Is Southampton City Council considering buying home of the Saints?

The £24m debt on the ground is the biggest millstone round the ailing football club, but the Daily Echo understands the stadium could be available for a fraction of the outstanding money.

And the council could make a cut price bid for the stadium, which cost £34m to build but may today be available for well under £10m.

Norwich Union, who are owed £24m for the stadium, last night declined to comment but are widely thought to want to cut their losses on the project.

It raises the prospect of the ground, home to Saints since 2001, being converted into a community stadium, a focal point for a huge range of local events and leased back to the club for games.

The council could also recoup its money by hiring the stadium out for concerts, with the four events it currently has permission for every year capable of generating up to £1m profit annually.

The possibility has been thrown into the spotlight by the collapse of Saints parent company Southampton Leisure Holdings into administration under debts of more than £30m.

It’s a model widely used on the continent, where the San Siro, home to Italy’s famed AC Milan and Inter Milan clubs, is local authority owned.

Closer to home, Doncaster’s £28m new Keepmoat Stadium is council owned, as is Hull’s Kingston Communications Stadium.