THE FINAL FAREWELL?

There are some things in life that are difficult to shake off - superglue, summer colds, hangovers - and Rupert Lowe, seen here exiting stage left yesterday, is another. He reminds me of Damien in The Omen, who kept coming back despite desperate attempts to be rid of him. Then there was the Billy Zane character in the film, Dead Calm, who terrorised Nicole Kidman and Sam Neal until he was finally disposed of by means of a distress flare being fired in his chest.

Mercifully for Rupert, no such extreme measures were necessary yesterday as his second period as Chairman of Southampton Leisure Holdings came to an end, following the withdrawal of the £4million overdraft facilities by Barclays Bank, uncertainty about the attitude of Norwich Union/Aviva towards the £24million debt outstanding on the cost of providing St. Mary`s Stadium and the suspension of trading in the company`s shares by the Stock Exchange.

As Rupert left St. Mary`s by a back entrance, an Administrator appointed by the court swept in the front door to take control of the club as Rupert`s resignation was followed by all but one of the other Directors (the remaining one being teflon coated Finance Director, David Jones, presumably retained to guide the Administrator through the labyrinth of the club`s accounts.)

It seems that unless a buyer can be found for the club in the next three weeks or so, then the club will probably cease to exists and consign over 100 years of history, tradition, triumph and disaster to history. There are a few candidates out there who profess to be lifelong Saints fans - Gavin Davies, David Frost, Craig David, the guy who plays the drums for Coldplay - but it`s difficult to see much hope of anyone in their right mind buying a football club in these economic times, even at a knock-down price. Unless, of course, Rupert decides to put in a bid, buy the club outright and, like Damien and Billy Zane, come back to haunt us yet again.

So I`ll be going to the game tomorrow, since it might just be one of the last ever played by the team I have supported for over 60 years. The game is against Charlton Athletic, already virtually certain of relegation themselves, so I don`t expect a feast of football. What I am looking forward to, however, is once more being part of a tribal gathering, as I`m told that already nearly 30,000 tickets have been sold for tomorrow - double the attendances during Rupert`s tenure. Which says much about the fans` attitude towards a man who, first time round, took numbskull management decisions which led to relegation from the Premiership and, this time round, has led to the holding company going bust and with it the future of the football club hanging by a thread.

I think it was Graeme Souness who, on being the first manager to be sacked by Lowe, asked the rhetorical question, "Who has ever heard of anyone in football being called Rupert?" Now we know why.