No team can boast of having fought their way to the front with such lightning-like rapidity as the champions of the South and, if the opinion of experienced judges are worth anything, the Southampton men have absolutely no superiors.

It is true that they do not engage in first League duels, but the reason they do not do so is not that they consider they stand no chance of achieving premier honours, but that the departure would not pay them.

There are no League clubs in the Southa, the consequence being that if Southampton were to enter for the competition, about half their time would be spent in travelling to the North and back — a proceeding that would soon land them high and dry in Bankruptcy Court.

[4] The opening Southern League match was attended by a meeting of "anti-bobs" in Milton Road; "after [their] grievances had been aired, the participants therein wended their way to other haunts than the football field".

Why, our people would throw bricks at us.The Board are particularly anxious to retain a good team, but you must remember we have a big deficit and our summer wage bill is within £12 of our winter one, whilst for over four months we have not taken a penny.

[7] Three forwards joined the club in the pre-season: Jack Farrell returned from Stoke, where he had spent the 1898–99 season having played for Southampton from 1895 to 1898,[8] and Archie Turner was recruited from East & West Surrey League club St. Michael's, Camberley,[9] but the major signing was former England international Alf Milward from Football League Second Division side New Brighton Tower.

The team had three past or present England internationals (goalkeeper Jack Robinson and forwards Alf Milward and Harry Wood), while full-back Peter Meechan had previously played for Scotland.

Alongside Archie Turner on the right was Jimmy Yates, previously with Sheffield United and Ardwick, with the two former England internationals, Alf Milward and Harry Wood on the left.

In an interview with the boys' paper Chums, the club's "popular secretary and manager, Mr. Arnfield" said:In the main, [the cause of our success is] our bold forward policy of engaging only tip-top players.

[5] The season was then interrupted by bad weather and by the time the league restarted in early March, Saints were without Jack Farrell who had been seriously injured in the F.A.

[18] The return match at Fratton Park two days later, was attended by an Easter Monday crowd of 10,000 supporters who witnessed a "complete triumph" for Portsmouth with the two goals coming from Sandy Brown and Billy Smith.

The Portsmouth manager, Frank Brettell described Southampton as "stale" and predicted a "comfortable" victory for Bury in the FA Cup Final.

In the FA Cup, Saints were no longer required to qualify and entered at the first round proper, where they met Everton, who had finished in fourth place in the First Division in 1899.

To prepare for the semi-final, the Southampton players were sent to Buxton for a week's special training starting with morning walks "certainly the fat ones" followed by a bath.

Our fellows usually retire at ten, but the night before a big match they are all in bed by nine, They enjoy a long sleep, and don't appear for breakfast before nine.Our diet is an extremely plain one.

[3] The replay was the following Wednesday at Reading's Elm Park when a crowd of only 10,000 saw Alf Milward at his "electrifying best", scoring two goals in a straightforward 3–0 victory, to put the Saints through to their first appearance in the final less than 15 years after the club was founded.

Despite Robinson making "a couple of excellent saves",[1] the match was over as a contest when McLuckie scored his second goal after 23 minutes, following a "fine pass" from Wood.

The corner was quickly taken by Billy Richards to Plant, who shot "low and hard"[1] past Robinson to complete a "football lesson" for the Southampton players.

"Recorder" claimed that:This jealousy, while it disturbed the harmony that was so essential to success, did not develop into disloyalty ... but matters went badly for the team from the start, and some players, instead of making special efforts to save the game, attributed their non-success to the deliberate flouting of their wishes.

"[12] Although Farrell and McLeod played out the last three league matches of the season, both players left the club in the summer as did defenders, Meechan, Durber and Petrie.

Portsmouth played in pink shirts with maroon trimmings, earning them the nickname "the Shrimps",[25] with Southampton in red and white stripes.