I'm beginning to feel like saying told you so to a few who said Cortese wasn't key, an asset, or even just important. He was the key. He was by far the biggest asset, and he was the most important thing to have happened to Saints for as long as I can remember. The only thing I really hope for, regarding his tenure, is that, in the dim distant future, he may decide to finish off what he started here, and with his investors, make Katharina an offer she can't refuse. As CBK is oft to rub in... Dream on.
dodgy asset though when everything disappears if he falls under a bus. investors won't tolerate that.
Right, off to bed. I'm going to choose to believe that this article was made up by a Pompey fan, and that Morgan wants to stay.
Well possibly so Beef, but I don't get the impression that the correct moves were made regarding stabilising things. To borrow TSS's 'told you so' moment, I think it rather exposes Katherina's inexperience in running businesses (when loads of people were really oddly saying she was a successful businesswoman. She's not, she inherited a successful business).
That's the second reply you've made today that I haven't been able to fathom. Only this time I can't manufacture a surreal answer either.
Of course it can - one thing NC did was get them all on new contracts. And why say we don't have to sell anyone at all, and then proceed to sell them all? Yes, we are maximising their value, but they seem to forget that they're in the business of running a football team, not a bank. This is not just the team's spine, but its brain too.
I said it was a end of a era(Didn't know anything about Morgan and still don't). Cortese did everything for the players he said as such himself. He didn't care about anything else apart from the players, it shows by how the rest of the company was run. He didn't give a **** what any one thought about us or how much sponsership was coming in etc. Now he has gone the players aren't ass licked as much so they don't like it. So of course they want to move on.
i mean an investor won't stand for their investment hinging on the health and goodwill of a single person. used to see it all the time on dragons den when the founder was running some critical element of their business in a way that meant if they disappeared the business was ****ed.
What's going on? Well you can come up with any number of conspiracy theories or stories about promised bonuses but the simplest explanation is that Cortese was a total control freak who involved himself in virtually everything at the club and in the process built up a cult of personality. Perhaps that was pre-meditated and perhaps it wasn't, I don't think that really matters in the grand scheme of things. Some of the players have openly said in the past that they were very close to Cortese and some commented on how impressive he was when they signed. That's very unusual. I have a feeling Cortese was involved with the players so much that I suspect the ambition of some players may have developed from Cortese (and Poch), who probably made some of them believe they were good enough to play in the Champions League when they didn't necessarily believe it before. Admittedly that's speculative but what seems very likely is that the players and manager believed Cortese wanted to take the club into the Champions League and - probably in part because of his success in achieving the targets he'd set himself earlier - they felt he could achieve that aim. Now he's gone, they don't have the same confidence in the new board's ambition and/or ability and so they're looking to go elsewhere to achieve their ambitions.
A pretty good summation of my thoughts too, Puck. There certainly was a Cult of Cortese around the joint here.
Fair enough Beef. I don't know any specific ins and outs of course. However I thought the appointment of Krueger, as an example, was a BIG red, shiny, loud alarm bell the moment it happened. As I said on countless occasions (and likely bored people with) I've worked for and with people that are the carbon copy of his type. It never ends well, and you invariably end up with situations like this. Not blaming everything on Krueger - it's not actually his fault - but after losing Nicola, Katherina (and Les, and whoever advises her) desperately needed to recognise the situation, and employ an experienced, tough leader. She didn't, she appointed some maple blancmange.
