Back in the Championship and struggling, Southampton turned to a managerial structure that was hard to keep track of. Arguably the low point of these shifts in control happened in December 2005 when new Director of Football Woodward, assistant manager Dave Bassett and senior player Dennis Wise, all three with designs on a management job, shambolically attempted to manage the team between them for three hit and miss games. Wise, a product of Southampton's youth set-up, had left the club for the first time as an 18 year old after a falling out with McMenemy and had instead signed for Wimbledon, managed by Bassett, but now returned twenty years later. His previous role at Millwall had seen him take over as player-manager before a falling out with the new regime left him out of contract, signing a playing deal with Saints in June 2005. Bassett, meanwhile, was at the end of a lengthy up and down managerial career that had seen him take on a number of teams looking to fight for promotion or against relegation. He had arrived at Southampton as assistant to previous boss Harry Redknapp and now looked to boost the team up the Championship after Redknapp's disastrous spell. The new managerial team began struggling to a draw with Burnley before the teenage Theo Walcott scored his last goal for the club in a 1-0 win over Luton. Their final chance to prove themselves ended in an unimpressive loss against Norwich and the board decided it was time for a clearer, more permanent solution. Bassett and Wise, feeling the job had been promised to them permanently, quit their roles as assistant and player in anger, eventually teaming up again to manage Leeds.
