Southampton Women's head coach Simon Parker has revealed that the club's women's set-up has experienced a "challenging" summer, resulting in significant budget cuts. The team, which competes in Women's Super League 2, now operates with the smallest budget in the league, impacting their strategy for the 2026-27 season.
As part of these changes, the women's team will primarily play their home matches at Eastleigh FC's Silverlake Stadium. This marks a shift from St Mary's Stadium, where they had played for the previous four seasons since winning promotion to the second tier in 2022. The Silverlake Stadium has a capacity of just over five thousand fans, a downsize from St Mary's 30,000-plus capacity.
Sources at Southampton have denied that these budget cuts are connected to the 'spygate' scandal, which saw the Saints' men's team removed from the Championship play-offs last season and start the current season on minus four points. Parker noted that the team will still play at least three games at St Mary's this season.
The club has also seen several key players depart, including goalkeeper Fran Stanton, captain Atlanta Primus, Aimee Palmer, and Tara Bourne this summer. Director of football Marieanne Spacey-Cale also stepped down earlier in the summer.