Cortese off?

[Nineteen Canteen]

Jesus what a carry on. Murray wants to know why NC hasn't got round to meeting him? Well probably that he has a 1000 more important things to do other that massaging the ego of a tabloid hack.

 

As for NC leaving - I hope not. The club is in such a different place than it was six months ago and a good part of this is down to him.

 

Is it solely down to Mr Cortese or the financial backing of Mr Liebherr? Do you think for example that Mr Cortese could have saved the club this time last year without the financial backing and saved the plc and its creditors and shareholders from their losses? I have worked for a few chairmen who could also have performed well in Mr Cortese's role without any debt to service or post takeover hostilities to overcome. If he moved on it would be a loss but not an irreplacable one unless he persuaded Mr Liebherr to do likewise.

[hypochondriac]

I agree that Cortese should talk to the Echo if the Echo are prepared to try and resolve things. The current Echo reporting is a separate issue though. Writing childish articles and having sideways digs at the club is not on IMO. How exactly is that going to help matters? It's only going to make things worse and the Echo will lose out in the long term.

[hypochondriac]

Is it solely down to Mr Cortese or the financial backing of Mr Liebherr? Do you think for example that Mr Cortese could have saved the club this time last year without the financial backing and saved the plc and its creditors and shareholders from their losses? I have worked for a few chairmen who could also have performed well in Mr Cortese's role without any debt to service or post takeover hostilities to overcome. If he moved on it would be a loss but not an irreplacable one unless he persuaded Mr Liebherr to do likewise.

 

I think that is the issue and could be an problem. Having said that I found Cortese to be personally very receptive to what I had to say and I think he dealt with issues really well at the last fans forum. I would like him to stay. Maybe at the next fans forum if this is still going on then someone could ask Cortese about it.

Edited 27 January, 2010 by hypochondriac

[Saint Fan CaM]

Dealing in the facts, it will be a sad day when NC decides he's had enough - he has started a fine project to re-build SFC and I for one truly hope he sees it through to the end. I fail to see how the Echo can claim to 'support' the club, yet cannot even censor itself such that stories that do nothing other than stir up tittle-tattle do not see print. It shows a remarkable contradiction, a lack of self-restraint and serves only to alienate the readership it's supposedly trying to attract.

[CB Saint]

Is it solely down to Mr Cortese or the financial backing of Mr Liebherr? Do you think for example that Mr Cortese could have saved the club this time last year without the financial backing and saved the plc and its creditors and shareholders from their losses? I have worked for a few chairmen who could also have performed well in Mr Cortese's role without any debt to service or post takeover hostilities to overcome. If he moved on it would be a loss but not an irreplacable one unless he persuaded Mr Liebherr to do likewise.

 

It is not solely down to anyone, but NC has had a large part in the resurrection of the club. He was the one who persuaded ML to put his hand in his pocket. He has also proved very capable (as far as I can tell) in running the club from day to day. I accept that there are many people out their who would be equally capable, but remember what our recent track record is for appointting chaimen. Lowe (twice), Wilde and Crouch. Now we have a good un we should be thankful and the club should do everything it can to hang onto him.

 

As to whether he could have prevented administration....impossible to say as it would have largely depended upon when he got the job. If he were appointed at the time that Lowe got a second bite, then no - we were finished by then. Otherwise who knows.

[Weston Saint]

Importantly, Saints (Cortese) has entered into a commercial agreement with Radio Solent giving them local media rights.

 

Clearly Cortese has issues with Murray alone and as he is the Editor that affects relationships with the whole paper. I suspect if Murray was removed relationships would return. That said Murray has attempted to talk to Cortese but his recent appointment was cancelled on the day without explanation.

 

Murray continuing to use his paper to fuel this dispute is an error of judgment in my opinion. Cortese is not using the same tactics. He is keeping his counsel

[Wes Tender]

Is it solely down to Mr Cortese or the financial backing of Mr Liebherr? Do you think for example that Mr Cortese could have saved the club this time last year without the financial backing and saved the plc and its creditors and shareholders from their losses? I have worked for a few chairmen who could also have performed well in Mr Cortese's role without any debt to service or post takeover hostilities to overcome. If he moved on it would be a loss but not an irreplacable one unless he persuaded Mr Liebherr to do likewise.

 

An interesting question. I believe that Cortese could have had a decent stab at saving us from administration had he come in instead of Lowe and the Quisling right at the start of last season.

 

The main reason for this belief is that I don't think for one second that he would have dismissed Pearson for one. He certainly wouldn't have had the bizarre notion that he ought to have appointed a couple of Dutch non-entities inexperienced in the British game at this level and play the youth team as the first team.

 

The other reason why he might have made a better job of it then Lowe and the Quisling, is that he would have had a far better chance of gaining some unity amongst the fan base. It was generally accepted that the level of attendance required to balance the books was about 17000. I believe firmly that the reason that we did not achieve that attendance was down to the unpopularity of Lowe and Wilde. Cortese runs a tight ship financially now without splashing the cash too wildly and I believe that his prowess as a top banker would have helped us keep an even keel. Also, his background might also have been very useful in assuring Barclays that the club was in good hands.

 

If he moved on, I have no doubt that in all probability Liebherr would sell up, unless he gets the fan bug badly, like all of us. We had better hope that it doesn't happen before we are back in the Premiership.

[Nineteen Canteen]

Importantly, Saints (Cortese) has entered into a commercial agreement with Radio Solent giving them local media rights.

 

Clearly Cortese has issues with Murray alone and as he is the Editor that affects relationships with the whole paper. I suspect if Murray was removed relationships would return. That said Murray has attempted to talk to Cortese but his recent appointment was cancelled on the day without explanation.

 

Murray continuing to use his paper to fuel this dispute is an error of judgment in my opinion. Cortese is not using the same tactics. He is keeping his counsel

 

IMO its not the use of his paper that is an error of judgement but more to do with the style/tone of the articles where Murray maybe getting it wrong. On the other hand it is a major error of judgement IMO by Cortese to try and control what is published in the local paper as alleged and it is in all our interests that anyone in the media have a freedom to report and comment on what is in the public domain.

 

Giving Solent local media rights basically means they have full access to matchday commentaries and such like and reporting to us what they are told by the club. What Solent are unlikely to do IMO is to challenge or investigate things like the decision making at the club, the pros and con's of transfer activity, and so on.

 

There is a principal at stake here and regardless of Murray's style at the moment IMO he occupies the higher ground and Cortese's silence is an error of judgement on his part IMO. Mr Cortese has served us very well, better than we could have dreamed of in fact but that does not mean he will get it right 100% of the time and maybe this is one of those rare occasions looking at it from the outside in.

[Nineteen Canteen]

An interesting question. I believe that Cortese could have had a decent stab at saving us from administration had he come in instead of Lowe and the Quisling right at the start of last season.

 

The main reason for this belief is that I don't think for one second that he would have dismissed Pearson for one. He certainly wouldn't have had the bizarre notion that he ought to have appointed a couple of Dutch non-entities inexperienced in the British game at this level and play the youth team as the first team.

 

The other reason why he might have made a better job of it then Lowe and the Quisling, is that he would have had a far better chance of gaining some unity amongst the fan base. It was generally accepted that the level of attendance required to balance the books was about 17000. I believe firmly that the reason that we did not achieve that attendance was down to the unpopularity of Lowe and Wilde. Cortese runs a tight ship financially now without splashing the cash too wildly and I believe that his prowess as a top banker would have helped us keep an even keel. Also, his background might also have been very useful in assuring Barclays that the club was in good hands.

 

If he moved on, I have no doubt that in all probability Liebherr would sell up, unless he gets the fan bug badly, like all of us. We had better hope that it doesn't happen before we are back in the Premiership.

 

That's fair enough Wes but the point I was trying to make was is Mr Cortese as indispensible as some our making out and if he moved on I am sure you'll agree that Mr Liebherr would be able to recruit an equally impressive and demanding CEO. I didn't really want or expect an answer to my question.

 

It appears from his statement today that without Mr Cortese , Mr Liebherr would have never pulled us from the mire and I got the impression that should Mr Cortese leave in the future then Mr Liebherr would not want to hang around either. That does make Mr Cortese indispensible and in the absence of a statement from our actual owner I think a genuine cause for concern.

 

We love a quote don't we so here's an apt one from W.Somerset Maugham:

 

'It is bad enough to know the past; it would be intolerable to know the future'

 

Perhaps we should all stop analysing and fretting and enjoy the ride for as long as it lasts.

[mdearlove]

Seems it was AC Milan - http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/jan/27/notts-county-hmrc-debt

Half way down the page