Monday Briefing: August 24th

Ward-Prowse signs new five-year deal

Southampton Football Club last week announced that its captain, James Ward-Prowse, has signed a new five-year contract at St Mary’s.

The 25-year-old midfielder, who has been with Saints since the age of eight, agreed the new deal ahead of the 2020/21 season and is now set to take his association with the club beyond 20 years as a result.

Ward-Prowse, a former England Under-21 captain who has been capped twice at senior level for his country, represents another shining example of the club’s Academy and its reputation for developing young talent.

Ings wins Player of the Season double

Southampton striker Danny Ings has capped an incredible year by winning both of the club’s Men’s Player of the Season awards for 2019/20.

Ings, who scored 25 goals across all competitions, including 22 in the Premier League, was the unanimous winner among his teammates of the Player’s Player of the Season prize, sponsored by Monster Energy, with only his own vote going to someone else.

The boyhood Saints fan, who was second in the Golden Boot race during the most recent campaign, was also a runaway winner of the Fans’ Player of the Season award, sponsored by Virgin Media.

A full list of the winners can be found here.

New fixture list revealed

The Premier League fixtures for the 2020/21 season have been revealed, with Southampton kicking off with a trip to Crystal Palace on the opening weekend.

Saints will travel to Selhurst Park on Saturday 12th September, before hosting another London side, Tottenham Hotspur, in their first home outing the following weekend.

Boxing Day sees Saints head to newly-promoted Fulham, while London is also the destination on the final day of the season, as the team sign off the campaign at West Ham on Sunday 23rd May.

Supporters can familiarise themselves with the full fixture list here.

EFL Trophy opponents confirmed

Southampton's youngsters have been drawn in Group C for this season's EFL Trophy, along with MK Dons, Northampton Town and Stevenage.

Northampton were promoted via the play-offs from League Two last season, joining fellow League One outfit MK Dons in the group stage. 

Saints are one of 15 invited Premier League teams to compete against the League One and League Two clubs, doing so for a fifth successive season.

U23s edged out by Wycombe

The first 90 minutes of the new season took place at St Mary’s on Friday afternoon, as Championship side Wycombe edged out Southampton’s Under-23s 1-0.

The game, which was evenly fought throughout, was eventually decided by a 58th minute header from Alex Samuel via a corner.

“It was a brilliant pre-season game,” Under-23 boss Dave Horseman said. “One because we’ve just played a Championship team, and the club have allowed us to play here at St Mary’s. Second half we had so many young scholars playing against Championship players so I think it’s the ultimate pre-season game really.”

Season Ticket renewal deadline approaching

Existing Season Ticket holders have until Tuesday 1st September to guarantee their seat for 2020/21 and take advantage of the special loyalty price.

The club have once again frozen Season Ticket renewal prices and introduced The Saints Promise – a series of commitments designed to protect Season Ticket holders, including a direct refund for any fixture played behind closed doors or where a Season Ticket holder cannot attend due to reduced capacity.

Simply login to your online account, click on ‘Season Ticket renewals’ and your seat will be ready and waiting for purchase. Alternatively, supporters can fill in this form and request a call back from our Ticketing team.

Stadium Store reopens

Saints fans can now shop in person at the club’s Stadium Store after it reopened on Friday, with great savings on our Spring/Summer collection!

The Saints Store at St Mary’s will be open between 10am-4pm from Monday to Saturday, with ticketing representatives available for fans to buy their 2020/21 Season Tickets each day.

Please note that the Ticket Office windows will not be open and ticketing representatives are no longer present at Saints Store Westquay. Instead, Ticketing staff will now be positioned on a non-matchday in the stadium store.

Return to St Mary’s

Over the coming weeks, Southampton Football Club will be bringing fans regular updates as they prepare to Return to St Mary’s.

We’ll keep you informed of new developments as we look forward to being able to welcome supporters back to the stadium. 

Check the website for regular updates, or you can see all the information about the Return to St Mary’s here.