I'm surprised in the sense that I would have thought severance would have been in the original contract. However, in other cases (outside football) I know that pay offs can be reduced if you quickly get another job...on the basis that you are not so out of pocket. Quick deal suits Nigel if he wants to move on, whereas a slow deal suits NC because the money remains in SFC's coffers for longer. However, I suppose Nigel is being paid if he is on gardening leave.
I was told at the weekend by someone who had a meal with Cortese, Guy Askam and a few others, the day of the City game, that Adkins was paid 1.2 million. Apparently the finance department only wanted to pay out 400k or so which was the original agreement but Cortese insisted on more because of what Nigel achieved. They also said that we have 100 million to spend on players and funding to build on the Kingsland making St Mary's 40,000 in capacity. I guess we won't know if this is the case and me repeating it from someone is by no means concrete but it is interseting none the less if true.
It would be nice if we weren't mean about the settlement after all that Nigel had achieved. After all, without his hard work we wouldn't be in the position to attract Mauriccio. Also I like anything which suggests Nicola is here for the long term as I would wake up screaming if he left. However, Cortese will have to sack himself as he doesn't like people who talk out of turn about Southampton's business. Give yourself a severe talking to, Nicola.
Not just on players, but on extending SMS. I had heard there was funds set aside for that in Markus's estate. If true (!) we were truly blessed with our late owner (if we didn't know that already).
I'm sure we have money for expansion, but he did say specifically "we have 100 million to spend on players". I guess we don't know what time period that is over, but it seems like a lot if that is immediately available.
You want sufficient funds, but I want our team to grow properly...not buy a whole team, achieve success and then fade. Long term progress in the right way. Luckily, Nicola has shown no sign of doing that.
It might not be that outrageous. We spent 34 million last summer which may have been more had some deals gone through that didn't. That was to build a squad to survive in the PL. If he is as serious as he says he is then it would stand to reason that we would have to spend more to get players of a higher level to be able to get us in to Europe. The end result maybe promoting from the acadamy but we will need other quality to come in as well.
I suspect if there's an agreement still to be settled upon, it will be Nigel who is negotiating a better settlement than that he's been offered. That's how these things would tend to work in my (limited) experience.
So we have two managers. An interesting case of constructive dismissal could be coming up if it is true. However we all know it is bollocks as Nicola plays his cards close to his chest and Nigel is a man of great integrity. So you cast that aside and believe a load of rubbish written by some dreaming Leeds fan on a an internet website.
Worst outcome for the club in constructive dismissal case would be they have to pay up his contract... which by all accounts they already have done.
I think for whatever reason, the world of football is somehow sheltered from cases of constructive dismissal.
In fairness Godders, not having reached an agreed settlement figure doesn't mean you're considered still employed by the contestant. Additionally, these types of negotiations are incredibly common and by no means always acrimonious. It's nothing for us to worry about.
Not denigrating what he achieved or suggesting he didn't earn his money (because he did), but Adkins has done well out of his association with Saints. He will be a millionaire at the end of the day and still be able to take a decent job. I'm certain that Nicola is fully aware of what Nigel did for us (in footballing and financial terms), so the deal will be done (and may already have been done).
The 100m may refer to the money set aside by Markus' estate, in which case it isn't a 100m transfer budget, so much as a 100m contingency fund to cover shortfalls and upgrades over a long period of time.
To be honest, it would be a bit of a faux pas if Cortese admitted to how much he had at his disposal purely for transfers. That would really make it difficult to keep the price down on a player. It's bad enough that other clubs and everyone else knows Saints are loaded [OK, it's fun too], without them having a firm idea of how much they can overcharge.
