Southampton Saints Girls and Ladies Football Club was an English women's football club formerly affiliated with Southampton F.C.. They played in the. At the end of the 2013–14 season the South West Combination WFL dissolved and the team moved into FA Women's Premier League - Division One South West. They finished 4th out of the 9 teams in the newly formed leagues' first season. The club was disbanded due to financial reasons in July 2019
History
The club began in 1979 as Red Star Southampton, competing in the Home Counties League then the Southern Regions League. In 1991 Red Star won the Southern Region Division One and became founder members of the FA Women's Premier League National Division. In August 1991 the club were in Russia as guests of FC Spartak Moscow during the collapse of the Soviet Union. The first season at national level saw Red Star finish second in the League to Doncaster Belles and also lose the 1992 WFA Cup final 4–0 to the same opponents. Red Star failed to build on their promising start and were relegated from the top flight in 1994–95. In summer 1995 the club became known as Southampton Saints due to affiliation with Southampton F.C., winning promotion as Southern Premier League champions in 1995–96. However the club's second spell in the top-flight lasted only a season, as 1996–97 ended in another relegation. Southampton Saints then won the 1997–98 Southern Premier League and secured a mid-table finish in the 1998–99 National Premier League – being named Most Improved Side at the annual FA Awards. In 1999 the club reached its second FA Women's Cup final. This time they were beaten 2–0 by Arsenal Ladies, before a crowd of 6,450 at The Valley. The club maintained its top-flight status and was merged into Southampton F.C. in 2001. As part of this process the Saints' long-serving manager Vanessa Raynbird was controversially sacked to make way for a male coach. The club was relegated in 2002–03 and this time was unable to bounce straight back, missing out on promotion by a point in 2003–04. Sue Lopez had been appointed manager in 2003. In 2005 Southampton FC were relegated from the men's Premier League and withdrew their support for Southampton Saints as a result. The team continued as an independent outfit, but were relegated to the South West Combination in 2006–07 after a shambolic season in which they won just once and were unable to field a team for a match in February. They had evaded relegation by a point in 2005–06. Yet another relegation saw the club playing at Southern Region level from 2008 until 2010, when they returned to the South West Combination as champions under the guidance of new manager Adam Lee.
