Best season ever?

[Stud mark of doom]

The mo po season v cup final appearance thread made me think - what is the best season ever in terms of experiencing the season rather than outcome.

 

I think the mo po season is right up there but I’m going with 81/82. The second Keegan season.

 

The promotion season to the prem is also very close.

[Turkish]

83/84. Must have been amazing for those old enough to have been there. The win at Fratton Park, 2nd place in the league, heartbreak at Highbury. I was only a kid but that was the season I got into football and with saints challenging for trophies with a great team i thought it’s always be like that.......

 

89/90 for me is the best one in my real memory though. A brilliant attacking team scoring loads of goals. le Tissier, Rod Wallace and Shearer up front with Rideout at times playing 4-2-4. We seemed to score 4 goals regularly then. 4-1 win v Liverpool the highlight, Le Tissiers hatrick in the 4-1 v Norwich was special.

[oldsarum]

83/84 was definately the best I've witnessed since i started going in 1965/66

 

Finished 2nd in league, only 3 points behind Liverpool, and in hindsight if Lawrie had started Alan Curtis instead of the unfit Steve Williams i'm sure we would have won the FA Cup that year

 

some great games that season especially the FA cup run where we were away drawn from home in every round, Pompey game was unforgettable experience and the 8,000+ that went to Hillsborough for Quarter Final was particulaly impressive.

[Saint86]

The best modern season is Koeman's 6th place finish. No doubt at all.

 

Going into games with a great team expecting to beat anyone. Solid at the back and dangerous up front. Just missed champions league football (due to dodgy referring in my opinion). A tremendous feat and we were getting plaudits from every direction and no team wanting to play us...

 

Best season I can remember.

[Upside down Saint]

Rather luckily the 89-90 season happened to be during the two years I lived in the UK, (I'm a Kiwi Saints fan btw) My first Saints game was a wonderful 4-1 win over QPR at Loftus Road. Great memories. Also standing in the Home end at Chelsea and having to be restrained from celebrating by a couple of mates when Le Tiss scored the equaliser at 2-2 ...

[Hatch]

83/84.

 

We could ( although unlikely ) have won the double ! Which is nuts

[John B]

1965/66 Promotion to Div 1 beat Wolves 9 3

[Saint_clark]

The best modern season is Koeman's 6th place finish. No doubt at all.

 

Going into games with a great team expecting to beat anyone. Solid at the back and dangerous up front. Just missed champions league football (due to dodgy referring in my opinion). A tremendous feat and we were getting plaudits from every direction and no team wanting to play us...

 

Best season I can remember.

Yeah, I'm surprised anyone thinks the Mopo season was better.

 

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[bjk]

83/84 The best Saints side I've seen 8-2 home to Coventry ,2-0 v Liverpool the Wallace overhead kick,beating Pompey at Fratton in the last minute,but agony at Highbury in the semi final

and losing 2-0 at home to Notts County who were relegated,finishing 2nd to Liverpool by 3 points.So close to the league and cup double a great season.

[Le Timmier]

89/90 Le Tiss, Rod Wallace, Shearer and Rideout all banging them in for fun.

[Dusic]

Yeah, I'm surprised anyone thinks the Mopo season was better.

 

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The season we finished 6th we were dire for almost the whole winter at there were some calls after Norwich away for Koeman to go.

 

At that stage we were 13th and it wasn't great to watch.

 

The Pochettino season waa about more than just results, it was the style, the players, the connection with fans and the fact that for the first time in my lifetime (31) we went toe to toe with the best sides and were often better than them.

 

He is a brilliant manager.

[shurlock]

The best modern season is Koeman's 6th place finish. No doubt at all.

 

Going into games with a great team expecting to beat anyone. Solid at the back and dangerous up front. Just missed champions league football (due to dodgy referring in my opinion). A tremendous feat and we were getting plaudits from every direction and no team wanting to play us...

 

Best season I can remember.

 

Seriously? The first 60% of the season was pretty dire. Check out the postmatch threads against Norwich and Bournemouth and the clear impression is that we were looking down, not up. We were excellent towards the end and crept into sixth (CL football was never realistic) thanks in no small part to Liverpool and West Ham bottling it. But it was a very schizophrenic season. I'd even say that the season was a harbinger for things to come as it showed how reliant we were on matchwinners like Mané. Take him out and he did suffer a midseason loss of form and we were toothless and bang average, ultimately not too dissimilar to how we were under Puel and Pellegrino.

Edited 1 June, 2018 by shurlock

[ALWAYS_SFC]

The season we finished 6th we were dire for almost the whole winter at there were some calls after Norwich away for Koeman to go.

 

At that stage we were 13th and it wasn't great to watch.

 

The Pochettino season waa about more than just results, it was the style, the players, the connection with fans and the fact that for the first time in my lifetime (31) we went toe to toe with the best sides and were often better than them.

 

He is a brilliant manager.

 

He is good........ fantastic... not yet.

He has a really good squad at Spurs yet has failed to win anything, to gain your label he needs too...

 

Also during his time with us there were lots of complaints of no plan b

[Golac's Iron Gonads]

83/84 14 years old and the memories remain.

8-2 thrashing of Coventry, Little Danny Wallace terrifying defenders, the return of Golac, up to Sheffield for a 0-0 cup game, seeing us beat them 5-1 in the replay to reach the semis, Pompey away and Moran in the last minute, Danny Wallace against Liverpool and his goal of the season maybe Saints goal of the century. What a season. Blistering stuff.

[aintforever]

I'm too young to remember the Keegan/Channon days so it's 89/90 for me. The 4-1 thrashing of Liverpool is still my favourite game, Le Tiss, Wallace, Rideout and Shearer up front with Case pulling the strings in midfield. Dodd, Benali, Stomper and Osman at the back, Flowers in goal. That was in an era when Liverpool actually won stuff as well.

 

After that is was probably Strachan's 2002/03 season and then Adkin's Championship season.

Edited 1 June, 2018 by aintforever

[Ex Lion Tamer]

He is good........ fantastic... not yet.

He has a really good squad at Spurs yet has failed to win anything, to gain your label he needs too...

 

Also during his time with us there were lots of complaints of no plan b

 

Part of the reason why his squad seems really good is that he gets players playing at the best of their ability.

 

Look at how the likes of Lovren, Lallana, Shaw, Schneiderlin have struggled since leaving the club

Edited 1 June, 2018 by Ex Lion Tamer

[ALWAYS_SFC]

Part of the reason why his squad seems really good is that he gets players playing at the best of their ability.

 

Look at how the likes of Lovren, Lallana, Shaw, Schneiderlin have struggled since leaving the club

 

Yep good point

[SKD]

In recent years, Koemans second season for me.

 

Agree with Turkish that 83/4 must of been brilliant as a saints fan.

 

Poch is still my favourite manager though and I don’t think we’ll ever see a manager as good as him ever again.

[krissyboy31]

83-84. We should have won the cup that year. We were definitely a better team than Everton (as we proved on the Tuesday night after the semi-final). Great run-in after that but just had too much to make up on Liverpool to pip them to the title.

[Toadhall Saint]

83/84 The best Saints side I've seen 8-2 home to Coventry ,2-0 v Liverpool the Wallace overhead kick,beating Pompey at Fratton in the last minute,but agony at Highbury in the semi final

and losing 2-0 at home to Notts County who were relegated,finishing 2nd to Liverpool by 3 points.So close to the league and cup double a great season.

 

The best for me by far

Away in every fa cup draw.

[Dellman]

In recent years, Koemans second season for me.

 

Agree with Turkish that 83/4 must of been brilliant as a saints fan.

 

Poch is still my favourite manager though and I don’t think we’ll ever see a manager as good as him ever again.

Agree Poch is the best manager, he did it introducing youngsters, LMc did it with old timers having a lst fling (great fun0

[norwaysaint]

Poch had us playing really nicely, but it's easy to forget that Koeman had us winning about 50% of our games, which is incredible for saints in the PL. We were lucky to get those two straight after the general feel good factor of rising up quickly with Adkins. My favourite season was Adkins second, where we felt head and shoulders better than every other team we played, even if we fell at the final hurdle. I was around for the early eighties, but didn't get to actually see many games, which means I felt less involved.

[Saint86]

Seriously? The first 60% of the season was pretty dire. Check out the postmatch threads against Norwich and Bournemouth and the clear impression is that we were looking down, not up. We were excellent towards the end and crept into sixth (CL football was never realistic) thanks in no small part to Liverpool and West Ham bottling it. But it was a very schizophrenic season. I'd even say that the season was a harbinger for things to come as it showed how reliant we were on matchwinners like Mané. Take him out and he did suffer a midseason loss of form and we were toothless and bang average, ultimately not too dissimilar to how we were under Puel and Pellegrino.

 

Check out the post match thread when we went out of the cup to Sunderland under Poch. Koeman's season was better. In position, points per game, and team quality. Can be debated however you want, but thems the facts.

 

Poch is a great manager, better than Koeman. But his team was worse at saints (and according to the club's PR, full of traitorous mercenaries).

 

I also don't remember any 6-1 or 8-0 demolitions under Poch.

 

There is rose tinted glasses (which is fair enough), but then there is just channelling bizarre hatred on to Koeman and ignoring his achievements. To each his own however.

[tajjuk]

02-03 for me, wasn't old enough for the 80s.

 

Cup final (I actually went, couldn't get a ticket but watched the game from under the stadium and could hear the crowd through the ceiling)

8th place finish which was unheard of for us in that era.

Beattie banging them including some belters, he was like the complete striker that year scored all sorts of goals.

 

I remember us not really thrashing anyone but also being competitive in most games.

 

It was the first time as well I remember fans of other clubs actually talking about our players positively and not just that player being Le Tiss, we had Bridge, Oakley, Beattie, both Svenssons, Chris Marsden, Lundekvam, Niemi etc. Like I had mates who could probably barely name any Saints player of like the mid to late nineties aside Le Tiss, but they still remember the players from that 02/03 team, like the Lundekvam/Svensson defensive partnership.

Edited 1 June, 2018 by tajjuk

[benjii]

02-03 for me, wasn't old enough for the 80s.

 

Cup final (I actually went, couldn't get a ticket but watched the game from under the stadium and could hear the crowd through the ceiling)

8th place finish which was unheard of for us in that era.

Beattie banging them including some belters, he was like the complete striker that year scored all sorts of goals.

 

I remember us not really thrashing anyone but also being competitive in most games.

 

It was the first time as well I remember fans of other clubs actually talking about our players positively and not just that player being Le Tiss, we had Bridge, Oakley, Beattie, both Svenssons, Chris Marsden, Lundekvam, Niemi etc. Like I had mates who could probably barely name any Saints player of like the mid to late nineties aside Le Tiss, but they still remember the players from that 02/03 team, like the Lundekvam/Svensson defensive partnership.

 

Were you in the Ozzie bar underneath?

[kwsaint]

Good question. And a tough one for us older posters.

 

Hugely enjoyed the rise through the divisions, JPT final, League 1 promotion, Championship promotion and the first four seasons in the Premier League. Less said about the last two seasons the better.

Going back in time. The first two years under WGS, including the cup final, were fun. The 18 months under Bally were great, especially as MLT was playing brilliantly. The 83/84 team was the best Saints team ever, although I still have the scars from Highbury.

 

But for me, I would go all the way back to the Keegan seasons, and go for 1981/82. Saints were scoring goals for fun (and letting them in), and you would go to games pretty much guaranteed to be entertained. We topped the league for 6 weeks (I think) in 1981/82 before falling away. Plus scored the greatest Saints goal ever against Liverpool. Got beaten that day, but I remember it as being a very good game against a quality Liverpool side.

[tajjuk]

Were you in the Ozzie bar underneath?

 

Yeh Walkabout.

[70's Mike]

83/84 best team by far and the added bonus of that win at Fratton, or more to the point the manner of the win

[Lord Duckhunter]

Agree Poch is the best manager, he did it introducing youngsters, LMc did it with old timers having a lst fling (great fun0

 

What a load of pony. Lawrie introduced plenty of youngsters, bloody fantastic players they were as well. Mark Wright, Danny Wallace, Steve Williams, Steve Moran, Reuben Agboola, Nick Holmes.

 

 

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[benjii]

Yeh Walkabout.

 

I wasn't thinking of Walkabout. That's round the corner. It was called something else under the stadium. Can't remember the name though.

[shurlock]

Check out the post match thread when we went out of the cup to Sunderland under Poch. Koeman's season was better. In position, points per game, and team quality. Can be debated however you want, but thems the facts.

 

Poch is a great manager, better than Koeman. But his team was worse at saints (and according to the club's PR, full of traitorous mercenaries).

 

I also don't remember any 6-1 or 8-0 demolitions under Poch.

 

There is rose tinted glasses (which is fair enough), but then there is just channelling bizarre hatred on to Koeman and ignoring his achievements. To each his own however.

 

I’m not making a point about Poch or comparing him with Koeman. I’m correcting your memory of the 2015/16 season. FWIW the 6-1 and 8-0 demolitions happened in his first season, not the second season.

[tajjuk]

I wasn't thinking of Walkabout. That's round the corner. It was called something else under the stadium. Can't remember the name though.

 

Hmmn thought it was a Walkabout at the time, but we are probably talking about the same space, it was definitely under the stadium, like literally under the seating and I am sure it was an Aussie bar.

[Unbelievable Jeff]

The mo po season v cup final appearance thread made me think - what is the best season ever in terms of experiencing the season rather than outcome.

 

I think the mo po season is right up there but I’m going with 81/82. The second Keegan season.

 

The promotion season to the prem is also very close.

 

I think the Koeman one was better than MoPo - very attacking, scored loads, hammered lots of teams, nearly got Champions League.

[Pamplemousse]

15/16 by a country mile, at least in the Premier League era.

 

Obviously you'd have to add in the two promotion winning seasons under Adkins as well.

[aintforever]

Agree Poch is the best manager, he did it introducing youngsters, LMc did it with old timers having a lst fling (great fun0

 

That's nonsense, Lawrie brought through youngsters as well but anyway, the job of a manager is to win football matches and trophies, the age of the players is irrelevant. Getting the best out of top players at the end of their career is fantastic management for a club our size. Jimmy Case is still one of my favourite ever players.

[Super_Uwe]

02-03 for me, wasn't old enough for the 80s.

 

Cup final (I actually went, couldn't get a ticket but watched the game from under the stadium and could hear the crowd through the ceiling)

8th place finish which was unheard of for us in that era.

Beattie banging them including some belters, he was like the complete striker that year scored all sorts of goals.

 

I remember us not really thrashing anyone but also being competitive in most games.

 

It was the first time as well I remember fans of other clubs actually talking about our players positively and not just that player being Le Tiss, we had Bridge, Oakley, Beattie, both Svenssons, Chris Marsden, Lundekvam, Niemi etc. Like I had mates who could probably barely name any Saints player of like the mid to late nineties aside Le Tiss, but they still remember the players from that 02/03 team, like the Lundekvam/Svensson defensive partnership.

 

Ditto more or less word for word!

 

I haven't lived locally for a long time now, that was the last full season I really enjoyed. Once we got going after a usual slow start, rocking up to St Mary's each week there was an expectation that we would win. Didn't work out every week of course, but it was generally good. Bridge and Marsden down the left were epic too. Plus the Cup run which remains our most recent FA Cup final.

[Dr. Kucho]

A difficult choice between 3 seasons.

 

2011-2012, the season we were in the Championship and got promoted to the PL under Adkins. Got to go to many games and remember singing ´we are Southampton, were are top of the league´ many times.

 

2013-2014, like said above, we played some great football and the players all seemed to be having a great time.

 

2015-2016, finishing 6th and winning just about all the games after Christmas. We almost finished 5th above United.

[Stud mark of doom]

Ok - why is 81/82 better than the obvious 83/84 answer?

 

Team full of stars - didn’t we have 5 England captains at one point? And Keegan was incredible - there was no one remotely like him in the 83/84 team.

Amazing football nearly every week - lots of goals at both ends.

We were top for ages, towards the business end of the season, and I actually thought we would win it (I remember Frank Bough saying “and Southampton extend their lead at the top” on Grandstand, without any surprise in his voice, so I wasn’t the only one.)

 

83/84 was also great to but we didn’t really ever look like winning the league. We were 5th or 6th most of the season from memory and it was only a very late amazing run than got us up to 2nd. I think it was out of reach way before the end.

 

Although the run to the semi was great - exposure on national live TV was a novelty too - we also had Adrian Heath and my worst moment in football.

[Saint_clark]

Seriously? The first 60% of the season was pretty dire. Check out the postmatch threads against Norwich and Bournemouth and the clear impression is that we were looking down, not up. We were excellent towards the end and crept into sixth (CL football was never realistic) thanks in no small part to Liverpool and West Ham bottling it. But it was a very schizophrenic season. I'd even say that the season was a harbinger for things to come as it showed how reliant we were on matchwinners like Mané. Take him out and he did suffer a midseason loss of form and we were toothless and bang average, ultimately not too dissimilar to how we were under Puel and Pellegrino.

 

...what on earth are you on about? Not too dissimilar to under Puel and Pelligrino?

Chelsea 1-3 Southampton

Southampton 4-0 Arsenal

United 0-1 Southampton

Southampton 3-2 Liverpool

Southampton 4-2 City

Tottenham 1-2 Southampton

 

Those set of results alone are unreal.

And yeah, our end of season form is what shot us up the league - we only lost 3 games in the last 18 - but so what? That season was the absolute peak for us since way back in the 80s.

Season before that yeah, you could argue we genuinely challenged for top 4 until Forster got injured and we had to play Gazza, and we had some phenomenal results that year such as the 6-1 and 8-0...but under Pochettino? We were an upper midtable side the whole season.

[whelk]

83/84. Must have been amazing for those old enough to have been there. The win at Fratton Park, 2nd place in the league, heartbreak at Highbury. I was only a kid but that was the season I got into football and with saints challenging for trophies with a great team i thought it’s always be like that.......

 

89/90 for me is the best one in my real memory though. A brilliant attacking team scoring loads of goals. le Tissier, Rod Wallace and Shearer up front with Rideout at times playing 4-2-4. We seemed to score 4 goals regularly then. 4-1 win v Liverpool the highlight, Le Tissiers hatrick in the 4-1 v Norwich was special.

 

83/84 for sure, I was an impressionable teen and just started doing always with mates, height of the casuals and so much about what gear you had.

 

Forest in 3rd round was brilliant as were still a decent side then.

Pompey was superb of course. We were in their end as well. Oh the rage that halted ‘scummers scummers here we come’ 36000 fans and brutal after -we weren’t looked in of course and it turned into a war zone around the ground. Sh1tting ourselves but oh the adrenaline,

 

Sheffield Wed was superb turn out away and replay was one of best games at the Dell for me after going 1-0 down and hammering them 5-1. FA Cup was far more important than the league back then. We were bookies favourites of last 8 teams remaining which shows how good we were,

Highbury was insane - ‘sickening Face of Football Violence’ lead story in News of the World the next day. Would condemn now but at the time all we were talking about and got Saints a reputation. Following year away to Orient remember West Ham turning up. Different times and football wasn’t for families/women.

 

Talk of the double is bs though as we were never in with shout of the league despite coming 2nd.

 

Ahh memories.

Edited 2 June, 2018 by whelk

[shurlock]

...what on earth are you on about? Not too dissimilar to under Puel and Pelligrino?

Chelsea 1-3 Southampton

Southampton 4-0 Arsenal

United 0-1 Southampton

Southampton 3-2 Liverpool

Southampton 4-2 City

Tottenham 1-2 Southampton

 

Those set of results alone are unreal.

And yeah, our end of season form is what shot us up the league - we only lost 3 games in the last 18 - but so what? That season was the absolute peak for us since way back in the 80s.

Season before that yeah, you could argue we genuinely challenged for top 4 until Forster got injured and we had to play Gazza, and we had some phenomenal results that year such as the 6-1 and 8-0...but under Pochettino? We were an upper midtable side the whole season.

 

Try reading my post pal.

 

Yes we were ****e at times. You conveniently forget that we started the season sluggishly, compounded by our Europa League exit and then had 8 defeats in 10 games over the winter period -yes 8 defeats in 10 games. Not even Pellegrino or Puel managed that.

 

Refresh your memory:

 

https://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?55753-Norwich-V-Saints-Post-match-despair&highlight=Norwich+match#.WxImYEHTXYU

 

https://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?54958-Watford-0-0-Saints-Post-Match&highlight=Norwich+match#.WxIlUEHTXYU

 

Indeed when Ralph went on air to defend Pellegrino in mid January, he drew a direct comparison with the 2015/16 season, claiming we had been in a similar position before and as before we might shoot up the league.

 

Again try reading - I said we picked up momentum in the second half of the season and were excellent (many of the results you cite happened then, though it was also good fortune we played City while they were resting players ahead of a huge Champions League game and caught Tottenham after losing the league a few days before at Stamford Bridge).

 

Ans where we would be without Mané: didn't he score a brace and hattrick in the Liverpool and City games you cite? It's a moot point as Koeman was blessed to have him but take him out of the side and we looked desperately ordinary.

Edited 2 June, 2018 by shurlock

[sammysaint]

In my lifetime 2002/3 or 2015/16.

 

6th place was amazing, we played some great football under Koeman.

 

2002/3 Cup final on my birthday and 8th which at the time was the highest position we have ever had in the prem.

[sadoldgit]

83/84 was definately the best I've witnessed since i started going in 1965/66

 

Finished 2nd in league, only 3 points behind Liverpool, and in hindsight if Lawrie had started Alan Curtis instead of the unfit Steve Williams i'm sure we would have won the FA Cup that year

 

some great games that season especially the FA cup run where we were away drawn from home in every round, Pompey game was unforgettable experience and the 8,000+ that went to Hillsborough for Quarter Final was particulaly impressive.

 

Same for me. I started in 65/66 too and the season we came runners up to Liverpool was the best by a long way. Happy days!

[ericb]

Pretty much nailed by a few on here, 83/84 is always going to be the best season for us, and i agree with Turkish that post that the 89/90 season was one of my favourites too.

 

I guess not in terms of success but in terms of actually falling in love with the game again and feeling like football was fun, i'd have to include the league one and championship promotion seasons.

 

League one especially was superb, really didn't want to miss a game and had some of the best away days of my life, with Saints taking over grounds and being the "big boys" in the league.

[Lighthouse]

I did enjoy the Koeman seasons, despite the poor form we suffered around December both years. I think in the second season we beat everyone bar Leicester (who got an injury time equaliser at St Mary's) and Everton (who we battered at Goodison but only drew).

 

Both promotion seasons were also thrilling. That League 1 run in with Huddersfield, where we won something like 13 out of our last 15 games was just nuts. Pulling Brighton's pants down after the stick they had given Adkins was a particular highlight.

[Tamesaint]

A good season , not the best but a very enjoyable one was 1977/78 when we returned to the top flight. We played good football and apart from the odd hiccup at placed like Blackburn (let's boo Bailey) we won loads. Good old Phil boyer.

[Nordic Saint]

83/84

[StDunko]

18/19 I hope.

[Cabrone]

The ones that stand out for me....

 

83-84. Just started watching Saints on a regular basis and was spoilt rotten by a top class team who rarely dropped points at home. Steve Moran was my hero at the time. Possibly the best Saints team of all time, awesome defence and razor sharp forwards.

 

Next would be 89-90 which was top entertainment, goals all over the place plus the odd tonking too but it was never ever boring. With the benfit of hindsight Nicholl was a great manager much maligned at the time. He understood that fans wanted entertainment and

delivered it. Definitely my kind of football - Tiss\Shearer\Rod were box office.

 

Next would be 11-12 in the champ, winning is fun, doesn't matter what league and with Nige in the hot seat and Ricky up front that season was brilliant. The whole club was so positive and going places, a great time to be a fan.

 

Finally 02-03 was good fun too, Strach got the team playing really effective football, BT was banging them in and Killer\Niemi were giants at the back. The cup final was the icing on the cake even if I thought we were a bit flat on the day.

[shurlock]

It was nothing brilliant but after the famine of the Branfoot years, I thought Bally's time with us was good fun.