SAINTS fans are demanding that chairman Rupert Lowe comes clean over whether he is paying for his legal action against two newspapers out of his own pocket or from club funds.

Mr Lowe has issued writs against the publishers of The Times and The Evening Standard seeking more than £300,000 in damages for libel, as revealed in yesterday's Daily Echo.

Today a leading Southampton solicitor, who did not wish to be named, said Mr Lowe's legal fees bill could already be up to £10,000. The Daily Echo understands that each writ cost £980 to issue.

The solicitor told the Daily Echo: "You are talking about paying for legal advice ahead of taking out the writ and also for issuing the writs themselves.

"In a case like this you could be talking about Mr Lowe's eventual legal fees bill running into tens of thousands of pounds - depending on how seriously the opposition defends the writs.

"If Mr Lowe was to hire the services of a top QC to act for him you could be talking about fees of about £400 or £500 an hour."

Mr Lowe and Saints were today remaining silent on the issue. Numerous calls to Mr Lowe were unanswered and Southampton Football Club declined several opportunities to comment.

Nick Illingsworth, press officer for the True Saints Association supporters group, said Mr Lowe needed to explain to fans where the money to fight his cases was coming from.

"He should come out and be honest with us. The fans need to know who is paying for any top QCs to act for the chairman. After all, he's hardly likely to be on legal aid, is he?"

Mr Lowe, 46, is suing Associated Newspapers Ltd, publishers of the Evening Standard, for damages of more than £150,000 following an article published last summer.

Mr Lowe claims the Evening Standard libelled him in the David Mellor column of the newspaper on August 27, 2004.

Mr Mellor is a controversial former Conservative Cabinet minister. A Chelsea fan, he is a pundit on football issues. He hosted a national radio phone-in show and headed the Football Task Force, set up in the 1990s to compile a report into the future of soccer in the UK.

The article, which we are unable to reproduce for legal reasons, also appeared on the Evening Standard's website, www.thisislondon.com, from the same date. In a second writ against Times Newspapers Ltd, Mr Lowe is also claiming damages exceeding £150,000.

The writ alleges Mr Lowe was libelled in an article entitled "Men who would be kings are a ghastly alternative", which appeared in The Times on August 11, 2004.

Mr Lowe is also seeking injunctions against both newspapers, preventing them from publishing any of the content of either article in the future.