Here are two of the letters we have received from Saints fans regarding the Gareth Bale situation.

Dear Sir

I know it may not make business sense but Michael Wilde ought to tell Sir Alex Ferguson he must pay double what any other club offers if he wants to sign Gareth Bale.

I am sure that Wilde and his associates are aware that Ferguson has made nothing but unpleasant and unfair comments about our club over the years.

Let us remember, he also played severely weakened teams against Norwich, West Brom and Palace in the year of our relegation and subsequently gave them points.

On the flip side, he put out full strength sides against us - this should have been looked at by the FA at the time.

We also remember after THAT game, Roy Keane giving the Saints fans the thumbs down after relegating us.

Nothing was done by the FA about Keane's actions either. I hope the fans give him some stick when Sunderland play down here.

Wilde should stand up to bullies like Ferguson and Man Utd.

It is no surprise to me either that Spurs are the other club throwing their hat in to the Bale ring as they now think they can push us all over the place after the Hoddle-Richards situation.

If Gareth Bale wants to go then we must let him, but I would hate to see him go to United or Spurs after the way they have treated our club in the past.

I know we are a selling club but it is about time we became completely stubbourn towards the clubs that use such tactics otherwise every club that wants one of our players will just walk all over us.

I hope the current board are not as weak as the last, but I fear they will be as their promises are turning out to be empty like Rupert's after this rather inadequate £2m promised by Wilde.

Not only is it peanuts in today's environment, but its also not available until the summer, when it will probably be too late - fantastic.

Where are these other 'investors' - the ones who were waiting for Rupert to leave the boardroom.

Michael Wilde must surely realise that the squad is not strong enough at present for automatic promotion and must realise that we HAVE to go up this year, but yet we haven't strengthened in the way we need to like Birmingham and Derby have.

We never expected investment from Lowe.

On the other hand Wilde and co (including Mr Trant) have been Saints fans for years and should only have got involved if they were ready and able to plough the right money in to put the club back where it belongs - i.e. 15 to 20 million.

If they do have the financing, they need to produce it NOW!

If they don't have the finance, then they have sold the fans and the club short - JUST LIKE Lowe did.

Come on Lawrie - you must see the urgency of the situation.

Get on their case!

CHRISTOPHER HART

Dear Daily Echo,

I hope, for the sake of our promotion bid, the talk of cashing in on Gareth Bale turns out to be wide of the mark.

He has been the single, most dangerous threat down the left flank this season.

He is growing in stature with every game he plays and when he runs at the opposition you can visibly see them panic.

Selling him would not only harm the team in the short-term, it sends out a damaging message about the long-term future of this football club.

With Bale in the team we have a chance of gaining the 2nd automatic promotion spot, without him I don't think we do.

With Bale in the team we would have a far greater chance in the play-offs.

His delivery into the box is already Premiership class while his free kick taking has been world-class.

I can understand the financial reasons for letting him go. However, the fact is the money we would receive for him now will pale into insignificance against the amount we will lose out on if we don't get promoted this season.

Promotion sooner rather than later is vital, as we lose the parachute payments from relegation when this campaign ends.

It is worth the gamble keeping Bale. The club stands a far greater chance of reaching the promised land with him in the team.

As for the rest of the team, providing lady luck is kind to us with injuries, we'll be ok.

We could possibly do with signing a midfielder and striker on loan for the rest of the season.

I'd rather do that then sell Bale and gamble 2-3 million quid on a player who could turn out to be a flop.

I'm sure Burley could find a couple of decent players who can do a short term job.

Then when we clinch the second automatic slot in May we can look forward to planning for a future in the Premiership both with Bale AND the funds to sign quality players who will ensure the long term safety of this football club.

DAVE HURLEY