FANS leaders have today promised a concerted campaign to rid the Saints v Pompey matches of trouble.

As reported in later editions of yesterday's Daily Echo, Hampshire Police plan to move the derby clashes from the scheduled Saturdays to Sunday, December 21 at St Mary's and Sunday, March 21 at Fratton Park. The police also want the St Mary's match to kick-off at 12noon.

Saints supporters were roundly praised for their exemplary attitude at the FA Cup final with Arsenal.

Now they are planning to meet with their Portsmouth counterparts to try and take the lead in finding ways of minimising the threat of problems ahead of the south coast rivals' first league meetings since 1988.

Saints fan Jordan Orsini has suggested some sort of banner or motif to be unveiled at St Mary's prior to the match as a gesture of goodwill.

He said: "I was so proud of what non-Saints fans had said about the good-humoured, sporting and vocal nature of our support at Cardiff that I thought our first Premiership derby with Portsmouth should be a celebration of sporting rivalry.

"It's an opportunity to show the graciousness and true nature of Saints support.

"If we showed leadership within the football community by accepting that despite years of bitter antagonism we accept the sporting challenge fairly and with good grace, then it's possible that there might be less trouble at our games."

Nick Illingsworth, chairman of Southampton Independent Supporters' Association, said: "Portsmouth fans are welcome at St Mary's and we want this match go off in the correct way.

"SISA will be getting in touch with supporters groups from Portsmouth to look at ways of dealing with this and we also want to involve the clubs and the police.

"Both cities are expanding and it is no longer the case that there is some sort of dividing line.

"Thousands of Portsmouth and Saints fans work together, we only live a few miles apart and there is no real difference between us.

"This Southampton v Portsmouth rivalry extends beyond football and it is time to try and do something about it. What we need is effort from all sides to move away from this social stigma of fraternising with rival supporters.

"A healthy rivalry is fine - that's what we want, that's what sport is about. We don't want to see Portsmouth win, but a team can be your rivals without trouble."

Daren Wheeler, editor of the Beautiful South fanzine, said: "We want to welcome them to the Premiership. We want a friendly rivalry and we want it to be everything the matches between Aston Villa and Birmingham were not last season.

"We want to put the trouble to one side and concentrate on the football. Two words are synonymous with Saints and they are 'family' and 'club' and we are proud of that."

Chief Supt Paul Stickler, head of Southampton police division, said: "We have no reason to suspect that there will be any problems with these games.

"We do expect a charged atmosphere and an extra competitive edge for such prestigious derby games and our job will be to ensure that everybody enjoys themselves and that nobody spoils what are certain to be two very special matches."

Saints chairman Rupert Lowe and manager Gordon Strachan have welcomed Portsmouth's promotion to the Premiership, believing their success is good for the south, but have urged fans to approach the match in the correct manner.

A meeting of Saints Away Support - a group set-up to try and encourage an even better travelling following for Saints - will be held on Monday, June 23 at Northam Social Club, starting at 8pm.