Southampton FC - a club built on foundations of sand

[Prinz_Eugen]

Martin Samuel writes a very good piece in today's Mail on Southampton's current uncertainties and the possible future with an owner who may not share her late father's love of football.

For all the hypocritical bluster aimed at Pompey by some of their fans, the reality is that their race for glory is just as much based on potentially difficult monies as ours was. Just because they're in a good position now, there is no certainty that their world will not implode in the next couple of seasons.
They may not enjoy the number of years in the top flight that we did.

Their big advantage over us was that Marcus Liebherr did actually have his own money and a benign disposition towards them.

[Brockley_Jack]

Get over yourself Jubs. You're boring.

[pompeygun]

I think he has a point.

[cunninglinguist]

'The executive chairman, or chief executive? Well, ostensibly, hea??s in charge; except he never picks the team and his business plan relies entirely on the patronage of a higher authority.'


a??The manager is basically a department head like the others,a?? he told a Leaders in Football conference. With a stunning lack of self-awareness, he forgot that this was all he was, too. He might have been the head of the department heads but he was an employee just the same. It wasna??t his money, he merely acted as if it was.

Those two quotes, from the article, stand out most for me.
The jumped up dwarf has now departed but the money is still there and it will only take another lucky general (easy to draw a comparison between NC and Redknapp, here) and providing the money supply doesn't dry up then they may carry on as they are.
I think the scummers have to worry more about Liebherrs plans for the future than the disappearance of Corteze.

Given our experience, if I were them, I would be

[proclaimer]

Interesting? I found it a more than a bit disrespectful. Sure the Manager picks the team and yes the owner puts the money in but the owner also wants see their business plan executed and for that they need a CEO. They can say what they like about power etc but Markus put Nicola there to deliver their 5 year plan and it's been executed and delivered. If we now need to move on, then fair enough, but I'm not about to start running Nicola down now that he has gone.

[lovedeanblue]

[quote="cunninglinguist"]'The executive chairman, or chief executive? Well, ostensibly, hea??s in charge; except he never picks the team and his business plan relies entirely on the patronage of a higher authority.'


a??The manager is basically a department head like the others,a?? he told a Leaders in Football conference. With a stunning lack of self-awareness, he forgot that this was all he was, too. He might have been the head of the department heads but he was an employee just the same. It wasna??t his money, he merely acted as if it was.

Those two quotes, from the article, stand out most for me.
The jumped up dwarf has now departed but the money is still there and it will only take another lucky general (easy to draw a comparison between NC and Redknapp, here) and providing the money supply doesn't dry up then they may carry on as they are.
I think the scummers have to worry more about Liebherrs plans for the future than the disappearance of Cortez

[OhWell]

Looking more like foundations of gold as they may be about to become the wealthiest club in the Premier League.

[proclaimer]

Looking more like foundations of gold as they may be about to become the wealthiest club in the Premier League.

There goes the return to our deckchairs!

[midhurstblue]

The wheels are falling off at St.Fairies. At least we won a major trophy during our time in the top tier, Scum have as usual won nothing and are on the way down again.

[nonsuchmike]

Well, I for one wish Southampton FC every success as they gradually move down the table. They deserve playing in the Premiership if only for the squillions pumped into the club over time.

The big question is: will they actually WIN anything while they are there - even if it is the Anglo - Asian Cup that we did?