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The pressure on embattled Southampton chairman Rupert Lowe has intensified as it emerged that engineering entrepreneur Leon Crouch had taken a 9 per cent stake in the club's parent company. Among the opponents aiming to unseat Mr Lowe are Michael Wide, chairman of housing company Merlion, who has the largest single shareholding amounting to about 18 per cent of the total share capital. Mr Wilde has been offered financial support from Mr Crouch in return for a seat on the board. Mr Wilde is acting separately to another south coast businessman, Andrew Strode-Gibbons, who confirmed in February that he was leading a consortium to oust Mr Lowe. Opponents of Mr Lowe now have a holding of about 30 per cent while his supporters on the board collectively hold about 28 per cent of the shares. What remains unclear are the intentions of a new private investor, Sarwan Singh, who last week raised his holding to about 3.5 per cent.
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