Yesterday, Southampton’s chairman Nicola Cortese resigned. Depending on how long you have been trailing this story, he is either being tempted to take up the chef exec job at struggling Milan, or has found working under owner Katharine Liebharr too much. It’s also possible that Ms Liebharr has insisted on a return on her family’s two rounds of investment in the club and forced his hand.
Five years ago Cortese was a working in Switzerland as a banker and acted on behalf of the now-deceased and father of Katharine, Markus Liebharr. They successfully put a deal together to buy Southampton FC and rescue the club from administration (liquidation is not inevitable, some clubs survive). Cortese had no previous experience in the football industry.
Southampton are a small club who seem cursed to produce incredibly talented youth players, only to see extraordinarily bad executives spurn their bounty. I remember writing about their ‘blood on the boardroom carpet’ six years ago.
A year ago this Saturday, Cortese sacked Nigel Atkins, the manager who won them two successive promotions and put them in a comfortable position on the FA Premier League. Cortese was to 2013 what Vincent Tan is to 2014, the butt of a thousand jokes, but none of us were reading the script.
Cortese’ next move was to appoint Argentine Mauricio Pochettino, the 40-year-old recently sacked manager of Espanyol. Southampton haven’t looked back, despite the words “Hooiveld” and “Fox” regularly featuring on team sheets.
Pochettino is now one of the hottest properties in football but he’s not the story, his former boss is. In appointing a young, low-profile, manager, Cortese tackled square-on the biggest problem in football – the vast risk invested on the shoulders of one man, the manager. A football manager is expected to be a master of tactics, a motivational dressing room speaker, a media communications expert, a scout and pretty much guru of everything.
None of them are good at all of this. As a consequence, clubs invest vast proportions of turnover on player wages and transfers, with haphazard diligence being carried out. The man ultimately responsible for approving this spend is more likely to be a shouty media darling, spending an average of 2.5 years at the club, than someone who has experience of long-term strategic planning.
Cortese figured that what he really needed in a manager was a tactical head, someone who could run a technical team, consulting with scouts, coaches, nutritionists and fitness trainers, and come up with what American football teams call a playbook. You want to play at Old Trafford? This is what worked when small teams visited the Bernabeu last season. Playing teams’ taller/faster/luckier with referees than you? You’ve got to see how these guys are leveling the playing field in Uruguay.
Football clubs need their manager to be Master of Tactics, and if they can concentrate him on this, they’re doing better than 90% of clubs in the game. They don’t need someone ‘connected’ to agents in value markets, this attribute can be recruited easily. They don’t need a good media talker. Despite being able to speak English, Pochettino gives press conferences through an interpreter. Yet the fans love him!
Clubs don’t need someone to play to the galleries, or someone with the ability to induce affinity from his public, most of the time results will keep (most) fans onside.
With his technically-proficient and happy-to-be-working-anywhere manager installed, Cortese had all operations working as he wanted, including the inordinately expensive recruitment process. Sacking a good and successful manager in Atkins was the most ballsy and innovative thing to happen in English football in decades, but he was operating in an industry which is the biggest financial basket case in sport. So, despite his clarity of vision, the Southampton gig was never going to last.
Today’s newspapers predict a mass exodus as Pochettino and Southampton’s gifted players head for the exit, good news for Joos and Danny, perhaps, but you feel for the beleaguered fans, who were shown a glimpse of how things should be done, but for years will wonder, what could have been?
The rest of us can ponder the opportunity available due to entrenched inefficiencies in football.
“You should always have pressure on you”, Stefan Johansen, 15 January 2014. I like this guy already.
Last shout for North America based Celtic fans for the Feile, which starts in Philidelphia tomorrow. Full details of the events can be found here. it’s bound to be a great weekend so get along if you can.
[calameo code=000390171ece27dd9e54e lang=en page=98 hidelinks=1 width=100% height=500]
942 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- ...
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- ...
- 25
- »
FF…reality bites
_____________________
The Very Real Possibility of Insolvency
I feel it’s time we took stock here and looked at what is probably going to happen soon.
Wallace does not look to be able to implement the required cuts. Whether he is incapable or being stifled by the board, it’s impossible to know. Eventually we will just run out of money, there is no alternative.
With that in mind, Dave King probably comes in. And admin means majority of unnecessary contracts would be cancelled.
____________________________________________
Re: The Very Real Possibility of Insolvency
Tonight is the clearest indication that we are heading towards it again, as I said on another thread, much quicker than most of us believed
_________________________________
Are we still talking bout Sugar Daddy coming over the horizon in our hour of need
___________________________
Maybe that is why DK has been reluctant to buy shares. He maybe expects to be doing business with administrators.
___________________________
The game’s a bogey and Admin 2 is a certainty – anyone who doubts this hasn’t been paying attention.
The club is haemmoraging money at an alarming rate, the IPO money has all but gone and the players have been asked to take a wage cut – sound familiar ?
What an absolute shambles we truly are.
The Rangers support is now at breaking point and many won’t be renewing under the present regime – I’m one of them.
I don’t have the answers but one thing I do know is that I won’t be taken for a mug any longer.
I’m out.
_____________________________
“Where do you get that figure for Lee Wallace, DL” ……..DL NO HAPPY….hahahahahahaha
Decca = sevco (this predictive text cost me an iPad 2 smashed against a wall in fustration) I’m ok this time tho
67heaven
Gies peace. ..
The orc implosion doesn’t take away the inadequate PLC
As the land deals smokescreen starts to clear so appears the truth ……. They are skint members …….. Off to Morrisons to the freezer aisle!,,
“I’ve been a manager, obviously not the level of Rangers football club”
Someone please tell him football manager 2014 don’t constitute football management
blantyretim is praying for the knox family
19:14 on 16 January, 2014
A Celtic website is it…thought I stumbled across The Benny Hill appreciation society…:)
Where were we…oh that’s right CQN talking of all things Celtic and Celtic men.
Race Night, 28th February in CSA, London Road in aid of St. John Doyle’s Son, Sean who was still born. Tickets £5, Horses and Jockeys £2 each. The money is to raise money to buy Lodges by Loch Lomond, Sean’s Trust is for Families who have suffered similar heartache.
If you can it would be great if some of you could come along. lennybhoycfc@gmail.com
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
Welcome to our new TWO MILLION POUND signing Norway’s Player of the Year! Oh happy days. A well run club despite being in a bitter wee country with buttons from TV, up the Celts!!!!!!!
Guy handing DL his a#@se on a plate,the bus driver in the dugoot ha
Maybe it’s just that my physio has me in severe pain but the orc death part 2 doesn’t interest me.
They died and we failed to kick on..
But lets worry about them..
Old firm fans the lot of ye..
can i have raspberry on that champions league ice cream
19:00 on 16 January, 2014
Dallied in talking sense shocker, I need to lesson to this sage more often.
RealisationCSC
Take that back
DohCSC
TET
Would not post it on here as it contains a pic of a wife of a well known poster from this blog
SSB next years Xmas song, “feed the wife’s” Deerie meeeeeeee hahaha
*Christmas Tree back out of loft*
They are going to get away with it again !!!!!
Haha…..can’t get onto rm…they must have sussed me….hahahahahahaha
But they haven’t sussed their bored yet….hahahahahahaha
Corkcelt.
goodyin
the exiled tim-free the dam 5
19:31 on 16 January, 2014
Naw thur no……hahahahahaha
blantyretim is praying for the Knox family
19:28 on 16 January, 2014
Maybe it’s just that my physio has me in severe pain but the orc death part 2 doesn’t interest me.
They died and we failed to kick on..
But lets worry about them..
Old firm fans the lot of ye..
Old firm fan, no but I am a Fold firm fan tho.
Blantyre….
Just a bit of a laugh :-D
There, sorted
Chris Graham @ChrisGraham76 29m
Stockbridge out. Irvine out. Open proper discussions with King about investment and get him on the board now. Why is none of it happening?
The club is haemmoraging money at an alarming rate, the IPO money has all but gone and the players have been asked to take a wage cut – sound familiar ?
What an absolute shambles we truly are.
Ohhhhh, and the Beatles have split up, stupid Huns.
Open proper discussions with King about investment and get him on the board now. Why is none of it happening?
———————
Only a convicted criminal can save them. Oh dear.
SSB a sevconion called Ian sais stick yer season tickets, AND he thinks that the fans where conned, nawwwwwwwwwww surely not,
MurdochauldandHay
Ok, but as there are quite a few, maybe it would be easier if they knew which site it was on.
HH
SSB…Do you not think that the supporters are between the devil and the deep blue sea Naww, there at the bottom of the sea.
SSB……at the AGM Wallace sounded really honest / genuine……hello…..yeez sayd Whyte was an honest broker, and Green…….silly, silly, silly bhuns……
Ally McCoist on Graham Wallace “He’s been the best we’ve had in my time here.”
Won’t someone think of poor Mr Custard!
he should not have to go through all this again!
hope he has a new e-mail addy!
Blantyretim, bah humbug.
Fill your boots.
Graham Wallace is just the night watchie for the spives, plain and simple as that.
If I was a R****** supporter I would be begging NEGAN ON AND On AND ON to give advice on how to cope.
SSB a benevolent Dictator ? Ffs, hahahahahahaha
Was that not what minty was ?
P67.
I blame my physio not my psycho therapist
Seen on TSFM:)))
————
Where is Neil Patey when we need an expert analysis of things down Govan way? I mean, we haven’t had a laugh for, mmm, 10 minutes or so
Whooof…last caller on SSB has put the cat in amongst the pigeons…….slated the Board with some (wait for it) credibility…..