SAINTS are facing the most important year in the club's 121-history both on and off the field.

That's the view from the new men in control of the club after they unveiled hefty £3.3m losses and a worrying £19.1m drop in turnover.

And they warn that, without promotion back to the riches of the Premier League, Saints can only look forward to more belt tightening.

It is the first financial results from the new look board at Saints, which took control in July after property tycoon Michael Wilde won control of the club from former chairman Rupert Lowe.

Chief executive Jim Hone said the results were "unacceptable" but refused to point the finger at his predecessors.

"It is extremely disappointing, although hardly surprising to those of us who have tracked the deterioration of the football club over recent years, to discover that the results of Southampton Leisure Holdings plc during the financial period ended 30 June 2006 are unacceptable and unsustainable.

"They are the results of relegation from the FA Premier League in 2005, failure to win promotion last season and a progressive decline in the Company's fortunes over the past three years.

"Attributing blame for the decline in the Company's status as a football business during that period would be of dubious value, but identifying and correcting the root causes is essential."

This is the last season the club receives a parachute payment from the Football Association, designed to ease the shock to a relegated club's finances but is only paid for the first two years following the drop.

Mr Hone said: "From a financial as well as a football perspective, the current football season and financial year ending 30 June 2007 is amongst the most important in the Company's recent history."

See today's Daily Echo for the full story