THE battle to gain control of Saints appeared to be turning ugly last night.

In an amazing outburst, national sporting hero Sir Clive Woodward unleashed a fierce attack on club directors who have divided the board at St Mary's by selling shares to millionaire Michael Wilde and putting pressure on under-fire chairman Rupert Lowe.

The club's director of football branded the behaviour of Paul Thompson, Keith Wiseman, Ian Gordon and Brian Hunt as "disgraceful" for trying to unseat Mr Lowe, and he called on them to resign immediately.

Sir Clive also took a swipe at investor Leon Crouch, who has bought 9.8 per cent of the club. He branded the New Forest businessman as "gutless", "a bully" and "a rabble rouser".

All this on the day when Southampton legend, Lawrie McMenemy, gave his public backing for the first time to Mr Wilde.

"There needs to be change to get back to what we used to be," said the former Saints manager. "You cannot argue with the fact that the new regime's methods have not worked. It is time for them to retire gracefully."

Sir Clive's views - Guy Askham's position - What Lawrie says - Read the full story in tonight's Daily Echo