Former chairman Michael Wilde believes Saints can now "move forward" after the departures of the chairman, chief executive and commercial director.

Wilde was the man who brought Ken Dulieu and Jim Hone to the club in the summer of 2006 and they later appointed Andy Oldknow, all of whom left Saints yesterday.

But there was never likely to be too many tears shed by Wilde who stepped down as chairman at the start of the year after finding himself powerless to control the men he had brought in.

Wilde, who owns about 16 per cent of the shares in the club, had praise for Leon Crouch, whom he had publicly fallen out with in the past, and non-executive director Patrick Trant over their handling of the changes.

He said: "Leon and Patrick deserve a pat on the back.

"At least now a situation has been created where we can move forward which is the most important thing.

"I'm fairly positive about the future from here on in.

"Leon and myself as major shareholders are working on matters and I'm sure that will continue to be the case.

"It's only the start of a process and not an end in itself - further things will happen in due course."

For full story see today's Daily Echo.