In the second part of our Great Escapes series, Club historians Dave Juson & Gary Chalk chart the course of Saints many sucessful attempts at escapology...
'The Great Escape' has become a well-worn cliché among the faithful of late. Surely, there must be other films with evocative musical scores that will serve as metaphors for near relegation experiences?!
Until somebody thinks of one, bear in mind that Saints' current predicament is unusual - omitting Saints three actual relegations they have, in 114 years of league football, flirted with demotion just six times (not including two of the three relegations) on the last day of the season.
 Another Matthew Le Tissier goal puts Saints on course for survival |
1995-96 Season
With Alan Ball decamping to Maine Road there was a romantic logic to appointing Dave Merrington as manager in his place - he had after all coached many of the squad at youth and reserve level - crucially Matthew Le Tissier.
Despite his bond with Matty, Merrington didn't seem to have quite the same degree of faith in him that Ball held. Le Tiss was returned to the wing and rarely looked the destructive force of the previous two seasons. Not, at least, until mid-April when his starring role in the 3-1 demolition of Manchester United at The Dell, was immortalised as the 'wrong shirts game'.
That result gifted the faithful a glimmer of hope, holding Saints at 16th in the Premiership.
Wimbledon and a near capacity 15,172 nail-chewing spectators attended the season's denouement at The Dell. Queens Park Rangers and Bolton Wanderers were already lost to the league, but Saints were teetering on the edge of the abyss with Coventry City and Bally's Manchester City, all on 37 points.
If that wasn't bad enough, Dave Merrington's wife was gravely ill, and he had to leave her sickbed to make the game. The omens were ghastly.
What of the game? It was a mess. Bereft of imagination and flare, simple manoeuvres were muffed, passes misdirected, and Wimbledon, having looking predatory early on, seemingly lost interest - but not quite enough of it to lose the game.
Seconds ticked by like hours…Coventry were nil-all at Highfield Road with Leeds United and unless they conceded a late goal they'd finish above Saints. Interest now centred on Maine Road where Man City had been 2-0 down to Liverpool. But then the murmurs went around The Dell: 'It's two-all!' If City scored again…well, it didn't bear thinking about!
Finally, at The Dell, two blasts were heard from the Acme Thunderer. Breaths were held. What was the other final score? Manchester City 2, Liverpool 2. Bally's side, not Merrington's, were down. The crowd went mad. The fact that the game lacked any redeeming features was immaterial - Every Saint, every one of them, was a hero, and so was Dave Merrington.
