THE Saints Trust is launched tonight at St Mary's with officials hoping their long-term plan it won't be hijacked by any 'anti-Lowe' brigade.

With trusts already well established at over 100 clubs throughout England - from Arsenal down to Salisbury City - it has taken a long time for Saints fans to go down a well-trodden route.

The aim of the trust is to bring together existing shareholders and fans who want to contribute sums of money towards buying new shares.

Existing shareholders can 'proxy' their shares to the trust, whose initial short-term aim is to collect five per cent of the total Southampton Leisure Holdings share issue.

The timing of the launch is causing concern to some Trust committee members.

Though the current protests at chairman Rupert Lowe could see more fans attend tonight's launch than would otherwise turn up if everything was rosy in Saints' garden, the Trust is keen to stress it's not starting up with an anti-Lowe agenda.

"With what's been going on, it could work in our favour," said Trust official Steve Godwin.

"But I don't want people thinking it's an anti-Lowe vehicle. I'm sure the Lowe situation will be sorted out one way or the other within a year, but we are here for the long-term.

"Let's not get hung up on the short-term issues.

"We have no mandate yet because we haven't signed up any members to tell us what they want."

Godwin added: "This is a great time for a trust for Southampton fans to be launched. Since we turned into a PLC fans believe they've lost contact with the club - we want to bring it back."

Southampton MPs John Denham and Alan Whitehead, both avid Saints fans, attended a meeting last summer to see how much interest there was in forming a Saints trust.

Both have been invited again tonight, while Dell legend Francis Benali, who has agreed to act as the Trust's president, will take part in a Q & A session with fans.

Kevin Rye, from Supporters Direct - the London-based organisation who help fans establish and run trusts - will give a talk on the benefits of the organisation and it is hoped trust members from other Championship clubs will speak.

"The trust is for everyone," said Godwin.

"It's for those with several thousand shares and it's for the man in the street who just wants to have a say in how his club are run.

"If we end up with a good proportion of the shares then the club have got to listen to us. The feedback we have had has been good.

"We would be happy with 100-plus fans tonight - some trusts have had 30 people turn up to their first meeting, Leicester had over 600.

"Circumstances can dictate it - Leicester had just gone into administration when their trust started up."

At lower division level, trusts have ended up actually running their club - Rushden, Stockport, Lincoln and Exeter are just four examples of the extent of fan-power.

But even at Championship level, they can be a powerful voice.

Both the Leicester and Coventry trusts were asked who they wanted to see appointed as manager in 2004 and, on both occasions, the manager they chose (Craig Levein and Micky Adams) were indeed appointed.

The Trust is also asking potential consortiums to consult with them prior to making any bid.

"It obviously affects us," said press officer Steve Grant.

"If a consortium wants to take the club back into private hands that would have a huge knock-on effect to the trust."

Potential consortiums can contact the trust at The trust launch will be held in the Matt Le Tissier Suite at St Mary's at 7.30pm.