After losing striker Kevin Davies in a club record £7.5 million deal in the summer, Jones signed two replacements – James Beattie and Mark Hughes – as well as bringing in experienced winger Stuart Ripley.

Squad changes continued throughout the season, with the likes of Hassan Kachloul, Chris Marsden and Marians Pahars taking the places of players including Kevin Richardson, Stig Johansen and Carlton Palmer.

The Saints spent almost all of the season in the relegation places of the FA Premier League table, thanks in part to a dreadful start in which they picked up just one point in their opening eight games.

The story was almost identical in the FA Cup, as the ten-man top-flight side scraped through a third round home tie 1–1 with a late goal, before being eliminated by a 1–0 Fulham victory in the replay.

At the beginning of the summer, Southampton sold striker Kevin Davies for a club record fee of £7.5 million to Blackburn Rovers – ten times the amount they had paid for him just over a year earlier.

[3] Other arrivals in the summer included another Blackburn purchase, £1.5 million winger Stuart Ripley,[4] as well as free signings David Howells from Tottenham Hotspur,[5] Scott Marshall from Arsenal,[6] and Mark Paul from King's Lynn.

[7] Leaving the club during pre-season were full-back Lee Todd (£250,000 to Bradford City),[8] midfielder Kevin Richardson (£75,000 to Barnsley),[9] and winger Duncan Spedding (£75,000 to Northampton Town),[10] all of whom had only debuted the previous season.

Shortly after the start of the league season, the Saints signed full-back Scott Hiley on a free transfer from Manchester City, as backup for Jason Dodd and Francis Benali on either flank.

[11] They also sold Norwegian striker Stig Johansen, who had failed to make an impact in his one season in England, to Swedish club Helsingborg for £200,000 – a loss of £400,000 on his signing a year earlier.

[14] The same month, Danish goalkeeper Michael Stensgaard was signed from Copenhagen as backup for Paul Jones,[15] while striker Steve Basham was loaned out to Preston North End (he later joined permanently).

[25] The club finally picked up their first point in mid-September at home to Tottenham Hotspur, when they salvaged a 1–1 draw in the second half through Matt Le Tissier's first goal of the campaign from open play.

After an uneventful first half, Middlesbrough found themselves 2–1 up just after the hour mark, despite losing Robbie Mustoe to a red card; 20 minutes later, the Saints had reversed the advantage to 3–2, before Phil Stamp's dismissal saw the visitors go from ten to nine men.

[15] The week before Christmas, the club picked up their third win of the campaign when they beat Wimbledon 3–1 at home, with further goals prevented by the woodwork three times and goalkeeper Neil Sullivan.

[15] Back in the middle of the three relegation places, Southampton edged past Newcastle United in late-February, holding onto their first-half lead to win 2–1 over the mid-table side.

[31] Two slender 1–0 wins in March over West Ham United and Sheffield Wednesday came either side of a 0–3 loss at Middlesbrough, as the Saints continued to try and escape the drop zone.

[33] A week later, Southampton picked up their first and only away win of the campaign when they beat Wimbledon 2–0 at Selhurst Park, with late substitute Le Tissier credited for creating both goals.

[37] Fulham defended strongly to keep the increasingly frustrated Premier League side at bay, which culminated in them going down to ten men in the 70th minute, when centre-back Ken Monkou was shown a straight red card for an allegedly two-footed tackle on Rufus Brevett.

[37] Fulham dominated the replay at Craven Cottage, although it took until the 85th minute for them to break the deadlock, eventually finding success when Barry Hayles took advantage of a deflection in the box to send his side through.

[41] 13 players made their debut appearances for the club, including ten of their 13 first team signings (James Beattie,[2] Patrick Colleter,[14] Scott Hiley,[11] David Howells,[5] Mark Hughes,[3] Hassan Kachloul,[13] Chris Marsden,[18] Scott Marshall,[6] Marians Pahars,[21] and Stuart Ripley[4]) and three players making the step up from youth to the first team (Shayne Bradley,[42] Wayne Bridge,[43] and Garry Monk[44]).