Southampton have a rich club history dating back to 1885 when they were first founded by members of the St Mary’s Church. Indeed, their roots are still celebrated today with their 32,000-seater stadium named after the church.
Club name
Initially, the club today named Southampton FC were called St Mary’s Young Men’s Association and therefore adopted the nickname, ‘The Saints’.
But the club renamed themselves as Southampton FC in 1987 after winning the Southern League, which they would go on to claim another five times.
Southampton badge
Over the years, the Southampton badge has changed pretty dramatically from when the club was first founded. Yet they’ve only had two predominant crests and have made six reconfigurations to perfect the design to be what is today.
When Southampton were founded, they used the city’s coat of arms – which consisted of red and white colours, along with a shield – as the club’s badge. The Hampshire rose featured and beneath was the lettering ‘SFC’.
Fast forward to 1974, the south coast club ran a competition to completely reshape the crest and Rolland Parris, a graphic designer who supported the Saints, put forward a new sketch very similar to today’s crest.
Parris added a golden halo above a football, which linked in with the club’s Church of England roots and he introduced red and white scarfs below.
The tree which is centred at the heart of the design represents the New Forest and Southampton Common, where the club is located.
Kit history
Southampton have sported red and white on their kit ever since they were first formed in 1885.
Indeed, the designs have changed over the years from a more simplistic approach to varied patterns and even gold detailing.
The Saints have also moved away from navy shorts, which they had up until 1950, before changing them to black.
League history
Southampton’s club history has seen them enjoy lengthy stints in the top flight of English football and even remained a Premier League club for 11 years between 2012 and 2023.
Yet Southampton only played their first-ever season in the top-flight during the 1966/67 campaign in the old Division One. They also remained in the first tier through until 1974 and became founding members of the Premier League in 1992 after returning to Division One in 1978.
The 1983/84 season also saw Southampton register their highest-ever finish to any league season by finishing as the runners-up to Liverpool for the Division One title. Steve Moran was their top scorer that season, netting 21 goals in 34 outings, but three points denied them the crown.
Southampton trophies
Southampton have only ever won one major trophy throughout the club’s history after taking home the FA Cup in 1976. A historic day for the Saints saw them defeat Manchester United 1-0 at Wembley with Bobby Stokes scoring.
Stokes even netted their winning goal in the 83rd minute after firing a left-footed effort past the Red Devils’ shot-stopper, Alex Stepney.
The south coast club have also seldom secured league titles with their first coming back in 1921/22 when Southampton won Division Three. They also lifted the third-tier title again in 1959/60 but have never lifted a top-flight or second-tier trophy.
Lesser titles also feature in Southampton’s trophy cabinet, however, after beating Carlisle United 4-1 in the 2009/10 Football League Trophy final and Leeds United 1-0 in the 2023/24 Championship play-off final. The Saints also won the old Southern League title six times from 1896/97 to 1903/04.
Southampton players and managers
An array of Southampton legends including a plethora of talented players and managers have created legacies in red-and-white over the club’s history. Cecil Knight, Ernest Arnfield, Nigel Adkins and Mauricio Pochettino are just a few of the iconic figures that have appeared in the dugout.
Lawrie McMenemy was the Saints’ FA Cup-winning manager back in 1976 and coached a whopping 358 games, even guiding them to a runners-up finish in the first tier in 1984.
The south coasters have also had some amazing players such as Matt Le Tissier, Ron Davies, Alan Ball and Peter Shilton to name only a few.
Terry Paine holds the record for the most appearances in a Southampton shirt with 816, while Mick Channon is the club’s top scorer of all time with 228 goals.