I hope we keep our stadium name, but I think memories of our bad times colours our view. It was the same with the stripes. Compared with being solvent, having a good owner, being back in the PL, watching decent football, and producing great players including internationals, our kit and a new stadium name cease to be so important. Anyway it hasn't even been suggested yet.
And you should be able to tell when I'm not being serious. For what it's worth, based on my experience I reckon I'd be able to tell the difference between a Canadian and an American accent.
There is a lot more that separates Canada and the USA than just the border, I know from experience. Canada has more European values than the USA and they don't have the every man for himself and 'money is god' attitude - although their current administration is desperately trying to get there... As for the stadium name change, well to be fair to sports fans in north America most of the comments I have ever seen hate the names like Rexell Place and Xcel Center but it is the times we live in. I think it would be madness to stop a potential revenue source or dissuade one just because we are still living in the football world of the 1930s. The Premiership is very 'Amercianised' any way - Monday Night Football? Where have I heard that before? Along with squad numbers, players names on shirts, video calls on goal-line technology, bigger match day squads and three subs allowed [that'll get bigger eventually], alongside calls for more match officials, sin-bins, orange cards - none of this is traditional but they are there or going to be there.
About 10 years ago in Koh Phangan I was getting grief from this Israeli guy on the beach one night - he was giving me **** for being English and something about "it's all your fault" apparently - when his girlfriend came and dragged him away. She was very apologetic and after a couple of minutes talking to her I asked her what part of Canada she was from. She was so ecstatic at not automatically being assumed to be from the US, had it not been for the asswipe boyfriend it would have been a very enjoyable night...
I am baffled that someone from such a business-minded family would place trust over any demonstrated competence in the field when dealing with such a large asset. His qualifications appear to be i) knows Katerina, ii) involved in some sport. I have been wrong before, and perhaps I'll be wrong here. But at this point, I would very much like for the team to be sold; we're entering a massive summer, one where we'll have the opportunity to push forward while having to fend off transfer bids for half the team, and we're doing it with someone at the helm who knows little to nothing about the sport, who has no experience even running an organization (hockey coaches don't do the operational side), and whose greatest claim to fame is spouting bromides about leadership. This smacks of a disaster in the making.
Well he seems to know his own limitations at least, and the likes of Reed and Rogers are still on the board (not to mention the obvious respect he has for Pochettino) so I find it difficult to believe he would drive the club into the ground in spite of their counsel.
Don't want us sold...that has worked so well for other clubs, hasn't it? There are circling sharks out there....buy a club by raising money against its assets and putting it into debt. Money launderers, Russian mafia, or Asians who know nothing about English fans...take your pick. Do you think we will strike lucky for a second time...I'm not willing to take that risk. At this moment we have an owner with an acknowledged emotional link to our club...she'll do for me until proven otherwise.
But his limitations happen to be 'in no way qualified to run a football club', which is a pretty significant limitation even if one acknowledges it.
Would you prefer a Chicken Farmer, or a Malaysian Businesman? How many Football Club Directors in the UK have actually got any Football experience? Is it a vital criteria that you have to have had previous experience in football to be a succesful football Club owner. To be a Football Billionaire you need to start with £3 billion it is said.
If you can only run a football club by having previously run a football club, then he is unqualified. We have no idea what he is capable of, so we just have to wait and see. He is head of the board, not a solo player like Nicola. Katharina is a business woman and intends to be an active director...she owns the club...I will trust her to keep an eye on a very large asset. He (and presumably Katharina) has noticed that we are not performing well on the commercial side...this may be a failing of Nicola's. NC had a financial background and yet there have been rumours that he alienated would be sponsors. Time for a schmoozer to step in. Just caught up on reports of media meeting with RK (as reported in the Echo)...nice to see that Katharina has enjoyed being involved in the club more than she thought she would. She was surprised at the warmth she met with....probably grateful employees greeting her as a saviour
How qualified was Cortese? He was a banker (even worse). Yet he didn't do a bad job. And lets face it, Cortese was there as someone Marcus Leibherr trusted and so the new guy is there as someone Katharina trusts. Nothing new or controversial.
To be a club owner, of course not. To be the person directing the operations, it would be nice if they had either a background in football or business, at the least. His background was in sports finance, so he certainly had a fairly good understanding of the financial side. Wee bit tautological, that.
