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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Aulheid
been offline for a week
Resurrection 12… where ur wi?
Auldheid….
I bow to your superior knowledge,sir.
It’s all academic anyway…..they won’t qualify by winning a Cup.
More chance of Craig Whyte having a statue erected next to John Greig’s in Edmiston Drive.
Neustadt-Braw, I didn’t know they were heading up oor way again to bother our goats next week, I might pop along and watch that wi the loons. Somebody’s gonnay pump them so it might as well be the mighty Forfar Athletic F.C.
In the word’s of old Pink himself “Hey, leave our goats alone”.
Btw, I’ve got about 200 tonnes from the old station park pitch in ma front garden, it braw, green, and braw. I bought the history too:-)
dodgyangusgardeners.com
Sandman
01:03 on
17 January, 2014
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… :))
===============
Here is one I prepared earlier on TSFM and kept a copy. It is possible SFA might make case within the rules but highly unlikely UEFA would OK. They would not OK Derry’s return when they qualified before three years wee up.
In an earlier post you raised the possibility of the SFA bricking it if RIFC were to win the SC or be runners up to Scottish title winners.
They would indeed as would UEFA, as it would require UEFA to make a decision on whether Article 12 should be put aside and on the SFA to ask UEFA, because of the process that Article 15 sets in train, to make that decision.
Art 12 in simplistic terms requires a club to have been members of a national association for three years before it can be granted a licence to play in a UEFA competition. It is the failure to meet this requirement that stops RIFCs being able to qualify on sporting merit grounds until 3 years after 3 August 2012 (or thereabouts). It is there to stop a club shedding its debt and carrying on as before and to protect the integrity of UEFA competition.
However Article 15 opens the door to the unwanted dilemma. Should sporting merit take precedence over sporting integrity?
The Art 15 rule is obviously designed to allow a club not in the top tier and so not subject to UEFA licensing standards, who have won a national trophy, to be granted a UEFA licence for that year.
It does not envisage the sort of situation that Scottish football has risked creating where a club is removed from the top tier because it was liquidated, but allowed to return at a lower tier as if it were not.
I hope RIFC are runners up in the SC to the title winners this season.
I also hope any future RIFC budgeting estimate assumptions are checked with UEFA and SFA beforehand lest UEFA say “three years wait mate – Art 12 rules OK”
Art 15
1 If a club qualifies for a UEFA club competition on sporting merit but has not undergone any licensing process at all or has undergone a licensing process which is lesser/not equivalent to the one applicable for top division clubs, because it belongs to a division other than the top division, the UEFA member association of the club concerned may – on behalf of such a club – request an extraordinary application of the club licensing system in accordance with Annex IV.
2 Based on such an extraordinary application, UEFA may grant special permission to the club to enter the corresponding UEFA club competition subject to the relevant UEFA club competition regulations. Such an extraordinary application applies only to the specific club and for the season in question.
Annex IV says
ANNEX IV: Extraordinary application of the club licensing system
1. The UEFA administration defines the necessary deadlines and the minimum criteria for the extraordinary application of the club licensing system as specified in Article 15(1) and communicates them to the UEFA member associations at the latest by 31 August of the year preceding the licence season.
2. UEFA member associations must notify the UEFA administration of such extraordinary application requests in writing and stating the name of the club concerned by the deadline communicated by the UEFA administration.
3. The UEFA member associations are responsible for submitting the criteria to the club concerned for the assessment for the extraordinary procedure at national level. They must also take immediate action with the club concerned to prepare for the extraordinary procedure.
4. The club concerned must provide the necessary documentary proof to the licensor that will assess the club against the fixed minimum standards and forward the following documentation in one of the UEFA official languages to the UEFA administration by the deadline communicated by the latter:
a) a written request to apply for special permission to enter the corresponding UEFA club competition;
b) a recommendation by the licensor based on its assessment (including the dates and names of the persons having assessed the club);
c) all documentary evidence provided by the club and the licensor as requested by the UEFA administration;
d) any other documents requested by the UEFA administration during the extraordinary procedure.
5. The UEFA administration bases its decision on the documentation received and grants special permission to enter the UEFA club competitions if all the set criteria are fulfilled and if the club ultimately qualifies on sporting merit. The decision will be communicated to the UEFA member association, which has to forward it to the club concerned.
6. If such a club is eliminated on sporting merit during this extraordinary procedure, the UEFA member association concerned has to notify the UEFA administration immediately, and this procedure is immediately terminated, without further decision. Such a terminated procedure cannot be restarted at a later stage.
7. Appeals can be lodged against decisions made by the UEFA administration in writing before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in accordance with the relevant provisions laid down in the UEFA Statutes.
tommybhoy1967 at 01:13
Aye, I’ll take that.
Hail Hail
ryecatcher
01:21 on
17 January, 2014
Its a bit of a running joke because the msm guys don’t get it and then pass the wrong reason on and I then go “ffs no again” and CQN laffs at what they know I’m thinking.
Its a smiley.
Margaret McGill
01:21 on
17 January, 2014
Aulheid
been offline for a week
Resurrection 12… where ur wi?
————————-
A list of questions to discuss with Celtic has been drawn up but need a huddle before going back to them.
Oh and Morrissey got his e mail back which will help :)
Dram time and off to watch episode 1 of Spartacus, War of the Damned.
The war of the damned unfolding in govan is even more intriguing
Celtic team for Saturday:
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Celtic
Auldheid
01:33 on 17 January, 2014
Huddle or cuddle lets proceed!
Hamiltontim is praying for Oscar
23:47 on
16 January, 2014
Auldheid
Is the CST meeting just a turn up at the door event or do you require tickets?
=================
Just turn up. No tickets needed.
Aye the auld nostalgia’s no whit it used tae be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Rdh57VSlHI
ACGR……love it! bet your young lad loves cutting the lawn….braw
Neustadt
Here’s a braw song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNonxHP1iM8
Teuchter ár lá
02:09 on
17 January, 2014
Neustadt
Here’s a braw song
………………………….
aye that is a song with many lyrics ,but of one sentiment ………….thankyou
The strangled boy lies on a prison bier
who asked for prayer but not for pity’s tear;
tortured – reviled! Yet victor to the death.
his spirit lives , spite the poor stifled breath;
And all he endured is recorded there
Much is promised to even one brief prayer.
off to my scratcher………..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCBYpv8MmtY&feature=youtube_gdata_player
goodnight one and all…..been a braw day ……and even more awaits us ……….awfy braw ….hail hail
The comment about newco and old co splitting the Jelavic money is at the end of this article.
And no,I have no idea why it should be so.
a ceiler gonof rust says liquidate sevco now
00:15 on 17 January, 2014
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.
:-)
~~~~~~~~~~__~~~~~~~~~~
For some,spouting bollix to this high level of expertise can only be achieved through experience and years of practice.
To a genuine MOONHOWLER,it comes naturally.
In fact,talking anything BUT utter bollix is the challenge there! But we get away with it more overnight,thankfully.
Another quiet one tonight,then?
Ooooooops!
Jelavic article.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2540763/Rangers-squad-rejects-15-pay-troubled-Scottish-giants-look-cut-costs.html
Slow nigh-Shift…too much jelly and ice-cream…:)
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
Good Morning Timland.
Heading out to my hun infested work for a overtime shift,
time and a half and lots of miserable huns…..aint life great.
Craigie bhoy has always owned the bricks and Ticketus has always had first dibs on Craigie bhoy IMO……..the fact that some are surprised is the surprising fact.
The two units were split by Craigie bhoy……..one for real estate ownership and one for football activities. Its the football club thats going under (again)………….ownership remains the same as always.
The accounts are always late, missing or fudged because they are always trying to hide were the satadium rental money is going…………..to Craigie bhoy and Ticketus???
Craigie bhoy remains a player until Ticketus bankrupt him which they won’t/can’t if he keeps servicing his bill to Ticketus………..
Follow the money!
Good morning CQN, it will be interesting to see how the share price fares today over ole Govan way now that it is out in the open about their financial difficulties and the fact that the players have refused a pay cut.
I just can’t figure out where the Easdale’s figure in this, surely astute business men cannot be duped can they ;-) ?
Must be some kind of world record that 2 different clubs playing out of the same stadium go bust in such a short period of time. Perhaps the Big Hoose is haunted by the malevolent spirit of the club that died there first. It’ll soon be the Big Haunted Hoose.
It must stay open
Morning
What’s funny is their argument that it is the same club and different company. Same club means an administration event will be a 25 pt deduction. Different club is only 10pts. Wait it must be the company that suffers the points deduction. What league do they play in?
First stage is denial…..
HH
CRC
I guess it’s one of those days…
Jelly and ice-cream for breakfast !
:o)
LACHLAN CAMERON, the chairman of Ayr United, believes the Scottish Football Association’s disciplinary panel chose to give Michael Moffat a six-game ban for gambling as a reaction to the relatively lenient sanction handed down to Ian Black last year.
The Ayr striker was found guilty of betting on six matches involving his own club from August 2012 to August 2013, and on a further 150 matches between February 2012 and September 2013. For a number of charges including three times betting on his then-club not to win, Black was given a 10-game ban but with seven of the games suspended, the Rangers midfielder served only a three-game suspension.
Under SFA guidelines players are not allowed to gamble on matches at all beyond authorised and registered football pools. Moffat, who is the leading goalscorer in SPFL League 1 this season, will start his six-game suspension immediately, although the player has five days to appeal the decision.
Cameron, who attended the hearing at Hampden yesterday afternoon, felt that his player had been treated “grossly unfairly”.
“Michael was never accused of betting against his own team,” he said. “Ian Black was and he was found guilty of that. I am very disappointed in the result and it affects us greatly.
“Gambling is a problem in football that the SFA is trying to deal with and I agree with that. But I think given the situation he has been treated very unfairly. Grossly unfairly. I think, taking the Ian Black case into consideration, if you compare the two what’s the more serious offence? Just because the original panel got Ian Black off lightly, they’re now laying the hammer down on Michael Moffat.”
Cameron felt the backlash that greeted Black’s punishment, as well as an increased awareness regarding the problems of gambling in football, meant Moffat was always likely to get a severe penalty.
“I read the paper yesterday and saw the Keep It Clean campaign [relating to match-fixing],” he said. “I thought, even though that has nothing to do with and had no bearing on this case, we were going to get screwed. Are we going to appeal? I would like to say ‘no’ but I also didn’t think he would be treated this poorly and the judgment would be this grossly unfair.
“I’m not accusing them [the SFA] of playing hardball because of that. This is out in the public domain now and they are really starting to make a push. When it first started with Ian Black, that wasn’t the case.”
There is a further disciplinary issue in League 1 still to be resolved, with Vincent Lunny, the SFA compliance officer, awaiting a written response from John Gemmell before deciding whether to issue the Stenhousemuir striker with a notice of complaint following a Twitter rant against Ally McCoist.
The SFA lawyer has written to Gemmell for an explanation of his social media outburst earlier this month and is expecting a reply in the coming days as he weighs up action against the 29-year-old.
Gemmell had called McCoist a “p****” in a tweet after learning of the Rangers manager’s complaints over his being asked to play four games in just 11 days – three of them consecutively away from home. McCoist argued that their rearranged trip to face Stenhousemuir on Sunday January 5, should not have taken place just three days after a victory in Airdrie, which itself had taken place three days on from an away win against Dunfermline Athletic.
Gemmell took umbrage in a foul-mouthed riposte, adding: “Just fed up listening to guys like McCoist moaning when they’ve got the best job in the world.”
Lunny – who took action, leading to a censure, against Hibernian striker Rowan Vine after he made “offensive comments on Twitter suggesting the use of violence” against Neil Lennon, the Celtic manager – will consider Gemmell’s reply before deciding whether to issue a notice of complaint.
McCoist embraced the striker at the end of Rangers’ win at Ochilview and later joked: “I get called worse in my own house.”
celticrollercoaster supports the dambhoys
06:41 on 17 January, 2014
I made the same point last night. I think it is 15 and 10 points for a first offence.
It will be like the punishment given out to the Ayr Utd. Player Vs Ian Black.
Time for the Govan Stadium to be closed for good!!
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
Oops, 15 and NOT 10 points.
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
Thinking this morning of the old James Bond classics:
Live and Let Die and…
You only Live Twice…
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
Three in a row, something Sevco will never attain.
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
Just cannae believe that the Huns have allowed their Newco to go the way of the old one
Utter madness….the term ..stupid Hun. …seems very well founded
Coming back better and stronger …was their mantra …….aaahhhhaaaaahhhhaaa
Fool me once shame on you ….fool me twice shame on me
It might be a damp and drizzly start to the day in ole EK but ir’s still deserving of a Big Happy Friday wish from ole Jobo!
Lastt day working in Glasgow for me before a sideways move back to my home town from next week. Same hours though so no material change to the daily weather reports.
jobo baldie
07:08 on 17 January, 2014
Will tell Mrs LB to watch out for you and introduce herself.
Will also say to big Andy, he is there a lot.
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
Don’t understand the daily mail story. . Newco struck a deal with bdo that any money due to oldco is split between newco and their creditors. … !!!!!
I am hearing big Sammi to sign on again…
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
TBJ
You’ll remember that Sevco laid claim to the old co players and threatened action against those who left …Naismith, McGregor et al
BDO obviously cut a deal to avoid any unnecessary court actions …….another example of BDOs ineffective performance in recovering creditors money
PF
Sevcos claim for fees for ex players was never gonna fly.
Creditors of oldco must be blazing
Did the Austrians ever get all the money owed to them
More balderdash from Keech Jackshun.
The man who has raised getting it wrong to a fine art :)))))))
HH
Gerry
RANGERS chief executive Graham Wallace last night admitted he was behind a plan to slash player wages at Ibrox – but insisted the shock move is not a sign of more financial chaos to come.
Wallace spoke exclusively to Record Sport last night after it emerged Ally McCoist’s first-team squad had booted out his proposal to reduce salaries by 15 per cent across the board.
He confirmed the idea was mooted during talks with manager McCoist and captain Lee McCulloch – who then arranged a team meeting yesterday to discuss the cost-cutting plan.
McCulloch and his team-mates rejected Wallace’s suggestion which means the CEO will now have to find another way of reducing McCoist’s wage bill – and that could lead to some of the big earners being sold off during this month’s transfer window.
But while the club appears to be in a desperate cash situation just 12 months after raising £22million in an IPO (initial public offering of shares), Wallace was bullish in his insistence last night that Rangers are not about to be consumed by another insolvency trauma.
He said: “There is no threat of Administration II. Categorically.
“This simply sits alongside everything else that we are doing here right now – reviewing the business to put it on a sound footing for the future.”
Exclusive Q&A with GRaham Wallace on pay cut shock
Wallace also insisted some of his fellow directors will be forced to feel the pinch after overseeing a year of financial turmoil at the highest level.
He said: “What I would say is that I am looking at the entire business.
“I’m looking at everything and as we go through it we will make some change, absolutely.
“We will build a business structurally and financially that equips us for future success. I have no doubt about that.”
Wallace stressed that his working relationship with manager McCoist has not been fractured by current cost-cutting plans.
He said: “The relationship I have with the manager is good. We both share a similar objective.
“We want to have a winning team, playing good football. The question is how best to do that within the financial envelope that we are operating.”
Rangers the Turd (very royal)