I bet they present the trophy at the Real Sociedad match. Mauricio probably said that he wanted the penultimate preseason game to be a 90 min one. And it may have been hard to find opponents for that format.
Not sure, I think they would have said something if that was the case. I'm not one for niggling at Cortese, but I suspect this is another of those things where it is going to be scratched from the record without any acknowledgement that it ever existed.
Sometimes you try something and it doesn't quite work so you don't repeat the mistake. The format over the last two seasons wasn't the most entertaining so I am not surprised it has been shelved. Lets not forget that there is no room for sentiment in the grand world that is modern football. Not a sport but big business. We have lost our stripes and all some of our fans worry about is the loss of the Liebherr Trophy.
To be honest I went last year and most of the fans were from Arsenal and Anderlcht and the crowd was still poor. Cortese tried everything by bringing fun fairs and stuff (cricket does this amazingly) and still the stadium was quarter full. The competition is actually disrespectful in the fact that no ****er turns up!!!!
Hang on a cotton picking minute. Are people seriously digging at Cortese/Club about disrespecting ML? I doubt there is anyone more respectful of that man and his wishes than Cortese. Crikey, he even leaves his seat empty as a tribute. Maybe just maybe the family didn't want it anymore.
No we are making a number of carefully considered observations and you might like to tell us who you think has been disrespectful and thus prompting your comment.
I went to the one which included Werder Bremen and Bilbao and thought it was great. I think we were in the Championship at the time, so these were two very big teams in comparison, so it was good to see some quality football/footballers (I especially liked Llorente). I thought the idea was good as you get to see two top teams, unfortunately there was little to do between the matches. As stated, I think the price was too much, but had it been our only home friendly (like this year), then it might have been better supported.
I think he was probably reacting to this It's not a dig at Cortese but a quick read it could appear that way. Funny I watched the Leicester -v- Monaco game this weekend and was impressed by the crowd. I just think our fan base don't dig friendlies. Might be different in a year or two as tickets get harder and harder to get hold of. A slightly cheaper way of getting a live football fix.
Godders I could ask you to re-read my post and you'll see I accuse no-one of being disrespectful, but the suggestion of people thinking the club have been, but For the record, I think I got the wrong end of the stick as reading back, no-one really is moaning. *makes note to self to read carefully on phone in future*
I'm not saying Cortese is disrespecting Marcus for one moment. I'm just saying that it will probably go without us ever finding out why, such is the way these days. Like others have said it is most probably due to the poor attendances, not helped by the fact teams like Arsenal show up without an Arsenal team.
It may be that Cortese thought that,if it wasn't going to be massively attended, it appeared disrespectful to the Leihberr family. More likely it was hard to organise (ie find teams who wanted to play in it) and isn't seen as helpful to preparing for the League.
I think if the likes of Falcao and Monaco's other stars turned up at St Mary's you would find the fans suddenly taking an interest in friendlies! It was a nice gesture to have the ML cup but really, how long are you expected to continue these things? We've already got the Liebherr lounge and you can hardly say the club has not shown him the proper respect. If it was losing money and not interesting the fans, why should it continue just for the sake of it?
I think the ML trophy kind of replaced it! Although that has now been replaced with nothing. Personally I was quite keen to go last year but remember seeing ticket prices and thinking 'f that!'
Same for the Ted Bates Trophy really. He's the only one to have a statue, that means more than a preseason friendly against the reserves of a random European team.
