I would judge, aside from a few people who remain against Him for various obscure reasons, that Cortese is pretty damn popular these days. Yet Saints are in the Championship and gunning for the Premier League, at this moment. It's early days, and occasionally Cortese talks about stadium expansion or a new stadium, new this, better that, Champions League, etc...
I don't think for one second that this is idle talk, but rather entirely possible. Cortese is talking about turning Saints into a global brand, just like Arsenal, ManU, Liverpool, etc... The challenge for him [and this is one of the reasons why I think he striving to do it] is because it is so unlikely by the means of old. Traditionally, Saints are compromised, compared to other major clubs, simply because half of their catchment area is in the water. I bet it has crossed Cortese's mind, several times, that this coastal club manages to get 30,000+ people into the stadium, in the Championship, during tough financial times, and used to sell out regularly as a Premier League club that [let's be honest] made up the numbers. It doesn't take a genius to realise that you can regularly add 10,000 to that figure, given the opportunity. Plus, if a League One Saints can take over 50,000 people to Wembley, then a Premier League Saints, playing for higher stakes, just might be able to compete with, and beat the big clubs, and count on regular 40,000+ support, with a global audience looking on. I think Cortese is on a bit of a mission to show that, by the right means, Saints can be as big as the other major teams. He'll just go about it the right way. Stadium expansion..? It's my belief that we haven't seen anything yet.