Saints chief executive Jim Hone declared himself "surprised and disappointed" that no new investment has come into the club.

When Michael Wilde and his fellow new shareholders strode into St Mary's last summer and ousted Rupert Lowe, it was with the firm belief they would bring with them new investment to secure the long term financial future of the club, which had debts of around £24m when the last accounts were published.

However, no money has been forthcoming - either from the various parties who the executives say promised them, as well as fans, they would dip into their own pockets or any other source.

And Hone again stressed the need for outside investment.

In his first Echo interview since last October, he said the PLC board had done all the necessary things to keep Saints going while money was tight.

There was also mention of a figure of £12-15m being needed just to scratch the surface when they entered the club to help George Burley build a promotion-winning said.

He said: "In the current business circumstances, and whilst the club remains in the Coca-Cola Championship, investment funding on the kind of scale I raised in my first board meeting here (is still needed).

"We said £12-15m is the minimum range that made sense to make a difference and that was minuted.

"On June 29 this year we had to say the investment that was promised when the executive directors came here, the promises made to the public and repeated have not been delivered upon.

"A very creditable job has been made of running the company in the meantime without a penny piece coming in.

"But the inescapable situation one year on is we need at least that money, and now probably more, to make the quantum leap of difference because we're about to lose the parachute payment. That's the reality".

Hone added: "Investment funding into the business is absolutely necessary and has not happened yet. The people who originally promised it didn't deliver it".

Hone refused to talk about specific names due to the takeover rules but admitted to being "surprised and disappointed" that no new money had yet come in.

However, he did refer to Saints' last statement to the Stock Exchange - issued last week - which confirmed they were in potential takeover talks with more than one interested party.

Saints also apologised to Saints Trust vice chairman Brian Bennett for a statement that they felt questioned his validity as a fan.