CHERRIES chairman Eddie Mitchell could have stirred up a hornets’ nest ahead of next month’s eagerly-awaited derby with Saints.

Mitchell has invited a number of guests to attend the Dean Court showdown on March 12 – including Matt Le Tissier and Lawrie McMenemy.

The decision to invite them into the boardroom could see the Saints legends come face-to-face with St Mary’s chairman Nicola Cortese.

Ex-player Le Tissier and former manager McMenemy both received special awards when the club’s 125th anniversary was celebrated at the weekend.

However, the two events – a gala dinner on Saturday and a tribute night at the Mayflower Theatre on Sunday – were not recognised by the club’s current hierarchy.

Relations between a number of popular Saints stalwarts and Cortese are said to have been strained ever since he was appointed at St Mary’s in August 2009.

Mitchell first crossed paths with Cortese when the Cherries chairman claimed he had been banned from entering the Saints boardroom for the previous league meeting between the clubs in October.

Saints would not comment publicly on the matter at the time.

“I don’t hold any grudges,” said Mitchell, who had been accused of leaving an unpaid bar bill at St Mary’s following Cherries’ League Cup clash with Saints in August.

“Everybody from Southampton will be welcome into our boardroom with open arms. We always provide hospitality for club officials and you can’t get a better host than Jeff Mostyn. He is the king of the hosts!

“We are also going to invite a few people from Southampton to make them feel wanted. We would like to get as many familiar faces as possible, because we are going to make a day of it.

“We have already sent out an invitation to Lawrie McMenemy, and Matt Le Tissier will also be invited.

“A number of guests with connections to AFC Bournemouth will also be invited. It is going to be party time for us!”

Asked by the Daily Echo whether he had been aware of events surrounding the recent anniversary celebrations at Saints, Mitchell replied: “Yes, I was aware. That is their business. I think we would have done things differently.”

Mitchell, meanwhile, said he was “disappointed” the League One clash between the promotion rivals had not been selected for television, especially as there could be so much riding on the first league meeting between the two clubs at Dean Court for more than 50 years.

Cherries’ trip to Peterborough on April 1 is being shown live on Sky Sports, as is Saints’ St Mary’s clash against Sheffield Wednesday on March 19.

“We haven’t had a home game on the telly since I’ve been here,” said Mitchell.

“We had one arranged but it was postponed. I would like to think this game would have been worthy of broadcast. It is crazy but we don’t write the rules.”