SAINTS' Norwegian tour began under a cloud as manager Dave Jones stayed behind in England following the death of his father.

It is the third tragedy to hit Jones in recent weeks. Already this year he has lost a nephew from a brain tumour and his brother-in-law who was killed by a train.

His father had been in hospital for several weeks with a burst ulcer and the Southampton boss had combined pre-season training, scouting and transfer business with regular trips to Merseyside.

Within minutes of completing the capture of Dean Richards on Wednesday, Jones was driving north after being summoned to the hospital where his father died yesterday morning.

He is now due to link up with the team at their Bergen base tonight ahead of tomorrow's opening friendly at Division 2 Forde.

David Hughes will be out of action for five weeks after being told he needs a cartilage operation. The luckless midfielder, who has twice battled back from a broken leg and a bad back, picked up the injury at Aldershot on Tuesday.

Teenage starlet Brian Howard is also out with a broken arm.

Less than a fortnight ago, the young striker from Eastleigh scored at Wembley for England Under 16s in a 2-1 win over Argentina and joined the Saints youth academy the following day.

But yesterday he broke an arm when he fell awkwardly in the opening minutes of a youth team friendly against Bristol Rovers at Staplewood. He is likely to be out for at least six weeks.

Other playters missing the Norway trip are David Howells and David Hirst.

Hirst struggled through 90 minutes at Kingstonian in midweek while David Howells is still recovering from a knee operation.

SAINTS TOUR PARTY: Jones, Moss, Dodd, Hiley, Lundekvam, Marshall, Monk, Benali, Colleter, Beresford, Ripley, Kachloul, Oakley, M Hughes, Marsden, Bridge, Le Tissier, Beattie, Pahars, Ostenstad.

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.