SAINTS boss Dave Jones savoured his side's Great Escape and then vowed: "Never again!"

It was his first taste of a final-day survival struggle and he is already making plans to try and ensure the club do not have to go through it again next season.

Within hours of the 2-0 home win over his old club Everton he was turning his attentions towards a summer rebuilding job.

Centre-back Ken Monkou is out of contract and now a free agent under the Bosman ruling but he still hopes to stay while Egil Ostenstad is just a year away from being in the same boat.

After scoring 10 goals in 15 games on loan at Preston Steve Basham is now a free agent but if he decides to move Saints would get a tribunal fee as he is still under 24.

Scott Marshall has been on loan at Celtic with a view to a possible move while David Howells has returned from Bristol City.

Those are all issues for Jones to settle and he said: "Over the next few days I have to sit down with the chairman and my staff and work out what we want to do and how much we have to spend.

"As always we are looking to strengthen in all areas. There will be players coming and going - that's football.

"But the main thing is to make sure we don't have to go through another last-day game to stay up. It is the first time I have ever been involved in a relegation battle as a manager, coach or player and I hated it.

"It is not something I ever want to experience again but we will all learn from it. It will make me stronger and a better manager.

"One of the first things we have to look at is how we can ensure we don't get off to a bad start again. We took just one point from our first eight games and to stay up after that is a great achievement.

"It is not just this season though but something which has gone on for years at this club. We will go over the record books and try to work out why and what we can do about it.

"We let 23 points slip in those first eight games and if we had won just two of those matches we would have finished 12th and not had a problem. Now we have to ensure we start next season as we have finished this one."

Saints are rushing out a special official Great Escape T-shirt to mark their fourth final-day survival in six years.

It features a Great Escape logo and the last five results of the season as well as the Saints crest and they hope to have it in the club shop by Thursday priced £9.99 for adults and £7.99 for children aged 7-8 and 9-11. It will be fol-lowed soon by a Great Escape video.

Don't forget to pick up your look back at the Saints 1998-99 season - FREE inside Saturday's Daily Echo.

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.