I see the Echo is defending Katharina, though. http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/sa...nfair_to_pin_the_blame_on_Katharina_Liebherr/
http://www.express.co.uk/sport/foot...herr-could-suffer-30m-loss-on-quick-club-sale Another piece in the Express. Saying £30 million has been taken off of the clubs selling price due to the upheaval and the lawyers are looking for potential buyers.
I'd be stunned if they couldn't get £100m. As for the increased risk due to the possibility that the club may lose its PL status in a few years, there are roughly seven teams that don't have that hanging over their heads over the medium term, and several of them have sold for more.
Interesting to read that Katharina is conducting the interviews for the CEO position herself, and that she also wants to have the new CEO in place by the end of next week.
I am sure the negative publicity she has received this week, particularly as she is a very private person would make her want to sort this out as quickly as possible so she can get out of the lime light again. It is best for everyone concerned with the club that someone is appointed quickly and everyone gets back to normal. Besides if it is true about Nicola serving his notice then a shortlist has probably already been drawn up and its just a case of appointing the best candidate from that small pool.
Why is it that everything KL does is for "publicity?" It's really kind of a backhanded compliment. Or not much of a compliment at all. Why wouldn't she seek to fill that position as soon as possible? As you pointed out, it's the smart thing to do. Since this all went down, can anyone legitimately criticize anything KL has done? I'd argue she's hardly put a foot wrong. Maybe, just MAYBE she's actually a good owner and she's doing these things not for PR purposes but because it's the right move. And maybe, just MAYBE she's been doing the right thing all along. Which is why we are where we are. You would think that notion that would be comforting.
I think she has dealt with this week in an almost perfect manner personally. Compare this to how Cortese has if indeed he has been copying journalists into his e-mails then I think she is coming out of this in a much better light than Cortese. TBH it's getting a little silly the papers keep calling people 'shy' or a 'private person'. Nicola has always been described like this too and he has been the first to use the media to get his message out or leak details that should've remained within the club offices. I just hope he doesn't end up feeding information to the media now that he is gone. To be perfectly honest it is only a couple of days since all this happened and we have already heard more from her than we would have from Cortese and all these articles coming out about her wanting to sell ASAP and not being interested in sport. Why do we believe them yet rubbish any article linking our players to transfers? They are written by the same people and we label them 'lazy journalism' yet credence has been given to articles telling us she wants to sell. For all we know Cortese may well be feeding them this information and may well have been for a long while. We should wait until we hear from her or the club or her PR team about what she plans to do with the club and to me the dream scenario would not be 'China's richest man' coming in to make us the next Man City. The dream scenario would be Katharina to announce that she has become besotted with Southampton. That she wants to make the club succesful at a sustainable level whilst staying within FFP regulations and never running at a loss. Its a pity that the club accounts take so long to reach the public domain because I suspect that this years accounts will be much much worse than many people suggest. We won't know for a long time but I think many underestimate the actual costs of the club. The TV money is massive BUT the playing staff wages, bonuses, transfers are vast too. I would bet that matchday revenue minus matchday costs for a whole season would be wiped out by 1 player transfer. i.e. An Osvaldo or Wanyama.
I don't think she has done anything for publicity and given the fact no one knew what she looked like last week, she wants to avoid it. Which was my point. Get a ceo in quick so she can go into the background again and do whatever it is she wants to do. I think she has handled this well so far. I do find it strange that Cortese is using the press to his advantage and is maybe leaking things when in the le tiss spat he took the moral high ground and kept quiet. Much to his credit. Can only assume he is maneuvering for something and needs the positive PR.
It is a pity, but for exactly the opposite reason. You can infer quite a lot from the accounts we do have access to, and given the much higher income in the premier league, I'd be absolutely amazed if we aren't making a good profit at this point.
If that were the case I would've thought that Cortese would still be here. If we were spending money we have or are going to have then it wouldn't have been such a problem? Would this have all blown up if Cortese was purely spending Saints money or is it to do with external funding?
The article says that 30 mill would be wiped off the price IF she wanted a quick sale. There is no evidence that she wants a sale, quick or slow. She is a private person or at least likes to keep off the radar...it was said that you couldn't find a picture on the internet until recently...I can vouch for that as I tried to find a picture some time ago so that I could pick her out of a crowd. She wants to be more involved with the club she owns (and ploughed money into) and NC didn't like it...since then she has talked the manager into staying, given everyone her support, told the vultures to clear off, and is in the process of appointing a CEO. Katharina at least deserves our patience.
It looks increasingly likely that Cortese threw his dummy out of the pram because KL wanted to take some of his powers and monitor things more closely. A bit pathetic really. As he's had his hand on the media output for so long, it is really hard to get a fair impression of what he was doing. We know nothing about selling the club and should withhold judgement. Still, if I bought a club and then, after my death, my daughter was ridiculed by fans and the press for her gender /weight/looks, then I'd be rolling in my grave.
Just because we don't like the guy doesn't mean there aren't truths in there. The thing he has missed is that Southampton was Nicola's project that he sold to Markus....we needed both to get saved. The bit about Markus being in the mood for fun, but it didn't last was poignant. The glass ceiling bit is true....very hard to get in the top 4 without silly money. But do you know what...I would settle for being a regular top 6-10 side and stay owned by someone who isn't a crook, a gangster and/or idiot like so many clubs.
Yup. Think Fran has it nailed on there. She's done less than nothing wrong this far, and even if she does make a slip up, we shouldn't immediately jump on it. Got to let her feel her way through this a bit.
Reported in one of the papers that KL has posted a letter to all staff apologising for not being able to speak to them directly, but promising she will see them in the coming weeks. Tick
