SAINTS have hit back at Stuart Gray, saying his assistant Mick Wadsworth was the main reason he was sacked as Saints manager back in October 2001.

They were responding to Gray's stinging attack on Rupert Lowe yesterday in which he largely blamed his St Mary's exit on a refusal to be a 'yes' man for the chairman and his opposition to the signing of £3.25m flop Agustin Delgado.

But the club's official website said: "The prime reason why his appointment did not work out was his choice of right-hand man in former Scarborough boss Mick Wadsworth who had no respect from the players whatsoever and who has since been sacked by Huddersfield, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Portugese side Beira Mar.

"Lowe had suggested that Gray should bring in former Blackburn boss and England under-21 coach Ray Harford as an elder statesman to give the fledgling coach guidance rather than competition."

Lowe again insisted his former manager had sanctioned the Delgado deal.

He also responded to the claim he had originally wanted it said Gray left by mutual consent.

"There has never been any suggestion that Stuart Gray left by mutual consent," said Lowe.

"He was sacked and he is the only manager that I have fired.

"We have never tried to hide the fact that Stuart Gray did not work out. Andrew Cowen and I called in Stuart and Mick Wadsworth and we paid a lot of money to ease the pain of being sacked.

"As far as the Delgado claims are concerned, I do not recall Stuart saying he wanted Diego Forlan but in any case he went for £7m which was out of our price range.

"At the time the transfer market was hugely inflated and English strikers were moving for £10-14m so we were forced to look overseas.

"Terry Cooper travelled to Bolivia and saw Delgado destroy them. He also outscored Batistuta and Crespo in the World Cup qualifying groups to fire Ecuador to their first ever finals and so we signed him and Stuart sanctioned it. Clearly in hindsight it did not work out, but I don't really want to dwell on the past at a time when we should be looking forward positively and in unity."

Lowe yesterday also launched into a now familiar attack on the media.

The Daily Echo naturally defends its right to have also presented the views of Gray - a former Saints manager who wanted to get his side of the story across to the fans after remaining silent on the matter for more than three years, writes JEREMY WILSON.

Saints' claims that the Echo did not contact them for a response to Gray's comments are untrue.

The club were aware Gray would be speaking out the day before his interview was published. His quotes were then in the public domain several hours before the Echo went to press.

Saints were also contacted by the Echo yesterday morning, but decided not to respond until later in the afternoon after the paper had been published.