A COMMERCIAL radio station owned by Southampton Football Club has scored an own goal - for plugging season tickets on air during a news bulletin.

Following a listener's complaint, the UK's media regulator, Ofcom, rapped The Saint for breaching impartiality rules.

Ofcom said in a statement: "The commercial link between the licensee and the football club made the content of the news item unacceptable.

" It found against the station after a 9am sports news bulletin on April 30 included an interview with a member of the club's staff promoting their season tickets.

According to Ofcom's finding, the item in the sports news started with: "It's the last chance to get a ticket bargain here at St Mary's today; 5.

30 is the deadline for the early bird discount.

" Ofcom's news and current affairs code says all news, including bulletins and general coverage of news events, must be impartial and accurate.

The complaint was one of three upheld by Ofcom in its latest rulings.

The second centred on offensive, homophobic comments on Revelation TV, a UK-based Christian channel, and the third one related to BBC1's light-hearted crime drama, Jonathan Creek, when a shocking swear word was used just before the 9.

08pm adult watershed.

Southampton FC became the first soccer club in the country to own a full-time local FM radio station earlier this year.

A takeover deal was struck with South City FM on April 22 - eight days before the broadcast breach - when the south coast-based radio station merged with The Saint, which was until then digital.

Ofcom said The Saint's station director acknowledged that the output was "questionable", and conceded that they "had not fulfilled the requirements of the News and Current Affairs Code".

The on-air team had been briefed about such matters and Ofcom was reassured it wouldn't happen again.

Station director and manager Tim Manns told Business South it was an error, and that Ofcom was "comfortable" with The Saints' answer.

He added: "It just slipped through the net.

" Southampton FC and The Saint are owned by parent company Southampton Leisure Holdings Plc, whose £407,000-a-year chairman is Rupert Lowe,