The 2011–12 season was Southampton F.C.'s 72nd and seventh consecutive season in The Football League, and their first in the Championship since 2009. Having achieved promotion the previous season, the club were looking to retain their place in the second tier of English football and make progress towards their long-term aim of returning to the Premier League. The 2011–12 season was the first with new sponsor aap³, a Southampton-based company providing "business and IT solutions".

Southampton began their pre-season preparations in July with a two-game tour of Switzerland, in a similar fashion to the 2010–11 season. Later in the month, the club held the first edition of the Memorial Cup, inviting European teams to compete in a tournament in honour of former owner Markus Liebherr. Additional friendlies followed before the league began on 6 August 2011.

Southampton were relatively active in the summer transfer window, purchasing three new players, selling three and releasing five: midfielder Jack Cork, winger Steve De Ridder and defender Danny Fox made the move to St Mary's for undisclosed fees, while midfielder Oscar Gobern and defender Joseph Mills departed the club, and winger Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was sold to Arsenal for a club record £15 million in August. In the winter 2012 window, the Saints purchased strikers Tadanari Lee (the club's first Japanese player ever) and Billy Sharp, and made defender Jack Saville's loan move to Barnet final.

In April 2012, three Southampton players – goalkeeper Kelvin Davis, midfielder Adam Lallana, and striker Rickie Lambert – were named in the PFA Team of the Year for the Championship. After the last game of the season on 28 April 2012, Southampton were promoted to the Premier League as the runners-up of the Championship, just one point behind champions Reading.

...
Wikipedia