Saints have been rocked by the sensational news that their chairman, chief executive and commercial director have all left the club.

Ken Dulieu, Jim Hone and Andy Oldknow have all reached agreements to leave with immediate effect following the collapse of the proposed takeover with SISU, who instead bought into Coventry last Friday.

The directors felt that if the major shareholders were not prepared to back this proposal then there was little point in them continuing.

At the same time the club came out of an offer period and the share price has already started to slide.

A full statement released to the stock exchange reads: In his statement in the Company's Annual Report and Accounts, published on 28 November 2007, Ken Dulieu gave notice of his intention to stand down as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Company.

Friendly and constructive discussions have subsequently taken place amongst the Company, its advisers and the Company's Non-Executive Directors as a result of which it has been agreed that Ken Dulieu will stand down as Chairman of the Company today, Monday 17 December 2007.

In addition, the Company has agreed with the following Executive Directors that they will resign as Directors of, and cease to be employed by, the Company at the same time: Jim Hone, Chief Executive and Andy Oldknow, Commercial Director (together, the Departing Executives').

The Company's Annual General Meeting will go ahead as planned for Friday 21 December 2007 at St Mary's Stadium at 11.30am with Keith Wiseman, one of the Company's Non-Executive Directors, taking the chair.

The Company is in the process of identifying a Chairman to succeed Ken Dulieu and a Chief Executive to succeed Jim Hone. A further announcement will be made in this regard in due course.

In the meantime, Lee Hoos is combining the role of Chief Executive with his current role of Operations Director.

Ken Dulieu and each of the Departing Executives were recruited to the Company during July 2006 by former director Michael Wilde, who remains a substantial shareholder in the Company.

The common expectation was that Michael Wilde and his associates would secure the investment of substantial funds to help put the Company back on a sound financial footing and greatly enhance the prospects of Southampton Football Club (the Club') winning promotion to the Premier League.

Regrettably, the fact that such funds never materialised caused severe and continuous friction amongst the Directors of the Company. When it became apparent that the anticipated funds could not be relied upon, Ken Dulieu and Jim Hone were invited by the Board and agreed to take over the task of attracting substantial new investment into the business.

Michael Wilde subsequently stood down as a Non-Executive Director of the Company and as Non-executive Chairman of the Club on 28 February 2007, after a spell of eight months in the role.

By contrast, throughout their time together within the Company, the Chairman, Departing Executives and the remaining Executives (being Lee Hoos, Operations Director and David Jones, Finance Director) (the Remaining Executives') have stood united in their pursuit of a prudent business strategy which has delivered highly creditable results in extremely challenging circumstances, including the continuing absence of much-needed investment that the Company had been given to expect.

They exercised firm management control at all levels so as to ensure that the Company always operated within its means and that proper balance was struck between financial prudence and making available the maximum affordable resources to enable the Club to compete as a genuine contender for promotion to the Premier League.

The success of this approach is evident from the following highlights extracted from the recently published Annual Report and Accounts for the financial year ended 30 June 2007.

l Top Six finish in the Coca Cola Championship compared with 12th place finish the previous season.

l Cash positive business performance.

l £2.2 million reduction in net debt position.

l Profit before interest and tax of £1 million compared to a loss of £1.3 million the previous year.

l Operating losses reduced by £3.2 million.

l Operating Costs and administrative expenses reduced by £5.8 million from the previous financial year.

l Profit of £7.5 million from player trading Over the past 12 months, Ken Dulieu and Jim Hone have conducted, in conjunction with the Company's stockbrokers and nominated advisers, Seymour Pierce, extensive discussions with numerous potential investors, including private individuals, consortia and financial institutions.

However, only one of those parties, SISU Capital Limited (SISU'), pursued their interest to the point of making a formal indicative offer of investment, underpinned by proof of funds.

The Board announced on 22 October 2007 that it had agreed in principle to proceed with SISU's proposals and a copy of the indicative offer letter was subsequently conveyed to major shareholders, Rupert Lowe, Michael Wilde and Leon Crouch. Regrettably, these shareholders rejected SISU's proposals in the form that the proposals were then in and they issued public statements to that effect.

However, SISU gave no indication that they were willing to make any substantive changes to their indicative offer but did not withdraw it.

The Board of Coventry City Football Club announced on Friday 14 December that the terms of an offer they had received from SISU had been accepted.

That announcement effectively terminated SISU's interest in Southampton Football Club. The Chairman and the Departing Executives were unanimously of the opinion that SISU's investment proposals offered the prospect of a strong future for the Club and would have provided the financial backing necessary for the Club to win promotion to the Premier League and compete effectively at that level.

Having worked over many months to bring forward the SISU opportunity for the Company and since there is obviously a major difference of opinion between them and certain major shareholders concerning the appropriate way forward for the Company, the Chairman and Departing Executives do not wish to be a barrier to whatever future those shareholders now envisage for the Company and the Club.

Whilst the Company is under no immediate financial threat, continuation of the prudent financial regime established by Ken Dulieu and all of the Executives will be necessary to maintain financial stability.

The Company would like to place on record its sincere appreciation of the excellent results achieved both collectively and individually by Ken Dulieu, Jim Hone and Andy Oldknow.

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