Saints Radio sold by club

Saints bosses said they had been looking to offload the station, which loses around £250,000 a year, for 12 months.

It has been bought by Town and Country Broadcasting for an undisclosed sum, thought to be a tiny fraction of the estimated £1m former Saints chairman Rupert Lowe paid for its broadcast licence three years ago.

The Daily Echo understands all eight full-time jobs are safe and the station will continue to be based at St Mary's, remaining the club's official radio station.

The sale follows hard on the heels of a sale of the insurance arm, which was bought by its management, also for an undisclosed sum, and is part of a bid by management to get the club's finances under control.

Saints commercial director Andy Oldknow said: "We thought long and hard about the future of the station and believe we have found the ideal solution. It is going into very competent hands in Town and Country who are a very professional company and this is a good move all round. The station will continue to have a very intimate relationship with the club and the local community."

It's a dream realised for Jason Bryant, a Saints fan and chief executive of Neath-based Town and Country, who began his career with BBC Radio Solent.

He said: "It is a great station and on a personal level, I am very excited about this move which also makes sound business sense as there is a big opportunity in the Hampshire radio market where the BBC has a dominant position.

"We have committed to continuing the relationship with Southampton FC and to keep providing exclusive news and views from St Mary's as well as live commentary on every game, home and away."

The Saint was the first commercial radio station broadcast on FM ever fully-owned by a professional football club in England. The club set up a radio station when it moved to St Mary's in 2001 and, in 2004, Mr Lowe bought the licence to broadcast on the FM frequency from South City FM.