Michael Wilde has vowed to listen to the fans after his first day as Saints chairman.

The man whose share purchase helped remove Rupert Lowe was finding his feet at St Mary's yesterday as well as chairing his first football board meeting.

He was in relaxed but confident mood. There is clearly a lot of work to be done but both the football board and the PLC board are already underway in their duties and have already made one decision affecting St Mary's.

And as well as forming their own judgements Wilde insists the new directors will listen to what the fans have to say.

He said: "Even with it being my first day I don't find it surreal as, once you get here, you can see there's a very real job to be done. It's not the glamour people think but instead a real job with real decisions to be made.

"They are the sort of decisions any company is involved with but at SFC it has a wider importance to the community and supporters.

"There is certainly an added sense of responsibility in terms of those decisions that are made and I see my job as being a trustee for the fans in the city.

"People talk about taking over as if it's some kind of power game but in my view it's not.

"It's something that needed to be done and, having got this far, it's a case of doing ones best on behalf of the club."

Read the full story in today's Daily Echo