Stephens opens up on "really difficult situation"

Saints ended the 2025/26 campaign 21 matches unbeaten in the Sky Bet Championship, only to be expelled from the play-offs after defeating Middlesbrough in a tense two-legged semi-final.

As captain, Stephens was faced with ensuring the players remained united as a group, particularly when they returned to Staplewood to begin pre-season, but the 32-year-old has been impressed with their “business as usual” approach.

“It was very well documented what went wrong at the end of last season, so there were always going to be a lot of eyes on us, a lot of question marks, but from my point of view and the players’ point of view it’s just been business as usual, it’s been absolutely spot on,” he said.

“I’ve got absolutely no complaints from anyone in the squad. It’s actually been really impressive to see how the group has grown together over the summer, and come back with a real positive mindset, a real determination to achieve what we want to achieve and what we probably should’ve achieved last year.”

Now in his 16th pre-season as a Saint, Stephens opened up about the challenges posed by the EFL sanctions, and welcomed the public message from Saints owner Dragan Šolak that followed the news.

“To be honest, it was a really difficult situation to go through,” he continued. “I didn’t have many answers myself at the time. It was a really unfortunate position that we were put in as players and as a football club, but these are the type of things that you need to bounce back from.

“The players have been absolutely magnificent. The support from all the staff around the football club has been exceptional. The owner, the way he spoke over the summer; from my point of view it’s great to see the owner speaking publicly, because it allows everyone to see what sort of guy he is.

“That’s just how we know him – he’s unbelievably supportive, he loves the football club, so I’m grateful that he was able to speak; and the fans – who have gone through so much and suffered with us – have been able to see that.

“Their support, we feel it every day. All through last season they were with us the whole way, and ever since we’ve come back we feel that again.

“One of this football club’s values is sticking together; whether it’s good or bad, we have to do it together. It’s massive credit to everyone involved: the players, the staff, the fans. It’s been unbelievable, and I have no doubt we’re going to do something special this year.”