We have had a fair few dreadful Chairman since dear old Mr Woodford died but for me Cortese is every bit as good as Woodford and he remains quietly in the background like Woodford used to do. The media on the other hand and some of our own fans with wild imaginations seem to see him as a another interferring Abromovich and a spiteful man. This contradicts Jason Puncheon's view of the man and he has every excuse to spout bile if he was so inclined. I have no problem with Nicola. He does not insist on being in the team photograph or joining in the training in his own personalised kit and he does not appoint crap managers every couple of months. He is astute in the transfer market and has a clear vision for our club. He is everything we need and more.
He has been fantastic for us...so ambitious and sees things through. I'm sure he has faults (as do we all) and he may be difficult to work with, but we don't work with him. I have heard him described as capricious, then others have said he can be kind. Remember he introduced a Christmas party for all employees, saying that everyone plays their part and should have a chance of a big night out. He dislikes the media which gives us all a chance to make up a gangster-style persona for him that is untrue (but I suspect secretly pleases him). He has high self esteem, but this means that he thinks highly of the club and won't allow us (and him) to be rolled over. Admit it...we've always loved Saints, but now we have a certain smugness about successes that come our way like double promotion and the Academy.
As nobody truely knows NC we can only really judge him on what he has done for our club and that is nothing but good things. In life it is great when you follow a man with a vision who can communicate it to those who he wants to follow him to achieve those goals - NC appears to be that kind of guy. Because he doesnt court publicity and dance to the medias tune they give him and the club a hard time but do we care? No, one vision, one goal!
2009 "I realise that there are great expectations and I will ensure that every effort is expended to meet these expectations, but effectively we need to restructure and create a solid base from which we can build and become successful. This will take time. We will take our example from our supporters, who already are what we aim to become – Premier League. With their support we will again become a Premier League Club. The supporters, the City of Southampton and the region deserve nothing less. Everyone at the Club will be fully committed to responding to this great challenge". 2010 "Southampton is my baby; I'm not going to abandon it". In a statement on the club's website, Cortese claimed that he had been approached (By AC Milan) but that he remained totally committed to Southampton. 2011 "See DTLW post 24/07/2011 07.38 a.m.
I've got an old school mate that works at St. Mary's in the hospitality doing a menial task that I've already forgotten, I was catching up with him a couple weeks ago and he spoke about Cortese in hushed tones like a tall tale of some dangerous and mysterious creature. I think his reputation definitely precedes him and I feel for him a touch, although he may enjoy that, who knows, but I suppose it always comes in handy for the business side of things. He also said that once when a girl he works with took Cortese his dinner, Nicola made a fairly simple deadpan joke about his dinner order being wrong, she failed to comprehend and started crying and he had to calm her down for about five minutes.
I can't see any evidence to suggest he is an egomaniac, he's one of the least public chairmen in the league. His style is clearly to do things 'behind the scenes' as we're often told.
I think he should hire the actress who plays Bianca in East Enders as his PA. Then he really would have a Patsy.
EDIT! Yeah he's a bit of a bogeyman. Stupid bloody decision. Wouldnt have minded if he did it before the transfer window! not over half way through!!!!
I did call it that Adkins would be sacked today, I'm not too disappointed, I do feel for Adkins though.
Cortese....your a bloody idiot!!!! Decision makes no footballing sense...we were making progress and stability is key to success. Surprised at pole results??? A very odd decision to sack Nigel and not the decision of a great CEO.
Cortese....your a bloody idiot!!!! Decision makes no footballing sense...we were making progress and stability is key to success. Surprised at pole results??? A very odd decision to sack Nigel and not the decision of a great CEO.
Personally, I believe Cortese came straight from the Sports and Billionaires banking world far better equipped to run a football club than most Chairmen, possibly/probably all. The media like to portray him negatively, something he has even discussed with his wife, if I remember correctly. There's no doubt, from the experiences of negotiators, that he's a hard businessman, who knows well the value of something and will get the very best deal for club or client. He also thinks big and is very ambitious for whoever he represents, and he gets things done. If he says something will happen, it will eventually happen. There's a lot of real respect out there for him though. Witness the fact that the FA [or was it the Football League..?] asked him to look at their finances, when he was barely a couple of months into the job at Saints. The media can't make head or tails of him so, after a few possible errors in terms of presentation only, they have decided to categorise him as a monster. He and Markus turned the ridiculous situation with Pinnacle, into something 99.9% of fans can only be delighted with, but appeared to slight MLT in some obscure way. That situation continues to bumble along and it is the one tiny grey area in an otherwise blinding success to date. And, as we all know, the journey continues and the best is yet to come.
