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This is the story of Southampton’s push back to the pinnacle. Told by those who helped made it happen.
Les Reed, Southampton’s Head of Football Development
Dean Hammond, Southampton’s captain and midfielder. 63 appearances across the team’s back-to-back promotion seasons.
Jos Hooiveld, Southampton defender. 39 appearances in the club’s season in the Championship, including scoring his eighth goal of the campaign against Coventry City on the final day.
Dan Seaborne, Southampton defender. 28 appearances across two seasons.
Oscar Gobern, Southampton midfielder. 11 appearances during the club’s promotion season in League One.
Ryan Dickson, Southampton defender. 23 appearances during the club’s promotion season in League One.
Prost International
Southampton were venturing into their second season in League One after missing out on a play-off spot by one-point months earlier. But the team would begin the new campaign on a level playing field, having had 10 points docked the year prior. This was due to the club’s parent company ‘Southampton Leisure Holdings’ being deemed financially insolvent.
Reed: The club had been stripped bare and had little to no structure and certainly no strategy. I was asked to audit the football operation and propose a plan to get back to the Premier League within five years.
Gobern: The club was on its way out. The young boys were in and clearly not ready to play in the first team but having to play week-in-week-out. Big names were leaving, and it was looking difficult.
Hammond: There was a little bit of a hangover from the squad having been broken up. It was talented but a very young squad. There were still some aftereffects of the administration and the relegations.
Gobern: For the young lads like myself and Adam Lallana, there was a few of us that all got a chance to play. But we weren’t ready to play for the first team. For the club as a whole, where they had been, it was looking bleak at that point.
It was July 2009 and Markhus Liebherr had just purchased the club. The new owner brought Swiss-based Italian banker Nicola Cortese in. Cortese would become Southampton’s chief executive. Days later, Alan Pardew was appointed manager. Les Reed arrived on an initial consultancy basis.
Hammond: The ambition was to get back into the Premier League when I met the manager, the owners and spoke to Dean Wilkins. The initial goal was five years and there was an expectation to make that happen. There was the resources and funds to do that, so it felt exciting.
Reed: Alan Pardew had begun to arrest the decline. My brief was to plan for the club’s long term where it would establish itself in the Premier League and be a sustainable club at that level, ‘ washing its face’ financially and competing in the top half for a place in Europe and occasional cup success. Markus also wanted an attacking brand of football that would excite and win. He wanted to establish an aspirational target of 50% of the future squad to be home-grown or academy developed.
Dickson: Liebherr had a lot of money and he automatically turned the football club around because his recruitment was brilliant. They brought Les Reed, and then Les Reed bought everybody in, and the infrastructure was just ridiculous from Doddsy (Jason Dodd) at the under-18s upwards. I mean, the under-23s coaching standard is why Southampton produced so many players around that time.
Gobern: I didn’t meet Markhus Liebherr but I met Cortese a few times, he was pretty much hands on with the team and the players. He would always come to Staplewood and watch training.
Hooiveld: I’m still in contact with Nicola and we speak every now and then. He is doing restoration projects now. He has got a hotel in the south of Italy that he is working on. He was a nice guy. It was so clear to see that he was very driven, but also very proud of the work he does.
Reed: I was surprised to get a call asking me to go back and discuss implementing my plan. I thought this would be more more consultancy based but they persuaded me it would work best if I delivered the plan and offered me the role of Head of Football Development as an Executive Director on the Board. Essentially, I was Director of Football.
Seaborne: Pardew was great. He was full of confidence and had a really nice aura about him. He was just a great guy to be around, training was always really interesting.
Reed: Alan Pardew was in place when I arrived and had succeeded Mark Wotte. I knew Alan well and he was doing a great job in difficult circumstances. He had no real scouting department or infrastructure for recruitment.
Hammond: Alan was very straight with you and told you how it was. If he had an opinion he would tell you, if he didn’t think you played very well, he would let you know. I didn’t get too much praise off Pardew but when he did give you some, it really meant a lot to me.
Liebherr’s arrival meant Southampton could now rebuild a squad from its foundations. They quickly recruited a balance of youth, experience and players who held effective leadership traits:
Hooiveld: I had contact with Southampton before, when they were at the bottom of League One. They called me when I was in Sweden, it was actually the same time when Celtic called me, so then I chose Celtic.
Reed: Alan had made some really good signings in Rickie Lambert, Jose Fonte, Jason Puncheon, Dan Harding, Radhi Jaidi, Danny Butterfield before I arrived and added others prior to the start of the 2010 campaign.
Dickson: I know they were recruiting me, Dan Seaborne, Lee Barnard, younger talent from League One to get them out of that league. They wanted that mix of young players with knowhow that they could develop to progress along with the abundance of talent they already had. I knew there was interest around Christmas time. They had the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy final coming up so I was trying to push the move through in time for that one, but it didn’t happen and I had to wait until the end of the season.
Hammond: There was so many positives and plusses to sign. I was very happy at Colchester and we had just had our first child at the time. We were living in Essex and were happy. But once I knew of Southampton’s interest, I wanted to come. There was no real hesitation in signing.
Dickson: To be honest, I didn’t realise how big a football club was. It found itself in League One. It was just a stupidly false league for a club of that size to be in, really. All the facilities, the stadium, how big the football club was, it was a no brainer to go there, really.
Seaborne: There was interest from different clubs, got a couple of offers accepted from different places. But then Southampton came along. It was an eye opener with just the facilities. When the offer came in I just felt it was meant to be. Exeter accepted the offer and I was off the next day.
Hooiveld: I started to look closely more at Southampton and started following them. I would look at what they were up to and what the plan was. They called again and was quite an easy choice to go.
Seaborne: David Connolly still to this day, I would say one of the best players I’ve played with or played against in training every day. I know we had some great names but for a defender, David was small and just extremely clever, played at a very good level for his whole career.
Dickson: The standards Dave Connolly set were ridiculous. His brain was just so sharp. He loved a moan because the standards he held were so high, and if you didn’t match his standards, he’d let you know about it, let the coaches know about it. You could put him and Lallana in the same team in training and you had won the game if you were on their side. It was simple as that.
Hammond: Adam Lallana immediately stood out. Technically fantastic. Very creative and was so enthusiastic about just playing football. He was the life and soul of the dressing room. I remember thinking ‘wow, youre going to have some career’.
Seaborne: Jose Fonte was the one that came from Crystal Palace in the Championship, so he dropped down. You could see straight away he was a class above League One. His leadership, his professionalism, even as a young guy I would watch him every day. He would be in the gym, the first one in the last one out. He brought a different standard that I don’t think the club had seen for years.
On August 30, just three matches into the season, Southampton sacked Pardew amid acrimonious circumstances. The decision had come just two days after the team’s 4-0 win away to Bristol Rovers.
Seaborne: I remember coming back on the bus thinking that was an excellent three points. Then he got sacked literally right after. I have no idea why it happened.
Reed: I joined the club permanently in June 2010 and in August, barely into the campaign, the Chairman (Nicola Cortese) fired Alan out of the blue. Alan and the Chairman did not see eye-to-eye on a number of things but I think it was a harsh dismissal considering the success Alan had achieved. Alan’s sacking took me by surprise, and I was not expecting to replace a manager so early in my tenure.
Gobern: Nicola didn’t give any explanation for Alan’s departure. He came into the dressing room, explained to us that Alan had been relieved of his duties and that a new manager will be on his way shortly. He didn’t go into the ins and outs.
Dickson: We got no reasoning from Cortese. My inkling was that Pardew was going to sign me around Christmas time but the feeling around the club was ‘I don’t know whether Pardew is sticking around’. I said to my agent ‘Saints want me, why aren’t I going?’ and he just told me that the club wasn’t sure if Pardew was still going to be there for the start of that season.
I think they were both massive personalities. I think Cortese would admit himself he was strong-willed, hard to deal with sometimes and Pardew was exactly the same… a massive character. I think it was a clash of egos over everything, signings, politics and eventually that carries into the team and you get that feeling as well. I think it was inevitable if I’m honest. It was just a case of when it was going to happen rather than if.
In-stepped Nigel Adkins, who joined from Scunthorpe United. Dean Wilkins would remain as part of the coaching team and Adkins would bring in assistant Andy Crosby and goalkeeping coach Jim Stannard.
Reed: After interviewing six candidates on the long-list, a second interview with a final two resulted in Nigel being offered the job. He had been promoted before with Scunthorpe and knew the level at League One and the Championship well. He knew our squad well and was an accomplished on the field coach.
Hammond: Nigel liked to be involved and speak to the players whereas Alan would keep himself back. Under Nigel we became more of a passing team, in terms of wanting to play out and not be quite as direct as we were under Alan.
Seaborne: Adkins came from a more philosophical background where he would ask how you’re feeling and all those kind of things. Pardew would go up to you where Adkins was more stand on the sidelines and observe and let Dean and Andy take training.
Dickson: Adkins was just very clever. Everything’s about psychology, the environment and making everyone feel good about themselves. I think that was the major thing whereas with Pards you had to match his expectations, Adkins would get the best out of each individual.
Seaborne: Dean Wilkins was heavily hands on, a fantastic coach and great guy. Andy Crosby came in and would work a lot with the defence. Dean and Andy were the glue between the changing room and the manager.
Dickson: We would play a 4-4-2 or four-diamond-two but the main difference is the contrast in personalities. Pards was a very good man, good manager but about Pards a little bit, he was that type of character. I knew that there was no hidden agenda with Nigel or behind the scenes manipulation. It was just what you see is what you get type of thing.
Hooiveld: Adkins always held his calm and was always positive, sometimes overly but still positive. He was down to earth and he liked to be on the work-floor (with the squad) in-between all the guys so he could see what was happening, talking to everyone.
Hammond: In training there was always a theme. If we were playing on a Saturday the coaching staff would know the other teams weaknesses and adapt to that. For example, if the theme was to switch the ball early, we would do certain games or practices in training to become familiar in time for match-day. We would also have lots of team meetings to embolden how we were going to play, so preparation was key.
Photo: Southampton FC
A three-one victory away to Plymouth meant promotion to the Championship was all but sealed in the penultimate game of the season. The team would end-up finishing on 92 points, five points clear of the Play-Offs and three points away from league winners, Brighton.
Hammond: It was a huge victory. We weren’t quite promoted but Huddersfield had to win 17-0 so it meant we were basically promoted.
Dickson: We had worked so hard for the whole season and especially after having such a slow start under Pards and the politics involved – is he staying, is he going? And within the club at the time, there was lots of politics going on, because of the size of it. Being from Plymouth, that Plymouth game stood out. I played and scored my only goal for the club and won the game. It was a good party all the way back to Southampton on the bus with Richard Chaplow, Jason Puncheon and Lallana leading the singing.
Gobern: It was the first promotion in my career so being on that bus back home, beers on it and everyone was happy and singing throughout. It was something that I’ll never forget.
Dickson: I think when we got home, we all went out to a club that was shut for us. It was all the boys by ourselves and the next week was just a blur. I remember after that Walsall game on the final day, I think the whole club had a party at the stadium. And then in the days afterwards too. All that stuff just blends into one and you can’t really pick out what day was what.
The final day of the campaign against Walsall saw a record League One crowd of 31,653 pack into St Mary’s. The average attendance within the division was just over 7500.
Dickson: That’s why you sign for Southampton, a full house, the sun out, I remember red and white all the way around the stadium. It was just amazing. Even to this day, I’ve still got it as my screensaver, on Facebook, on everything.
Seaborne: It was a great day with great camaraderie among the group, especially with the promotion party afterwards. I seem to remember a lot of parties that we went to. There was a few of us that would go out as a group and go for meals. There was a few times where we were worse for wear maybe the next day. I remember one week when a game got called off so we decided to go out for something to eat. There was a few of us and we had training the next day. The pitch was partly frozen so the ones who went out were very uncoordinated that day and weren’t quite with it.
Dickson: It’s such a big football club. If Rickie Lambert went out everyone would know who he was, and that was in League One.
Incredibly, no Saints player would win player of the month in the Football League. Nor would Adkins claim the manger’s edition.
Dickson: Nigel would do presentations and they’d regularly have pictures of the Red Arrows, he really liked the Red Arrows. He used to say about his front three if we played with a three at the time, or had forward runners, we would just watch videos of the Red Arrows or planes. It made sense but at the same time, we had some huge players thinking ‘I’ve got to be like this plane?’
Gobern: Nigel’s man-management was hands-on, he was always asking how you are not just in football, but also outside of football and being a young lad from Birmingham, who was away from his family, that was important to me. He was always attentive and always asking questions which showed he really cared.
Dickson: I remember we went away in pre-season for one of Cortese’s Switzerland trips in the middle of nowhere. One night we had to go watch a play. It was all foreign language but we had the headphones on which translated it. It was this play that I don’t even know what it was about but it was terrible.
But Nigel would take things from it, like his poetry and psychology and that poem he read out in a press conference (The Man in the Glass). He would talk about the person staring back at you and that just sums him up, an honest man and that’s one thing I liked about him.
Dickson: With Lambert, I always used to tell people he’s not a Grant Holt… he is actually really technically gifted. He lacked pace, but he didn’t need it, he was that good, that intelligent. Technically brilliant and the loveliest man. The club made him sort his diet out, gave him a clear method of how they would use him and it added huge value to him.
Dean Hammond remained as captain for Southampton’s reintroduction to the Championship. But the team would continue to possess a wealth of leaders.
Hooiveld: We had a lot of leaders. Rickie Lambert, Dean Hammond, myself. We had Jose, Kelvin Davis, Adam Lallana and in a way, Morgan Schneiderlin.
Hammond: Alan and then Nigel wanted a captain out on the pitch. Kelvin was club captain and brilliant, but Alan didn’t see the value of the armband being on a goalkeeper. He wanted an on-pitch captain to influence referees in decisions and just be more involved in the action.
Hooiveld: Everyone would contribute to dressing room team-talks. Most of the time it was done by Kelvin but when Rickie said something it was always spot on. It was one of those things that the leadership wasn’t shared just by one or two people.
Dickson: When you have Jose Fonte next to me with either Danny Butterfield or Frazer Richardson at right-back and Kelvin Davis behind, that experience is just huge. There’s captains all over the football pitch. Dean Hammond was our captain because he led by good values, good habits and generally lived his life perfectly and was the perfect role model but any of them could have been to be honest.
Seaborne: Kelvin had a massive influence amongst the team in the club captain role. Kelv was always great in and around the place. He always cracking a joke but always extremely serious when it comes to training and doing the right things at the right time. He was one that I was really tight to, he was great for me.
A serious injury to Seaborne outside a nightclub allowed new signing Jos Hooiveld to form a new defensive partnership with Fonte.
Seaborne: I don’t really remember it very well. I remember obviously everything after. I remember going out and then obviously the incident happened. I don’t remember the incident. I just remember waking up in hospital. The chairman (Cortese) and the players came to visit.
I was in hospital for about four weeks. I think two weeks was in the main hospital then got transferred to the Nuffield for next two. I can’t really remember a lot of it. It hugely affected my career at Southampton. The team evolved from when I was playing week in and week out and Jos (Hooiveld) came in.
Hooiveld: Jose was really great in defending one-against-one because he was so calm, so composed. Every game he seemed relaxed and made sure that everyone was on their toes and ready for different things.
Dickson: I’m still in touch with Jose. He is the nicest guy you’ll ever meet.
Seaborne: Jose was great. We both signed as the same time and obviously has had a fantastic career. you could say he got better as he got older. I learned a lot from him because I was younger and he had come from Crystal Palace, so he was stepping down a level and was signed for a decent amount of money.
Southampton’s returned to the Championship with aplomb, winning six out of their first seven league matches. This would include notable victories against Leeds, Ipswich and Birmingham City.
Hammond: In the build-up we were excited for the season. We had a really good pre-season and were confident heading into the campaign that we would do very well. The ambition was to get promoted because we had signed some good players to add the current squad which was progressing nicely.
Seaborne: I had a good pre-season after picking up a few injuries towards the end of the back end of the League One campaign and aside from having tonsillitis for the first match against Leeds, I played all of the early fixtures until the incident.
Hammond: It was a hot day and the first game was at home and live on Sky. To win 3-1 on television set a marker to everyone else. Winning against a Leeds side that was expected to do very well that season, we knew the win justified and added to our belief that we could achieve successive promotions. The performances that stand out for me is Ipswich (5-2) away and Birmingham (4-1) at home when we were blowing teams away.
A successful start to the season had meant an 18-month period of uninterrupted success for Southampton.
Hammond: We were willing to do anything for each other to win and off the pitch it was good as well. Lots of fun and games and lots of laughs. The one thing which really stood out in the dressing room was the respect the players had for each other. If you were in the starting eleven, in the squad or not involved, there was a real respect at the club where everyone brought into what we were trying to achieve.
Seaborne: You had people who trained at train 100 miles an hour every day and you had others that were more laid back like Guly. Leaders wise, you had the captain, Deano, Jose and Lambo who would turn a game on its head. You had Lallana who could do exactly the same.
Hooiveld: Adam Lallana was unbelievable. What I really liked about Adam was his footwork, it was like he was floating over the pitch because of his really great touches. The soft strokes of the ball using different parts of the foot were really amazing.
Gobern: There was a very good team moral. With Jose and Rickie, they brought a mentality that wasn’t at the club before. We stuck together and there would be team nights out, bonding sessions and other things that would strengthen our overall moral. That certainly wasn’t there a few years before.
Hammond: There wasn’t any sulking or whispers behind other guys backs. Everyone was moving in the right direction. That was the one thing that stood out for me and made it a joy to go into training every day.
Hooiveld: We were having so many coffees at Costa with sometimes 12 or 13 people from the team. It was so nice because you had already some groups (cliques) but they all overlapped, so everybody could hang out with each other.
In a season fraught with tension, early Spring provided Saints with the apex of their dramatic campaign. Leeds away was the fixture that would go on to define the promotion push.
Hammond: We won 1-0, we weren’t at our best but Kelvin (Davis) was just fantastic, there was no was no way he was going to get beaten. There must have been six or seven huge saves, goal-line tackles and scrambles. It was a result we really needed.
Hooiveld: That was an incredible one. I remember afterwards we were thinking ‘like how did we get away with it?’
Reed: That display by Kelvin Davis at Leeds was as good a goalkeeping performance you will ever see and (the performance) proved the spirit in that team was as good as you will find.
Hammond: To beat them 1-0 with that clean sheet was enormous for us. That was when we started thinking ‘right, we’ve got a really good chance here.’ The feeling around the dressing room and in the training ground the following week was just a complete realisation that we could do something really special.
Promotion was confirmed on the final day of the season with a 4-0 home victory against Coventry. Goals from Billy Sharp, Fonte, Hooiveld and Lallana ensured the club’s Premier League dream was fulfilled and the team could begin their celebrations.
Hooiveld: The last game of the season was against Coventry. Although the result was 4-0, it definitely wasn’t an easy or straight-forward game.
Hammond: Personally, I had my own strange week. We were moving to a new house and my wife was heavily pregnant and due with our first son. Sharpy (Billy) scoring was the best way to settle the nerves. We trained at the stadium all week which we had never done before because the manager wanted that.
Hooiveld: We were 2-0 up but still under pressure. They had some good chances and if they got a goal back, it might have been different. But when I scored and it went three-zero, it was over and everybody had that feeling like ‘okay, we’ve done it’ and were ready for what was coming (later that evening).
Hammond: I was doing an interview at the end (with Dan Walker for the BBC) and my excitement got the better of me and swore live on national tv, which I think will forever be remembered. I had come off injured earlier on and was waiting for the celebrations to start.
Hooiveld: I remember we went to The Four Seasons Hotel with the wives, and the girlfriends. It was just one night but it was unbelievable. We got through a lot of drinks, funny drinks.
Hammond: I had that much alcohol in me that I don’t think I felt the injury! I couldn’t carry on in the game but once I got a few beers in my body, any pain soon died away. It was a good night. We must have stayed in the dressing room for hours after the game just celebrating and that was just unbelievable.
Hooiveld: I think it was Dean Hammond who was swinging (off) one of the chandeliers and it ended up coming down. It was brilliant.
Hammond: I remember being taken back to my room by a club secretary because I had too much to drink and fallen over a couple of times.
Again under Nigel Adkins, neither player or manager would win a monthly award from the Football League. Rickie Lambert did end-up collecting Championship Player of the season, scoring 27 goals. The team finished second once more, racking up 88 points and recording the best goal difference in the league (+39)
Hooiveld: Nigel could always renovate a loss quite well. I remember he came up with this ‘bounce back mentality’ and that was interesting. We always had to put the positive on the board after (each defeat) and then also a negative. It gave us the feeling that once the game was done, we would move on.
Reed: Nigel did a great job coming in and two seasons later we were in the Premier League. We were three seasons into the five-year plan and were now two years ahead of target.
Hooiveld: We had always the outlet. We tried to play out from the back but if they were pressing us high, we always had the outlet to Rickie. He made sure the ball would stick up front and kept the ball. The way he would do it was unbelievable, so we always had a plan B.
Hammond: As captain you would go and see the referees before the game with the manager. I would have to bring the team-sheet to the officials dressing room and would read it out myself thinking ‘christ, I’m playing in this team!’
Despite back-to-back promotions, Adkins would be sacked eight months later as the club attempted to turnaround a passive start to life in the Premier League. It would signal the beginning of the end for the promotion-winning era.
Reed: Again, Nigel was fired unilaterally by the Chairman without much notice. But this time I could see the signs and was better prepared to react after it happened. I now understood that I needed to be able to identify and start the recruitment process almost at the drop of a hat.
Hooiveld: I do remember Nicola having the wish to bring someone else in who can bring the team further. He had the feeling that we get a new coach in, that is more into the details, you can bring the team further and with that, also the individuals who were already there.
That’s why I think also he separated himself in that way from the rest. That allowed him to do things that others might not understand. He just thought in that moment it was best and replacing Adkins was ‘the thing that I have to do’.
Reed: I began to refine the process of recruitment and install a Coach Tracking system to create a database of coaches. All subsequent managers were recruited this way until Ralph Hasenhuttl, who was recruited in the more traditional interview method after my departure. Although he was on the database and potential candidate list.
Nearly a decade on, the talent that existed within that group would soon be fulfilled. Many went on to perform upon football’s greatest stages. This would include Champions League, Premier League and European Championship medals, as well as appearances in the two ensuing World Cups.
Dickson: My overall time had ups and downs. A huge experience into what goes on behind the scenes, in terms of not just football politics behind the scenes of such a huge football club. It was a massive sleeping giant at the time, with a lot of money and a team in League One, dare I say, would beat the Premier League team now easily.
Gobern: But when I look back now, I don’t think I’ve been in a team that had so much talent in one team, especially in League One as well. Very rarely does a side at that level have that much quality.
Hammond: It was a fantastic team and we used to realise that, even at the time. The players I’ve mentioned hadn’t reached the heights they were going to in their career, but I knew they were really, really good players.
Dickson: The football club was clever, it was always run well and they understood the value of Lallana, Schneiderlin and the rest. They knew that they were going to be top players and if they kept them, they would get them out of League One, the Championship and be worth a stupid amount of money in the Premier League.
Hooiveld: You realised how close we were to the top teams in the end. They weren’t miles and miles away from the rest of us in the team, there wasn’t this one best team. It was all close in quality. You could then see why top clubs were really eager to sign our players.
Hammond: To get back-to-back promotions in the style we did has got to be one of the best, if not the best, team the football league has ever seen.
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