Saints have banned the Daily Echo from St Mary’s after a falling-out over the reporting of the club’s plans to redevelop the Staplewood training facilities.

The plans were first spotted on the New Forest District Council’s website on Monday morning and spread across the various message boards within an hour. The Echo planned to run the story in Tuesday’s paper and contacted the club to get some quotes and further information. They were asked to wait until Wednesday when a press conference would be held to unveil the plans, but by this time Yahoo! Eurosport had already run the story so the Echo felt they were within their rights to run the story on Tuesday as planned.

This has clearly irritated Nicola Cortese to the extent that this ban has been imposed (which includes both the media and corporate areas of the stadium - as a Media Partner, the Echo also has a table in one of the suites on matchdays), but on the face of it, it seems a somewhat strange decision. While it’s understandable that he would want to unveil the plans on his terms, the plans had been on the NFDC’s website for a few days, so the likelihood of someone finding them must have been quite high.

Ian Murray, the Echo’s editor, used his weekly column in today’s paper to give their side of the story - the order of events contained in the editorial seem logical, but as yet there has been no word from the football club via the official website, and members of staff have so far refused to comment, which has led many to suggest that there may be more to this than meets the eye and that a conflict has been brewing for some time.

While it’s almost certainly true that the Echo needs the football club’s support more than the football club needs the Echo behind it, particularly given the current state of play at the club, it does seem like a very strange move by Cortese to sideline the main external provider of club news over a news article which actually portrays the club in a very positive light.

I’m sure we haven’t heard the last of this rather confusing and seemingly unnecessary spat.

Hammond scores against MK Dons last month

Dean Hammond has been named as Saints’ new first-team captain.

The 26-year-old only joined the club from Colchester United in August, but has already displayed leadership qualities in the centre of midfield, and Alan Pardew has been keen to give the captain’s armband to a player who can be in constant communication with team-mates and officials, something which is particularly difficult for Kelvin Davis as a goalkeeper. Davis will, however, retain the club captaincy.

St Mary’s will host matches in the 2015 Rugby World Cup after England won the right to host the oval-balled extravaganza.

It will be one of 12 venues for the tournament, and is one of eight predominantly football stadia selected to maximise capacity. The full list of stadia are:

• Twickenham, London
• Wembley, London
• Emirates Stadium, London
• Old Trafford, Manchester
• St James’ Park, Newcastle
• Anfield, Liverpool
• Elland Road, Leeds
• Ricoh Arena, Coventry
• Welford Road, Leicester
• Kingsholm, Gloucester
• St Mary’s, Southampton
• Millennium Stadium, Cardiff

It’s not the first time St Mary’s has been used as an international venue, having hosted an infamous World Cup Qualifier between England and Macedonia in 2002, a friendly match between Japan and Nigeria and, most recently, an England Under-21 international against the Republic of Ireland.

While this is clearly a very prestigious appointment, it remains to be seen what (if any) financial benefits the football club will reap from it. The oft-clichéd “putting the club and city on the map” will probably suffice for those in the corridors of power.

Saints fans have been voting with their wallets as nearly 10,000 season tickets have been sold for the coming season - already an improvement on last season’s total.

With many fans still waiting to receive their first pay packets since the Markus Liebherr takeover, that figure is set to rise considerably before the season curtain-raiser against Millwall, a game that is now less than two weeks away.

The club has revealed that one in five of the 9,700 season tickets currently sold is held by someone who didn’t have one last season, which the club will feel is vindication for the large price reductions brought in this season.

Former West Ham, Charlton and Reading boss Alan Pardew has been appointed new First Team Manager at St Mary’s on a three-year contract.

Pardew, 48 tomorrow, has managerial experience in the third tier of English football having guided Reading to a play-off final - losing out 3-2 after extra time to Walsall in 2001 - and then automatic promotion a year later.

He left Reading in 2003 to take over at West Ham following their relegation from the Premier League and while they narrowly missed out on an instant return, losing 1-0 to a Neil Shipperley goal for Crystal Palace in the play-off final, they made a return to the Millennium Stadium a year later and regained their place in the top flight thanks to a 1-0 win over Preston.

The following season he steered the Hammers to a much-better-than-expected 8th place finish in the Premier League and another game at Cardiff - this time, the FA Cup Final, where they held a lead over Liverpool until injury time when Steven Gerrard’s 30-yard effort made it 3-3 and took the game to extra time. Liverpool eventually won the most entertaining FA Cup Final in many years on penalties.

A bad start to the 06/07 season saw Pardew sacked in November, but he wasn’t out of work for long as he took the hotseat at troubled Charlton. He was unable to reverse the bad fortune suffered by Iain Dowie and Les Reed and the Addicks were relegated. The side struggled to adapt to the drop into the Championship and finished 11th the following season, and after a bad run of games saw them struggling at the wrong end of the table, he left the club by mutual consent in November 2008.

Speaking to the Saints official website, Pardew said “I am proud and very excited to be joining a Club with an immense history and huge potential for improvement. Everything is here in terms of quality of stadium, training facilities and, now, financial stability. I look forward to working with the squad and with the executive management as part of a team committed to achieving progress. Of course, I will bring my own style of football management to the Club, but as part of a plan being evolved at the Club to achieve long term success.”

Saints owner Markus Liebherr added “We are delighted to have been able to attract Alan to St Mary’s from a very strong field of candidates we identified and who expressed an interest in joining us. Alan has a strong track record and impressed us with his vision, commitment and ambition. We look forward to working with him.”

While some Saints fans may feel slightly underwhelmed with this appointment having been linked with Kevin Keegan and Gordon Strachan in recent times, I think the experience and past success Pardew brings with him at a range of levels makes this an excellent appointment for the club.

It sure as hell beats the prospect of Tony Adams anyway…

It’s likely that reserve team manager Stewart Henderson will still take charge of the game against Dutch giants Ajax tomorrow at St Mary’s, but Pardew will almost certainly be paraded before the game. Ticket sales are reported to be going very well for this game - hopefully this appointment will increase the attendance even more.

Saints have unveiled their new away kit for the 2009/10 season.

The navy and yellow effort will be worn for the first time on Saturday in the Ted Bates Trophy match against Ajax, but the shirt has met with mixed reactions from members of the SaintsWeb Forum since it was revealed.

It’s also entirely possible that this “unveiling” wasn’t actually planned until much later in the week - perhaps even as late as Saturday morning, but a copy of the shirt appeared on auction site eBay this morning, and was spotted by one eagle-eyed forum member.

This shirt will be on the shelves on Wednesday 5th August, and can be pre-ordered from Monday 20th July. While the price hasn’t been confirmed on the official site, as it’s a one-year kit it’s likely to be around the £30 mark.

Mark Wotte has parted company with Saints in the first of what will presumably be many sweeping changes the new club management team will make in the coming weeks.

It follows just days after he was handed a new 12-month rolling contract, and after he had admirably held the fort during the period of administration. It’s believed he will receive his full salary as compensation.

He was unable to keep the side in the Championship after he took over from Jan Poortvliet towards the end of January, although in hindsight that task was probably ultimately an impossible one with the prospect of a ten-point deduction sending us down if we did technically stay up anyway.

The club’s official statement reads as follows:

Southampton Football Club can confirm that Mark Wotte has left the Club.

We wish to recognise Mr Wotte’s efforts during a difficult period for all associated with the Club. We wish him well for the future.

Our decision is part of a wider strategic plan being implemented to improve all aspects of the club’s operations, both on and off the field.

In keeping with this plan we can confirm that the search for a new manager has already begun.

Our search will be conducted in a systematic and professional manner. We will find the right candidate, who will fulfil the criteria necessary to move the Club forward.

Stewart Henderson will take charge of First Team affairs on a temporary basis.

We will update fans on the appointment process as soon as possible.

The bookmakers’ early favourite to take his place is Gordon Strachan, with SkyBet even suspending their betting already on a return for the man who led us to the 2003 FA Cup Final. Other short-priced options are Dennis Wise (4/1), Kevin Keegan (6/1), Aidy Boothroyd (10/1), Matt Le Tissier (12/1), Micky Adams and Alan Shearer (both 16/1).

Of those, only Keegan really stands out as an appointment that would bring in the crowds and generate plenty of interest. Adams has only just started in a new role at Port Vale, Shearer’s future at Newcastle is uncertain, Le Tissier would seem an unlikely option and both Wise and Boothroyd are fairly uninspiring options given their recent past.

While a return for either Strachan or the much longer-priced Glenn Hoddle would probably be a popular move, football is littered with occasions where a manager has returned for a second spell at a club having been successful first time around - invariably it’s never as good the second time.

After 99 days of lurching from despair to hope and back again, the takeover of Southampton FC has finally been confirmed by the administrator.

Markus Liebherr, a 61-year-old Swiss national with a personal fortune believed to be in the region of three billion Euros, has bought the club using the company DMWSL613 Limited, incorporated only last week in London for the sole purpose of buying the club.

The administrators released the following statement:

Southampton Leisure Holdings Plc (”the Company”) Joint Administrator (the “Administrator”) Mark Fry today confirms that DMWSL613 Limited (”the purchaser”) has acquired the Company’s assets, principally Southampton Football Club (”the Club”), for an undisclosed sum.

The purchaser is owned and controlled by Markus Liebherr, 61, who is a Swiss national. Markus Liebherr also owns and controls the Swiss-based Mali Group, which consists of five companies engaged in technologically advanced engineering.

Mark Fry and his team from Begbies Traynor who have been in talks with a number of interested parties, were impressed by Markus Liebherr and his team’s commitment and plans for the Club.

Joint Administrator Mark Fry commented: “The sale of the Saints to Markus Liebherr is a fantastic opportunity to rebuild the Club.

Markus Liebherr was attracted to Southampton by a number of qualities which include the Club’s rich sporting heritage, loyal fan base, first class stadium and training facilities and the potential for the Saints to regain their rightful place at the higher echelons of English football.

“I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all Saints’ fans for their support and patience in what have been uncertain times for the Club. I would also like to wish both Markus and the Club well for future success.”

It would be fair to say that Saints fans have been put through the mill over the last six months, so there will be a collective sigh of relief breathed by fans both in Southampton and from further afield.

It appears likely that Liebherr will appoint his own board over the coming weeks, which means it’s unlikely there will be a place for either Matt Le Tissier - who would have been appointed chairman had the Pinnacle bid succeeded - or Leon Crouch, whose personal generosity kept the club running through the first two months of the administration period.

The protracted takeover of Southampton FC by Swiss company Liebherr Holdings is nearing completion.

The contracts drawn up and agreed between Liebherr, the Football League and the administrators have been signed by all parties, and the only thing remaining is for the funds to be transferred which should be completed in a matter of hours - however, this could run into tomorrow morning.

Saints fans will clearly be hoping that more information is made available as to who exactly owns their football club now, but we’ll all now be breathing an almighty sigh of relief that this saga appears to finally be coming to an end.

The parent company of the football club, Southampton Leisure Holdings plc, has been in administration for 97 days now, and the football club itself has only been kept away from liquidation thanks to the generosity of a number of people who have put their hands in their pocket to ensure wages are paid. The sales of Nathan Dyer, David McGoldrick and Andrew Surman in the last few weeks have also gone a long way to ensure that we will still have a club to support when the season kicks off on August 8th against Millwall.

Hopefully season tickets will be put on sale in the next couple of days, and we can look forward to a new dawn and hope that we have now finally reached the bottom of what has turned out to be a rather steady decline in the last six years.

The consortium led by Tony Lynam and fronted by Matt Le Tissier has withdrawn from the race to assume control at St Mary’s after failing to secure assurances from the Football League over further points deductions.

Le Tissier told Sky Sports News “We had actually spoken to the backers and talked them into accepting the 10 point deduction and getting on with things, but there were other issues that came up and issues we were only aware of after we had signed the exclusivity agreement. From that point of view, the backers have taken a stance that they are not willing under the terms on offer to put the money in.”

The news will come as a major embarrassment to both Le Tissier and Lynam, both of whom had been adamant that a deal would be completed by Tuesday this week, and only adds to the belief among a number of fans that, since the exclusivity period was gained, the money’s never been there in the first place.

It is widely accepted that the deposit they paid for the exclusivity rights was composed of the first payment from Swansea City for the signing of Nathan Dyer and former chairman Leon Crouch writing a cheque for the remainder - possibly in exchange for a seat on the new board.

Then, after administrator Mark Fry requested that one of the backers went public, we had the Fialka Fiasco, with simple searches of public data finding that Michael Fialka, who had been paraded on Sky Sports News as a multi-millionaire, couldn’t possibly have that sort of wealth. Lynam back-tracked and claimed he was fronting a group of investors, rather than being the money man himself.

Fry has said he “wasn’t surprised” that the Pinnacle group withdrew their offer, which only begs the question as to why he continued to entertain them for so long rather than pursuing other angles. Alarm bells should have been ringing as soon as they were unable to put up the £500k deposit nearly six weeks ago, and we now find ourselves in a position of pure desperation.

A number of contracts expired yesterday including those of club captain and player of the season Kelvin Davis, who now seems set to sign for West Ham on a free transfer, and current head coach Mark Wotte and the majority of his backroom staff. Only reserve team coach Stewart Henderson remains from the coaching team.

The original deadline set by Fry last week of this Friday for a deal to be concluded may, however, be extended slightly after the sale of David McGoldrick to Nottingham Forest for £1m, which should keep the wolves from the door for another month or so. However, it seems hard to believe that the club can carry on for that long under these circumstances given that the season starts in a month’s time, and indeed we have a home game against Ajax in just over two weeks’ time - tickets for which haven’t yet gone on sale. Season tickets also remain elusive.

When Bournemouth were in administration this time last year, they continued to take money from supporters for season and match tickets but funnelled the money into an account that was unconnected with the football club, the contents of which were then released to the club once the takeover was completed. I see no reason why we can’t do the same, and I’m surprised and slightly disappointed that this doesn’t appear to have been explored.

Of course it could be that in a week’s time we don’t have a club to support, but in those circumstances the money would surely be able to be refunded.

All of this leaves the Swiss group, who nobody seems to know anything about, as the supposed front-runners, although there have also been rumours of Red Bull, based in Austria, being interested - Southampton Red Bulls would be a lot easier to stomach than having no club at all, that’s for sure…