Another Insight into NC's decision making?

[Secret Site Agent]

This is just another one of my Industry/SFC cross overs but I did find it interesting and may shed a little light on the workings of the corporate mind, perhaps? I wasn’t going to bother as it is another Cortese thread, but I though ‘F it, why not. There are plenty springing up about himall the time'

 

I was a company awards and briefing day, you know the sort where a lot of people go within the company to pat themselves on the back for how well we are fdoiung, give out a few awards, then winge and upper management gives a speech containing various bit of management spin that go on for 30,000 that essentially means,’ People might lose their jobs, no pay rises, more work for less profit’ you know the thing. Any way, I get and award for some innovative activities that save 400k on a job, (whiuch means ½ goes straight into our Sky Rocket, but the tax payer gets ½ as well). Unlike most years when the award is given out by the MD, this time it’s given out by the CEO, the big cheese himself.

 

So after the boring speeches I am smoozing around eating and drinking at the afters party, sorry social interaction event, when the CEO of the group, comes waddling over to me and my colleague and starts talking, congratulations , well done, etc and all I can think is that he has a really big head compared to his body, he doesn’t look like he does in the papers, and that I have underware older than him. Then he mentions a word that brings me back to earth: Southampton football club.

 

Apparently he much admires what Corteze has done and would LOVE to do a job like that with Walsall FC. Not in the ML role, but in the NC role. He also remembers meeting him when NC was with Credit Suisse and my Man headed up a property investmentment group, at a jolly at the the newly opened Emirates Stadium, and remembers him because they were the youngest in the room, (Our man was only 36 when he became CEO).

 

Anyway, I mentioned that NC seems to be riding rough shod and upsetting the fans a little, especially with the Season Ticket fiasco, parking and all. I asked if he would do the same, and his advice in his own words were:

 

- It’s difficult as an outsider to second guess the reason behind some of the tough decisions. He has a single source of income and he has to make the club a going concern. We should be wary of mind reading. For all we know by doing these things he saves an even bigger increase, such as ticket prices across the board, or reduced prices for children, or less money coming in from other revenue streams such as advertising.

- He also has to justify and weigh up, no doubt, the cash in/cash out. We should be wary that Marcus didn’t become rich by just throwing money at a problem, and this probably filters down to Nicola, who will continue to be prudent.

- Also as a technical man, Marcus likes to see things pan out to a programme and we should be lucky as it is results he wants,(no, not 3-1), and time he’s willing to give. No quick returns for him, as he isn’t in that business.

 

I interject at this point when he speaks about Marcus and quick returns, and he explains that for those used to creating something physical, Like Marcus, my colleagues and I, we are happy to be patient and watch it being build, as we have a linear idea of what goes where and we plan to avoid or deal with the problems as they arise. Whereas people who deal with the Metaphysical, such as he, (Marketing and Property) and NC(Banking), are used to dealing with Abstracts, therefore they have difficulty being in anything for the long haul and like and want instant returns. I tell him that we are all happy that Marcus has come in and saved us and that he has a five year plan to get us back in the premiership, but that we just missed out on promotion. His expression was that it probably hurt NC who wants to beat the 5 years, and we/he have failed to some extent, but Marcus knows in his mind where we should be and if he wants us in the PL in 5 years time, we haven’t failed unless we aren’t in the PL in 5 years.

I also said about the public interface, and that maybe NC should meet with the fans a bit more, don’t he think, and let them know what’s happening a bit more. My colleague, (Woking and Spurs) piped in that a few more press conferences wouldn’t go a miss and it ****es you off when they don’t listen to the fans. My head Shed said that the CEO’s of this world are responsible to the Stakeholders, (we’re all stakeholders now) as a whole body, not to the individual whims. The likes of Daniel Levy have a whole raft of people trying to tell him what is best, but he is solely responsible so his decisions are based on many different constraints and must be the best fit for the majority. After pointing out the lack of a board at SFC, he says that it is a unique position not to have people second guess your decisions all the time in an industry where the end product is not always predictable, but people are always mavericks and know best, in football, when they don’t have to back up their words with deeds. We then got onto the World cup,(shoking and a need to do a grass roots shake up, but backing Capello.), then onto mechanical hydraulic shuttering, a quick explanation on why concrete goes hard, how some concrete stays up and some falls down, the concrete barriers down the centre of the M3 and M25, why Alan Sugar don’t like him, and the fact he thinks construction is a really exciting industry that has opened his eyes. He excused himself, shook our hands, congratulated us again, then went to talk to some bloke that designs bridges and looks like he should be haunting houses for a living.

 

Don’t know how much this related to Nicola and his decisions of late, just another opinion. This one more understanding and impartial than ours?

Now be good Stakeholders and discuss.

[VectisSaint]

I realise NC is Italian but was not aware that he is into concrete overcoats. Fascinating that NC will be able to deal with Stu in this way, and that he will be sure that the concrete goes hard before carefully lowering him into the Solent. Now was anything mentioned about installment schemes. Mechanical hydraulic shuttering sounds interesting as well, more details please.

[St Landrew]

That was a very entertaining and informative post. It's nice to see a point of view from a completely different perspective. As fans, we can be a little too close to the action to see clearly sometimes.

[SuperMikey]

Good post SSA, nice to get another viewpoint on the NC situation (is there a situation?). FWIW, I think Cortese is doing a fantastic job. While some of his decisions and timings have been a little iffy, don't forget that this is his first time running a football club, and it's a big business to do basically on your own! I'm sure as time goes on and he adapts more and more to the task in hand and the needs of the supporters, the rapport will raise. I have no doubts that NC will approach this job with anything but utter professionalism and commitment and be the best chairman we've had in a long, long time. We finally have somebody who knows what they're doing in charge of the club and all people can do is moan because their press statements are released in the evening and there's a £3 booking charge for tickets. More than a fair price to pay for a sturdy hand at the rudder imo.

[70's Mike]

i wonder what our attendance break even figure is, trying to increase revenue without improving the product on the pitch has come back to bite past chairman

[Block 5]

I nearly gave up reading after 2 paragraphs, but I didn't and I'm glad I didn't.

Cheers SSA.

[CanadaSaint]

Good topic, SSA.

 

To me he's an intriguing combination of family man, banker, businessman and football fan. Depending on the time, a different one of those can come to the fore - including a really p*ssed off football fan if we drop points we shouldn't have dropped.

 

Psychologically, I think he's a visionary, he's decisive and he's egotistical. He doesn't tolerate fools gladly and he despises weakness, disloyalty and loose lips.

 

I have no doubt that he's working to a plan - to succeed in a fiscally responsible and sustainable way, not just by constantly throwing money at a wall and hoping some of it sticks.

 

Like Rupert, he doesn't like paying transfer fees and - even less - agents' fees. He'd rather sign free agents and bring players through the academy system - because that gets us away from two of football’s biggest financial killers – big transfer fees and ludicrous wages. That’s why Stapelwood is such a high priority for him.

 

When it comes to the other things he's doing, I think he's taking a page out of the airlines' book. The price for the basic service is affordable but look-out if you want any extras - extended payment plans, parking, memorabilia, food & beverage and so on. If people are moaning about this stuff now, give it a while – I think he has many more plans like this. He wants to increase the average spend per supporter significantly because that's the way to sustainable success - not finding a sugar daddy. He’ll never say this publicly but I suspect he’s quite willing to accept that some long-time fans just won’t be able to afford to go to football in the future.

 

In fact, the combination of visionary and egotist is probably working together to make him - at least in his own mind at this point - the man who will lead football to a more sane and sustainable future.

 

And that might be exactly why his PR skills are so lacking. He doesn’t care whether you agree with him.

[Glasgow_Saint]

I gave up reading after 2 lines - can someone summarise the post in 50 words or less?

[Ken Tone]

My opinion is that Cortese as a banker has little or no experience of dealing directly with customers en masse. Unfortunately it appears he hasn't made use of others who do have such experience.

 

 

K.

[RonManager]

I gave up reading after 2 lines - can someone summarise the post in 50 words or less?

 

Would you like it in pictures? - or maybe mime?

[Block 5]

I gave up reading after 2 lines - can someone summarise the post in 50 words or less?

 

Don't mess with Cortese or you'll be going swimming in a concrete overcoat.

 

I can reveal that this fate has befallen Stu, and an impersonator has taken his place.

[dubai_phil]

Started off as if it was a load of look at me I won an award from a big company saga BUT it hits the nails on the head and a good read SSA

 

In simplistic terms when I was at school about to do A-Levels you were divided up into Arts or Sciences. At the time it just seemed weird and a little elitist, but over time, and helped by the cultural shock of working down here you begin to understand that no matter what political doctrines say, people's minds DO work differently.

 

The mind of say an Engineer & an Abstract Artist are two examples of almost alien differences, and from the perspective you have posted from (your CEO) that is what we see at SMS, ML, NC and AP will all see and interpret inputs differently.

 

In any business environment, the one REALLY important thing I have always found critical to success is that you make sure that you have ALL types of "brains" in a team.

 

Everyone sees things in a slightly different way and nobody tends to go blindly off down the wrong road. When you get one "view" over-riding everyone (a la Rupert) you get failure because NOBODY is perfect and right ALL of the time (except some posters (not me) on here of course!).

 

Consensus is not what it is about, opinion is not what it is about, I always use the example that Didier Drogba is a great striker (but a nasty sh*t) Having 3 Drogbas up front in your team would be awesome, but having 11 of them would be ludicrous.

 

In business it is about using the strengths and differences in your team and being able to see every possible alternative outcome or strategy and make sure you "lead" the group along the right one.

 

The good news is that we seem to have all the types and we seem to have a balance. The WORRY is when one or the other gets too forceful you get conflict. I think we saw that with the AP out rumours, hopefully, forward progress and a top 3 position after 4 or 5 weeks of the season will show our balance is right

 

It will be interesting. NC has shown strong Management & Decision making. I still reserve judgement though as he may think he is a Leader but I am not sure he has yet developed "Followership".

[Fowllyd]

Don't mess with Cortese or you'll be going swimming in a concrete overcoat.

 

I can reveal that this fate has befallen Stu, and an impersonator has taken his place.

 

Mind you, the impersonator's so damn good you'd never know the difference...

[hamster]

I think that anyone can see the why's and wherefor's of NC's decisions and actions and apart from the tiny detail of it costing fans more money to watch our team, we all know that it is in good faith. I currently have faith in him but wonder at what point he will appoint a proven DoF and let someone else not only make certain decisions but also explain why they need to be made. Parhaps and Italian or German supremo?

[Gemmel]

Did you know that Cortese was approached about buying Saints before they went into Admin?

I often wonder whether that was Crouch or Lowe that instigated that.

[Saint Fan CaM]

Did you know that Cortese was approached about buying Saints before they went into Admin?

I often wonder whether that was Crouch or Lowe that instigated that.

 

Well one probably had the personal finance to be in the same circles. The other just happened to have worked in the same industry sector. Both plausible reasons, however I feel there is only one who would truly have handed over power for the good of the club and that was not Lowe. Evidence? If it was Lowe, why did he wait until AFTER the deadline before putting the club into admin?

[Secret Site Agent]

I think that anyone can see the why's and wherefor's of NC's decisions and actions and apart from the tiny detail of it costing fans more money to watch our team, we all know that it is in good faith. I currently have faith in him but wonder at what point he will appoint a proven DoF and let someone else not only make certain decisions but also explain why they need to be made. Parhaps and Italian or German supremo?

 

Personally I don't think he will appoint one. I think he sees himself as the business head, and AP as the footballing head, and there is no room for a third head in the stadium. At least not at the moment.

[Block 5]

Personally I don't think he will appoint one. I think he sees himself as the business head, and AP as the footballing head, and there is no room for a third head in the stadium. At least not at the moment.

 

Cortese's head is big enough?

[up and away]

My opinion is that Cortese as a banker has little or no experience of dealing directly with customers en masse. Unfortunately it appears he hasn't made use of others who do have such experience.

 

 

K.

 

My impression is that his focus for the job he has in hand dominates, sometimes to the extent of the pleasantries. I don't know the man or have heard any profound thoughts apart from those expressed to all. Have passed/saw about 4 times close up and although polite, had other things on his mind. He works very hard and expects similar from his staff, which is not going to be the best environment for glowing praise from those that work for him.

 

I don't know of anyone who he confides with or even someone he lets slip the odd remark to. Nor do I know of anyone else within St Mary's who knows anything, extremely rare in comparison to all that have gone before. The only small snippets I know of have come second hand from his wife, such is the focus of the guy.

 

I don't see any ego in the guy, he appears more focused on the job in hand than any personal elevation. We do get an outpouring now and again via the Solent interviews, which almost seems a reaction to having stored everything up for so long. Cortese has taken a chance coming to run Saints and it has basically took over his life in his efforts to make it a success. I hope he has time to relax a little and enjoy things along the way.

[Secret Site Agent]

My impression is that his focus for the job he has in hand dominates, sometimes to the extent of the pleasantries. I don't know the man or have heard any profound thoughts apart from those expressed to all. Have passed/saw about 4 times close up and although polite, had other things on his mind. He works very hard and expects similar from his staff, which is not going to be the best environment for glowing praise from those that work for him.

 

I don't know of anyone who he confides with or even someone he lets slip the odd remark to. Nor do I know of anyone else within St Mary's who knows anything, extremely rare in comparison to all that have gone before. The only small snippets I know of have come second hand from his wife, such is the focus of the guy.

 

I don't see any ego in the guy, he appears more focused on the job in hand than any personal elevation. We do get an outpouring now and again via the Solent interviews, which almost seems a reaction to having stored everything up for so long. Cortese has taken a chance coming to run Saints and it has basically took over his life in his efforts to make it a success. I hope he has time to relax a little and enjoy things along the way.

I think I agree with what you have said and it goes back to the conversation i outlined above. The diificulty for people is that they are used to everything being done in the open and don't like being in the dark. Also some refuse to see the positive side to things and always come out with the negative. NC must be evil, minipulative, cruel becasue he don't tell us nothing, does things 'I' don't like and wants the club to be completly ****ed up and **** and wants to ruin it for us. Unlike those that came before. The can't understand that it was his idea to come here, he wants us to succeed just as much as we do and, here's the crux, he has no axe to grind and isn't emotially engaged, like Duck hunter, Croach or Wilde. This for him is a business that he wants to succeed and some of the things we think, 'AHHHHHH, Isn't that sweet. Old Lawrie Mac, and Le Tiss, and Bobby Stokes and when I were a small boy all this was fields, jumpers for goal posts' sentmentality isn't going to cut it now. Lawrie aint going to pick a winning team, and Matty and Bobby aint going to be scoring goals. in his mind, where were they when this great club got relegated, again and again? In his mind we won the FA cup in 1976. Why can't we win it now? or at least look to win it in 2014. This is the man we have, a far better man than we have had previously and we have to trust him and his decsions. WHY? Because we aint got no choice, we aint done so bad so far, what with overcomming -10 points and having one of the strongest squads this season, we are one of the richest clubs in the League based on our owner, w are improving our training facilities, our back room staff. And yet others don't like it beacause he is taking away this, or changing that. As my boss said, you don't know what he has saved by taking away the smaller thing. Example, the season ticket fiasco regarding paying in installments. who would rather this disappeared, with other alternatives available, or all tickets going up by 15 %. Is this true? Who knows. I'm just saying lets try giving him a chance rather than being so critical.

 

And stop mind reading.

[david in sweden]

Interesting .

Highlights the difference between the quick fix and long-term planning. Many sites are overloaded with fans who want to sack the manager after 3 defeats or even because we don't win by enough goals and the footbal is boring. Many jobs (outside of football) are filled by people who have no real interest in their work, don't follow instructions to 100%, take long time-outs during the working hours and only look forward to the end of the workday.

The mindset of football players and managers should be exactly opposite. But on the pitch everyone is visible and can be easily criticised by all.

NC has a long term plan, and it might take some time for everyone to see it. So... .we don't have a Board..so what! ... as a one-man show NC has the

background, vision and control over the purse strings. I don't need to know what everyone has for breakfast, and don't get uptight because we haven't bought anyone since July 1st. I'd prefer to get a good signing on the 31st than try and placate some of the restless souls on this site.

99% of us don't have NC's skill or acumen in business anyway.

[Dave Benson Phillips]

Did you know that Cortese was approached about buying Saints before they went into Admin?

I often wonder whether that was Crouch or Lowe that instigated that.

 

He was the investment manager for a Dubai consortium who tasked him with finding an English football club, I don't know if it was the 'Marc Jackson' consortium that Cortese was representing... my hunch is that it was.

[Saint Fan CaM]

He was the investment manager for a Dubai consortium who tasked him with finding an English football club, I don't know if it was the 'Marc Jackson' consortium that Cortese was representing... my hunch is that it was.

 

Haha. NC working with Marc Jackson. Good laugh that Stu and the day's only just begun!

[Dave Benson Phillips]

Haha. NC working with Marc Jackson. Good laugh that Stu and the day's only just begun!

 

He was an investment banker for a Dubai consortium.

 

Marc Jackson was in contact with a Dubai consortium at the same time.

 

Like I said, i can't confirm that the two are linked, but Marc Jackson, like him or loathe him, was in contact with a genuine consortium in Dubai, it might never have come off, and he might not come across well on the forums... also... Andy Oldknow was involved in the takeover of the club by Cortese... I wonder why this was and who introduced him?

[dubai_phil]

He was the investment manager for a Dubai consortium who tasked him with finding an English football club, I don't know if it was the 'Marc Jackson' consortium that Cortese was representing... my hunch is that it was.

 

Wrong.

 

NC never had any involvement in Dubai or consortiums or investment management.

 

Recheck Wiki it was all on there

[dubai_phil]

He was an investment banker for a Dubai consortium.

 

Marc Jackson was in contact with a Dubai consortium at the same time.

 

Like I said, i can't confirm that the two are linked, but Marc Jackson, like him or loathe him, was in contact with a genuine consortium in Dubai, it might never have come off, and he might not come across well on the forums... also... Andy Oldknow was involved in the takeover of the club by Cortese... I wonder why this was and who introduced him?

 

Marc St David & St lee had a conference call with a supposed consortium in Dubai that they reported on the old forum Tricon I believe it was called. That was a long time before even the alleged interest from that Blackburn supporting ex-pat bloke and a long long time ago.

 

FWIW like many on here at the time I did some digging and discovered that no Trade Licence existed for any such named company in Dubai.

 

The contact was just a broker trying to get information to tout around locally the guys got conned.

 

A similar event occurred closer to our Admin announcement - the broker in that case indicated that he was fronting up for Sultan Al Fahim (of course it wasn't worded like that - more like Very Successful Businessman from Abu Dhabi who has an excellent track record in investing in Premier League Football Clubs for Middle East Sovereign Wealth Funds - which narrowed it down a bit)

[Dave Benson Phillips]

Wrong.

 

NC never had any involvement in Dubai or consortiums or investment management.

 

Recheck Wiki it was all on there

 

OK, well I heard that he had previously been involved in a consortium/investment company that were trying to purchase a football club, but for whatever reason it didn't go through. And it was based in Dubai.

 

Not that it is relevent now, I guess. But the person who told me about it is about as good a source as it gets.

[dubai_phil]

OK, well I heard that he had previously been involved in a consortium/investment company that were trying to purchase a football club, but for whatever reason it didn't go through. And it was based in Dubai.

 

Not that it is relevent now, I guess. But the person who told me about it is about as good a source as it gets.

 

And it was NOT based in Dubai.

 

HTH

 

[Dave Benson Phillips]

And it was NOT based in Dubai.

 

HTH

 

 

OK, I believe you... but he was involved in a consortium that previously tried to buy Saints? I know that for definate. I could be getting where they were from mixed up with Marcs lot to be fair.

[St Landrew]

I gave up reading after 2 lines - can someone summarise the post in 50 words or less?

 

No. You make the effort.

[Honk Kong Phooey]

My opinion is that Cortese as a banker has little or no experience of dealing directly with customers en masse. Unfortunately it appears he hasn't made use of others who do have such experience.

 

May be this is where the Director Of Football will come in. He has said there will be one in place for this season - or has that changed. Any one have any news?

[Dave Benson Phillips]

May be this is where the Director Of Football will come in. He has said there will be one in place for this season - or has that changed. Any one have any news?

 

I think we can safely say that there is absolutely no chance of Cortese employing a DoF... it seems he wants to be the centre piece of everything.

[Saint Fan CaM]

I think we can safely say that there is absolutely no chance of Cortese employing a DoF... it seems he wants to be the centre piece of everything.

 

Strange thing that - I could have sworn NC was CEO, meaning that regardless of whether a DoF was in place or not, he would still be 'the centre piece of everything' as you say as the DoF would report to him. Guess thats what being a CEO means.... ;)

[Dave Benson Phillips]

Strange thing that - I could have sworn NC was CEO, meaning that regardless of whether a DoF was in place or not, he would still be 'the centre piece of everything' as you say as the DoF would report to him. Guess thats what being a CEO means.... ;)

 

He doesn't use the senior management staff he had now, which is clear to see by the completely amateur ticketing structure that a man of David Lukers skill and experience wouldn't allow to be signed off.

[trousers]

It took a while but I've worked it out.

 

Anyone remember the film 'Brewster's Millions'? The one where the wealthy owner of a company gives Richard Prior's character x million dollars which he must spend every cent of in a fixed time to get his reward?

 

Well, Leibherr has set a similar challenge to Cortese, albeit in reverse.

 

He sat Cortese down on day one and said, "Nicola. If you can save me a million pounds in operating costs by this time next year you can have £10m for transfers next August. The one catch is that you're not allowed to tell ANYONE why you are making these cuts and savings for a whole year. You will inevitably find yourself annoying many fans, and local newspapers, as they won't have a clue what you are doing as only you will know the pot of gold at the end of your challenge. Good luck Nicola, good luck."

 

© script copyright Trousers 2010

Edited 5 July, 2010 by trousers

[Thedelldays]

I remember when we were going to be called SaintsFC UK......with david beckahm running the academy and getting £25m budget to get out of the CCC and at least £50m per season then on....

 

it was going to happen on a friday too

[sadoldgit]

Strange thing that - I could have sworn NC was CEO, meaning that regardless of whether a DoF was in place or not, he would still be 'the centre piece of everything' as you say as the DoF would report to him. Guess thats what being a CEO means.... ;)

 

There is a difference though between someone else doing the job and reporting to you and doing both jobs yourself.

[corsacar saint]

I remember-Brewsters Millions very well,they showed it on our coach on the way back from the Wycombe Wanderers away game in February. As a matter of fact it was far more exciting than the game.[Probably why I remember it so well].

[Charlie Wayman]

Oh dear! I don't have time to read more than an Executive Summary old boy!

 

We had to watch the Johnstone's Paint Trophy dry last year, is this to be the year of waiting for concrete to set?

 

Please bring the shutter down on this thread, I knew more about Snr Corleone before.