News Briefing
Is this the man who can bring the good times back to Saints?
 |
| nathan Fulthorpe |
Hampshire pair Jonathon Fulthorpe and John Cousins are the latest men to be linked to investing in Saints.
No offer has yet been received for the club, despite reports of a potential takeover.
Saints, who last night claimed a crucial 1-0 win at St Mary's against fellow Championship relegation candidates Leicester, are in discussions with Southampton-based barrister Jonathon Fulthorpe.
He is understood to have paired up with local businessman John Cousins to lead a consortium to invest in the club.
Mr Cousins is a familiar face around St Mary's and is known as a devoted fan of the club, backing it with his former company Intech at every opportunity.
He signed a three-year sponsorship deal with the club, becoming the club's official landline provider, offering cut-price phone calls to fans under the banner of Saints Call.
For a time, he also signed Saints legend Francis Benali onto his sales team.
He described himself as a "firm fan", while then Saints head of sales Rupert Vittoria described him as having "commitment to our supporters".
His rumoured pairing with Mr Fulthorpe has been greeted with surprise from those within city's legal profession.
A high-flying barrister with more than 35 years experience, Mr Fulthorpe is a veteran of the property industry and said to be extremely well connected.
A barrister such as Mr Fulthorpe typically charges clients £400 an hour or a minimum of £1,000 a day.
He has acted for a number of local companies, including retirement flats giant McCarthy & Stone and Parkcrest Construction.
He is no stranger to controversy having has represented them in a number of high profile cases across the region, including a plan to develop historic Old Sarum airfield near Salisbury.
Legal contacts expressed surprise at his involvement in such a high profile venture as taking over Saints.
One lawyer, who did not want to be named, said: "He's a very senior barrister who clearly has a lot of money to throw around. He has to be extremely wealthy
"He is very dedicated to his work but is more of a heads down sort of chap. There is slight surprise that he has got himself involved in something like this. He's not a player."
A spokesman at Mr Fulthorpe's office said: "We have no comment to make at this stage."
Another member of the consortium is reported to be former Saints boss Dave Merrington, although he said he had no comment to make when approached by the Daily Echo.
It is believed Merrington has signed a confidentiality agreement form preventing him from publicly commenting.
The Daily Echo understands that neither a firm nor indicative offer has yet been made by the group, despite talks taking place between the parties.
Saints chairman Leon Crouch, said he had "no comment" on the reports.
It is believed that Mr Fulthorpe and Mr Cousins are fronting up a potential bid, with the identity of the people who could put in money a mystery.
In the same way that Ray Ranson was the front man for London-based Sisu taking over at Saints' league rivals Coventry City in December, it is possible that Mr Fulthorpe and Mr Cousins could take senior positions at St Mary's if any bid is successful.
Saints are currently without a chairman of the club's PLC board since Ken Dulieu quit in December, and Lee Hoos has been acting chief executive since Jim Hone left at the same time.
Mr Fulthorpe could be a candidate for the PLC chairman role.
Merrington's involvement could well mean the man who managed Saints in 1995/96 returns to the club in some capacity.
Saints are making large losses every month and desperately in need of investment to stave off the threat of administration.
The Echo understands the consortium is one of a number of potential investors Saints have been speaking to in a bid to try and find a long term solution to the club's money problems.
If an indicative offer is made it will be immediately announced to the Stock Exchange.
The club announced to the London Stock Exchange last month that it was again in a bid situation.
This heavily restricts any official comment they can make on any such matters.
10:33am Wednesday 12th March 2008
Print 
Email this 
Comment
What are these links for?
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
More on Digg
More on del.icio.us
More on Furl
More on reddit
More on NowPublic/
More on Yahoo!
