jermaine Wright (on loan from Leeds United) 11 DF  SWE Michael Svensson 13 GK  ENG Paul Smith 14 FW  JAM Ricardo Fuller 15 FW  TRI Kenwyne Jones 16 DF  ENG Martin Cranie 17 FW  LVA Marian Pahars 18 FW  POL Grzegorz Rasiak (on loan from Tottenham Hotspur)

No. Pos. Nation Player 19 DF  ENG Danny Higginbotham 20 MF  ENG David Prutton 21 DF  NIR Chris Baird 22 DF  ENG Darren Kenton 24 FW  ENG Dexter Blackstock 26 GK  ENG Kevin Miller 28 GK  POL Bartosz Białkowski 29 MF  ENG Andrew Surman 31 MF  ALG Djamel Belmadi[5] 33 FW  ENG Nathan Dyer 34 DF  CAN Jim Brennan 35 FW  IRL David McGoldrick 36 MF  ENG Simon Gillett 37 DF  WAL Gareth Bale

Left club during season

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  FIN Antti Niemi (to Fulham) 4 MF  ENG Dennis Wise (to Coventry City) 7 DF  POL Tomasz Hajto (to Derby County) 9 FW  ENG Brett Ormerod (to Preston North End) 9 FW  DEN Peter Madsen (on loan from Cologne) 10 MF  SCO Neil McCann (to Hearts) 12 MF  SCO Nigel Quashie[6] (to West Bromwich Albion) 12 MF  ENG Richard Chaplow (on loan from West Bromwich Albion) 18 MF  IRL Rory Delap[7] (to Sunderland)

No. Pos. Nation Player 23 MF  FRA Yoann Folly (on loan to Sheffield Wednesday) 26 DF  ENG Matthew Mills (to Manchester City) 27 FW  IRL Leon Best (on loan to Sheffield Wednesday) 28 GK  NIR Alan Blayney (to Doncaster Rovers) 29 MF  FRA Fabrice Fernandes (to Bolton Wanderers) 29 MF  FRA Léandre Griffit (to Elfsborg) 32 FW  ENG Theo Walcott (to Arsenal) 34 FW  URU Marcelo Tejera (to Peñarol) 37 GK  SCO Andrew McNeil (to Hibernian)

Reserve squad

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 25 GK  ENG Danny Brice 40 MF  SWE Joseph Larrson 42 DF  HUN Yirhan Zolvavcs

Transfers in

Date	Position	Player	Club From	Fee	Reference
27 June 2005	MF	Dennis Wise	Millwall	Free	[8]
	MF	Djamel Belmadi	Al-Kharitiyath
1 July 2005	DF	Darren Powell	Crystal Palace	Free	[9]
29 July 2005	FW	Ricardo Fuller	Portsmouth	£90,000	[10]
29 July 2005	DF	Tomasz Hajto	Nurnberg	Free	[10]
6 January 2006	GK	Bartosz Białkowski	Górnik Zabrze	Nominal	[11]
26 January 2006	MF	Darren Potter	Liverpool	Loan	[12]
27 January 2006	DF	Jim Brennan	Norwich CIty	Free	[13]
30 January 2006	DF	Alexander Östlund	Feyenoord	Undisclosed	[14]
30 January 2006	FW	Peter Madsen	1. FC Koln	Loan	[14]
8 February 2006	MF	Richard Chaplow	West Bromwich Albion	Three-month Loan	[15]
8 February 2006	FW	Grzegorz Rasiak	Tottenham Hotspur	Loan	[16]
8 February 2006	MF	Jermaine Wright	Leeds United	Loan	[17]
	GK	Kevin Miller	Bristol Rovers	Free	[18]
	MF	Kamil Kosowski	Wisla Krakow	Loan

Transfers out

Date	Position	Player	Club To	Fee	Reference
	DF	Graeme Le Saux	None	Retirement
	DF	Jamie Redknapp	None	Retirement
29 June 2005	FW	Kevin Phillips	Aston Villa	£1,000,000	[19]
30 June 2005	DF	Jelle Van Damme	Werder Bremen	Loan	[20]
1 July 2005	FW	Jo Tessem	Lyn	Free	[21]
19 July 2005	DF	Andreas Jakobsson	Helsingborg	Undisclosed	[22]
20 July 2005	FW	Peter Crouch	Liverpool	£7,000,000	[23]
22 July 2005	DF	Paul Telfer	Celtic	Free	[24]
1 August 2005	MF	Mikael Nilsson	Panathinaikos	€700,000	[25]
31 August 2005	MF	Fabrice Fernandes	Bolton Wanderers	Free	[26]
1 September 2005	DF	Olivier Bernard	Rangers	Free	[27]
	DF	Tomasz Hajto	Derby County
7 January 2006	GK	Alan Blayney	Doncaster Rovers	£50,000	[28]
10 January 2006	GK	Antti Niemi	Fulham	£1,000,000	[29]
17 January 2006	MF	Neil McCann	Hearts	Free	[30]
19 January 2006	MF	Dennis Wise	Coventry City	Free	[31]
20 January 2006	FW	Theo Walcott	Arsenal	£5,000.000	[32]
28 January 2006	FW	Brett Ormerod	Preston North End	Free	[33]
31 January 2006	MF	Rory Delap	Sunderland	Free	[34]
31 January 2006	DF	Matthew Mills	Manchester CIty	Undisclosed	[35]
31 January 2006	FW	Leon Best	Sheffield Wednesday	Loan	[36]
31 January 2006	MF	Yoann Folly	Sheffield Wednesday	Loan	[36]
1 February 2006	MF	Nigel Quashie	West Bromwich Albion	£1,400,000	[37]
2 March 2006	MF	Leandre Griffit	Elfsborg	Free	[38]