Agree. Don't dilute his activities and having a Chairman will also help keep him level-headed .... we don't want him running with ideas of granduer
As soon as someone becomes a Saint, I support them and wish them well, but Ralph is a mistake. I have no confidence that he has any respect from the footballing folk at SFC. He makes too many errors through inexperience.
Loved Majorca. Puerto Pollens a was beautiful and had great weather. Thought you lot took too long to sign Koeman though...didn't think it would happen.
So what? Apparently every cleaner or security guard who works at St Mary's talks about football as well (ITK, doncha know) but that's not what they're paid to do.
FWIW, I agree with PTF. Ralph is not there as a football chairman per se. He is there to promote Southampton FC on a world market. Something for which he is said to be widely capable because he has a remarkable ability to make contacts worldwide. He is aware that Saints reach is modest. This is something Cortese was aware of, but said that Saints would never be able to compete in those terms. Well Ralph might be thinking differently, which is encouraging. He might be a rough fit, he might end up a mistake, but I'm not writing him off in any way, just yet. I think he has plenty to contribute if given the chance.
He is there to promote Southampton FC on a world market ______________________________________- Let us know how that turns out
Well he did say he was going to be doing the un-sexy things for Saints. Guess you find it un-sexy. Me, I can see that it is necessary to gain recognition and, for example, get players thinking of playing for Saints. Hey..! I want Cortese back. To me he was the sexy Chairman. The man with the real vision. I'd like nothing better than for him and some huge backing to come in and make Katharina an offer she can't possibly refuse [no, not a horse's head in bed]. But times move on.
TBF, they should probably give Krueger a title that better reflects his responsibilities if that's the case. The truth is, we don't really know what Krueger does. We don't really fully know Reed's duties, either. We know he seemingly runs the scouting operations, but that's it. We know he consults with the manager about transfers. But who gets the final say if needed, and who negotiates the fees and contracts? I'm not sure why it's so necessary to know what he or Reed does. Neither the supporters or players should really care. However, it appears that absent clarification of roles, Kruger's title is "Director of Everything I Perceive to Be Wrong at the Club Even if Untrue" and Reed's is "Director of Awesome Just for Not Being Ralph Krueger." And unfortunately at some point fan perception does impact at least whoever is in charge of fan/community relationships and marketing, so the club needs to sort that out.
Do we really need to know their exact responsibilities? Is it really that important that the fans need to know? The way I look at it, as long as between them and Gareth Rogers they run everything a football club of our size would need run and results financially and on the field are both in line with or above internal targets set by our owners then all is well For what it's worth I reckon the responsibilities sit roughly as follows: Ralph Krueger (Chairman) - Calls relevant board meetings between the directors. Acts as a representative to the wider world regards who we are & engaging initial interest on the commercial side of the business. Success in this role for him will depend largely upon his understanding and correct communication of messages from others within the club. E.g. To me it was quite obvious that his last couple of speeches have been intended to a) perk the fans up, and b) Buy Les Reed time to i) get the new manager deal sorted and ii) lay groundwork for various transfer issues (in & out). Gareth Rogers (CEO) - Everything you'd expect of a normal CEO. Ensuring that the financials are adhered to by various department heads. Final sign off on major outgoings. With the greatest respect I doubt his role has changed much since being CFO, and he is CEO in title, just with Ralph now acting the more spokesperson role for the non-footballing side of the business which NC would have done previously. Les Reed (Director of Football) - Managing staffing, budgets, contracts, and strategy for incoming and outgoing Players/Managers/Coaches/Recruitment/Scouting/Analysis. Ensuring that he has the right heads of department below him to deliver the product we expect - Koeman/Paul Mitchell/Scott Waters etc. Ronald Koeman (Manager) - Reports to Les Reed. Responsible for delivering results on the pitch to pre-defined expectations with the resources agreed. Not saying anyone's good or bad, think it's too early to judge any of the three that aren't Les Reed at this stage. Les, however, certainly doesn't seem to have put a foot wrong for me as yet....
This is brilliant all those saying Ralph isn't a football chairman, i'm sorry but his position is chairman of southampton football club, not marketing director or anything else, when he talks to the media, its about football not his plan to promote us in china. It doesn't matter what facts we think we do or don't know it comes down to what we see him do and i see him doing a very poor job. If the new plan is for him to never speak publicly about football matters ever again there fair enough, but untill i see his next interview then i will stand by my opinion that the bloke is a baffoon.
There are many here among us, who think that mods are just a joke (apologies to Bob and Jimi). I remain to be convinced that these mods are not in fact all the same person - come out Lord Duckhunter and confess. Sorry, the sun's getting to me. I'll get my towel. PS. Do you gather I'm getting bored? Can't we just have a bloody good conspiracy theory in which the chairman is revealed as Harry Redknapp's father, and QPR are buying all our players except for Gazza 'cos he's crap. Roll on August, eh?
