How SOUTHAMPTON almost became a force in Europe
8Save for a couple of blink and miss it stints in the UEFA Cup and Cup Winners’ Cup in the reigns of Ted Bates and Lawrie McMenemy in the 1970s and 80s, Southampton hadn’t had much chance to shine in Europe.
They’d last earned a spot in Europe in 2003, as runners-up of the FA Cup, but quickly bounced out of the UEFA Cup to Steaua Bucharest.
In the mid-2010s, Southampton were enjoying their best spell since McMenemy recorded five top half finishes in the 1980s. Rather than a long reign like back in the good old days, Saints had haemorrhaged managers.
Nigel Adkins returned them to the big time, Mauricio Pochettino put them on the brink of Europe and Ronald Koeman marched them into the Europa League. However, both he and his successor Claude Puel couldn’t stop the European blight from ceasing.
Today, we’ll see if we can correct that and get them ahead of Sparta Prague and Hapoel Be’er Sheva in the 2016-17 group stage of the Europa League.
#Southampton #SaintsFC #UEL
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Voice: Jake Doyle (@jakedoyle93)
Words: Jake Doyle (@jakedoyle93)
Edit: Jake Doyle (@jakedoyle93)
What If Football is a form of footballing storytelling that takes the audience down a different path to our current reality.
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