Southampton FC
-------------------------------------
Full name : Southampton Football Club
Nickname(s) : The Saints
Founded : 11885, as St. Mary's YMA
Ground : St Mary's Stadium
(Capacity 32,689)
Chairman : Leon Crouch
Manager : Nigel Pearson
League : The Championship

Southampton FC
--------------------------------------------------------------------    Southampton Football Club is a professional English football team, nicknamed The Saints and based in the city of Southampton. The club currently plays in the Championship, since relegation from the Premier League in 2005. Their home ground is the St Mary's Stadium, where the club moved to in 2001 from The Dell.
   The first team is currently being managed by Nigel Pearson who took over managerial duties in February 2008. The club captain is midfielderYoussef Safri and the chairman is Leon Crouch.
   The club has won the FA Cup once, and their highest-ever league finish was second in the top flight.
   The club is owned by parent company Southampton Leisure Holdings PLC, which is listed on the Alternative Investments Market.

Stadium and training facilities
--------------------------------------------------------------------    For more details on this topic, see St. Mary's Stadium and The Dell (Southampton).
   The St. Mary's Stadium has been home to the Saints since August 2001. It has a capacity of 32,689 and is one of only a handful of stadia in Europe to meet UEFA's Four Star Criteria. In the 2004-05 season, attendances never fell below 30,000. The stadium has also been host to a number of internationals including England's qualifying game against FYR Macedonia in 2002 where the teams drew 2-2, with David Beckham and Steven Gerrard scoring for England.
   The club's previous home had been The Dell, which it moved into in 1898 and remained at for 103 years.
   The club's training facilities, known as Staplewood are located in Marchwood, on the edge of the New Forest. They have received significant investment over the last 10 years, most notably during the time Sir Clive Woodward was employed by the club between 2005 and 2006, and are now considered to be among some of the best in the country.

History
--------------------------------------------------------------------    Southampton's off-the-field controversy affected their on-the-field fortunes substantially during 2005-06, and at one point they were in real danger of a second successive relegation. But their form improved during the final weeks of the season and they finished a secure 12th.
   The good form which secured Southampton's Championship status in 2005-06 was carried through to the start of the 2006-07 season, and the turn of the year saw the team in fourth place in the table. The new board of directors had spent a club record £6 million on transfers. Polish stikers Grzegorz Rasiak and Marek Saganowski and 17 year-old left back Gareth Bale have all had great runs in form. A drastic loss in the team's form overall, coupled with inept displays against fellow promotion hopefuls, saw the team drop to eighth place by mid-March 2007, and rapidly losing touch with the promotion race. However, with other promotion rivals dropping points and a small run of form in late April, Southampton were able to reach 6th place, the last play-off position. They lost the home leg of their playoff semi-final to Derby County, and on 15 May achieved parity on aggregate but lost on penalties in a thrilling encounter.
   Since relegation, the club has had to sell players to meet the shortfall in income. A number of players from the club's academy have been sold for large sums, such as Theo Walcott and Gareth Bale.
   On February 18, 2008, former West Bromwich Albion and Newcastle assistant manager Nigel Pearson was appointed as manager. In a closely contested league, they survived relegation on the final day of the 2007–08 season with a 3–2 victory over Sheffield United, at the expense of Leicester City.