Likely, if it was over last summer. But if Morgan hadn't heard anything until now to indicate that the promised move was off, it definitely explains the reaction.
I wondered the same thing. French journalist. Did an interview with Schneiderlin at the end of last year. Possibly his friend, I dunno. Link to Schneiderlin interview: http://www.not606.com/showthread.php/232770-L-Equipe-Interview-with-Morgan-Schneiderlin-by-Romain-Molina Interview with Molina from some blog: http://weonlysingwhenwerewinning.wordpress.com/2013/04/11/an-interview-with-french-free-lance-journalist-romain-molina/
It spells disaster for Soton, you will be certs for relegation if the manager does not act, but who will go to your club ?, what will the owner be saying in 10 months time ?. You had world class players and could have been pushing for a top 4 place, with a couple of extra players.
It is worth waiting to see what happens. I am sure you know that this story is not as simple as some elements of the press and idiots on twitter make it out to be.
In recent years Newcastle, Villa, West Brom, Fulham and us last season are teams who have finished 8th or above in recent memory. They've also had their best players sold and been worse off for it. Newcastle have steadied fairly well but are a pretty big club anyway. But look at the other three, relegation battles or relegation. I don't think we will be like that because we have a decent squad and are reinvesting the money. But there is definitely a glass ceiling and when you hit that the big clubs swoop for your best players. It's like a food chain.
But Molina is trying to stay we have 'broken a promise'. Have we? What amount would we consider a big offer for Morgan? And what offers have we received? From all the paper talk it seems Arsenal were valuing him something around the £15m -£20m mark and we all know Levy tries to penny pinch. I doubt we have had any 'inflated' offer for Morgan which is probably the crux of the matter.
I'm not suggesting clubs never lose players. Of course they do. None of those clubs lost as many players in the summer after a good finish as we have though. Fulham sustained good positions for a few years but each season failed to really replace the one or two players they did lose and eventually that told. Newcastle suffered because their relatively small squad couldn't sustain league form and a European campaign and then had to sell some players. West Brom were in something of a false position anyway because they had Lukaku banging in loads of goals for them and he wasn't really their player. Villa was a while ago but from memory I think it was some sort of mix between Newcastle and Fulham (I should be asleep so I'm not looking it up). None of them sold half their first team the summer after their best finish.
To be fair, none of those clubs saw their chairman walk out, the total boardroom make-up change and their manager agree to take another job whilst still in the hot-seat of his current club. Nor did they probably have any of the resulting dressing room mutiny and opportunism that was caused by the boardroom transition. So yes, it is unprecedented. Simply put, a lot of **** hit the fan at once. Causing more **** to hit the fan. Resulting in the fan failing to work, due to being full of ****.
So Cortese made a promise...he's not here, is he? As they say, verbal agreements aren't worth the paper they are written on. And things change, 5 top players leaving meant Saints hit the tipping point.
Agreed. That's hardly a good thing though. Cortese didn't just wake up one morning and quit, it seems pretty much accepted by everyone that he refused to accept a lesser position when his original position was done away with. So for me this mess is of Katharina's making. Could things have been worse if she hadn't done what she did? Perhaps. We may never know though and it's fairly pointless speculating on what might have happened. What has happened is that the owner removed the chairman and (directly or indirectly) that's triggered an unprecedented number of departures.
Not quite. He was not done away with. He quit. He could have compromised to protect the project, but refused.
No. His job was effectively deleted. Nobody is currently doing what he did before. That role no longer exists. He was offered a lesser position (Krueger's role, or similar) which he chose not to accept.
Nicola occupied a position usually reserved for owners. Dictatorships can work and he clearly showed it did, but eventually the dictator is called out by somebody. The Don probably left before things went pear-shaped...they didn't go pear-shaped because he left. His reputation as an achiever is intact...he got us here, but is probably not the right man for the boring but essential stuff of stabilisation and careful improvement. The new board has to prove they are the right ones.
Still a choice. You can't paint the man as a hero if he would not compromise to keep Saints going. If he believed the club might fall apart without him, which he did, then he should have given the new set up a try. However, that didn't fit with his ego. Great men sacrifice for the greater good.
I know you've been suggesting that a sale is on the cards for sometime but I really don't really get it. I can clearly see KL from where I sit and the enjoyment she appears to get from the games is obvious. Now, I realise that that is no proof at all but I've always had the feeling that her actions over Cortese etc was about her getting more control over the business so she could run it more effectively, not so she could sell it. We shall see.
