SAFETY has come at a price for Saints fans who face big admission increases next season.

Children's seats are being frozen at £8 but adults will be asked to pay £3 more per match - a rise of around 15 per cent.

Saints have tried to take some of the sting out of it by giving back the equivalent of 50p per match to all season-ticket holders. They will receive a £10 gift voucher to be spent in the club shop.

But the news is sure to come as a blow to supporters who gave such magnificent backing last season and now face paying £25 for best seats and £21 in the lower tiers.

It is the biggest increase since The Dell went all-seater five years ago but the club are struggling to compete with massively spiralling wages and transfer fees.

Apologetic club secretary Brian Truscott said: "We really have no alternative if we are going to survive at this level until we get the new ground. "This will be our 22nd successive season in the top flight which is a tremendous record considering the disadvantage of having the smallest capacity in the Premier League.

"We have to compete against the best in the land at a time when wages and everything else are going up.

"Costs are rising sharply and this is the only way we have of clawing some of it back. Even then it is only a fraction.

"Tottenham for instance are putting up prices by 12 per cent and, with their greater capacity, that will bring them much more than our increases.

"But we are bringing the shop and the kit back in-house and hopefully the voucher will encourage fans to sample our new kit and complete range of leisure wear."

Season tickets renewed by June 30 work out at a discount equivalent to two free matches. But the Southampton Independent Supporters' Association are looking for something a bit bigger than a voucher in return for having to shell out an extra 15 per cent to watch their team next season.

They want a promise from chairman Rupert Lowe. SISA chairman Nick Illingworth said: "We can understand why the club have said what they have about increasing prices to compete with the bigger clubs in the Premiership when they only have a 15,000 capacity.

"But we think fans would rather have an assurance from the chairman that the money is in place to build a new ground rather than vouchers for the club shop.

"People are more likely to accept price hikes if there's light at the end of the tunnel on the new ground."

Matt pledges future to Saints inside Thursday's Echo.

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