They're not using their own money. They did the usual thing of borrowing tons of cash using the club as the collateral, so now it's the club's debt and not theirs. Which is (so far and supposedly) not a problem on account of the Dodgers got a new cable deal. They used the revenue from the cable deal to spend crazily on players, but I would not say they spent particularly wisely, just that they spent by far the most. Their farm system is not all that great. So more Man United than Southampton. The concept of players coming from the academy and all that would be out the window. Paul Allen seems okay. Rich, seems not to interfere too much. Seahawks are good, Trailblazers not so much. Have no idea about Joe Roth. MLS is weird because it's all cost-controlled and centrally run. They have the fortune of having the one team that can fill a 40k stadium, other teams struggle to get more than 10k.
Blazers are very good now...third-best record in the NBA, and that's playing in the difficult West. Used to meddle with them, which resulted in the overpaid-and-underperforming Jailblazers era, but he's a much more hands-off owner these days.
Yeah, but what I don't get is... it seemed like that was ALREADY the plan. Cortese had handed in his resignation (supposedly) and so would have left in the summer, probably with MP going with him. And then Liebherr would have sold the club or done whatever it is she's going to do. We weren't planning to do anything in this transfer window-- probably rightly so with all the goings on in the summer. So what changed? Did KL get an offer she couldn't refuse which changed the picture or did NC just decide he'd had enough.
The Guardian: "Liebherr intends to implement a reconstitution of the board to ensure the everyday running of the club does not come down to one individual, and is looking to appoint a chief executive at the earliest opportunity."
Raptors would have had him but for one ****ing win that knocked them down a couple spots in the draft...they suck so, so badly at tanking. Witness this season, when a big trade undertaken to help the team lose has instead resulted in it going 13-5. **** my sports fandom.
Maybe she wants the highest price and maybe NC wanted the right owner. Both entitled to their own view, but ultimately her call.
Simon Peach: The next few days will say a lot about Pochettino & certain #SaintsFC players. Loyalty should be towards a club & its fans, not one person. Sounds like he knows what is coming - or just pondering?
Hang on a minute. What if this does all boil down to a contractual dispute between Cortese and the owner. The telegraph write up says that they are looking to appoint a new executive Chairman and have a period of stability. Whilst it is possible that she wants to sell in an orderly way during the summer, we don't even really know that yet, only that she and Cortese have parted company. All the articles about Shaw and Lambert going- well they were writing all that stuff before todays events and it's simply a rehash of old speculative stuff given a fresh impetus and of course a better splash in the paper. Can you name a single case where there has been a mass exodus of players in response to a Chairman or manager leaving (rather than to join up with an old manager at a new club)? I can't offhand. Maybe Pochettino will go, maybe he won't. I don't remember the players chucking their hands in when Nigel was pushed. I am off to bed. What will be, will be. No point in being too downbeat just yet.
The use of the word 'certain' worries me. I said something simar about Rickie earlier. If he uses this as a reason to go, then he hasn't taken to us fans quite as we had thought. I hope I'm wrong.
Alex Crook, who to be fair, has had his agency well on top of things all afternoon, has had a say on Pochettino's future. Believes he may have been persuaded to stay until the end of the season, but he won't be here next season.
Coming back up for air myself. Not too bad. Had a moment earlier. Elder brother emailed. He'd been out of the news loop all day, so I called and said, You hear about Cortese..? And he said, Nope. All unconcerned. I said, He's left Saints. And he went, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO..! [like I'd just kicked him in the testicles]. Must learn to break bad news gently.
People are loyal to other people as a whole in a workplace, not institutions. It's naive to think a player would be loyal to a club or it's fans. They're loyal to the people who they work with day-in day-out. If they see them as being stitched up, a few will go.
While this is true, I think all of us felt that with certain players like Rickie, things were different. I guess not - Le Tiss wasn't truly loyal to the fans and Lambert might not be either.
