trousers

Signed. All the best with this Jim. Good luck to the Sky Blues.

Since when was posting public domain information "norty"...? The mods set it up as a public poll.

Cheers, makes sense.

Nice article but you might want to change the Cortese/Liebherr takeover year from 2010 to 2009 (and if I was being really pedantic it's 'fazed' not 'phased')

Sorry to labour the point but isn't Southampton Football Club the main (only?) beneficiary of the trust fund set up in Markus's name? Perhaps it makes a difference if the trust fund is set up by the person before they die or whether its set up by the trustees of his overall estate after he dies? As I said at the start of this thread, I 'm not sure where I'm going with this but I can't help feeling this 'dispute' has only arisen because either the Liebherrs or Cortese now want to deviate from Markus's wishes.

Yep, could be.

I know little about how trusts work but I would have thought that the whole point of a 'trust' is to protect the wishes of the benefactor, in this case Markus. Isn't a trust fund simply an extension of someone's will? If I had, say, £300m that I wanted to leave 'in trust' to Southampton Football Club, are you saying that I can't have any say in how MY money is spent? As I say, I've no idea how trusts work but find it strange the wishes of the 'Trustor' aren't taken into account.

Indeed and 'the Trustees' would/should be carrying out his wishes. (Hence the suggestion that the goal of the Trust (on behalf of Markus) might not be to maximise return on investment. I guess we'll never know what Markus sought to get out of buying Saints. Was it philanthropy or simply a money making exercise? Or maybe it was a bit of both.)

Some people are assuming that it was Markus's aim to sell the business for maximum profit at some stage. How do we know he didn't buy the club more as a hobby that happened to make him a few bob on the side?

@SkyNewsBreak: Conservative party to publish draft bill on EU referendum tomorrow with the intention of legislating in this parliament

Deleted

So, if Cortese gets a good reception at the Stoke game then it is likely to persuade the Liebherrs to keep him on and/or persuade Cortese himself that he is wanted by the fans.... Seems simple enough...

So that you don't get into trouble by giving the game away, please can you describe what the new kit DOESN'T look like. Thanks

Maybe this is Cortese's plan.... He needs to convince the Liebherr's to release more cash.... So he leaks a story to the press that he's thinking of quitting.... Knowing full well that the majority of fans are behind him and will make their feelings known in front of the Liebherrs vs Stoke (who will happen to be at the stadium for the last game of the season). Or maybe not...

Markus Liebherr (Note to self: read the entire OP rather than just going on the title before posting response)

I did notice earlier that the Mali-Group website is now a single page just listing company contacts... (It was never the most expansive website in the world but...)

Could it be that Cortese is actually trying to do what Markus wanted him to do - i.e. "go for it when we secure premier league survival" - whereas 'the family and/or the trustees' now want to take a different approach? (It could also be the other way around of course - I.e. Cortese has decided he wants more than what Markus wanted)

How do we know that the instructions of the "Trustor" (Markus?) was to make as much money as possible for 'the trust'. Isn't it the responsibility of the trustees to see that the trust fund is spent in the way that the Trustor decreed. (Not saying that it wasn't Markus's wish to make as much money as possible and then get out but I suspect it wasn't)

Not sure where I'm going with this or whether it makes any difference but do we know if the 'Trust' that was created to manage the funds Markus left to the club was actually set up by Markus himself before he died or whether it was something the family set up after his death? Edit: And would the appointed Trustees have to legally be independent of the Liebherr family or could they themselves be the trustees?

Will Cope ‏@willcope It's the AMAZING people at #saintsfc that make the club a success. Any half decent CEO could match NC

@kristemple: RT @willcope: My understanding is that the Liebherr children/estate have NEVER had the same belief in Cortese that their father did #saints.

Edit: deleted - beaten to it

http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sport/pompey/pompey-plan-fratton-park-improvements-1-5085516 http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sport/pompey/catlin-pinpoints-realistic-financial-future-for-pompey-1-5084685

Is Cortese still at the helm of the Mali Group?