Southampton City Council sign agreement with Saints to develop St Mary's and Itchen Riverside

Not as daft as it seems, buying the Club was only a stepping stone into a much bigger plan which included buying up property with Chinese Government investment for future development, he was even going to purchase another overseas Club, but it all went Pear shaped when the Chinese Government pulled the financial plug.

 

I'm aware of the narrative, just don't believe it to be true whatsoever and to believe it relies on believing Gao to be honest and all evidence points otherwise.

In terms of how far I trust people then corrupt grasses are pretty low down the list. Probably somewhere just below smack heads and just above sex offenders.

 

Traffic in the city is getting worse every year and we definitely need a light rail or tram network imo

It’s a small move, but even just linking the stadium to St Denys using the existing track would be a little win at very little cost(relatively)
As Puck said earlier the track continues to some of the cruise terminals which would then give the line a use beyond match days

 

Funnily enough, I have a bit of insight on this which is why I'd be suspicious about it.

When Kat was nosing around for someone to sell to (pre Gao), I had some dealings (via an intermediary) with the Qatari royal family as I was working with Irving Sellar's family (the fella that built the Shard with Qatari money). They were looking to invest in/buy a football club. Thinking that we were ripe for the plucking at that point, I had some discussions with Neil Ashton (footy journalist who has since gone into advisory work for clubs) who was/is very close to Cortese. We put together a proposal for the mad Italian bugger to ride back in on a sea of Qatari money.

Eventually he said no, largely because he didn't want to be dealing with Kat at all, but also because when he was working with Markus, the council was incredibly resistant to any attempts to buy land/develop area/expand stadium, and he didn't feel they were any closer to allowing that to happen.

So for Gao to have come in and said that that's exactly what he was going to do feels like a lot of hot air. Clearly in the interim something has changed though, and the council's position has softened.

 

I remember when you were trying to get Nicola to come back!

 

I do still dream about the 'what if' there!

 

Everything annoys the fans when we aren’t winning

… except winning

 

Which is why I said that he had a dream, the chances of it ever becoming a reality were probably pretty slim, whatever, his period in charge kept us afloat using his own money, he didn't have to do that, he could have ditched us, but didn't, but with no money we were never going to improve, hence the SR takeover. That is an improvement of sorts, but it hasn't turned out as we would have liked, but then again, we all know that.
Having suffered the depths of despair of the Rupert Lowe era, this is nothing new to many of us. Just like then, we kept the faith and just prayed for a miracle and we got one in Markus Liebherr. We now need another miracle to get us out of the current mess. If you don't have a dream how can you have a deam come true?

 

Yep, same when they announce the attendance.

 

Or when they announce the score.

 

My point is I don't think he ever had the 'dream' and we've only got his word to say otherwise which isn't very trustworthy given his history.

Let's not forget he was deemed a less suitable person to own a football club than the Saudis and a bloke who didn't exist. He only got through on a loophole which all clubs including us voted to close immediately afterwards.

 

What you "think" is your opinion, it appears to be prejudiced and hypothetical. I can only speculate from what I have read and heard but I have no real proof, so I can't disagree with you, I just look at it from a different perspective.

 

The second paragraph isn't my opinion nor subjective. It's factual.

And yeah the first part is my opinion but I don't think it's too much of a leap to suggest that somebody with a history of corruption who then turned grass and saw his co-defendant executed (both facts) is probably not a very honest person.

Each to their own though if people want to believe him. Irrelevant now I guess.

 

Because I don't like the club selling us a load of bollocks

I didn't know that! What a nice fella

 

Water under the bridge now, the Gao saga has been well discussed and certainly isn't as black an white as some believe. I never said he was a good guy, whether he could have been for us, we will never know. Whether SR will be good for us, we will have to wait and see. they will have to do a lot more to convince me but there is nothing I can do about it. I could join the negative brigade and get all bitter and twisted, but it would be futile and wouldn't make me feel better about things.

 

The reason that I am taking this with a piece of salt is that I don't see anything here that is new and I dont think the statement advances the dial at all on progression.

It has long been known that the club have an interest in the waterfront and redeveloping St Marys (predating SR) this just seems like a restatement of that aim.

But practically Cemex are still at the site andf there is no plan for them to move. As for infrastructure it is not in the club or the councils hands to make changes to the rail by St Marys and as long as the waterfront remains inaccessible what can you do regarding road access?

If they want to redevelop/expand St Marys this was built into the original design and you don't need the waterfront to do it?

I am not sure what is really new here other than maybe saying the Council is on board?

 

I can't see this happening.

The memorandum of understanding has been passed by Southampton City Council, and they have passed it to parsons.

Parsons has passed it to the board who have in turn passed it to Martin.

Martin has passed it to the team who have passed it between themselves and it's currently with Lumley.

Lumley threatened to put it directly back in the boards possession and the fans shouted a cheer of hope but Martin was furious.

Can't see this going forward.

 

Don’t get negative stuff…proves there is a long term plan. Time for us to build up again. Be more worried if we were not only doing badly, but had owners trying to offload us.

COYR

 

Even that is annoying as if we start winning in a game it just means that when we make a mistake and inevitably lose, Martin trudges out the "we were good until..." and lives another week.

 

We were good until the ref blew that annoying whistle thing and people started kicking the ball around. The worst thing was the fans cheering though…