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.
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I also read somewhere that the CG board game them money up front for stadium repairs, and it seems they haven’t done said repairs, now that could get interesting.
HH
Italiabhoy
Thanks for putting up the link. Love that show.
BTW That Neil Patey is a walloper. I’m sure he said the first Rangers wouldn’t get liquidated. Just a hurting hun.
Has the sandazza saga been sorted , was he not claiming damages
Also at one time David Murray was going to buy AyrUnited his fave
team , who approached him or how did that conversation start about
taking over Rangers (was Ogilvie involved back then) Anybody ??
ACGR
The Emerald Isle number is no more, the probs I had in Barca, the card is blocked apparently,and they won’t unblock it unless I go to one of their shops in Ireland.
I have another moby number which I will send you, a Spanish one this time.
Pics will follow, need to get another battery for my camera, that will be sorted this weekend.
HH
TET, BobM is quite correct in his “novice” comment. As a relative newcomer to this site it would take me years to spout as much pish on the nightshift as himself and those other esteemed gentlepeeps he mentions.
One can but try:_)
Ur thi huns deid yet / again / yet? Whaaaaaahhhhh. Keep me some jelly.
:-)
bcw
So looking forward to seeing the bhoys on saturday. Didn’t make the n’erdy game, so it has been so long since I have seen ma bhoys. Whoohoo. 4-0 to the good ghuys. :))
Weefra HH supporting Wee Oscar.
I think Patey is a Tim.
Just when you think the ugly hordes might be waking up he tucks them back in and kisses them on the forehead.
Cheers Patey lets hope they swallow your garbage yet again.
You were so right last time!
TET, so where did my text go? Is it simply floating around between wires and the end of time?
Anyway, the gist of the message was I’m over in spanya 3 til 9 Feb, lets sclaff some baw.
Also, can you sort me out with some pepper spray (four cans please) as I’ll have no time to get them in myself. I’ll square you up on the baw chasing day.
Fanx
Who,s the Patel guy . Dear o dear they have an ever ending supply of defenders of the faith .
Hmmmm….
Don’t think Sevco are due a penny from Jelavic deal to Hull.
Rangers sold him.
Surely 300 k to the creditors pot?
Maybe the Face Painter will get enough to buy herself a packet of fags after the spoils are shared?
TET
I wouldn’t assume that Ibrox will be sold for use as a stadium. As I said previously, fantasy land but people are arriving there that have zero interest in football and don’t even pretend that they do.
Particularly teams where annual profit is not a given.
WeefratheTim, I concur. I didn’t manage to get to the ner’day game because of ……achem achem, drams.
I also didn’t see the two performances in Turkey so I’m champing at the bit for a trip to paradise and a good Celtic day out.
HH Bruv
ACGR
Any day suits me apart from sat or sun.
Pepper spray, never had the need for to buy some, but I will ask someone the morra.
HH
…………
weeminger
I remember a year or so back and all the talk of Tesco’s and the like, maybe, who knows, all good fun though >}
HH
acgr
We will be happy together then, hahaha. Yes as you are, so looking forward to seeing the bhoys, as I think, will so many others. I think there will be a massive crowd. ARMAGEDDON? Shove it up the sfa’s ass
Weefra HH supporting Wee Oscar.
Weeminger, you brighten my day even more. Do these new “investors” have any interest in pig farming, chemical production, armaments or religion?
Any one of the four will be fine as long as the cesspit of Ibrox is razed to the ground and something worthwhile is put in it’s place.
Night Night all, poultry to attend to in the morning. Take care all and have a great night especially our friends from down under. Night.
Weefra HH supporting Wee Oscar.
Weeminger….
Seriously,even the spivs realise that Ibrox has no functional or viable use other than a football stadium.
It will always be so…..the gates might be padlocked for a season while ownership of it is determined now that our hero Craigy has reappeared.
Sale and leaseback is a certainty mate….this will hamstring thems for cash for at least 10 years.Mid table SPFL mediocrity will be the best the Orcs can hope for in this period.
THE EXILED TIM-Free the Dam 5
22:03 on 16 January, 2014
WeefratheTim
Never been in the huff with you >}
I will wager the next survival plan is well under way, the sfa will be working overtime as we speak.
HH
=====================
Since the Scottish cup draw pairing the two best teams in the country against one another and the Zombies getting a bye v Dunroamin’, I have believed the major plan to be facilitating a Zombie return to Europe by winning the Scottish Cup.
I see no other way to make more money for them than that; ergo I still believe they’re fixing up the draw the way they want it all to play out. The long game.
ryecatcher
00:44 on
17 January, 2014
You’re almost certainly right. I just think it’s slowly coming out of the realms of pure fantasy. Only by a tiny amount but it’s there.
Sandman
The only problem with that theory is that uefa will not let thems play in any of their comps.
That could throw a spanner in the works me thinks >}
HH
BacktothedrawingboardCSC
Sandman…
Can’t see it mate.
The best they can do is the Qualifying Rounds for Europa League,and that is with a huge assumption that the corrupt bassas in SFA would sanction them to play in Europe without 3 years accounts.
One would also assume their poor team would get knocked out in these Qualifying Rounds.They would actually lose money playing a couple of games in Europe in July.
Have we signed Willo Flood yet?
rye
Don’t mention 3 years accounts FFS, Auldheid will be on telling you that 3 years accounts have feck all to do with it >}
HH
Maggie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpHrJ7juuhA
Hearts entered administration with debts of around £30million last summer but fans’ group the Foundation of Hearts is hopeful of completing a rescue deal in the next few weeks.
Foundation of Hearts: “Well we amassed £95 in the whip round plus Billy Brown’s tenner. Not to worry we are from Scotland’s Das Kapital”
67Heaven … I am Neil Lennon, supporting WEE OSCAR..!!.. Ibrox belongs to the creditors
22:47 on 16 January, 2014
http://youtu.be/pWa0dZMHYeE
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
=======================
Seconded. Hahahahahahaha. Superb.
Teuchter ár lá
00:59 on 17 January, 2014
I know. Time that bhoy was signed!
TET, ryecatcher, I’m working on the assumption Reagan and his goons will have some kind of ‘dispensation’ planned for them to play in europe.
If they still exist, that is… :))
evening ACGR,,,,,looks like the wee fat sleekit one loved the lower divisions that much ,he wants to start all over again ! glad they have Forfar on Monday ….hahahaha theForfar is green and white loons will make sure he is kept scowling…..braw …..funny how the sevconians started oot in Bre/kin Bad….cos they love everything to do with Hedge funds etc …..braw ….
Sandman
Regan and the sfa can have all the plans up their erses they want, uefa will never sanction it, end of.
HH
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmGjiokfQ2A
40 seconds in – the Hun secret weapon to avoid liquidation 2: Her Majesty’s financial advisor…
I had a wee look at wikipedia earlier. All the seasons from 79 to 85. All close competitive leagues and then along came Murray to ruin Scottish football. League winners would normally lose about 6 games a season. It was funny looking at the huns though. 1984 85 they finished level with St Mirren and a point clear of Dundee finishing 4th. And in 79 80 they finished 5th, level on points with Dundee Utd and a point clear of Morton and Thistle. Great footballing times as I can remember and honest. (Apart from a dodgy decision we got against Aberdeen with a couple of minutes to go to win the game)
If I was having a wild punt on something soon….just based on a gut feeling…..Southampton manager Pochettino will be in charge at Old Trafford before the end of this season.
There you go Paul67…..might just be a mad hunch on my part but at least there is one post which is on topic to your latest musings.
P.s……I did predict that Brendan Rogers would manage Liverpool before there was even a vacancy.
Sandman,
The Huns are banned from Europe until they produce 3 years audited accounts.
Only 1 year has been provided. They are years away from a Euro tie.
Hopefully they will be long gone by then.
Wilo Flood’s wee brother
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuSrsGzhD9U&list=RDt7WehY5vTl4
ryecatcher
00:53 on
17 January, 2014
Sandman…
Can’t see it mate.
The best they can do is the Qualifying Rounds for Europa League,and that is with a huge assumption that the corrupt bassas in SFA would sanction them to play in Europe without 3 years accounts.
One would also assume their poor team would get knocked out in these Qualifying Rounds.They would actually lose money playing a couple of games in Europe in July.
===================
Tsk tsk. I could have overlooked your error but TET has highlighted it.
100 lines.
“They do not yet have 3 years MEMBERSHIP of the SFA. (See Article 12 of UEFA FFP.)”
They will have by Aug 2015. After that they need ONE years audited and ratified accounts for the previous year – YUP One year.
Oh and no ovedues payable to tax authorities before 31st December 2014 where determination(bill) is served before 31st March 2015.
tommybhoy1967
01:13 on
17 January, 2014
100 lines for you too. :)
Sleep well Timland
Take care and god bless
HH
KTF