SAINTS have lost almost £750,000 over the legal fiasco which saw former manager Dave Jones suffer an 18-month horror ordeal, wrongly accused of child abuse.

Jones was dramatically cleared on all 14 counts at Liverpool Crown Court yesterday when the case collapsed after just four days.

Southampton chairman Rupert Lowe was delighted by the verdict but was left fuming at the human and financial cost suffered by Jones and the club.

Jones has been forced to spend thousands of pounds clearing his name and will only receive back around two-thirds of his outlay after the long-running, high-profile and ultimately fruitless investigation.

But Saints are also out of pocket in a big way after giving Jones paid leave of absence in January before reaching a compromise settlement on his contract in September.

Lowe said: "Clearly our loss pales into insignificance compared to the pain suffered by Dave, but it is there nonetheless.

"We have had to pay two managers and two assistants for the best part of nine months and then we incurred a lot of costs on the managerial tribunal which would not have happened but for this.

"In all, I reckon we suffered a loss of between half a million and three quarters of a million pounds through no fault of our own.

"That is money which could have been invested in players or the new stadium. It is a crucial time in the club's development and when we are building a new ground. We can ill-afford to waste such sums.

"The people responsible for dispensing justice need to look at themselves and procedures to ensure this does not happen again.

"We all want to see justice is done, but you have to balance that against destroying people's lives unnecessarily and unjustly.

"And when a trial collapses inside a week it suggests the work should have been done more speedily and more thoroughly to bring it to a more satisfactory conclusion.

"As a club we were faced with some very tough decisions and it put me and the board in a very difficult position. We were in a no-win situation, but looking back I don't think we could have handled it differently.

"We are blameless in this but, like Dave, we have lost out. Although clearly, the most important thing is that we are delighted that he has been cleared, as we knew he would be.

"I hope the no-smoke-without-fire merchants will let an innocent man get on with his life and resume his managerial career.

"I have no doubt at all that he will do that and he will be successful. I have an extremely good relationship with Dave and if the opportunity arose I would have no problem working with him again."