The Saints Trust today calls for New Forest businessman Leon Crouch to be elected to the Saints board whether Michael Wilde's brave new world is elected or not.

Crouch, below, is the second largest shareholder with just under 10 per cent of the Southampton Leisure Holdings (SLH) stake.

Only Wilde, with 18 per cent of his own shares and another six per cent proxied to him, has more.

Crouch re-iterated his opposition to chairman Rupert Lowe last week but also exclusively told the Echo that he has yet to be won over by Jim Hone, Lee Hoos and Ken Dulieu.

A Trust statement said: "We feel that, as the second largest shareholder, Crouch should have a major say in the way Southampton FC is run.

"He will add a much needed independent and fans voice to the boardroom.

"The Trust believe that a seat on the board for Crouch, who has given his support to the Trust's call for meaningful fan representation on the board of SLH, would give both an independent voice and a fans' voice amongst the corridors of power at St Mary's.

"His appointment would be a significant step towards full fan representation on the board."

Wilde has indicated to the Trust that if they can sign up 3,000 members or reach the stage where they hold 10 per cent of all the shares he would give them a seat on his board.

Atr present, the Trust has 612 members and 597,520 shares all but 20,000 of them proxied to them by Trust members.

Richard Bennett, from the Saints Trust, said: "We feel that it is important that any future board of SLH listens to the fans and maintains a two-way dialogue with them.

"This is something which has been missing at St Mary's for quite a while.

"To ensure this happens, and to make sure that it is run as a football club and not just a business, we feel that the non-executive members of the board of SLH should be genuine Saints fans.

"The board should also contain a mix of experience and opinions and the non-executive directors should be genuinely independent.

"For these reasons, we feel it is important that Leon Crouch has a seat on any new board."

Wilde has so far proposed two non-executive directors should he win the EGM himself and prominent local businessman Patrick Trant, head of Totton-based Trant Construction.