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Rupert Lowe resigned as Southampton chairman 72 hours before an extraordinary general meeting of the club which would have almost certainly seen his demise. The battle for control of Southampton, owned by Southampton Leisure, was to reach a climax at an extraordinary meeting on Monday 3rd July. The struggle for control was between Rupert Lowe, chairman since 1997, and Michael Wilde, chairman of the Merlion housing company, who had the backing of nearly a quarter of Southampton shareholders. Mr Lowe, a former banker with Deutsche Bank and Morgan Grenfell, had to fight off attempts from inside and outside the boardroom led by Mr Wilde to remove him and four other directors (who also resigned) from their positions. Last week 'Uncle Rupe' as he is known on the south coast took the extraordinary step of writing to shareholders urging them to reject the EGM proposal to remove him. The letter was also signed by manager George Burley, captain Claus Lundekvam and former England rugby union coach Sir Clive Woodward who was controversially brought in by Mr Lowe to assist with team training. Mr Lowe, who helped design the 'Footsie' 100 Index, became chairman of the company nine years ago when the club undertook a reverse takeover of Lowe's Secure Retirements, his retirement homes company.
While Lowe has been chairman, turnover has risen to nearly £50m. However, his opponents claim that the club has been poorly managed, leading to relegation from the Premiership last year. Last week, Mr Wilde stated that Mr Lowe had given no indication of Southampton's full-year financial performance to the end of May. He claimed last year's turnover of £50m could have been halved in the last financial year as the result of relegation. Among Mr Wilde's backers was former BBC chairman and Goldman Sachs banker Gavyn Davis, who is a life-long Saints fan. He commented, 'Rupert Lowe has done many good things in his time at the club but, given the recent changes of share ownership, there is little prospect of moving forward as a united club under his leadership.' However, Mr Lowe also had his backers on the board and was estimated to be able to count on about 25 per cent of the vote, lower than the 36 per cent Mr Wilde was expected to be able to call on. However, the key vote was likely to be the one cast by Leon Crouch, the founder and chairman of locally-based Lymington Precision Engineers and a 10 per cent shareholder. He was thought to be favouring Mr Wilde. The smart money on the outcome favoured Mr Wilde's efforts to oust Mr Lowe. Mr Wilde intends to keep the company public. The Financial Times commented, 'Cold-eyed shareholders used to sophisticated investment ratios such as return of equity employed, will no doubt just shake their heads.'
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