THE TRUE scale of the final payments to ex-Saints bosses Rupert Lowe and Andrew Cowen may never be revealed.

A confidentially clause means the new club board is legally bound to stay tight-lipped on the figure for now.

Although the details will eventually have to be released in official Saints accounts, that is unlikely to be until September 2007 and could be included with other expenses, so the exact amount may never be public knowledge.

But a club insider scotched fears the pair had pocketed a seven-figure sum on their way out of St Mary's, claiming a total in the low hundreds of thousands was more realistic.

A spokesman for the new board said: "Their contracts were settled in full as we were duty bound to do.

"As for precise disclosure of figures goes, we can't discuss it because of confidentiality agreements."

But the Daily Echo can reveal Lowe, pictured, earned more than £2.3m in his first eight years in charge of Saints, as detailed in the club's accounts, from May 31, 1997, to May 31, 2005.

A spokesman for the Saints Trust said fans wanted to know a figure for the final payments.

Press officer Steve Grant said: "It's good to know where the club's money is being spent but I don't think we have a right to know their salary details.

"I think fans would like to know how much. It's case of getting a final figure on how much it has cost to go through an essential change. As far as I was aware, any severance pay would simply be a year's salary."