Cortese speaking at Leaders in Football conference (10th Oct) - Live Feed

Cortese is on the agenda at the Leaders In Football conference taking place over the next couple of days. He's due on tomorrow (10th Oct) at 14:20...

http://www.leadersinfootball.com/content/conference/

14:20-15:00

WINNERS AND LOSERS: BALANCING BUSINESS WITH FOOTBALL

Win games, build a business and balance the books. Life at the top of a football club is a balancing act. Add into the mixture fervent supporter scrutiny and intense competition and it becomes an almost impossible task. Leaders brings together the men running clubs and balancing business with football expectations.

Session sponsored by: International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS)

Confirmed Speakers:

PETER SIEMSEN, PRESIDENT, FLUMINENSE

BRUCE BUCK, CHAIRMAN, CHELSEA FC

NICOLA CORTESE, CHAIRMAN, SOUTHAMPTON FC

Live feed here for anyone sad enough (like me) to want to watch: http://www.leadersinfootball.com/ (Greg Dyke's keynote speech on at the moment)

Don't think its sad, if i wasnt working i would probably have watched myself. We are Saints fans and have an interest in our club and that man that has been leading us. Natural to be interested in what he has to say. Look forward to you posting the bulletin points from his speech.

It's always good to hear from him. Don't think I'll be free though, will it be available to watch after the live stream?

His speech would I imagine have a more general comment then simply his experiences of running Saints, but it would be good to hear his perspective.

Working tomorrow. Trousers can we rely on you please?

I'll try and record it if I remember and it doesn't take too much space (40 minutes of video = a lot)

Hopefully they'll be speaking one at a time rather than a debate format, and Cortese will be last as I finish work at 2.

Im actually listening to it now. Interesting stuff about corruption and match fixing and how difficult it is to fight given the huge power of the bets going on. President of la Liga reckons currently 1% of games fixed but says it will rise if nothing done. $2bn bet on every cricket match just in India - where betting is illegal so the industry is controlled by organised crime.

Hope trousers is ready to take some notes on this.

I'm signed off work today and have the stream at the ready. I think I only have three posts a day (I think that's the case if you haven't paid for this site, I should really pay for this site) though will hopefully post up any thing of note from the seminar afterwards.

As mentioned previously, I doubt there will be much/anything directly Southampton FC related, though you never know.

Hope trousers is ready to take some notes on this.

Just a thought, what's the difference between a "chairman" and an "executive chairman" (in the football world)?

The feed is pretty much unwatchable at the moment....keeps freezing

The feed is pretty much unwatchable at the moment....keeps freezing

Seems alright to me ..............but then again I am watching it at work ! :-)

Cortese going over the history of the takeover and saying he found a club with no ambition.

Cortese says plan was 1 year in League 1 and 3 in Championship. I wonder how much his plans were changed by the rapid rise through the second tier

...

The brazlian fella sounds like he's dying!

Not too gripping atm. The stuff yesterday was more interesting.

Just a thought, what's the difference between a "chairman" and an "executive chairman" (in the football world)?

Same as in any other world I'd have thought. A chairman is normally non-executive (as ours have been over the years, with the exceptions of Lowe and Cortese); they head up the board, but have no executive responsibilities, leaving the day-to-day running of the club to executives (CEO etc.). For example, Bruce Buck doesn't run things at Chelsea - Ron Gourlay, the chief exec, does that. An executive chairman is, in effect, both chairman and chief exec; thus, Cortese both chairs the board and runs the club on a day-to-day basis.

Cortese: "We are planning on growing our commercial income by 70 - 100% over the next 3 years"

He says we need to close the commercial gap between us and Man Utd, Chelsea, etc....he doesn't see it as "unfair" that they have a commercial advantage though, he sees it as a challenge that he relishes which is one of t,he reasons why he voted against "financial fair play" or "unfair financial regulation" as he put it. He was effectively saying that those who can't come up with ways of matching the Man Utds of this world shouldn't be propped up by a financial "fair play" system.

Cortese: "We are planning on growing our commercial income by 70 - 100% over the next 3 years"

Hmm not a great start here then...

Pompey obviously learned their tactics from Fluminense, who didn't pay their taxes for 30 years

Question now about the managerial changes at Southampton

Pompey obviously learned their tactics from Fluminense, who didn't pay their taxes for 30 years

Their Chief Exec was Pietro Stori

Cortese: "We are planning on growing our commercial income by 70 - 100% over the next 3 years"

 

Getting a better (ie richer and far more well known) sponsor might account for a large part of that.

Interesting now about why managerial changes were made - although nothing particularly surprising.

Cortese: "You don't just change a manager for the sake of it. You do it because you have facts within the club that influence your decision. For us it was coming through different leagues and you need someone who fulfills a role at each level. The worst thing for any company is to have a standstill. You have to take a decision even if it is unpopular"

Palios: "You were criticised when you changed the manager without having someone lined up and also criticised when you had a successor"

Cortese: "I know, you can't win (or words to that effect). We had planned the exact day Nigel would be replaced and that's what we did - stuck to the plan, even though he had a run of good results up to that day"

And that's a wrap

Cortese's decisions are clearly planned and executed at specific times in specific ways, and once a decision is made, he will carry it through. That clashes with the traditional view that managerial decisions are sometimes delayed or reversed on the back of a result or 3, and is also worth bearing in mind in the future.

He is clearly not an impulsive man, which, to be honest, is a good thing in business IMO.

Cortese's decisions are clearly planned and executed at specific times in specific ways, and once a decision is made, he will carry it through. That clashes with the traditional view that managerial decisions are sometimes delayed or reversed on the back of a result or 3, and is also worth bearing in mind in the future.

 

He is clearly not an impulsive man, which, to be honest, is a good thing in business IMO.

I wonder if Pochettino is his man for the next level or just this one?

Ben Rumsby ‏@ben_rumsby

Cortese on his arrival at #sfc: "Using the word ambition was a problem for some people because we were living down on the south coast."

I did raise a smile when he said 'and I will do it the same way in future'...

Personally I think that he thinks MoPo has the potential to take us the whatever level we want to get to - but if he starts to have any doubts then he'll clearly start to put things in motion.

What I think that means from our point of view is that if rumours start to come out about us looking for a replacement - as long as it's not from a complete washout of a source - then it probably does mean that NC has made a decision and is looking for the next manager... a matter of when, not if.

Still, I don't think that'll be necessary personally, and can see MoPo taking us far.

Ben Rumsby ‏@ben_rumsby

Cortese on his arrival at #sfc: "Using the word ambition was a problem for some people because we were living down on the south coast."

That's going to make Barry's day..

Ben Rumsby ‏@ben_rumsby

Cortese on his arrival at #sfc: "Using the word ambition was a problem for some people because we were living down on the south coast."

Dell sized mentalities!

I do believe in Cortese, and the small snippets you hear from him only serve to increase that belief. He always seems to be considered, pragmatic, has a view on the long term and even if things seem odd there is always a logic behind it. It has so far paid off, we have progressed incredibly well but the litmus test for him is coming.

There will be a day when the logical planning and actions do not have a the desired result over a long period of time. There will come a time when we reach an apex that cannot be broken past. The club will reach it's zenith. At that point there will be nothing more he can do. It's my theory that Cortese thinks he can take Saints to the very top, if the glass ceiling falls beneath that point what will he do?

We will learn more about him and our club's current structure in adversity then when the tide is smooth.

That's me in the front row (looking like I have my head on Cortese's lap)

After the talk as Cortese was walking off stage, Gianluca Vialli started following him down the corridor and was shouting "Nicola, Nicola". He was desperate to talk to him, it was very weird... maybe he wants to be front of the queue when NC makes the next change, when we reach the Champs League

Very interesting the part about the managerial changes. He got stick not having a replacement lined up for Pardew and still got stick for having Pochettino immediately lined up. People complain about the way in which Adkins was sacked, well, how else do you sack a manager? It's never a nice thing to do but there's no other way of doing it and the way in which Cortese did the Adkins/Pochettino change so seamlessly has to be applauded.

Cortese says plan was 1 year in League 1 and 3 in Championship. I wonder how much his plans were changed by the rapid rise through the second tier

It was actually a 3 year plan... 1 year in league one and two in the championship but in the end we did it the other way round. (Is what he said!)

That's me in the front row (looking like I have my head on Cortese's lap)

 

After the talk as Cortese was walking off stage, Gianluca Vialli started following him down the corridor and was shouting "Nicola, Nicola". He was desperate to talk to him, it was very weird... maybe he wants to be front of the queue when NC makes the next change, when we reach the Champs League

Probably just wanted to borrow a tenner.

Cortese's decisions are clearly planned and executed at specific times in specific ways, and once a decision is made, he will carry it through. That clashes with the traditional view that managerial decisions are sometimes delayed or reversed on the back of a result or 3, and is also worth bearing in mind in the future.

 

He is clearly not an impulsive man, which, to be honest, is a good thing in business IMO.

Don't see the Don as being a traditionalist - he knows what he wants and will go with that traditional or not. He is not scared or prevaricates over making a decision which in my book is fine especially as its always what is right for the club either commercially or footballing wise. Love the way he sees closing the commercial gap as a challenge - speaks reams about the man and his mind set.

It was actually a 3 year plan... 1 year in league one and two in the championship but in the end we did it the other way round. (Is what he said!)

I thought he said 1 year in League 1 and 3 in Championship.

Probably just wanted to borrow a tenner.

Probably for a packet of fags.

I thought he said 1 year in League 1 and 3 in Championship.

He did.

I recorded the whole thing, so ill try and upload it to YouTube later.

On another note, I got to speak to Nigel Adkins in some detail last night.

To sum up:

- He misses being Saints manager

- Loved every second of his time at the club

- Said he understood the decision to change management (strange) and was really pleased to see us doing so well under MP.

- Really pleased to have Billy Sharp at Reading as a top bloke and goal scorer, but he's picked up an injury straight away.

- When I said 'Reading are a similar sized club to Saints', he said "I thought so too, but they are a lot smaller in every way"

I thought he said 1 year in League 1 and 3 in Championship.

He did.

Sorry but Nicola definitely said one year in L1 and two years in the Championship - the 'we did it the other way around' comment would make no sense otherwise.