Southampton 24/25 season review
Let's look at a disastrous season
Southampton were relegated back to the Championship
Author | Peter Grainger
After winning the promotion play-offs in May, head coach Russell Martin struggled to put together a team that could compete in the Premier League.
Martin was ultimately sacked as Southampton dropped to the bottom of the league in December. This announcement came just a few hours after the team lost 5–0 to Tottenham Hotspur on 15 December 2024. Ivan Jurić replaced him on an 18-month contract on 20 December.
On 6 April 2025, Southampton were relegated to the Championship following a 3–1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur. They were relegated after 31 games, breaking Derby County's 2007–08 and Huddersfield Town's 2018–19 record for the earliest relegation in Premier League history.
The next day, Southampton announced that Ivan Jurić had left his role as manager by mutual consent. Simon Rusk then took interim charge for the last seven games of the season.
Match reports and stories from throughout the campaign
In August, they lost 1-0 at home against Nottingham Forest. The away side were to go on and have a successful campaign, eventually achieving European qualification.
A few weeks later, there was a 3-0 defeat against Manchester United. Things were not going well for Russell Martin.
It was the 3-2 defeat against Leicester City that would have got Southampton fans really worried. This was a team that was also going to be in the relegation fight with them and they didn't take advantage of being 2-0 up.
Throughout the campaign, Southampton often put themselves into decent positions. Had they been able to hold on for a win at Old Trafford, there would have been some renewed confidence on the South coast.
Once relegation was confirmed, the priority was then avoiding finishing the season with the lowest ever points tally. Spirited performances against West Ham and Manchester City ensured they eventually got over the line.
They finished the campaign with only 12 points. Despite that, the recent appointment of Will Still will have reignited some of the Southampton fans. This might prove to be a genius appointment that leads them back to the Premier at the first time of asking.
