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Southampton are heading for the Championship, but they had one job left to do in the Premier League, and they’ve managed to complete the undesirable task.
After winning promotion via the Championship play-offs last year, Southampton were always facing a tough task to stay in the Premier League.
The Saints didn’t recruit well, got off to a poor start, and parted ways with highly-rated manager Russell Martin halfway through the campaign.
From there, Ivan Juric came in and did no better, with Southampton’s fate as a member of the Championship 2025/26 party having been confirmed since the start of April.
- READ MORE: Derby County and Blackburn Rovers among a host of clubs chasing ‘magnificent’ League One star
Southampton avoid unwanted Premier League record
It has not been a good season for Southampton at all, and they looked to be on course for matching Derby County’s horrific Premier League record of registering just 11 points this season.
However, after securing an admittedly impressive 0-0 draw with Manchester City on Saturday afternoon, the Saints have managed to get to 12 points this term, thus leaving the Rams’ unwanted record in tact.
After escaping the fate of being the joint-worst team in Premier League history, Southampton fired a message to Derby County via Twitter/X, and it’s a bit of an embarrassing one, to be honest.
They wrote: “Sorry if we got your hopes up” and tagged the Derby County account.
Frankly, after the season Southampton fans have had to endure, the last thing they want to see is their club acting smug about hitting the lofty heights of a 12-point haul.
If anything, Southampton should have just quietly got away from the unwanted record and walked away with their tail between their legs, and making fun of Derby’s past plight just comes off as being in bad taste all round.
Can Southampton be a force in the Championship next season?
There is every chance that Southampton can come back strong next season and compete at the very top of the Championship table in 2025/26.
As is often the case, largely thanks to the benefit of parachute payments, recently-relegated clubs can be very difficult to beat in the second tier, as evidenced by Burnley’s success this season.
Southampton, however, need a new manager, and they may well lose a bunch of important players, with Aaron Ramsdale almost certain to leave.
They do have the return of Shea Charles to look forward to, and after his impressive loan spell with Sheffield Wednesday, he could end up being one of the best players in the Championship next season.
If they can recruit wisely, and most importantly, get their managerial appointment right, there’s no reason why the Saints can’t be up there come the end of the season.
Get those decisions wrong, though, and they may well have to endure a few more years in the second tier.