THE HUNT is on to find a buyer for Southampton's Vida soccer centre after the parent company went bust with massive losses.

The £1.6m outdoor soccer centre in Millbrook Point Road is still trading for the time being while administrators for the company are searching for a buyer.

Vida Sports Limited, which runs 13 centres across the UK, is thought to have run up debts of about £15.5m after being sold last year for £30m by Glasgow Rangers FC boss David Murray.

The Edinburgh based firm decided to call in the administrators in a last-ditch attempt to save the company.

A member of staff at the Southampton centre, who declined to be named, said: "It's business as usual. We are still taking bookings and our jobs are safe."

The hi-tech centre opened in July last year to serve the booming five-a-side football market with eight "rubber crumb" pitches, which cost £27.50 for 50 minutes, including referee.

Administrator Colin Dempster, of accounting firm Ernst and Young, said the company has over-extended itself with ambitious expansion plans.

He said: "Its roll-out strategy appears to have been too aggressive with not enough attention paid to the core nitty-gritty of profit and loss.

"Vida has sought the protection of an administration order whilst we assess the business. Vida has a good network of UK sites in convenient locations.

"We are continuing to trade as normal and our priority is to sell the business as a going concern."

Companies who could be interested in taking over the sites include rivals PowerLeague and Goals.