Stage payments from transfers don't appear to be (edit: they might be factored in to profit/loss, but not in terms of our debt); it's something the board itself highlighted when Cortese left, actually. We had a net debt of 47.7m in the last set of books, but with 11.5m in outstanding transfer payments...that compares to a net 21.2m owed two years previous.
From the very beginning when Markus bought us, there has been a plan to run the club on different lines (the Southampton Way). The club maintains high standards throughout the business (regrettably not the match day food ). It has worked so far...apart from a financial wobble which resulted in Nicola leaving (I think his megalomania had pushed him over the edge). I would like them to hold onto our best players, but I think they see the EPL as a marathon and not a sprint....this may involve us selling players to buy players. Koeman kept saying that we knew who we are....probably repeating words said by others....as it seems he wanted to go for the quick fix. He was not as on board as we were lead to believe. Breathe deeply, children....and show patience. Still don't think we should sell Mane....I can only be so reasonable.
Just a quick FYI for anybody who thinks this is now a 'done' deal. There's 4 bookmakers still pricing this, so if it really is 'done' then you can get a immediate 80%, 67%, 57%, and 25% return on investment betting at each of them. Only those inside the club will know how far through the process 'emerges as front runner ahead of likely appointment next week' actually is.
Not sure about Claude, but if Les thinks he's the man for us, then who am I to argue? All this shows me though is that Saints weren't expecting Koeman to leave, and didn't have a preferred candidate in mind.
I could get on board with that. I like what I read and hear about him, maybe we should earmark him as the next manager.
I don't think Saints were expecting Koeman to leave. But what difference would it have made? There's only a small pool of managers that are available and willing to come here at any point, so your options are always limited regardless of how prepared you are. If the rumors are true, we could have had Pellegrini which would have been quite a coup in terms of reputation and probably would have been the fan's choice. The board chose Puel instead. It may turn out to be the wrong choice, but it's kind of hard to say they got totally backed into a corner and just had to take whoever. IMO, we were in much more dire straits when we landed Koeman and that turned out okay.
I beg to differ. "Here you can pinpoint the moment that Adam Blackmore ruled out Manuel Pellegrini..."
Good. Not my first choice, I have to say, but we were getting down to Me, Flt and St Helen's dog that is petrified of lightning. And tbf, I was getting a better offer elsewhere.
