Southampton, the worst team in history? Paul Jewell knows the feeling | Southampton

For Southampton, there was the initial pain of conceding a stoppage-time equaliser at home to Crystal Palace on Wednesday. Then came the niggling knot in the stomach as they faced up to keeping alive another shot at unwanted history: the possibility of becoming, statistically at least, the worst team in Premier League history.

For now that mantle belongs to Derby County, who were relegated with 11 points in 2007-08, a campaign in which they recorded a solitary win and were officially down before the clocks went forward at the end of March.

In midweek Southampton were heading towards their third league win of the season until, two minutes into the eight added on, Matheus França twisted his head to guide Jefferson Lerma’s cross goalwards. Jack Stephens crashed to the turf, Welington dropped to his knees. Jan Bednarek and Tyler Dibling covered their faces with their hands. Mateus Fernandes swivelled in anguish. Aaron Ramsdale thumped the grass in disbelief. Cue that all-too-familiar sinking feeling. Relegation will be confirmed on Sunday if Southampton lose at Tottenham and Wolves have won at Ipswich the day before.

“A lot of people in that Derby squad were coming in thinking: ‘We’re going to get beat today,’ before even coming into the dressing room,” recalls the then Derby striker Steve Howard, who made 20 top-flight appearances before being sold to Leicester in January that season. “I think that’s the mentality Southampton have got now. Everybody would’ve been panicking, 1-0 up, looking at the clock thinking: ‘Well, there’s five minutes to go. Oh my God, here we go, they’re going to score.’ You drag that momentum in for the opposing team and end up drawing or losing the game.”

This week Ivan Juric, who replaced Russell Martin in December, acknowledged the challenge. “I don’t want it to be that we are the worst team in the history of [the] Premier League,” he said. Those who lived that season at Derby now talk of being the butt of jokes and quiz questions. “It might be a bit of a relief when they are relegated and have that ‘R’ next to their name,” Howard says of Southampton. “But I think they’ll get a couple of draws and get more points than we got.”

Paul Jewell replaced Billy Davies as manager 14 games into Derby’s season but recorded five points from the remaining 24 matches. “My managerial career never recovered from it,” Jewell says. “As I was driving up there, David Moyes called me and he said: ‘Are you going to Derby?’ I said: ‘I’m on the way.’ I was on the M1, just gone past junction 36. He said: ‘Well, get to 37, come off, go around the roundabout and go back home. We played them not so long ago and they won’t win another game all season.’ I just went: ‘Yeah, all right, David.’ Unfortunately he was right.”

Southampton registered arguably their best performance of the season against Palace but, again, could not get over the line. They excelled against Manchester United at Old Trafford in January, leading 1-0 after 81 minutes, but lost 3-1, after an Amad Diallo hat-trick. They impressed at home to Liverpool in November but conceded a cheap penalty, allowing Mohamed Salah to strike the winner.

“I was watching Southampton against Chelsea this season and Southampton could’ve easily been in the lead and the next thing they’re 3-0 down in a heartbeat,” says Jewell, whose son, Sam, is director of global development at Chelsea. “I was thinking: ‘I’ve seen this before.’”

For Jewell, his first month in the job, six games in a typically busy December, proved sapping. The manner in which the 60-year-old reels off the results, dates and goalscorers is evidence it is a season that sticks in the memory. “My first game was Sunderland away, we were 0-0 but then we conceded in the 93rd minute, Anthony Stokes,” he says of the first of several nearly-moments.

“Then we went up to Newcastle on 23 December, we were 2-1 up in the 87th minute and then [Mark] Viduka got an equaliser, so we drew 2-2. We played Liverpool on Boxing Day, Steven Gerrard scored in the 93rd minute to beat us 2-1. We played Blackburn at home on the 30th, we went 1-0 up, got a penalty, we missed it and we lost the game 2-1.

“If we could have got those points – and they’re not pie in the sky – it would have given us something to hang on to. We never had a bounce, that feelgood factor on a Monday morning. The Premier League is so unforgiving. Sometimes you need something to go your way, a bit of luck, a bounce of the ball, and that can spark a revival or a bit of confidence, and we never had it. I think we still would have gone down but we would have gone down with a bit more dignity than we did.”

Derby signed eight players in the January window, including Emanuel Villa, Robbie Savage and Hossam Ghaly, but Jewell was powerless to change their fortunes. Only David Jones, Craig Fagan, Tyrone Mears, Andy Griffin and Giles Barnes played in the top flight again. “That season is a cloud over my head all of the time … it hurt me then and it still hurts me to this day,” says Jewell, who has not returned to the game since leaving Swindon as director of football in 2021.

Jewell believes he was guilty of being too honest, in interviews and with his players. “I know Matt Oakley said the manager came in and all he did was tell us how bad we were, and he might have a point. I was brought up in Liverpool, with Roy Evans, Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan and Ronnie Moran on you all the time. I remember Ronnie saying to me: ‘The day I stop having a go at you is the day I’ve given up on you.’ Maybe I was wrong to think everyone had that mentality where they could take it. It’s not about blaming the players – I’m standing up saying: ‘Yeah, I made mistakes.’”

The betting company Paddy Power produced a spoof “Rams Anonymous” advertisement featuring Danny Mills and Alan Stubbs, who also joined Derby in January that season, when their record was under threat with Sheffield United struggling in 2020-21. Jewell also received the invitation but declined. “It was no laughing matter for me,” Jewell says. “It was a serious, tough time in my life. I think it would have been disrespectful for me to make money by taking the mickey out of the fans.”

At this stage of the season, Derby also had 10 points. In midweek Paul Onuachu took his goal tally to four for the season, as many as Kenny Miller, Derby’s top scorer in 2007-08. Derby won their final point on the day their relegation was confirmed with a draw against Fulham.

“Would I change anything? Yes, I would … because people like you ring me up every year when a team is struggling,” Jewell says, with a chuckle. “I would love this to be the last one. I don’t wish it on Southampton but hopefully they’ll break the record – I think they won’t, I think they’ll get more points than us – and people can ring up their managers in the future.”