MICHAEL Wilde is likely to be quizzed regarding his plans to attract new investment by the men he ousted back in the summer.

The Daily Echo understands that former chairman Rupert Lowe and ex-managing director Andrew Cowen will make a high profile appearance at next Tuesday's annual meeting.

That event at St Mary's is the first chance Southampton Leisure Holdings PLC shareholders have had a chance to personally quiz Wilde and his new board of directors since the summer takeover.

And Wilde - who has not spoken to the men his regime replaced since taking control at St Mary's - will almost certainly be asked to go into detail regarding the new investment he talked about prior to Lowe and Cowen's resignations.

Lowe remains Saints' third largest individual shareholder - behind Wilde and his fellow PLC board director Leon Crouch - with a 6.69 per cent holding.

Though Cowen has a holding of under two per cent, three more Lowe supporters possess over 11 per cent between them.

Ex-chairman Guy Askham (4 per cent) and Mike Richards (3.1 per cent) were also forced to stand down from Lowe's PLC board.

And Michael Withers (4 per cent) resigned from the football board in a show of solidarity with the five PLC directors who left on June 30.

In all, Lowe and his supporters still own around a quarter of the 28 million shares.

The former chairman and some of his ex-board colleagues will be at St Mary's next Tuesday.

Wilde is also coming under pressure from his own board to provide new funds should manager George Burley ask for cash during the January transfer window.

Crouch - vice chairman of the Saints' Football Board which Wilde is chair of - yesterday told the Echo he would write a seven-figure fee cheque for new players.

But only on the understanding that Wilde does likewise.

Lowe and Cowen could well attempt to pin Wilde down on his new investment plans.

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