Well whatever the semantics, the end result is the same. The Liebherrs have done nothing to suggest they have exercised any financial control either. I can put your mind at ease then, because today he described what he said in the past as relevant to a totally different situation. I think this is very much a case of "do as we say or go". Not quite a sacking, but if he refused to resign and didn't accept their demands, you can bet he would have been. Ms Liebherr may be honest enough to say she wished he had stayed, but not on his terms.
Feeling very positive, at least, about the rest of the season. Hope we can push on into Europe, and convince Poch & any potential players (not that we should have to, but we seem to need to) to stay on. The future is bright still, COYR!
I have been rather annoyed at the sexism of the bottom dwellers in the media and on line. I was watching MP's conference on twitter, so could see comments running alongside the feed. There were some dreadful things being said...one even suggested that Katharina should be raped. All she's done is inherit a football club and subsequently invest money in it. She wants to make some changes after owning the club for several years...she owns it and is allowed to. There is no sign that she is doing anything underhand. I don't know why some people take it so personally and make crude remarks...no one comments about the sex life of a male owner. Not606 has been pretty balanced as usual.
I knew one of the guys who was spouting some of the more vulgar stuff on Youtube earlier, he's my brothers pal I think. Might call him out on it...I suppose sometimes things seem funny when you are 16 (doesn't make it right). Some of that stuff is bad. I said yesterday Fran that in all of the carnage Katharina might have quietly become the most powerful woman in football history.
I said it on Twitter yesterday and a lot of people seemed to find it amusing, but the point is a valid one... ...I couldn't care whether SFC is led by a bloke, a bird or a chick with a dick. So long as it is run responsibly and the right decisions are made.
You know, I was reading the "Official Statement" thread from yesterday and one of our number posted this; "Hang on a minute. What if this does all boil down to a contractual dispute between Cortese and the owner. The telegraph write up says that they are looking to appoint a new executive Chairman and have a period of stability. Whilst it is possible that she wants to sell in an orderly way during the summer, we don't even really know that yet, only that she and Cortese have parted company. All the articles about Shaw and Lambert going- well they were writing all that stuff before todays events and it's simply a rehash of old speculative stuff given a fresh impetus and of course a better splash in the paper. Can you name a single case where there has been a mass exodus of players in response to a Chairman or manager leaving (rather than to join up with an old manager at a new club)? I can't offhand. Maybe Pochettino will go, maybe he won't. I don't remember the players chucking their hands in when Nigel was pushed. I am off to bed. What will be, will be. No point in being too downbeat just yet." Yes, it was me, and yes, I do feel pretty smug right now
I disagree with this a bit because of the way they purchased the club. The Glazers used the club as collateral to obtain the loans necessary to purchase the club. All that money owed then went on Man U's books and became Man U's debt. If Man U was unable to pay back the loans, the Glazers could have simply declared Man U bankrupt and walked away, their personal fortunes intact. I think ML used his own money to buy the club without incurring debt. The money that was loaned from the club for operations (not to finance the purchase) came not from a bank with Saints as collateral, but from ML's own pockets. If Saints can't pay back that debt and go bankrupt, ML never gets his money back. And he could also at any time just say "Hey, don't pay me back. Just keep it." Whereas a bank is not going to say to Man U "Hey don't pay us back that loan." Saints had an IOU, Man U had a mortgage. Beyond that though, KL has apparently continued to pour money into the club. Which to me is a good thing as why would she do that if she didn't care? But it does call into question whether the club can stand on it's own or is still relying on Liebherr funds. And perhaps that was the source of the disagreement. Not that KL hates MP or the club or has no interest in football. Just that she thought it was more financial prudent to cut back on spending for a bit and MP was a risk-taker who thought the time to invest was now.
Once in power a person doesn't give it up easily. This seems to be the case. I don't find it unreasonable, that the owner (who has provided significant funds), wanted a bigger say in how it was run. Even if she wants to sell, surely she should be in a position to sell on her own terms or at the very least have an input. It is unfair how she has been portrayed by many in the press and on social media, after all Nicola did resign and was not sacked. The Club we have been told is not for sale. Well that makes sense because as soon as you say you want to sell the price comes down but for now that is all we really have to go on that is official. Hopefully the executive that comes in is in a similar mould to Nicola and can pick up the reigns and carry on, with maybe even more passion and drive.
How many of our current squad came because of Cortese and the vision that he has installed? I would say at least Ramirez, Osvaldo, Wanyama, Boruc and Lovren signed because of this, not because of the manager. I'm not sure we'd have got Fonte without Cortese either, as well as Pardew and Pochettino. Then getting youngsters like Shaw to commit. I don't think another Chairman has played such a role at a club before where he has effectively led a revolution in turning it around. If he ends up at another club, say AC Milan, and comes in for Pochettino and some of the players mentioned, I think they may find it hard to turn down. I doubt a new chairman would be happy to keep things as they are, they'd want to implement their own style on the club, and this is what I worry most about.
I feel a little calmer re no imminent PC or player departures but as far as I'm concerned the reassurances only last to the end of the season at most. If PC doesn't get tempted away sooner it seems like the Spurs job may still be up for grabs and PC has still gotta be a contender on current form. I still shudder to think what will happen if the club is sold, after all how many PL clubs that weren't already pretty consistently successful - Man U, Arsenal, Spurs - have been bought by rich investors and made more successful? I think Chelsea and Man City are fairly big stand out exceptions to the rule. Not sure but I think I'd prefer to stick with KL even if she eases up on the last years spending.
Well we can all worry about what might happen next season and the season after that. All I can think about it that compared to the meltdown the press were shouting about, tonight I am an awful lot calmer. If Pochettino is here to complete the project, that's great. If he moves on in the summer, then Saints will still have had a terrific season. What is on the mug? Keep calm and carry on..........
Well Part one of keeping Pochettino has been done. It's going to be a nervous couple of weeks on the player departure front, but i'm reasonably confident it will be ok. I thought Pochettino was honest and professional in his responses. I hope at the next presser after having a proper discussion with Katharina that he will be able to give more confident answers in regard to the future. Losing Cortese is an obvious blow, but other than press speculation there is no sign of meltdown.
Not sure why you would mention Pardew and Pochettino and miss out Adkins??? He dropped a league to join us remember. And I think you know yourself that Milan couldn't afford to buy our players. Their 'price' would be as high now as it was a few days ago. Not many teams in world football can really afford to pay what Shaw, Schneiderlin, Lallana would cost outside of the premier league teams. As for the future it's strange. I am a big admirer of Cortese and all he has achieved for us. Defended him to many when he was being lambasted yet I don't feel that bad about him leaving for some reason. No idea why though. I was more upset when Adkins was sacked TBH and of course it doesn't even come close to how I felt in the days prior to Liebherr buying us. I think also that others are talking about the way Man U were bought and us. You should really compare us to Man City or Chelsea and not ManU. We were bought for peanuts because we weren't one of the biggest clubs in the world. Rich men/women can afford to buy a Man City, Chelsea or Southampton for small money and then pour money into their project. Much different to buying the biggest club in the world for £800million. Not many people in the world could have bought Man U for cash and then also invested heavily. That is why us, Chelsea, Man City have been able to invest so heavily. Difference between us and those 2 ??? Their owners are in the Cortese role but they still have a 'general manager' of sorts just as Man Utd do. An operations manager if you like. Being honest I think Cortese ran us like a banker. Being used to rich people trusting him with their money. I think his vision and ambition was much more than any Saints fan and probably wanted massive investment now to get into Europe this year. I have never thought that he would be happy with top half this season as many Saints fans think is a good season. However I think we could well now be in a better position where the team can have less pressure on it and rather than it be a pressure cooker of an environment where progress MUST be instant and significant the expectation may well now be top half this year, top 8 next, top 6 the year after rather than the instant top6 and CL next year which I suspect was Cortese's expectation. We will see over the next month what the intentions are however I don't think we should all assume the worst if a player or a couple of players are actually sold. If Luke is sold for £25m but is reinvested then it could be a good thing. If Lambert is sold for £7m it isn't any different to most top clubs that are getting above the going rate for an ageing player. It would show a change of intent from the 'we will not sell any player' mentality but that doesn't necessarily mean doom and gloom. It just means the club/owner/board is/are looking at progression in a more businesslike way with more realistic targets and expectations. targets that can be achieved rather than targets that were virtually 'best possible scenario'. Either way, I am surprisingly calm about things. Maybe still suffering from shock Up for Grabs? Sherwood has been given a contract until the end of next season. That does run out the same time as Pochettinos though if you want to read something in to it.
Ramirez : Came for the Money and the promise that we would build a team around him. We didn't. Osvaldo : Came for the Money & to use Saints as a stepping stone to a bigger club Wanyama : Came because our offer was the only one that Celtic accepted Boruc : Free agent, came for the Money Lovren : Probably ditto Osvaldo, although he's about the only one of the list above I would give the benefit of the doubt to. They came for the Money, they will stay for the money, until either the money runs out, or another club offers them more. Footballers do not join clubs because of their Chairman and his "project".
