SOUTHAMPTON may be adrift in the Premiership but their supporters come top of the league for their singing, according to research by a York University professor.

Ironically, fans of fellow strugglers Bolton Wanderers were found to be the least tuneful.

Professor David Howard studied recordings of crowd singing at every Premiership club for his findings, which were published today.

He compared the "wall of sound" fans create when they sing together to a reference of different notes to decide how in or out of tune they were.

The best singers started their song at a low pitch to suit the range with which their voices are able to cope, and did not try songs which required them to reach high notes.

By comparing each club, Professor Howard found supporters of Southampton - nicknamed the Saints - stretched their voices the least, followed in second place by Premiership leaders Manchester United.

Supporters of Derby County, like Bolton near the bottom of the table, are apparently singing better than their team is playing, as they come third in the list.

Prof Howard, head of the Music Technology Research Group at the university, said: "All the fans sing with real passion and belief, but in some cases the vocal skills of some fans don't come close to matching the skills of the players that they support.

"Southampton fans have good starting pitch and hold their tuning extremely well to produce a consistently outstanding performance. "They didn't go for the extreme high pitches, which are hard to reach for most men and women."

At the other end of the table, fans of Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa join Bolton as the worst singers.

The crowd recordings were supplied by FA Premiership sponsors Barclaycard.

Updated: 11:24 Monday, March 18, 2002