It’s been a while since Southampton competed in the Championship, and after the upcoming 2023-24 season, Saints fans will be crossing everything they have on their stay will be short and sweet, and avoiding a repeat of the last time the club were relegated from the top-flight, spending seven seasons languishing in the second and third tier of English football.

Following the club’s return to Premier League action in 2012, their eagerness to develop youth players coupled with their eye for sublime recruitment saw the South Coast side push on up the table and finish within the top eight in four consecutive seasons. While that may now seem like a distant memory, the St. Mary’s faithful will be hoping for a swift return to the good old days under new manager, Russell Martin.

With doubt being raised over Captain, James Ward-Prowse’s future at the club and how the team will take shape without him, it begs the question; how did Saints’ XI look when the club were last in the Championship during their 4-0 promotion-winning triumph over Coventry City?

Kelvin Davis

Kelvin Davis spent a large proportion of his professional career in the Football League, at sides like Luton Town, MK Dons, and Ipswich. Yet, it was at Southampton that the veteran shot-stopper found a home. A mainstay at St Mary’s for over a decade, the goalkeeper made over 300 appearances for the Saints, keeping 96 clean sheets in that time. Hanging up his gloves in 2016 at the age of 39, Davis went into several development and coaching roles at the club, but as of May 2022, was relieved of his duties.

Read more: 20 Greatest Goalkeepers in Premier League History (Ranked)

Danny Butterfield

A player that those at Selhurst Park will know well, Danny Butterfield chalked up 266 appearances for Crystal Palace and remains highly regarded in South East London. After swapping the banks of the Thames for the coast, the right-back’s time at Southampton was somewhat disappointing, playing just 10 times in the league during the 2011-12 campaign, turning out for the club’s final five games.

Leaving Southampton in 2013, the defender would subsequently play for Bolton, Carlisle, and Exeter before hanging up his boots in 2016. The lad from Lincolnshire has since found himself back in familiar territory as assistant manager at League One side, Lincoln City.

Jos Hooiveld

Standing at 6,4, Dutchman Jos Hooiveld was Jose Fonte’s trusted centre-back partner. The towering defender only made 77 appearances for the club, but his contributions to their 2011-12 promotion cause were invaluable. An aerially dominant, old-fashioned centre-half, the player made 39 Championship starts during their promotion-clinching season. Having led somewhat of a nomad existence, jumping from club to club, Southampton was the closest thing Jos Hooiveld had to an enduring, and steady home.

Jose Fonte

At the time of the 4-0 win over Coventry that secured Southampton’s ticket back to the promised land, in retrospect, Saints fans probably didn’t comprehend just how good their side was for League One and Championship level.

Jose Fonte is certainly demonstrative of that. The Portuguese centre-half went on to become a fully-fledged Portugal international, starring in the country’s European Championship win in 2016, as well as making a name for himself as an established Premier League-quality defender. With a career spanning three separate decades, it’s a testament to his physical condition that at 39, he is still playing professional football. Now back in his native Portugal representing Braga, Fonte is entering his 22nd campaign as a footballer.

Danny Fox

With two Dannys operating the flanks, Adkins’ instructions may have been greeted by befuddled looks and shrugged shoulders. Left-back, Danny Fox featured on 42 occasions for the Saints during the 2011-12 season, registering a very solid 11 assists. The Everton Academy alumni spent his remaining years at Nottingham Forest, and Wigan Athletic, as well as a season in the Indian Super League for East Bengal in 2021 before announcing his retirement.

Morgan Schneiderlin

A name familiar to most Premier League fans is, of course, Morgan Schneiderlin. The central midfielder’s Southampton roots go back to the League One days, where the French deep-lying playmaker would run games for the Saints with his varied, pinpoint passing and incredible ability to break up play. Like that of Lallana, Lambert, and Fonte, Schneiderlin made the transition to Premier League football seamlessly, with his class and aptitude when it came to dictating play almost as prominent against sides like Man United, Chelsea, and Liverpool as it was against the likes of Peterborough, Carlisle United, and Dagenham & Redbridge just two years prior in League One.

Making the switch from Southampton to Manchester United during the summer transfer window of 2015, the player had already warranted international call-ups to the France squad and was looking every bit the European-level midfielder. Despite an underwhelming stint in Manchester, the Frenchman wangled himself a move to Everton, before spells at Nic and West Sydney Wanderers. At 33, Scheniderlin is currently plying his trade at the Turkish side, Konyaspor.

Dean Hammond

Dean Hammond's CV is very in-keeping with the half-and-half theme of this XI, with some of the players going on to reach new heights beyond Championship promotion, and for others, it represented the pinnacle of their careers. Central midfielder, Hammond was very much in the bracket of the latter, spending most of his footballing days in the Championship and below. The player never actually got the chance to pull on the Southampton shirt in the Premier League the following season, having been loaned out to Brighton. Going on to play for the likes of Leicester and Sheffield United, Hammond would eventually retire at the age of 37, after a healthy career, which saw him rack up 485 senior appearances.

Adam Lallana

As one of the Class of 2012, Adam Lallana has by far and away, gone on to achieve the most as far as his teammates are concerned. The silky attacking midfielder was a cornerstone in the Southampton side that romped to back-to-back promotions from League One and the Championship, contributing a truly staggering combined 40 G/A involvements across the two seasons.

The player’s rise through the leagues was remarkable, and his ceiling didn’t stop at being just an average Premier League player. Sealing a dream move to Liverpool in 2014, the player would go on to receive 34 England caps, and be a part of Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool side that won every major honour on offer. Now winding down at Brighton, the 35-year-old has enjoyed quite the mesmeric career.

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Guilherme do Prado

Guilherme do Prado, known affectionately as “Guly” by the Southampton faithful, is a bit of a perennial cult hero at St Mary’s having spent two seasons at the club. The Brazilian, who played in his homeland for most of his career, tallied an impressive 31 G/A from attacking midfield across the two promotion-conquering campaigns with the club.

Despite his pivotal benefactions to the side’s second-place finish the season preceding, his jump to the Premier League wasn’t as prosperous as that of some of his counterparts, with his capacity being reduced to more of a squad player. After four years in England, Guly headed back across the Atlantic spending a year in the MLS at Chicago Fire, before journeying back to Brazil to compete in the nation’s first division. Retiring aged 37, it’s anyone’s guess what the enigmatic Guly is up to these days.

Billy Sharp

When he’s not publicly goading Wrexham, the veteran Sheffield United legend could be found scoring goals for his boyhood club. Since the Blades won promotion back to the Premier League, the striker was told that he was surplus to requirements at Bramall Lane following the conclusion of his contract.

With the 37-year-old player now without a club, he may well be contemplating retiring from the sport he loves, despite offers from several EFL clubs, including Rotherham. Regardless of whether he retires this summer or next, Sharp has proved emphatically that he has withstood the test of time, and that old adage of form being temporary and class being permanent.

Rickie Lambert

The scouser had been with the club through thick and thin, and his goals subsequently sent them up from League One. Yet, the Championship posed a different set of challenges, challenges Lambert overcame with aplomb, earning himself the esteemed title of the 2011-12 Championship's top goalscorer. Following promotion, the forward’s career enjoyed quite the revamp, asserting himself in arguably, the world’s most competitive league, with 22 G/A involvements in his debut campaign in the top-flight, earning himself an international call-up aged 31. His efforts were rewarded with a move to his boyhood club, Liverpool, and a spot on Roy Hodgson’s plane to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

After stints at West Brom and Cardiff, the striker called time on his professional career at the age of 35, and has since followed the well-trodden path of Southampton legends past, by becoming an ardent conspiracy theorist, having recently denounced the government and more alarmingly, is now a keen advocate for the “Great Awakening”.