SAINTS fans are being forced to fork out up to £250 to Internet companies for tickets to the club's FA Cup semi-final clash with Watford.

Many other fans who have already purchased their priceless cup tickets are still waiting for them to be delivered after the Football Association had problems with their printing plans.

Loyal fans desperate to see Saints in their first FA Cup semi-final since 1986 are visiting Internet sites including The Online Ticket Shop and web auctioneers e-bay, where they are willing to pay excessive three-figure sums to secure their seat at Villa Park for the big match on Sunday, April 13.

All Saints season ticket holders have signed an agreement with the club that their tickets for all league and cup games - face value £20-£50 - are non-transferable.

The club says it can trace any fan who breaks the rule and has vowed to ban them from holding future season tickets and club membership.

Many fans believe the tickets being snapped up by Internet sellers are from the Football Association's own 5,000-ticket allocation for the semi-final match. Some have called for an independent inquiry.

But a spokesman for The Online Ticket Shop, based in London, said: "We have had to pay a higher than usual premium for the tickets we are selling.

"We get a lot of our tickets from fans who want to cash in and from other sources."

An FA source told the Daily Echo yesterday that it would hand any evidence of illegal ticket touting to the police and trading standards officers.

The spokesman added that it was "highly unlikely" that Saints fans would be able to find a semi-final ticket for below £250 now.

Nick Illingsworth, from the Southampton Independent Supporters' Association, said: "I don't think Saints season ticket holders can be blamed for the rip-off prices. I don't know of any loyal fan who would put making a profit above watching their team in such a huge match.

"Unfortunately, fans are so keen to watch Saints that they will pay stupid prices to do it. I've heard Watford fans are also being charged up to £165 a ticket by Internet touts."

Dave Ford, chairman of the Fair Oak Saints Supporters' Club, said: "I'm disgusted that so many loyal fans, many on low incomes, are being treated this way.

"I think we need an independent inquiry to find out how so many tickets from the FA's allocation for cup matches and England games get on to the black market.

"It was the same rip-off prices for tickets for the England-versus-Macedonia match at St Mary's Stadium. Fans should come first."

Meanwhile, thousands of fans are still waiting for their precious cup tickets after the FA had problems with the printing.

However, a spokesman for Southampton Football Club said that all fans would receive their tickets in time for the big game.

"The FA has experienced difficulties which meant that tickets were delayed in being delivered to us by a couple of days. We will make sure that every fan who has ordered tickets gets them at some stage next week."

Football Association spokesman Adrian Bevington said he was "puzzled" by the suggestion that tickets allocated by the FA were being sold on the Internet as there had been no evidence that this was taking place.

A spokesman for Southampton Trading Standards said: "As long as the fan buying the ticket off the Internet is told the face value of their ticket and where they will be seated in the stadium, then it is out of our hands whether or not they pay over the odds.

"Anything beyond that is a police matter."