Rupert Lowe described Brian Truscott as "a rock" before the Saints stalwart began his retirement after 25 years service as club secretary today.

Truscott, 60, was assistant secretary at the Dell for three seasons before returning within a few weeks of Saints' 1976 FA Cup triumph.

Now, after a total of 30 years service, he is packing his bags within a week of last Saturday's FA Cup Final defeat.

He will be replaced by Liz Coley, who joined from Fulham earlier this year, and Lowe, Saints' chairman for the last six years, said: "Brian has been an extremely loyal and solid companion, especially in the early days of my chairmanship, when he was a rock.

"I have worked closely with him on all playing matters during my stint as chairman, a period of great change for the club, not to mention volatility in those early years of my chairmanship.

"He intends to spend some of his time in retirement in Spain but everybody on the Board believes he will find it difficult to stay away for too long and hope that he and his wife Lesley, will visit us regularly

"He will be sadly missed and we will be having a dinner for him on Friday night in London to send him off in style."

Truscott, pictured above, who is afectionately known as BT, added: "It has been a tremendous club to work for, I would like to thak the directors and all my colleagues for all their support and wish everyone continued success.

"Liz (Coley) has been here since the beginning of February so it should be a smooth handover.

"She's been seeing how we do things, she did a tremendous amount of work on the organisation of the Cup Final, and on the accommodation arrangements particularly.

"She's been excellent for the club already."

Read a full interview with Brian Truscott in the Daily Echo on Saturday.