The Kraken

This line kind of sums up why I find it a touch bizarre how people so often only see what they want to see when there's an article that isn't entirely gushing in praise about something they support. Over on the other other thread this article has been described as "slagging off Cortese". Despite these quotes from the article: "He proved an excellent administrator and Southampton returned to the Premier League through two divisions." "And Katharina Liebherr may prove to be a dud, by comparison. She may have no interest in football and might no longer feel the emotional pull that existed when her father died; it is now suggested she wants to sell. This would be a great pity. " "Cortese has been good for Southampton, but his was hardly a lone mission. By the time he arrived in 2009 Theo Walcott was at Arsenal, Gareth Bale was at Tottenham Hotspur, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was established enough to be sold within the year and Adam Lallana had been a professional there since 2006. This was a club with a successful, established youth policy, a strong fan base and a new ground, languishing in League One due to poor financial management. Money restored the natural order, Liebherr money, and Cortese spent it well, as the best bankers do. That’s why billionaires use them." So I don't think [most] people will forget the excellent job that Cortese has done here. They're just able to put it into a bit of context.

Quite right too. Cringeworthy nonsense.

Good post Duncan, and the Indy article echoes what I've thought since the summer about NC being completely unwilling to have any sort of accountability placed upon him. The various leaks to SFC friendly papers are, IMO, Cortese's efforts at destabilising the club following his departure. Unsavoury business.

Every single time, to be fair.

Of course he isn't. The ex Saints were completely frozen out by the previous regime, insofar as they actually used website space on the OS at one point (as various other clubs allow) and this relationship was abruptly ended, together with a general arms length approach adopted. As an excellent charitable organisation who more than look after their own (see the Kevin Moore fundraising appeals) this is welcome news, if relatively insignificant in the general scheme of things.

Quite a few wet blankets on here were convinced of the same.

I will "wind it in" son, you clearly know your onions.

I can see that they may have wanted extra control for some time, and a hell of a game has been playing in the background for a while now. That we're just finding out about it muddies the water a bit. I see it as Cortese not wanting to have any shackles imposed on him and has walked as he won't have the autonomy he has enjoyed in the past year or two. I could be wrong but that seems a fairly likely scenario to me. A shame if so, but any organisation that is happy to have one man calling all the shots is a worrying trait. One good thing that may come out of this is that that part of the business is set to be addressed. We'll see if it actually makes any tangible difference.

Great insight from the new forum sage

Not necessarily. With Markus alive it was always the two of them, with Cortese doing the day to day stuff but Markus having input. When Markus died it was just Cortese for some time, until the family affairs were put in order. One assumption may be that the discussions in the summer were for the family to have more control, and to re-assert something like the original formation, and Cortese wasn't amenable to that. I guess we'll find out in due course.

Maybe (and I'm guessing here), just maybe, being a billionaire, she can afford to recruit some very well paid, very competent advisors who do actually know what they're doing. You don't really think she'll be actually doing the job herself, do you??

From 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." Good.

Indeed, I think some people might be crying themselves to sleep tonight.

Where have all of the leaks come from? Someone trying to destabilise the club, perhaps?

It won't be a surprise if Shaw uses this as an excuse to leverage his way out, IMO. Couldn't see him lasting too much beyond the summer in any case.

That might suggest that the plan isn't to conduct a fire sale and get rid of the club asap.

So you're saying that its definitely not a business reason (or reasons) that Cortese left today? Only a personal reason can be the explanation?

Has it? What personal reasons are they?

True story this. Take the case of John Fenty at Grimsby. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/14979772 Now when he resigned, back in 2011, I started laughing. I haven't stopped since. Christ, I'm off again :lol:

Reports suggest she has also turned down various offers for the club. When pretty much all leaks coming out of the club are from the disgruntled employee who has just walked out of the door for the final time and is aiming a parting shot across the bows, everything is to be taken with a pinch of salt.

Being as the news is that Cortese submitted his resignation 3 months ago its fair to assume that *something* has been going on in the background. Quite how substantial that something is, well, we'll see. A bit of a faux pas that we don't seem to have someone lined up to take over reasonably straight away though.

Vegard Forren.

I imagine the poor boy is distraught that the "promise" of the Cortese Super Arena is seemingly lying in tatters.

Unless I've not seen the full quotes, he didn't *quite* go that far. The quote I saw was: ""Nicola Cortese has basically been the reality at Southampton for the past four years. "Of course, the people that are in the club, that are part of the club, that are behind the scenes in the club were a little bit worried about what has been said. "Me on a personal sense, I would not understand a Southampton without Nicola being here. "When I first arrived here, nobody knew who Mauricio Pochettino was. Nicola put his faith in me and knew me from way, way back. "When I got to know his project, we were basically on the same wavelength as to what we wanted for Southampton in the future. "Basically, my future in Southampton has to be with Nicola." Now, clearly that's very close to an ultimatum but technically not quite! I'm clearly clutching at straws here.....

We'll see about that, won't we. Being as he has nowhere else to go immediately, I'd be surprised/amazed if he left straight away. He has nothing at all to gain from that; it would be cutting his nose off to spite his face, and I get the feeling he's a bit smarter than that. He may engineer a departure over the short to medium term but he'd be a fool to just walk out, and he probably knows that.