{"id":521035,"date":"2025-10-23T02:05:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T02:05:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/521035\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T02:05:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T02:05:17","slug":"southampton-playoff-mockery-is-going-so-bad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/521035\/","title":{"rendered":"Southampton Playoff mockery is going so bad"},"content":{"rendered":"

A lot has happened since the 2024 Championship Playoff Final. Southampton<\/a> beat Leeds United<\/a> that day, but that\u2019s probably the last good thing that\u2019s happened for the Saints.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The 49ers wanted an instant return to the Premier League with Daniel Farke appointed, but his former Norwich City captain Russell Martin was the man to dash those hopes at Wembley.<\/p>\n

A third defeat inflicted by Martin\u2019s Southampton on Farke\u2019s Leeds was the most damaging. A Playoff Final defeat that brought Saints\u2019 return to the Premier League, and consigned Leeds to another season in the Championship.<\/p>\n

Most Read on LeedsAllOver<\/p>\n

Leeds United sitting more comfortably despite brutal Playoff Final defeat to Southampton<\/p>\n

Southampton, like Leicester City<\/a> and Ipswich Town<\/a>, were keen to rub Leeds\u2019 noses in their failure to secure promotion.<\/p>\n

We bounced back in emphatic style from their Wembley heartbreak. Farke regrouped his Leeds side, the 49ers reinvested from the circa-\u00a3124million banked<\/a> in the summer, and Leeds went on to win the Championship title with 100 points.<\/p>\n

\"\"Daniel Farke lifted his third Championship title in his second season at Leeds United. (Action Images\/Matthew Childs)<\/p>\n

Southampton\u2019s battle to stay in the Premier League was virtually over before it began with lacklustre investment into the squad. Then, Martin retained a playing style that was tailor-made for relegation.<\/p>\n

Now, Leeds and the Saints have swapped divisions with the Whites back in the top flight and the South Coast club back in the EFL.<\/p>\n

Southampton\u2019s Leeds United mockery backfires for 16 months straight with Will Still facing huge sack pressure<\/p>\n

The \u2018I Predict A Riot\u2019<\/a> and Joy Division infatuation seemed funny at the time to all three promoted clubs, but the timeline for Southampton ever since making promotion about Leeds has been as bleak as you could imagine.<\/p>\n

First, failed signings under Martin meant the Saints were destined for the drop. Martin\u2019s unwavering faith in his failing system made matters worse. He was sacked in December despite penning a three-year extension in July, with the Saints on five points after 16 games.<\/p>\n

Ivan Juric wasn\u2019t much better, and Southampton found themselves finishing their Premier League campaign just clearing the worst-ever points tally in the division. Their \u2018success\u2019 in beating Derby County\u2019s unwanted record brought this very bizarre post on social media:<\/p>\n

\u201cSorry if we got your hopes up, @dcfcofficial,\u201d they wrote on X<\/a>. Perhaps the most damning indictment of how embarrassing it got, that this was posted as some sort of brag.<\/p>\n

\"\"Will Still is struggling badly at Southampton after being appointed in the summer. (Action Images\/Matthew Childs)<\/p>\n

Now back in the EFL, Will Still is under serious pressure as their 3-1 defeat at Bristol City on Monday night leaves them 17th after 11 games, with just two wins in that time. <\/p>\n

The Athletic\u2019s<\/a> update underlined the Southampton nightmare ever since that Playoff Final win over Leeds. The Saints have won just four league games since out of 47.<\/p>\n

Chants of \u201csacked in the morning\u201d reportedly echoed from the away end. A drastic 16-month capitulation since United were the butt of every joke.<\/p>\n

Read more: Jamie Carragher weighs in on Leeds United goalkeeper dilemma\u2026<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A lot has happened since the 2024 Championship Playoff Final. Southampton beat Leeds United that day, but that\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":521036,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8814],"tags":[748,25764,393,4884,1860,2922,142361,2359,142362,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-521035","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leeds","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-elland-road","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-leeds","13":"tag-leeds-united","14":"tag-lufc","15":"tag-southampton","16":"tag-the-whites","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115421034983627881","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}