Former Southampton chairman Nico Cortese insists he would've kept the squad together if still in charge.
Cortese, installed as chairman after Markus Liebherr completed his takeover in July 2009, said he didn't 'see any reason for them (the players) to go.
"I can tell you that I didn't have that fear to the last day I was at the club," he told the Daily Echo.
"I was confident about plenty of conversations I had with the players. I knew the players themselves wanted to stick together because this vision was something they believed in, too.
"I didn't see any reason for them to go.
"I didn't have written offers, but I obviously had phone calls.
"My answer was that it was not going to happen for at least the next two seasons.
"The other chairmen respected that. Until the day I left, there were no offers."
