 Once again, however, Southampton experienced a major loss of form in the spring, not helped by managerial instability caused by the resignation of George Burley followed by caretaker spells by John Gorman and then Nigel Pearson, and were left in serious danger of relegation to League One on the last day of the season.Fortunately, a win combined with some other favourable results ensured their survival for another year, but the enforced sale of most of their star players combined with the general inexperience of the remaining players and yet more changes in the managerial seat (Pearson was replaced by Jan Poortvliet prior to the start of the season, before Mark Wotte took over midway through the campaign) led to a disastrous 2008–09 season in which the club were never outside the bottom five at any point in the campaign, and never left the relegation zone after Christmas.Southampton was told on 23 April 2009 that it would be deducted ten points either in the 2008–09 season, should they finish outside the bottom three, or in 2009–10, in the event of them being relegated, due to its parent company going into administration a few weeks earlier.