SAINTS’ owners the Liebherr family are fifth in the British football rich list.

Only people involved with Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal and QPR are believed to be more wealthy.

The Liebherr family fortune has been estimated at £3 billion by the compilers of the list, FourFourTwo magazine.

Markus Liebherr was the owner of the club prior to his passing away back in August.

After his death, the club’s ownership was passed on to family members, though it is not clear who is taking a day to day interest in affairs at St Mary’s.

Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour has returned to the top of the rich list.

The 40-year-old’s vast fortune is estimated to have risen by £3billion to £20 billion.

That has moved him back in front of QPR shareholder Lakshmi Mittal, whose fortune has dipped to £17 billion.

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, whose wealth once dwarfed all other fortunes on the list, has now dropped as far as fourth – displaced by Arsenal shareholder Alisher Usmanov, whose estate has exploded to rise from £1.3 billion to £8 billion.