Editing Southampton F.C. (section)

===Joining the Football League (1920–1966)===
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[[File:Fußballspiel Holstein Kiel gegen den FC Southampton, 3-1 (Kiel 76.968).jpg|thumb|Friendly match at [[Holstein Kiel]], Germany, 15 May 1964]]
After [[World War I]], Southampton joined the newly formed Football League Third Division in 1920 which split into [[Football League Third Division South|South]] and [[Football League Third Division North|North]] sections a year later. The [[1921–22 in English football|1921–22 season]] ended in triumph with promotion and marked the beginning of a 31-year stay in the [[Football League Second Division|Second Division]].

The [[1922–23 in English football|1922–23 season]] was a unique "Even Season" – 14 wins, 14 draws and 14 defeats for 42 points, or one point per game. Goals for and against statistics were also equal and the team finished in mid-table.

In 1925 and 1927, they reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup, losing 2–0 and 2–1 to Sheffield United and [[Arsenal F.C.|Arsenal]] respectively.

Southampton were briefly forced to switch home matches to the ground of their local rivals [[Portsmouth F.C.|Portsmouth]] at [[Fratton Park]] during [[World War II]] when a bomb landed on The Dell pitch in November 1940, leaving an 18-foot crater which damaged an underground culvert and flooded the pitch.<ref>{{Cite web |date=30 November 2010 |title=Southampton Blitz 70th anniversary remembered |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/hampshire/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_9241000/9241143.stm |access-date=16 August 2023 |website=BBC News}}</ref><ref name=":4" />

Promotion was narrowly missed in [[1947–48 in English football|1947–48]] when they finished in third place, a feat repeated the following [[1948–49 in English football|season]] (despite having an eight-point lead with eight games to play) whilst in [[1949–50 in English football|1949–50]] they narrowly missed out on promotion to second placed Sheffield United. In the 1948–49 and 1949–50 seasons, [[Charlie Wayman]] scored 56 goals, but relegation in [[1952–53 in English football|1953]] sent Southampton sliding back into Division 3 (South).

It took until [[1959–60 in English football|1960]] for Southampton to regain Second Division status with [[Derek Reeves]] plundering 39 of the champions' 106 league goals. On 27 April 1963, a crowd of 68,000 at [[Villa Park]] saw them lose 1–0 to [[Manchester United F.C.|Manchester United]] in the FA Cup semi-final.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Murray |first=Scott |date=31 August 2012 |title=The Joy of Six: memorable Manchester United v Southampton matches |url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2012/aug/31/joy-of-six-manchester-united-southampton |access-date=16 August 2023 |website=The Guardian}}</ref>