SAINTS boss Gordon Strachan is suing Coventry City Football Club for £300,000 worth of loyalty bonuses, the Daily Echo can reveal.

The flamboyant manager, who has steered Saints to an FA Cup final place for the first time since 1976, is suing his former employers for breach of contract.

Mr Strachan, 47, was sacked by Coventry in 2001 following the club's relegation from the Premier League.

In a writ which was issued in the High Court, Mr Strachan claims that bonus payments of £300,000 have not been paid to him - in spite of Coventry agreeing to give him the money.

In the writ Mr Strachan's former employers are alleged to have written a letter in September 2001 following his dismissal from the club saying that "the settlement terms in your employment contract will be honoured in full".

The club agreed to pay the money owing to Mr Strachan in instalments between September 2001 and June 2003 - amounting to £600,000.

But only £300,000 of the money was paid to the Saints manager, the writ claims.

It states that Coventry wrote to Mr Strachan citing its "financial position" as a reason for not making further payments.

Mr Strachan, who lives in a luxury house at Warsash, near Hamble, was not immediatel available for comment.