SAINTS today hit out at "certain parties" that had failed to provide expected new investment in the club.

Though no names were mentioned, the Daily Echo understands it refers to former football club board chairman Michael Wilde, non-executive PLC board member Patrick Trant, and acting football board chairman Leon Crouch.

Both Wilde and Trant publicly said prior to Rupert Lowe's resignation last summer they would invest if Lowe and his supporters left St Mary's.

And Crouch told the Echo back in November he would be willing to invest money for new players - providing Wilde did likewise.

Wilde later said he would be investing £2m, but failed to do so and resigned from the board in February.

A statement issued to the Stock Exchange this morning said: "The board had hoped, and were given an indication, that certain parties would make an investment in the Company during the course of the financial year.

"Unfortunately no such investment was made and the board have subsequently sought to identify and obtain funds from other potential investors to enable the Company to achieve its full potential".

The statement is another clear indication of the split on the Saints board - recently highlighted when Crouch, Trant, Keith Wiseman and Brian Hunt, the four non executive directors, stormed out of a PLC board meeting.

On June 23 2006 - exactly a week before Lowe walked out - Wilde and Trant both said they would invest "new money" in Saints.

Wilde commented: "I have already invested £2.5 million in shares in Southampton to bring about an environment in which major changes can be made to the boards of the Plc and the Football Club.

"Clearly we will have to evaluate what the funding requirement will be once we have had an opportunity to conduct a thorough review of the business.

"Subject to the outcome of this review, I intend to invest further sums of new money and I believe strongly that other passionate Saints supporters will follow suit if the proposed new Directors are elected to the Plc board on 3 July".

Trant added: "For my part, if the proposed new Directors are elected on 3 July, I intend to invest new money into the Club. I also wish to make it very clear that if Rupert Lowe is still a director after the EGM, I will not be investing".

Trant was not a shareholder at the time of becoming a board member, but last October paid almost £80,000 for 185,000 shares - most of which were owned by former Saints director Paul Thompson.

That left Thompson with just 1,000 Southampton Leisure Holdings shares - a tally now down to just a solitary share after further sales in 2007.

Wilde was quizzed about his plans to invest more of his own money at the AGM last November, but flat-batted the question back.

Crouch, meanwhile, paid around £2m for his near 10 per cent shareholding in April 2006.

Saints also revealed this morning they were in discussions with "more than one interested party" with regards to a potential takeover.

The ongoing talks - believed to be with three parties, as revealed in Monday's Echo - "may or may not lead to an offer".

The statement also mentioned the good work in increasing "retail merchandise sales revenue, corporate hospitality seat sales and other commercial revenue streams.

"As at 13 July 2007 the number of season tickets sold for the forthcoming 2007-08 football season stood at 13,093, which is 3,583 more tickets than the Club had sold on the corresponding date last year.

"Reductions in labour and overhead costs were effected during the course of the financial year and a ten-percentage point reduction (to 64%) was effected in the ratio of total payroll costs to the total business turnover of the Company".