SOO Southampton LS.

RNS Number:0969K
Southampton Leisure Holdings PLC
17 December 2007


Monday 17 December 2007

                        Southampton Leisure Holdings PLC

                                (the 'Company')

                  Resignation of Chairman and other Directors


In his statement in the Company's Annual Report and Accounts, published on 28
November 2007, Ken Dulieu gave notice of his intention to stand down as Chairman
of the Board of Directors of the Company.

Friendly and constructive discussions have subsequently taken place amongst the
Company, its advisers and the Company's Non-Executive Directors as a result of
which it has been agreed that Ken Dulieu will stand down as Chairman of the
Company today, Monday 17 December 2007. In addition, the Company has agreed with
the following Executive Directors that they will resign as Directors of, and
cease to be employed by, the Company at the same time: Jim Hone, Chief Executive
and Andy Oldknow, Commercial Director (together, the "Departing Executives").

The Company's Annual General Meeting will go ahead as planned for Friday 21
December 2007 at St Mary's Stadium at 11.30am with Keith Wiseman, one of the
Company's Non-Executive Directors, taking the chair.

The Company is in the process of identifying a Chairman to succeed Ken Dulieu
and a Chief Executive to succeed Jim Hone. A further announcement will be made
in this regard in due course. In the meantime, Lee Hoos is combining the role of
Chief Executive with his current role of Operations Director.

Ken Dulieu and each of the Departing Executives were recruited to the Company
during July 2006 by former director Michael Wilde, who remains a substantial
shareholder in the Company. The common expectation was that Michael Wilde and
his associates would secure the investment of substantial funds to help put the
Company back on a sound financial footing and greatly enhance the prospects of
Southampton Football Club (the "Club") winning promotion to the Premier League.

Regrettably, the fact that such funds never materialised caused severe and
continuous friction amongst the Directors of the Company.

When it became apparent that the anticipated funds could not be relied upon, Ken
Dulieu and Jim Hone were invited by the Board and agreed to take over the task
of attracting substantial new investment into the business. Michael Wilde
subsequently stood down as a Non-Executive Director of the Company and as
Non-executive Chairman of the Club on 28 February 2007, after a spell of eight
months in the role.

By contrast, throughout their time together within the Company, the Chairman,
Departing Executives and the remaining Executives (being Lee Hoos, Operations
Director and David Jones, Finance Director) (the "Remaining Executives") have
stood united in their pursuit of a prudent business strategy which has delivered
highly creditable results in extremely challenging circumstances, including the
continuing absence of much-needed investment that the Company had been given to
expect. They exercised firm management control at all levels so as to ensure
that the Company always operated within its means and that proper balance was
struck between financial prudence and making available the maximum affordable
resources to enable the Club to compete as a genuine contender for promotion to
the Premier League.

The success of this approach is evident from the following highlights extracted
from the recently published Annual Report and Accounts for the financial year
ended 30 June 2007.


* Top Six finish in the Coca Cola Championship compared with 12th place
  finish the previous season.

* Cash positive business performance.

* �2.2 million reduction in net debt position.

* Profit before interest and tax of �1 million compared to a loss of �1.3
  million the previous year.

* Operating losses reduced by �3.2 million.

* Operating Costs and administrative expenses reduced by �5.8 million 
  from the previous financial year.

* Profit of �7.5 million from player trading


Over the past 12 months, Ken Dulieu and Jim Hone have conducted, in conjunction
with the Company's stockbrokers and nominated advisers, Seymour Pierce,
extensive discussions with numerous potential investors, including private
individuals, consortia and financial institutions. However, only one of those
parties, SISU Capital Limited ('SISU'), pursued their interest to the point of
making a formal indicative offer of investment, underpinned by proof of funds.

The Board announced on 22 October 2007 that it had agreed in principle to
proceed with SISU's proposals and a copy of the indicative offer letter was
subsequently conveyed to major shareholders, Rupert Lowe, Michael Wilde and Leon
Crouch.

Regrettably, these shareholders rejected SISU's proposals in the form that the
proposals were then in and they issued public statements to that effect.
However, SISU gave no indication that they were willing to make any substantive
changes to their indicative offer but did not withdraw it.

The Board of Coventry City Football Club announced on Friday 14 December that
the terms of an offer they had received from SISU had been accepted. That
announcement effectively terminated SISU's interest in Southampton Football
Club.

The Chairman and the Departing Executives were unanimously of the opinion that
SISU's investment proposals offered the prospect of a strong future for the Club
and would have provided the financial backing necessary for the Club to win
promotion to the Premier League and compete effectively at that level.

Having worked over many months to bring forward the SISU opportunity for the
Company and since there is obviously a major difference of opinion between them
and certain major shareholders concerning the appropriate way forward for the
Company, the Chairman and Departing Executives do not wish to be a barrier to
whatever future those shareholders now envisage for the Company and the Club.

Whilst the Company is under no immediate financial threat, continuation of the
prudent financial regime established by Ken Dulieu and all of the Executives
will be necessary to maintain financial stability.

The Company would like to place on record its sincere appreciation of the
excellent results achieved both collectively and individually by Ken Dulieu, 
Jim Hone and Andy Oldknow.


                               - ends -

Enquiries:

Southampton Leisure Holdings PLC                             0845 688 9448
Lee Hoos, Operations Director

Square1 Consulting Limited                                   020 7929 5599
David Bick






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