Rupert Lowe and Michael Wilde will return to Saints imminently with the current board set to stand down today.# Leon Crouch, Keith Wiseman and Patrick Trant are set to follow chief executive Lee Hoos and resign, shelving the need for Friday's EGM requisitioned by former chairmen Wilde and Lowe.

Once they have stepped down the wheels will be set in motion for Wilde and Lowe, who are backed by 46 per cent of the club's shareholding, to return to power at St Mary's as part of a four-man PLC board also containing Andrew Cowen and finance director David Jones, the only man to survive the cull.

Lowe and Wilde will withdraw their EGM requisition with their demands met meaning the meeting won't go ahead.

Crouch and his fellow board members have been hanging on in the hope that they could bring new investment to the table before their departure.

The EGM date they set was virtually the last possible moment it could be held and, despite facing certain defeat, they have hung on to try and bring in some much needed money.

The most likely group to provide that seemed to be the consortium featuring Jonathan Fulthorpe, John Cousins and Dave Merrington but the board have reluctantly had to accept that time has run out for them to come forward on their watch.

The change at the top of the club was still likely to have taken place anyway with Lowe and Wilde left to finalise any deal but Crouch would have liked a successful end to negotiations to end his spell as chairman.

For full story see today's Daily Echo.