Three years and five months after his death, a statue of Saints legend Ted Bates will finally be unveiled at St Mary's tomorrow night.

The £110,000 sculpture - at 17 foot high including the plinth and believed to be the tallest football statue outside a professional club's stadium - will be officially unveiled by Bates' widow, Mary.

Daughters Jo Bates and Jackie Jarvis will also be in attendance along with all of Saints' directors and first team captain Claus Lundekvam.

They will be joined by over 400 guests, including a catalogue of former players, at a dinner and grand auction organised by the Ted Bates Trust at St Mary's after the unveiling.

Bates passed away in November 2003 aged 85. He had spent 66 successive years with the Saints - an all-time record for one man to be associated with any one professional club in England.

He initially joined Saints as a player from Norwich City in 1937 and progressed to first team manager in 1955.

That was a position he remarkably held for 18 years until stepping aside to be replaced by Lawrie McMenemy, who as a Saints director will be at the unveiling tomorrow (7pm).

Bates later served Saints as a director and was the club's president until his death.

Four men who played in the same Saints teams as Bates in the eatly 1950s, and also served under him as a manager, are returning to Southampton tomorrow - Bryn Elliott, John Christie, Johnny Walker and Pat Parker.

There will be another five players who played under Bates when Saints were promoted to Division 2 in 1960 - captain Cliff Huxford, Wes Maughan. Peter Vine, Harry Penk and Brian Clifton.

Another five from the team that Bates led into the top flight of English football in 1966 will also be present tomorrow - Martin Chivers, Tommy Hare, Dennis Hollywood, Stuart Williams and Norman Dean.

Other ex-Saints who are turning up include FA Cup winners Mick Channon, Nick Holmes, Paul Gilchrist, Jim Steele and David Peach plus Jason Dodd, Jimmy Case, Bob McCarthy, Micky Judd and Brian O'Neil.

Fund-raising for the statue first started over two years ago with a bucket collection at St Mary's.

Fans raised an initial £50,000 through that and other events, including a dinner, with former chairman Rupert Lowe matching that amount from club funds.

The statue, though, has cost more than expected as sculptor Ian Brennan has made it three feet higher than initially planned.

The 11-foot statue will sit on a six-foot plinth and will be on show in front of the main concourse at St Mary's.

Report and pictures from the Ted Bates Statue unveiling and dinner will be in Monday's Daily Echo.