Chief allays cash fears

Southampton chairman Michael Wilde says the club is in good shape and is confident they will be able to survive the credit crunch.

Southampton's financial problems have been well documented in the past and there have been suggestions that the club could be hit hard once again by the current credit crisis.

However, Wilde says the measures put in place since he returned to the club with Rupert Lowe, will ensure they can ride out the storm.

"There's a whole range of things that are having wide-ranging effects on professional football clubs," Wilde told the Echo. "Without the cost-cutting we've introduced over the last three or four months we would have had little chance of weathering the storm.

"We are now moving towards a semblance of sensibility but it would be foolish to think the company isn't under pressure in the same way even the best-run businesses around are.

"We have to perform and hit our targets and as long as we do that we're in good shape."