Let's be honest this is how Cortese operates he's a shrewd negotiator and I wouldn't be suprised if he didn't just take the first contract on hand. I doubt he'll walk away from a project only just getting going though.
Why are some people so blinded by love for the club. This really is terrible news. Whether he stays or goes or not is a different matter, what is important, and highly concerning about our future is that there is a clear division between the executive chairmen and those supplying the finance for the club, big enough for Cortese to apparently issue something of an ultimatum...
Cortese has said that if the Liebherr's pull out he has other candidates to come in and finance the club. I wouldn't worry about the trust unless they have no interest in selling and want to have more control of the club which is unlikely.
This will be the first season the club makes a profit. Depends if they now feel they want to recoup some of their investment by either selling the club or simply spend less than they receive in. Remember, the new TV deal will at least TRIPLE the income the club currently gets. I'm sure Cortese wants a slice of that action.
It's business, but it is messy, and any time you're negotiating through the press things aren't going that smoothly...they might well kiss and make up, but it suggests potential issues in the relationship down the road even if that comes to pass. Would be curious to what degree. The expectation from the mid-season numbers was that we'd break even despite the summer outlay; we're not hemorrhaging money. But Cortese's ambitions being what they are, the dispute could be over whether a larger sum will be available to push much, much higher.
Because it's Southampton FC? Not Cortese FC? No-one is bigger than the club, as we were all reminded when Adkins was sacked.
My point wasn't about concern for Cortese or any other individual involved in the running of the club. It was that people are unable to comprehend the fact that he may well be on the verge of resigning and things aren't always as rosy as people would like.
Agree entirely with this. To those saying nobody is irreplacable, I would agrue that a chairman with the combination of amition, business acumen and confidence in convitction as Cortese is, is incredibly rare in this sya and age, He has given us stability and confidence as a club which a few years ago seemed an impossible dream. We must keep him
Except that, if you look through this thread, you'll find people talking about exactly what you're suggesting they aren't, but as usual you'd prefer to believe that you're the lone objective person on the board rather than a moaning twat.
SUPPLIED finance is a better way of putting things. Think its now common knowledge that Liebherr left an amount in his will for financing Saints. I heard all along it was £50m (excluding what it cost to buy the club). Now, whether all that money has been used up, is a good question. It may have been, hence Cortese getting that loan last summer for the training ground. What the mechanics are for getting money from the Liebherr Trust is, I expect only Cortese knows that detail. But really, the club is NOW self-financing via the Sky TV deal. It would only need additional funds for stadium redevelopment or if we went on a mental player buying spree. So I expect at the root of this is Cortese making it clear that the Liebherr Trust now NEED HIM, far more than he needs THEM.
And just so i'm not a 'moaning twat' as you so politely put it, here is a key example in my argument. Thanks, and good night.
Well he's not perfect, his PR has actually been pretty poor at times and he's made some decisions that fans haven't liked. Given the stories about him it's probably safe to say Nicola isn't the easiest to get on with so there may be a personal clash or it may also be simple jealousy. The family/trust probably know very little about running a football club and may not like trusting someone they possibly don't know very well. You could argue some sort of clash has been almost inevitable since Markus died. Given our success the family (or trust or whatever) now have an asset worth significantly more than it was before so it's understandable they're now more interested in what happens to it and how it's run. Cortese has total control at the moment either because Markus gave it to him or because the club was an insignificant part of the Liebherr empire and nobody cared about it.
aha misread what sharp shooter said. Don't if it's a dig at me to be honest can't be bothered to find out
I'd like to see a statement from the club on this one. This is the kind of stuff I hoped we'd left behind when Cortese and Liebherr came in. For me, Cortese is one of the best things to have happened at Southampton FC, possibly the best in my lifetime. He has been the instigator of everything at SFC and his vision and ambition has become what the club are all about. With Markus gone I'd much rather have the scenario of Cortese and new owners rather than the present owners and a new Chairman.
All we can do is speculate at the moment sharpshooter made a good point around it showing that there is some form of division between him and the trust, even if it is just over his contract. Cortese has been an excellent chairman for us, the only thing he lacks is maybe a bit of PR work but who doesn't make a few 'enemies' on their way to the top? I really hope he stays around, he has run the club well while he has been in charge and turned down a role at a top Italian club before didn't he? Hopefully that shows his commitment to the cause, although that was then and this is now. If the trust have decided to change how things are done, then Cortese may feel that his long term ambitions for the club are unobtainable.
And here are all the people who are in fact comprehending it: People are well-aware that Cortese leaving would be a bad thing, and that it isn't all sunflowers and unicorns.
My opinion is why would Saints even comment about such BS, don`t give the press the time of day. If the club did reply and say its not true then the papers will run with a story about Cortese committing to the club and then the Times can proudly say they have a story that other papers have missed. Saints are staying up and we have the potential to spend big money, with lots of expectation for next season, why wouldn`t they want to want to write about us.
