They come in 3 types. 1. The QPR type: please log in to view this image http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/13550798.stm Cheapest Season ticket = ã29 per game. Cheapest individual ticket = ã42 per game. Nice. 2. The Pompey type: please log in to view this image Which one is this about? It hardly matters. 3. The Saints type: please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image I don't think we will ever really understand how much this guy did for us.
Here, Here. I only hope that Nicola & his family realise that we do know how very much we owe the great man. Not for their money or want of further investment (it doesn't matter if they never give us another penny) but just for his legacy and so they can be proud that one man has given so many people, so much joy in such a short space of time. (all started to sound a bit Winston Churchill at the end but that's how I feel and I'm sure that we all feel the same) RIP Saint Markus
Best article posted on this site yet. The greatest bloke out of the lot has gone, which just about sums it up really Briatorie(sp?) and Ecclestone are the problem at QPR, the Indian owners, the Mittal's who are the 4th richest people in the world are actually trying to mive the club forward and the son of the owner left today in disgust at the ticket prices amongst others things. Cortese/Markus over them and Pompey's 'owners' EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK.
Markus was and still is a legend. Unbelievable from the time of going into admin that we'd ever be in the position where our Chairman openly discusses a target of top 5 in the PL.
We certainly lucked out with Markus. He was the owner every fan wants, and saved the club from doom. If it wasn't for him there would be no Southampton FC. In my opinion though the jury is still out on Cortese. And the QPR tickets are a joke. ã72 to go to a football match!?! It just shows that nobody cares about the fans. Those fans were there long before the owners. They will be there long after the owners have gone. They were the ones who trudged up and down the country to see their side lose to the likes of Bury and Hartlepool in the third division, and who put their own money in so the club could buy players. Ecclestone said recently that he left every home game at half time to avoid the traffic and road closures, and wouldn't go to any awy game outside the M25 (he was quoted as saying 'why on earth would I want to go to Watford'). And now those loyal fans will be forced to cut things out of their weekly budget, or be excluded from their team. 'Sorry guys, we're premier league now, don't need you anymore, come back when we're in the third division'. The owners may own the shares, but the club belongs, and always will belong, to the fans, because in reality, that is all a football club is. I just hope to God that Southampton never try to pull this sort of bullshit.
Most people buying clubs now are not fans, some are very dubious indeed. We were so lucky to get an honourable owner, who though not a fan became one, and a visionary chairman. We came from the bottom of the pit into the sunshine. Let's hope this relationship continues for a long time. Re. season ticket prices. It's lovely if prices stay low for the fans sake, but remember this is a business. Prices will go up for the Championship..I said Cortese was a visionary not a philanthropist!. If this increase results in further progress I will gladly pay it. Although we weren't the most expensive club in the Premiership, we paid a lot more than we did in League 1 (especially allowing for inflation). We are a lucky club (especially when you look at our near neighbours) so bless you, Markus.
Browsing the web looking for articles on Nicola Cortese (as you do), I came across a piece from February about a Mafia boss called Nicola Cortese! Thankfully not our Don Cortese!
The idiot, despite carrying loads of money, was caught shoplifting and was subsequently identified as someone on the most wanted list. Obviously not got our NC's brains.
In the short time he was with us, he probably did more for this club than many could do in a lifetime. RIP St Markus.
Aww thanks I read the article about QPR's ticket prices and was completely shocked. I wouldn't be able to afford that kind of increase and I'm sure many of you are the same, those prices are just the cheapest tickets. Of course they will still fill their stadium (15,000 home seats) which I guess sums up what the bottom line is for their owners (Mittal excepted). I am not saying that prices should not increase but those numbers are huge. Sorry for the slightly cheap dig at Pompey, I guess it was not at their genuine supporters who aren't at fault but the people who have walked into that club and run it into the ground. You could have said the same about some of our directors a few years ago I suppose, except ours were more...real. So on to Markus. After he died I wondered to myself why he decided that little old Southampton FC was what he wanted to invest in, run by one of his most trusted financial managers. Certainly it would not make him fortunes, maybe he recognised that we had potential to get back to the top, or even the story about him knowing the city from the Liebherr shipping cranes was true. We will never know I guess. I'm not old enough to remember legends like Lawrie Mac, Le Tiss in his prime and so on but when I am old and going on about the "good old days" it will always start with Markus. In the end I just hope that history records how much he did for us.
I think Markus looked ill when he first arrived at St Mary's and was probably looking to ease out of work. I suspect that he bought Saints as a hobby..he certainly didn't need the money. I'm glad he got some pleasure out of it in his short time here. Sorry he missed the promotion celebrations, but at least he had that great day at Wembley.
It just sums up the ambition we have when apparently Cortese wants to revise the 5 year plan or bring in a 7/10 year plan to reach the TOP 5 of the Premier League. People questioning our finances should clearly see that we aren't going to achieve that on pittances.
Someone else mentioned NC's idea of top 5 in Premier League. Must have missed that..where did he say it?
I'll never forget the picture of him taking photos on his camera with a grin from ear to ear on his face!
Seeing a chairman taking photos at Wembley was fabulous... no pretentious muppet here saying "look at me on the telly", just a very proud man supporting his team. RIP
It's a shame there aren't more takeovers like ours. Boom and bust takeovers, takeovers funded by debt and money-throwers seem too common. Not many of the local businessmen that used to own clubs have the resources to fund a major PL enterprise anymore and it's increasingly difficult to find owners/chairmen with the fans at heart. If I were Mittal taking over QPR, I'd extend Loftus Road or build a new, bigger ground and slash ticket prices. A football club has little purpose if it is exclusive to the elite who can afford the extortionate ticket prices. Otherwise its just money down the drain really.
