SOUTHAMPTON MP John Denham admits he's surprised by how quickly St Mary's "feels like home".

Denham, MP for Southampton Itchen, has been a season ticket holder ever since Saints moved to their new stadium in 2001 but was a regular at The Dell for over a decade before that.

While he confesses that he always backed the proposal for an out-of-town stadium complex near Eastleigh, he is nevertheless a massive fan of the £32m St Mary's.

"I campaigned for a new ground in Stoneham for a long time," he admitted.

"It would have been great to have made that a viable proposition. Not only would we have had the football stadium but also an athletics track and other facilities.

"The location of the site and the facilities on it would have been a huge statement of intent by the city of Southampton.

"But I've been surprised at how quickly I've become fond of St Mary's, and there's a lot to be said for having a stadium in the heart of the city."

Denham, who recently hit the news headlines for resigning as a Home Office minister over the decision to go to war in Iraq, added: "St Mary's does feel like home already, and I'm surprised at how quickly that's happened.

"Some people might have said that we could take the fans from The Dell but could we take the atmosphere?

"We've certainly done that. The intensity of the atmosphere during the Wolves match was as good as anything at The Dell."

Denham admits that a successful football team is worth its weight in gold in promoting the city's name both nationally and internationally.

"It's been an enjoyable season. So often down the years we've been the team that has always conceded the last-minute goals.

"Gordon seems to have changed all that, and now it seems that we're the team who always manage to get the crucial goal when it's needed.

"It would just be fantastic to get to the FA Cup final. I know we can't afford to count our chickens, but we do have a great chance of getting to Cardiff."