Southampton, meltdown beginning?

[drunkenmaster]

Southampton situation is pretty nuts, if you read up on Cortese most people there regard him as the reason everything has gone right. Similar to the Barca situation in which they improved by making tiny improvements everywhere, from training facilities to diet, physio, rest, everything, tiny improvements adding up to fundamental improvement.

It's why the manager has said there seems to be little reason to be there without him, though that is overstating it as without Cortese it's the same as most other clubs.

Also seems a bit odd to me that Cortese decides to resign just because the owner wants to sell. She's a widow afaik, her husband bought the club, made the right appointment but died suddenly. Expecting the widow to take on the same project and jumping ship the second she decides to sell is a little over the top. Surely someone who wants to buy the club will be told by everyone involved how good a job he's doing and a new owner would want the same level of improvement at the club?

Wouldn't you stay, see who buys, then leave if the new owner is a **** and wants to do things entirely differently.

His resignation could just be a threat, it all seems pretty daft to me though. If he's enjoying his job, why not stay and see what happens continuing to do the job you enjoy.

 

[drunkenmaster]

Odd situation. Cortese doesn't want interference and the owner wants to sell/have a bigger say.

Cortese has been great for us but it's not his money...local media report the owner has accepted his resignation.

Major fear is MP going now.

I presume it's not so much interference as security, things like the training ground, where by a lot of special work went into different level pitches, terraces and different types of grass(artificial and different real grasses) to match other premier league pitches so they can train on all surfaces. This is long term thinking not day to day stuff, the problem I assume comes from if a new owner comes in they often have their own plans and their own guy.

But he should really be working with the owner to sell the current successfully improving package of the club + himself + the manager to a new owner. He's drastically increased the value of the club and a new owner should want that to continue. Of course she may accept an offer that is higher from an owner that has no intention of keeping him on.

But surely... stay on till that happens? Then again maybe like Dein did at Arsenal, he can leave and join up with a new guy to bid for the club, set himself up that way.

 

[drunkenmaster]

Was any announcement made regarding the ownership of the club after Markus Liebherr died? I know the club was passed on to his daughter but does she have any genuine involvement?

Not as yet, but it seems like she wants to sell, she's also taking over his job but I assume that is because he's handed in his resignation. Considering she wants to sell I would also assume she doesn't actually want the job or day to day running of the club.

It's a bit weird, I posted in the banter thread. He seems to come across like he wants some kind of assurance his long term plans will be stuck to and selling the club throws that in to question. However if I was a billionaire and bought a football club, I wouldn't expect my kids to instantly want the same job or stress of dealing with it if I died. It's unfair to expect her to keep the club if she doesn't want to deal with it. Unlike most businesses, football club owners usually expect a loss, which can sometimes be pretty catastrophic. Roman has pumped probably close to 2 billion into Chelsea by now, if his kids weren't in to football I wouldn't expect them to want to continue to lose that money and would look to sell.

But I just can't get past, why doesn't he wait and see who the new guys want in charge, he's maybe the main reason the club has increased in value so much, so a new owner shouldn't automatically want rid of him. Though a new guy might well want his own guy in charge, or may want to do it himself. But why not wait and find out, he may be doing a Dein/Quinn thing, quit to find an investor and put together a package to buy Southampton.

In terms of the manager leaving, what you say when your word may influence decisions and what you do after that guy is gone.

He's a manager, Cortese may be the best guy to work under, but if he's gone that doesn't mean he'll find a better situation or job elsewhere. I can't imagine the manager just walking out the day after Cortese leaves to be honest, makes very little sense.

Like players who say they are only at clubs because of current manager, manager gets fired, and the next day they are fully backing the new guy....

Who knows, very weird situation though.

 

[drunkenmaster]

From what I Can tell despite all the "Pochettino says he will leave if Cortese does" type headlines. Didn't he just say that Cortese is the reason he joined, the reason he wants to be there and can't see a reason to be there if Cortese isn't.

Okay, but what is the reason for him to be at random club X, if Cortese isn't at that club either, so why would he throw away a job he has, and apparently enjoys, for a job that also doesn't have Cortese. He was a manager before working under Cortese and every indication he continues to want to be a manager.

He likes Cortese, recognised what a great job he was doing and as such supported him when his words may have swayed the owners opinion on what they were doing. It didn't/hasn't, doesn't mean he can't work under someone else or has a reason to go. Cortese was the reason to come to Southampton is what I get from what the manager has said, that doesn't mean him leaving is a reason for the manager to also go.

In terms of copying cycling with small changes adding up to bigger improvements, possibly, but this isn't a new concept in sport. Barca have been doing it, or more to the point had been doing it for years. One of the reasons people suspected Messi started to suffer injury problems was a change in the way his physio was working and how the club organised things under different management.

Lots of talk about a players exodus but again, I can't really see why. Same group of players, playing the same way currently. I also can't see a reason for the owner to sell half the team, when selling the club you are selling the profitability potential. Destroying the team and leaving them ripe for relegation in the near future isn't going to help with the price she can get for the club.

I still think it's all a little odd and hope Cortese ends up behind another bid to buy the club, because if he just got uppity and left because someone didn't want to own a football club, it's frankly petty. I can fully understand someone not wanting to take on their fathers pet project of a football club. She may be nuts, or hate her father and want to ruin the club, who knows. The whole situation comes across as very strange till we maybe see what happens in the next few months, maybe couple years, who buys the club and what happens.

Ultimately it's surely better for the club long term to be owned by someone who wants to own a premiership club, than by someone who doesn't want to own a football team?

 

[drunkenmaster]

I doubt in Jan, but possibly in the summer depen?ding on how far / if SFC fall in the interim

Hopefully it doesnt affect the squad at all, but it would be pretty incredible if it didnt

Not really sure why, Cortese's changes won't disappear when he's gone, they won't go and throw the spare mattresses in the nearest dump because he left. He didn't take coaching sessions nor chose the team. Future improvements, things he had planned may not happen, some will, the training ground improvements won't be thrown away, again they add value to the club. Unless the owner is a bat **** crazy woman intent on getting revenge on an evil fathers favourite possession or something, she wants to sell and maintaining the value of the club gets her more money.

As I said with the manager, Cortese may be the reason he joined, but that doesn't make it a reason for him to leave, as no other managerial job will involved Cortese(currently). I can see short term changes being, lack of investment where Cortese might see it as securing/improving the club and an owner looking to sell merely see's it as money that won't directly add value to the club and thus reduces the effective profit of selling as the club is now.

Where that might hurt them worst is contract renewals and potentially losing players who want a new contract but she's unwilling to give them a improved contract.

As it stands Cortese leaves the club in a FAR stronger state thanks to many changes he has made, the direction he took with the club, the manager/players he helped bring in. Not much if anything gets worse with him leaving, the only thing they lose is potential future improvements he had planned.

 

[drunkenmaster]

Strong rumours of a takeover by the Chinese now, along with the return of Cortese.

http://www.givemesport.com/421224-southampton-set-to-become-premier-leagues-richest-club?autoplay=on

Southampton to become another billionaire's plaything?

Aside from the fact they are currently owned by a billionaire, and that a billionaires plaything makes it insanely different to a millionaire's plaything which most clubs are in reality?