JAMES Beattie broke his silence on a possible move to Aston Villa by saying he is happy to stay with Saints.

But the striker looked uncomfortable when asked about his future following his last-minute penalty which clinched all three points on Saturday.

Blackburn defender Craig Short was adjudged to have fouled Beattie in injury-time - and the 26-year-old picked himself up to score the winning goal in the compelling 3-2 win.

Beattie is the subject of a £6m offer from Aston Villa and said: "I've no comment to make on that - I'm a Southampton player and I showed my professionalism."

Pressed on whether he wanted to stay with Saints, Beattie paused, before adding: "Yeah, I do - that's a nice question to ask me, cheers."

Of reports that there is unrest among the players, Beattie added: "There's never been a question about the spirit here.

"It's a great set of lads. We all get on well together and we all get on with the manager. The press are out to have a go at us - but there's no problem here."

Chairman Rupert Lowe, meanwhile, has labelled some of the conduct of those wanting to buy Beattie as "disgraceful".

It is thought Lowe is reacting to claims from Aston Villa boss David O'Leary that Beattie wants to join his team.

Lowe raged: "The people who want to buy him have been quoted in the media, which is disgraceful because of the Premier League protocol that says that should not happen.

"James is a very important part of what we do and is a tremendous player.

"He has shown in recent seasons that he is one of the best English strikers in the league and we want him to stay."

Lowe stressed it would not be easy for other clubs to take Saints' players.

"We have grown to a reasonable size now as a club and people tend to misjudge us," he said.

"It is not as easy as it used to be to take our players and they don't like it.

"We have made it clear all along that we want James to stay at the club. "Some people don't like the established order being rocked and other clubs know we are no push-overs to deal with.

"Clubs who thought they could just come along and take our players are now finding it is not that easy."