SAINTS fans are calling on the club to donate David Prutton's fine for being sent off against Arsenal towards a statue of Southampton legend Ted Bates.

The midfielder has been docked two weeks' wages by the club - a sum believed to be about £20,000.

Saints have confirmed that Prutton's fine will go into a disciplinary fund which will be split between their five nominated charities at the end of the season.

However, supporters believe the club could score a public relations goal by donating Prutton's cash to the Ted Bates statue fund.

Prutton has also been banned for ten games and fined £6,000 by the Football Association after being found guilty of pushing referee Alan Wiley following his red card last Saturday.

Bates was a Saints player, manager and director in a 66-year career with the club until his death in November 2003. His name was synonymous with fair play.

About 30 fans staged a bucket collection in aid of the statue fund ahead of the Arsenal match and raised just under £7,000.

The total raised by the fans is now about £10,000 and the True Saints Association supporters' group, which has been heavily involved in getting the statue up and running, wants to boost that figure to £50,000 by May.

Saints chairman Rupert Lowe has already stated that the club will match whatever figure the fans raise.

TSA chairman Steve Godwin said: "It would be a great PR exercise for the club to give Prutton's cash to the statue fund - but with things like this sometimes they don't seem to want to know."

Fellow fan Nick Illingsworth, who edits the Ugly Inside webzine, added: "It would be a brilliant idea to give the money to the statue fund.

"On a day when the older fans were remembering Ted and old-fashioned attitudes of fair play, donating Prutton's fine would make perfect sense."