St Mary's at 25, Southampton's highs, lows and a bitter 2026 coda | OneFootball

25 years at St Mary's have brought ecstasy, embarrassment and everything between, capped by a bitter 2026 coda.

Four months passed without a home league win in the new ground amid talk of a buried Portsmouth shirt. According to Sainstmarching.com, a Pagan blessing came, Charlton were beaten days later, and the mood lifted.

Rupert Lowe divides opinion, but without him there is no stadium. Gordon Strachan's side set the standard, Cardiff for the FA Cup final, Steaua Bucharest in September.

Markus Liebherr bought a third tier club on a 10-point deduction, eight months later he saw a Wembley trophy win. He died the next August, never seeing promotion or a Premier League side at his stadium.

Liverpool took three players in one summer, Tottenham took the manager, and a rebuild was forecast. Sunderland still lost 8-0 at St Mary's in October 2014.

For two seasons that was the level. Inter Milan were beaten in Europe, a manager kept improving the replacements, then he went to Everton when asked.

October 2019 brought a 9-0 defeat to Leicester. Ralph Hasenhüttl made the squad likeable again within a season as ownership moved from Gao Jisheng to Sport Republic.

Relegation followed, then Wembley promotion in 2024 through Adam Armstrong, then relegation again. Each rise and fall was settled on the pitch.

In May 2026 the club admitted watching three opponents train in a banned window. The EFL expelled them from the play-off final, Middlesbrough replaced them, and a four-point penalty followed.

Source: Sainstmarching.com

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