Southampton's on and off-field issues could leave them in Championship turmoil for years to come: Opinion | OneFootball

Highlights

Southampton's return to the Championship hasn't been without its issues.

For the first time in over a decade, the club aren't playing football at the highest level of English football. It seemed like their fate was realised early on last season, and they started preparing for the drop not long into the Premier League season.

They brought in lots of young exciting assets that could, in the future command big price tags. They also brought in a new, exciting coach in Russell Martin over the summer to lead the club back to England's top division.

But it's not all been rosy so far. After eight games they sit on 10 points, having conceded 19 goals.

What's going wrong at Southampton?

There are two ways to break down the Saints' current struggles, the first, and most obvious, part is the side's on the pitch performances and results.

For a team that still has so much Premier League quality, they are really struggling compared to many thought they would be. Winning three of their first four was a good start, but it may have just papered over the cracks a bit.

Martin's team played Sheffield Wednesday, Norwich City, Plymouth Argyle, and QPR in those opening games. Two of them (Wednesday and QPR) were among the favourites to be heading down to League One for the 2024/25 season, and Argyle had only just been promoted from said league.

Since then, they've lost four on the bounce with many criticising the manager's insistence on always playing his risky brand of football. They've conceded 12 of their 19 league goals in their last four matches.

Martin is rightly under a bit of pressure. He has a squad that should be competing with the top clubs in the Championship. But his brand of football is, seemingly, hindering a very talented squad at times. Not enough chance creation and a risky approach at the back.

Last Saturday's defeat to Middlesbrough, who were yet to win a game in this new campaign, felt like a real low point; a moment where all associated with Southampton might have thought 'we might not escape this league.'

What are Southampton's off-field issues?

LIke their on-the-pitch prospects, Southampton's front offices were receiving high praise for getting the money that they did for the likes of James Ward-Prowse and Romeo Lavia; and they weren't the only two to leave.

So it looks like they were able to move on a lot of players, and freed up some space to improve the squad. But, due to payments for the likes of Lavia and Ward-Prowse being over a number of years, and with loans to be paid back, the club aren't sitting as pretty as many might assume, financially.

The club's CEO, Phil Parsons, told the Daily Echo “Immediately, for us, we lost about 50 percent of our revenue following relegation. For any business, that is huge."

Why these problems could lead to years in the Championship for Southampton

There have been a litany of clubs over the years that were once top-level teams, and then, in a matter of years, they're reduced to playing third tier football.

They were able to use the money they generated from sales to bring in some top-quality players, but that better work this season, otherwise they could be in deep trouble.

They were able to use the money they generated from sales to bring in some top-quality players. “We’ve got a squad with actually quite ‘healthy’ wages against other squads today. The obvious question that you want to ask is about how we sold a lot of players," said the Saints' CEO.

This wage bill might be alright whilst they're getting some parachute payments from the Premier League, but I'd be amazed if they're sustainable, in the Championship for longer than a couple of years.

The longer it takes for them to get promoted, the harder it will get. If Southampton aren't playing Premier League football next season, their revenue, and the money they can spend, will continue to drop, and they'll lose many of their better players. They won't have the finances to attract top-level players to replace the ones that will leave.

If that scenario pans out, which is looking more likely every week, then they could find themselves stuck among the 21st-45th best teams in the country for a long time to come.