Cortese

I think the main thing we all need to be mindful of, at difficult times like this, is that the scrawny little rat faced cu nt is long, long gone and almost certain to never come back. Ain't that just delicious?

12 o'clock he's on

He'll be taking calls too

Reed and Krueger have read their own damned press and hype far too much over the "Southampton Way", "black box" and "academy" b*ll*cks; the club is, as shown last night, starting to fail at EVERY level.

Have to agree with the bull's hit, but I guess bull's hit baffles brains and it hasn't done any harm to the club and probably the opposite and helped (a bit!). But I have to question why you think Krueger is involved with the BS? As a chairman of a football club, he is a joke. Maybe that is because I have no idea what he does, nor what his role at the club is. Does anyone know? If I was the new owner, Kreuger would be the first person out of the door, and I would seriously consider approaching NC to see if he would come back.

Presumably NC is up to something as why else is he on the radio? If that is the case, then the question is will it be with us or someone else?

Have to agree with the bull's hit, but I guess bull's hit baffles brains and it hasn't done any harm to the club and probably the opposite and helped (a bit!). But I have to question why you think Krueger is involved with the BS? As a chairman of a football club, he is a joke. Maybe that is because I have no idea what he does, nor what his role at the club is. Does anyone know? If I was the new owner, Kreuger would be the first person out of the door, and I would seriously consider approaching NC to see if he would come back.

 

Presumably NC is up to something as why else is he on the radio? If that is the case, then the question is will it be with us or someone else?

They mentioned that he may be returning to football.

To be fair Turkish is spot on with what he's written and doesn't even get into shadier things like spending club money on personal housing projects, threatening people with legal action from the club based in no groundings and feint feelings of wrong doing towards him (i've seen the letters to prove this).

He also treated all but the playing staff appalling badly and was totally out of control on spending and running the club as his own private empire.

Of course most people will just look at the results and say he was great, but then i'm sure the Skates said that of their owners when they were winning the FA Cup. Fortunately we rooted this guy out before we fell into the kind of hole they fell into, but i have no doubt that would've happened long term if he'd stayed here.

So, lets get things straight here...

 

Markus Liebherr bought SFC. Not Katharina. He put Cortese in place, and they had a shared vision to bring greatness to this club.

 

We all know what tragically happened to Markus. His daughter took over, and in tribute to her Dad, and because Germans tend to be more committed and willing to stick at things, she stuck to the plan, after a fashion.

 

The goal to return to the PL was delivered. But that was a tick-in-the-box for her, in my opinion; at that point I think she felt that she had followed her Dad's dream enough, and not having a particular affintiy with football or Southampton, she planned her exit and decided that she wasnt going to support the longer-term vision, which NC was pursuing still.

 

That's fine, but I am sick of reading NC being portrayed as a monster. He was brilliant for this club, only now its lost all the momentum he provided.

 

I read once he put a faxed bid for a player from LIVERPOOL in the bin without reading it, considering it a disgrace they hadnt approached the club properly. Do you lot really think we would be stuck clueless with Carlos Kickaballs as manager and would have sold off all our decent players following assorted degrees of tapping-up if he were still here ??

 

Reed and Krueger have read their own damned press and hype far too much over the "Southampton Way", "black box" and "academy" b*ll*cks; the club is, as shown last night, starting to fail at EVERY level.

And the only person who would know if that happened would have been Clots and maybe his PA and he made sure that story got out. All PR and no substance I'm afraid. And who was it he sold to Arsenal ? Not a selling club under Clots though eh?

They mentioned that he may be returning to football.

I would welcome him back to Southampton with open arms. I can but dream..........

When people need to qualify their disapproval of Cortese by recalling intricate elaborate inside stories, this is where I switch off.

I couldn't give a toss about anything other than on the field performance.

He found us a billionaire. That billionaire trusted and respected his judgement implicitly. He brought us back to the prem with a squad that was at no risk of being dismantled up until his departure.

I would welcome him back with open arms

Due to the way he ran the club, this will be an extremely interesting interview for us. I'm sure he will offer a very dispassionate and objective perspective.

Is anyone able to keep a running commentary on here for those of us who are at work?

I would welcome him back to Southampton with open arms. I can but dream..........

No thanks. The choice isn't between a dictator like Cortese or the slow decline that we are seeing at the moment. I'll take the middle ground please.

When people need to qualify their disapproval of Cortese by recalling intricate elaborate inside stories, this is where I switch off.

 

I couldn't give a toss about anything other than on the field performance.

 

He found us a billionaire. That billionaire trusted and respected his judgement implicitly. He brought us back to the prem with a squad that was at no risk of being dismantled up until his departure.

 

I would welcome him back with open arms

You might not care about the off-field stuff, but it affects what happens on the pitch. Why did we have to sell players? To service large debts.

Who accrued that debt?

Oh, and that squad "that was at no risk of being dismantled until his departure" rather ignores Rickie Lambert almost being sold to West Ham before Les "Sell Everything" Reed, er, pulled the plug on it and didn't sell him in that window. That's before you get to this football chairman deity agreeing to sell Morgan Schneiderlin for £10m in summer 2014, before Les stopped that and sold him a year later for £25m.

The only times big clubs came in for players, one left (AOC) and one had a deal agreed for a silly price considering he was one of our top players (MS). If those big clubs had come in whilst Nicola was in charge, don't you think they wouldn't still want to go just because he was chairman?

I'm not saying Les Reed has got every decision right, but considering the circumstances he's done a very good job.

Nor am I saying Cortese was all bad; we got promoted twice so he must have done something right. But I don't think he was Mr Perfect and Les is Mr Can't Do Right, either.

Might try and keep a log of the Cortese myths -

So far we have.....

1) Changing the bathroom tiles added £20m to the overall cost of the training ground

2) He's apparently desperate to get back into football but has been declined at every turn

3) He is a dictator and hated by employees

4) Spent club money on personal housing project

5) club would be in administration now had he not been sacked

6) he was fired

To be fair Turkish is spot on with what he's written and doesn't even get into shadier things like spending club money on personal housing projects, threatening people with legal action from the club based in no groundings and feint feelings of wrong doing towards him (i've seen the letters to prove this).

 

He also treated all but the playing staff appalling badly and was totally out of control on spending and running the club as his own private empire.

 

Of course most people will just look at the results and say he was great, but then i'm sure the Skates said that of their owners when they were winning the FA Cup. Fortunately we rooted this guy out before we fell into the kind of hole they fell into, but i have no doubt that would've happened long term if he'd stayed here.

That's the difficulty of the whole situation.

You cannot knock his results on the pitch and he made some very astute signings (staff wise), but they way he behaved was totally unacceptable.

If you could find middle ground of Cortese drive & ambition with the currents people skills and business approach, you'd be on to a winner.

Knowing people that work at the club at the time and still do, I do not think you'd find any of them who would want him back.

Due to the way he ran the club, this will be an extremely interesting interview for us. I'm sure he will offer a very dispassionate and objective perspective.

 

Is anyone able to keep a running commentary on here for those of us who are at work?

This. Can someone jot down the key points so we can review, analyse, dessiminate and rubbish? thanks.

Jim White being sycophantic before he even turns up.

He said never say never. Something got triggered when he spoke to old colleagues.

He said never say never. Something got triggered when he spoke to old colleagues.

Jim White said a lot of Saints fans have been texting in to say they would love him back. He then went on to say "Do you think you will ever return ...." and was going to say, "to the Premier League" but before he got there Nicola said "no, no I don't think I would..." before Jim White finished the rest of his sentence. Nicola then said "never say never (about returning to the Premier League) after something got triggered".

Looks like he is coming back to the Premier League but not with us.

Might try and keep a log of the Cortese myths -

 

So far we have.....

 

1) Changing the bathroom tiles added £20m to the overall cost of the training ground

Literally nobody has said this.

It is a fact that the original price for the training ground improvements was in the region of £20m, which incorporated a bit of leeway for variations on design and materials because it's pretty common to change minor things during the build process. It's also a fact that the cost ballooned and pretty much doubled - there are notes in the company accounts to this effect, I think part of the extra cost was to account for a big change in the new pitches, which would incorporate new, more expensive, technology.

It is also a fact that there were a number of disputes with the contractors which resulted in significant spells of no work being done. If I remember rightly, the contractor was changed, which would have incorporated big termination payments, etc. As well as this big issue, there were a number of minor issues that just annoyed people and gave an indication as to how much of a pain in the arse Cortese was to deal with - while you may scoff with "oh, it's only changing the tiles, FFS", this costs money, and if you get a lot of those sort of situations (which he did), it starts to cost a lot of money.

2) He's apparently desperate to get back into football but has been declined at every turn

Why do you think he is on the radio today? It's not because he's a regular commentator on the football industry.

3) He is a dictator and hated by employees

Speak to anyone who worked at the club during his time there.

4) Spent club money on personal housing project

Add various other purchases too.

5) club would be in administration now had he not been sacked

It would never have got to that stage.

6) he was fired

Pretty much. As with other key employees who have "left to pursue other avenues in their career", the public statements are written in a way to ensure that everyone saves face. Managers very rarely leave by mutual consent, despite what tedious club statements tend to say.

i wish the radio had subtitles

i wish the radio had subtitles

It's very hard work!! White is one of the worst interviewers I've ever heard.

Might try and keep a log of the Cortese myths -

 

So far we have.....

 

1) Changing the bathroom tiles added £20m to the overall cost of the training ground

 

2) He's apparently desperate to get back into football but has been declined at every turn

 

3) He is a dictator and hated by employees

 

4) Spent club money on personal housing project

 

5) club would be in administration now had he not been sacked

 

6) he was fired

Didn't he also smash up Benalis house, Fill the pool with champagne, firebomb his car and kidnap his wife.

Or was that someone else.

this is interesting stuff, waited a long time to hear this.

Making out we never had an academy before he came , sold Aoc to pay for training ground

oh dear, he is taking credit for Rupert Lowe's academy!

has he mentioned the tiles?

Aoc played up his family causing grief

that s a surprise, skate bastard, on no, here come the fans' calls, this should be funny!

that s a surprise, skate bastard, on no, here come the fans' calls, this should be funny!

Bet it's only positive calls

maybe Turkish will be calling in

I hope someone mentions the car park charge fiasco

my pc is obviously behind real time so if you could all defer posting what he has said for a minute, so it will not ruin it for me, thanks (like waiting for MOTD without knowing the results i guess)

Has the dwarf said anything interesting yet?

Has the dwarf said anything interesting yet?

yes

Has the dwarf said anything interesting yet?

Yup. How tough it was and how great he is.

yes

like...

Its quite clear why KL got rid of him, because her long term vision was to sell, it was ****ing obvious pal and now it has happened.

Spot on. Once KL got the tick-in-the-box of a PL return, she was focused on her exit strategy and protecting her asset, which NCs strategy was not compatible with. Fair enough, but lets not demonise NC.

Has the dwarf said anything interesting yet?

all this

1) Changing the bathroom tiles added £20m to the overall cost of the training ground

2) He's apparently desperate to get back into football but has been declined at every turn

3) He is a dictator and hated by employees

4) Spent club money on personal housing project

5) club would be in administration now had he not been sacked

6) he was fired

Who is that ****ing clown Matt. " Not many like what's happened the last 2 or 3 years". That's bull

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Matt seems well informed lol

Who is that ****ing clown Matt. " Not many like what's happened the last 2 or 3 years". That's bull

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

we would have finished top 4 under NC, dont you know..

Matt - I had hoped it was going to be Le Tiss. Instead, we got a knob jockey.

Who is that ****ing clown Matt. " Not many like what's happened the last 2 or 3 years". That's bull

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

All phone in`s are bu ll shyte... it s nothing new...

he knew she was selling up, surprised it took so long,

FFS, going on about vD. White is a complete and utter tool.

If you were Mr. Gao and daughter, who would you entrust more to turn this around (but perhaps with some cost) ?

Krueger and Reed, or Cortese ?

I know which I'd go for.

FFS, going on about vD. White is a complete and utter tool.

Perhaps it Heisenberg then

he's trying to be polite about KL, basically saying she didnt want to take the club any further.

It is how we all suspected really.

Matt seems well informed lol

haha, that was exactly my thought

shame he hasn't enjoyed the last 2-3 years.

it almost like he was a plant. not that cortese needs any more love with plenty coming from white, 'we are in the presence of greatness' - what??!!??

Resigned because owner became complacent and didn't want to invest to push forward!