It's a tale of decline and fall that would make Evelyn Waugh jealous. In 2003 Southampton were in the FA Cup final – a horribly one-sided final in favour of Arsenal, but a final nonetheless – and finished eighth in the Premier League, their best ever placing. A little over five years later they're nestled in the less glitzy end of the Championship.
If it's any consolation for Saints fans, their descent – they were relegated in 2004-05 - has been a fairly lively one. Nearly 80 players and a fair few managers have passed through the club since 2003, while the combination of Harry Redknapp's old school values and Sir Clive Woodward's experimentation had the jarring intrigue of a Jerry Bruckheimer blockbuster directed by Lars von Trier.
Once George Burley took sole control of the club at the beginning of the 2006/07 season – Woodward had still been buzzing around at the beginning of his tenure - it looked like the club's fortunes might be on the up, crucially given that the club had plenty of highly-paid players and it was the last year of parachute payments. That year the team scored ridiculous amounts of goals, but conceded too many and eventually lost to Derby in the play-offs.
It's said that the key to success in the Championship is consistency and Saints still conceded goals with admirable ease last season. Unfortunately they stopped scoring them and it took a win on the final day of the season to stay up. While that secured the club's short-term future, the long-term was more threatening. In an attempt to get back to the Premier League Southampton's wage bill had risen to £10.5m but their income had slumped from £50m to £13m and there's the small matter of the £20m mortgage they have on St Mary's.
The situation was bad enough this summer that Rupert Lowe, the man many fans blame for overextending the club in the first place, was able to return as co-chairman without being lynched.
Whatever you say about Lowe – and no matter how filthy it is, it's probably already been said on one of the Southampton message-boards – he's not afraid to try new things. With no money and many experienced players on high wages sold or loaned out to cut costs, the club has had to concentrate on its academy players, a side of the club Lowe has always been keen on developing.
The man Lowe has chosen to nurture his young team is Jan Poortvliet, carpenter, football purist and World Cup finalist with Holland in 1978. "Poortvliet wants the team to play total football from the under-18s upwards," explains Chris Colby of southampton-mad.co.uk. "The official line is 4-2-1-2-1. Essentially it's a striker, one in the hole, two attacking wide men and two holding midfielders."
Of course, it's all very well playing total football when you have Johnny Rep and Johan Neeskens in your side, it's a tad trickier when your team-sheet has more 90s references than a Britpop revival night – eight of the starting XI against Norwich were under 20 - and Saints struggled early on in the season. Even then though, the team enjoyed spells of enthralling football and a new-found grit to go with the verve that has seen Saints win their last two league games. Particularly outstanding have been England Under-21 player Adam Lallana and David McGoldrick. Poortvliet has proven to be a canny businessman too, loaning out the highly-paid Nathan Dyer to Sheffield United in return for Jordan Robertson, who scored a spectacular goal during this week's win over Norwich.
Poortvliet is confident his team can reach the play-offs - and it would be brilliant to see a young, attractive team do well - but he may not be able to hold on to his team. Debt looms over the club, while the stadium has been half-empty more than once this season. The resulting fall in income means that the very players who can get the club back to a stage where it can earn good money again may have to be sold. "It is not beyond the realms of possibility that at some stage in the future we will be required to dispose of some of our better young players in order for the club to satisfy its banking covenants," co-chairman Michael Wilde recently told the Southern Daily Echo.
Of course, selling players may merely hold off the financial problems rather than solve them: the club has sold £30m of talent since 2003, including Theo Walcott and Gareth Bale, but the financial troubles still remain. Like many clubs in these troubled economic times, Saints will have to hold on and hope for the best.
