Including Premier League, Europa League, League Cup and FACup campaigns

A season that promised much and until the 87th minute of the EFLCup Final at Wembley, delivered. From that moment on, it seemed that the season was in a slow decline. The matches at St.Mary's became harder and harder to watch. 17 goals in 19 Home Premier League games rather speaks for it self. The boos that rang out at the conclusion of the final match of the season will stay with me for some time. In spite of this Saints still managed to finish in 8th place in the Premier League, but let's not kid ourselves, there was a huge gulf between 8th and 7th.

So, a mixed season.

Including Premier League, Europa League and FACup campaigns

You will find reports here on all Saints competitive matches in the 2015-16 season. As before a lot of the match reports were contributed by regulars on the IBO Forum. The reporters have completely different styles and that helped keep everything fresh. The intention is for this to continue for the new season.

I hope you enjoy looking back at yet another great season.

Including League and FACup campaigns

This is by far the most complete section, with reports on all Saints competitive matches in the 2014-15 season. A lot of the match reports were contributed by some of the regulars on the IBO Forum. The reporters have completely different styles and that helped keep everything fresh. The intention is for this to continue into the 2015-16 season.

I have also decided to leave the various cup games here, rather than move them to the previously separate cup section. It just seemed more sense to look at the season in context, with everything under one roof.

I hope you enjoy looking back at a great season.

I learnt an important lesson here. You should always back up your files. I did, sort of, but on an irregular basis and I didn't check them. The reports for this season went awol, when I had a hard drive lunch itself and the back up was a) not up to date and b) was corrupted anyway. So, when I was busy working on another part of the site, it somehow reduced the 2013-14 season reports to gibberish.

I back up to two different places now. Lots of times a week.

In the meantime, I will be working to at least get the stats up for this section. There are a small number of games there now, which I managed to retrieve the reports for.

Saints survived that crucial first year back in the Premier League in 14th spot and 5 points clear of the relegation zone. That was the important statistic, but there was a lot more to it than that.

The season started with virtually no experience of the top flight football anywhere in the club and it showed in the first few games. Saints tried to play the way they had to great effect in The Championship. That gung-ho attitude was never going to work and it was a painful lesson for Nigel Adkins and the team.

Gradually, they began to get a grip and just as you felt that a corner had been turned, Nicola Cortese sacked Nigel. This had obviously been planned for some time. He had learned the lesson of Alan Pardew, where there was a huge gap before Nigel was appointed. This time, Mauricio Pochettino was installed within days.

There remain quite a few problems to resolve before next season, but overall there is a sense of huge optimism.