Ahead of the 1993–94 season, three of Southampton's major signings were released after just a year in the squad – winger Perry Groves, who had signed from Arsenal for £750,000 the previous August, retired from professional football due to an ongoing Achilles injury, joining young Conference side Dagenham & Redbridge in the summer of 1993;[1] striker David Speedie, who had been "reluctantly" brought in from Blackburn Rovers for £400,000 and as part-exchange for Alan Shearer, joined Leicester City in August after several loan spells during 1992–93;[2] and Kerry Dixon, another striker who was signed for £575,000 from Chelsea to help replace Shearer but spent much of his debut season out on loan, joined Luton Town on a free transfer in October after a brief loan spell.

[3] Also signed during the summer were Simon Charlton, who made the step up from Second Division club Huddersfield Town to take over as first-choice left-back;[4] and youngsters Colin Cramb and Paul McDonald, who joined for a combined fee of £150,000 from Scottish side Hamilton Academical.

[9] In November, after approaches from multiple clubs, the team sold Tim Flowers to Blackburn Rovers for £2.4 million – a new world record transfer fee for a goalkeeper.

[9] Shortly after his arrival, Ball spent £850,000 on re-signing former Saints apprentice Craig Maskell from Swindon Town and adding Northern Irish midfielder Jim Magilton from Oxford United.

[14][15] He also offloaded several players from Branfoot's era, with Paul Moody sold to Oxford United for £60,000[16] and Terry Hurlock (to Millwall),[17] Micky Adams (to Stoke City),[18] Martin Thomas (to Leyton Orient),[19] and Lee Powell (to Hamilton Academical)[20] all released on free transfers.

[29] After an opening day 0–2 loss at home to Everton described by the Southern Daily Echo as "humiliating and desperately worrying", the Saints also lost away to Ipswich Town (0–1) and Queens Park Rangers (1–2).

[30] Amongst these fixtures, Southampton fans arranged protests against Ian Branfoot remaining as manager of the club, in response to which chairman Guy Askham assured that he would see out the season.

After the Liverpool defeat, the Saints picked up a narrow 1–0 win over a struggling Tottenham Hotspur side, with Maddison scoring the only goal of the game on the hour mark, heading in a chipped assist by Le Tissier.

[31] In the days after Christmas, Southampton picked up four points from a possible six, beating Chelsea 3–1 at home and drawing 1–1 with Manchester City at Maine Road, with Iain Dowie scoring in both games (his first goals in any competition since August).

[33] Whilst the club looked for a replacement, they were temporarily managed by coaches Lew Chatterley and Dave Merrington, who oversaw a 1–0 home win over Coventry City decided by a Le Tissier penalty on the stroke of half-time.

[34] Le Tissier made it 3–0 with a penalty for a foul just before half-time, before repeating the feat again shortly after the break following a handball to complete his hat-trick and extend Southampton's lead to 4–0 – Liverpool would pick up two late consolation goals through Julian Dicks and Ian Rush.

Two "scrappy" draws against Leeds United and Sheffield Wednesday preceded the side's heaviest defeat of the season, 0–4 at home to Arsenal, in which Ian Wright scored a hat-trick.

[36] On 9 April, Southampton faced Norwich City at Carrow Road, coming from behind four times throughout the match to win 5–4; Le Tissier scored a third away hat-trick in the second half, as well as setting up Monkou's last-minute winner with a corner.

[37] After a 0–3 loss at fellow strugglers Tottenham Hotspur, the club moved back up to 17th with a 4–1 home win over Aston Villa in which Le Tissier (who scored twice) was joined on the scoresheet by Monkou and Maddison, both of whom were assisted by the newly-named Player of the Season.

The last game in charge for Ian Branfoot, the tie took place at The Dell but saw the visitors "outplaying" the hosts from early on; in the 14th minute, Andy Porter scored a free kick to put his third-flight side ahead, after goalkeeper Dave Beasant made a mistake.

[40] With caretaker managers Lew Chatterley and Dave Merrington leading for their second and final game, Southampton were eliminated by a single goal scored in the 18th minute by Bernie Slaven.

[28] The final game of the season came three days after the league's conclusion and saw the Saints face nearby rivals Portsmouth for the first time since 1988, in a testimonial for goalkeeper Alan Knight.

[42] The FA Premier League side won the friendly match 5–1, with first-half goals from Iain Dowie and Neil Maddison followed by second-half additions from Craig Maskell, Jeff Kenna and David Hughes.

Two of these – Cramb[5] and Reid[9] – also made their last appearances for the Saints during the campaign, as did mid-season departees Micky Adams,[18] Glenn Cockerill,[12] Tim Flowers,[10] Terry Hurlock,[17] Paul Moody,[16] and Lee Powell,[20] plus five more players sold the following season: Ian Andrews,[46] Neal Bartlett,[47] Matthew Bound,[24] Kevin Moore,[48] and Steve Wood.