I can still remember the feeling, when Rupert & Co. tried to put the parent company into administration, and the Football League didn't go for it, saying we were to be docked 10 points, which backfired badly on us. Then along came the well intentioned, if naive, Le Tiss, as a saviour, and we thought of League One days with Le God smiling over us. To be fair to Matty, we'll leave that whole affair as well intentioned.
Then, lurking in the background, were reports of a Swiss-German [Markus], who was super-rich, and many of us thought about Paul Allen again, and how that was nothing but hot air. But this hot air had substance. And he wasn't hot, but cool, calm and collected, and his main man [Nicola] was a smooth operator. Immediately, we were impressed by the efficient way they went about their business. The facts, revealed later, that they hung back, waiting to see what became of the LeTiss led takeover, knowing it was underfunded and pie-in-the-sky, gave the fans no respite from their despair, at the time. But the day came when Markus walked down the steps of the Itchen Stand to the waves and cheers from the crowd. A giant of a man, looking remarkably yellow in the face [one suspected he was not in the best of health, even then], but waving back with a huge smile on his face, and a Saints scarf round his neck. We couldn't be judgemental because this bloke had literally saved us from the brink. We later heard that Nicola had talked him into it, and that subsequently he'd insisted that Nicola run the whole show. Then came the highlights. Markus would appear at every game he could. Saints were really growing on him. The club wasn't a toy to be played with, but a responsibility. He got involved. He wanted new facilities, he wanted improvements. He got them.
And now, a year after he has gone, he has left a superb legacy. He's left his mate, Nicola Cortese, to keep running the show, and it's nice that Nicola refers to Saints as his baby. It's nice because we know that Markus's dream will live on totally intact, because it is Nicola's dream as well. And we're all invited to join in.