Whatever happened to Nicola Cortese?

Yes Fran, it would be good to know some stuff. He was a very controlling/obsessive person and that was probably what we needed at the time. When I met him, you could tell there was a huge controlling nature to him. He was both charming and dangerous at the same time. You felt like a chicken talking to a friendly fox, in a sharp suit.

Infact we should call him Mr Reynard from now on.

 

I appreciate that we can never know what would have happened, but I always wonder what would have happened, to Cortese, and to Saints, if Markus had NOT died, or at least had not died when he did. Would Cortese still have free reign to invade Poland (oops) I mean take this club forwards? Would Markus have started to question how much of his wealth was being used to "assist with the five-year plan"' and would Cortese have been able to convince him that those silly World Domination Power Points were just doodles?

 

So you would be happy for Cortese to carry on doing the stuff he did? Just because he helped save the club doesn't mean he is the right person to take us further. He treated a hell of a lot of people badly. As I have said before the only people that really liked him were the players that he treated special. The other people were talked down to and treated like crap. There are many other things he did wrong that made it impossible for him to carry on. It is pretty obvious why he has been airbrushed from our history don't you think?

I thank him for saving us and having a iron grip ( which we needed)to turn around all the crap we were in. But I am happy that he is now gone. The whole Southampton fc work force (not to mention some players) are far happier now.

 

I do think it's impressive how completely he's been able to disappear.

 

We'd never heard of him before he came. Switzerland obviously is the place to hide.

 

Arse 2 up Giro both Ooops wrong house

 

Hide your money you mean?

 

Wrong thread?

 

Well you've certainly managed to misunderstand there Beefy. You've also shaped your opinion to make Cortese seem like a bigger ogre than Lowe. [he treated a hell of a lot of people badly... really..? Not just a few..?] I accept we are in a post-Cortese era, as I wrote earlier. Yes, he made a lot of mistakes and he treated some people badly [that iron grip you mention]. But the simple fact is there almost certainly wouldn't be a Not 606 Southampton forum if Cortese hadn't looked in our direction because there wouldn't have been a club. And most certainly we wouldn't be hailing Markus Liebherr because we wouldn't have heard of him. I think that counts for a great deal don't you think..? No club vs this club..? What would you rather have..? OK, Southampton goes the way of the championship winning Speedway team and we all get on with our lives, Great..!

I really wish Cortese had treated people better in some respects. But I weigh that against no club, then the mindset, vision and successful path he set the new club on, and it matters very little. He's gone, I wish it had been under better circumstances, so that he could have returned as a guest occasionally, but that's it. I would rather bygones could be bygones.

 

The puzzling thing is that Katharina said they tried to keep Nicola (on different terms), yet within a short space of time he was erased from the history books. Not one mention when new Staplewood opened. Makes me think they discovered something later...but probably wrong (though fun) to make suppositions like that.

 

Nope it wasn't just a few people. You only have to look at the programme sellers, the people that worked in the megastores,the people that worked in the finance area etc etc. He annoyed and upset a hell of a lot of staff members. In many cases he was probably as bad as Lowe, if not in some cases worse then Lowe. But he had the bonus of having a close friend with a lot of money, which Lowe did not.

I also think you didn't get what I was asking. I was asking if you would accept Cortese still being here and treating people badly. I did not say anything about you accepting he has gone.

My last point is I can criticise a person as well as thanking them. Cortese had his faults and just because he helped save us they shouldn't be overlooked.

 

I wonder if we actually made him worse. He probably always answered to someone else...yet suddenly he had total control of a business (even though he didn't own it). Could have tipped him over the edge.

 

I have thought the same Fran, with Liebherr around he had some one to rein him in a bit. But when Markus died he had full control with no one having more of a say. At the time we needed some one like Cortese, but his ego got the better of him once he had no one controlling him a little.

 

I think I've answered all the points plenty well enough. Upsetting programme sellers by bringing the process under a more professional business umbrella, charging people who parked their cars, restructuring staff in the megastore, etc... is something you blow up to something major or you can consider that he was making some major managerial changes. These things happen when a firm realigns. I've had to do the odd rotten thing myself in management, but I do understand that it might be for the overall good of the firm. I never had to drag a dead company up off the deck. I have a lot of respect for someone who can do that.

So. Did you want this club or no club after all..? I didn't read the answer anywhere.

 

I never liked the guy, never really knew him, I just liked what he did, I have now moved on and seldom give it thought if nobody mentions it.

 

-Good looking girls looking like air stewardesses(so treating girls like just pretty faces) and sacking the people that have sold programmes for years is not 'more professional'. It is disgusting and was rightly changed.

-Charging people for staying even for 5 mins in a car park is petty.

-Making megastore workers dress like they are working in highly rated hotel. Then when the staff raise their concerns you don't even listen to them is not more professional it is stupid.

-Being mean and making members of your own staff cry is not professional it is disgusting.

-Wanting a glass lift in Staplewood only you can use to laud over others is not professional. It is called having a ego. Why the hell do you need that crap in a training/academy centre.

-Having such a iron grip on things people are scared to speak out about problems is not professional.

-Wanting everything to go through you. Even tho you can not handle it all is not professional.

-Treating mates to meals and taking them on private planes and lying to the owner about it(according to DTLW contacts). Is oh umm.... Not professional.

If Cortese was so professional why in the hell was out turn over lower then a lot of Championship teams despite us being in the Prem?


There is plenty of other stuff he did and I am sure DTLW knows a few things as well.

Are you just blinded by his ego? That you can't see his faults? It seems it.
As I have said before you can respect and thank some one and criticise them at the same time.

I have never wished for him to never come in and help us. I have thanked him for helping us but have said he lost his way. Every one can be criticised for doing wrong even if they are some kind of Saint 99% of the time. Just because Cortese was a huge part of helping us does not exempt him when he does wrong.

 

Must admit, I wasn't that keen on the guy myself from a 'nice person' point of view, but I liked his attitude. But he was Markus Liebherr's closest friend [a chap we're all really keen to love the memory of] so he can't have been a truly nasty bloke. I remember when FLT went to dinner with him and he came back effusive in his enthusiasm, and that's when I finally gave him the benefit of the doubt. I loved the fact that he saw SFC as a club who was going to do what it is doing now and better, and the fact that he took the shirt off the Arsenal negotiators backs, a lesson which the club seem to have learned very well indeed. And like SD13 above, until this thread, I had moved on and seldom gave it all a thought anymore. A necessary chapter in the history of SFC to get where it is today.

BTW, did anyone bother to listen to that Mary Corbett interview..? Can't blame anyone if they didn't. Brought all the awful associations back to me. Did remind me that Leon Crouch was a good guy all through it though. Mark Dennis was one of the presenters on the programme.

 

Now Leon Crouch being a good guy is something I can agree with you on.

 

Blimey..! Take a chill pill Beefy. And don't insult me please. You're a good poster but don't start getting personal.
Half of what you've written is hearsay, not fact. It's rumour that has been blown into legend because nobody really knows more than a few things. I know the guy was heavily flawed, for example he stupidly froze out Matty and Franny. But he was asked to run a football club by his best friend, something that he'd never done before, and he did it as he saw fit. Btw, read my post above yours. Club or no club..?

 

I don't believe he was ML's closest friend, but definitely one of his closest business colleagues.

But yes, he contributed greatly to the rise of the club and gave us what we needed at the time. I know a couple of people who've worked for the club for quite some time now and one quote I was given was that staff actually preferred life working for Lowe as he was more receptive and understanding.

I'm not interested in throwing any more Cortese stories out there. People know the ones I've mentioned, there are others, but they don't all warrant telling (for one reason or another) and I think it's time we moved on and accepted the way it turned out. My views on the guy are also pretty clear.