Matthew Le Tissier has hit out at Saints chairman Nicola Cortese but has promised their ongoing feud will not detract from his support of the team.

There has long been tension between the St Mary’s chairman and the man who supporters last year voted as the club’s greatest ever player.

Cortese played an integral role in the now-deceased Markus Liebherr's takeover of the debt-ridden south coast club in 2009 – a time in which Le Tissier was part of a rival bid by the Pinnacle Group.

The 44-year-old did not pinpoint that as the reason for the pair's strained relationship but made his feelings on Cortese abundantly clear.

“I suppose the only real story will probably come out when he leaves the football club,” he claimed to Press Association Sport.

“He is not a very nice human being. It's as simple as that.

“When it's not quite going so well and the spotlight starts falling on other areas of the football pitch, then that's when he'll come under a little bit of pressure.”

Le Tissier was speaking at the Tullow Oil Golf Day, which is aimed at raising more than £150,000 for CLIC Sargent – the UK's leading cancer charity for children and young people.

No-one at Saints was available for comment when contacted by Press Association Sport.