Cortese breaks silence

[Saint_clark]

I hope ladysaint asked him about the "Ball Signing" room in the new training ground building...

 

 

 

It's a misprint. It's the "ball singing" room, where players who are being disciplined have to sing two whole slow choruses of Oh When The Saints in perfect tune whilst having their balls hit with conkers.

[Brussels Saint]

I actually think it's worth noting that both dune and hypo have been fairly positive about NC today. Typically I suspect most of us have just dismissed previous comments as being purely agenda anti NC verbal. Fair play however gents I'll tend to take your comments in future as genuine concerns as opposed to just knee jerk positions. Currently we are in danger of having some form of collective positive agreement about our club based on today's events.

[hypochondriac]

I actually think it's worth noting that both dune and hypo have been fairly positive about NC today. Typically I suspect most of us have just dismissed previous comments as being purely agenda anti NC verbal. Fair play however gents I'll tend to take your comments in future as genuine concerns as opposed to just knee jerk positions. Currently we are in danger of having some form of collective positive agreement about our club based on today's events.

 

Thanks. My concerns have always been genuine but I have no agenda against Cortese. Some on here like to say I have an agenda because they can't debate properly and so use it so they can dismiss my posts easier. Anyway enough of that, I look forward to the fans forum in the new year where hopefully the few remaining questions I have will be answered and we can move forward together with Cortese getting 100 percent support!

[saintscottofthenortham]

This is so funny. Cortese has given answers to everything all the absolute f*****g *****rs on here talk absolute f*****g sh*t about and yet, STILL, they desperately try to put a negative swing on it all. Some very sad twisted people. Lots of chips on shoulders me thinks.

 

For the rest of us, it's just more clarification that we are indeed in very safe hands. Cortese has my full backing and I fully trust him to get us where HE aims for us to be.

[hypochondriac]

This is so funny. Cortese has given answers to everything all the absolute f*****g *****rs on here talk absolute f*****g sh*t about and yet, STILL, they desperately try to put a negative swing on it all. Some very sad twisted people. Lots of chips on shoulders me thinks.

 

For the rest of us, it's just more clarification that we are indeed in very safe hands. Cortese has my full backing and I fully trust him to get us where HE aims for us to be.

 

Arrrgh. Did you even read the thread? Again, there is I think 2 posters on here who posted a 'negative swing on it all.' In the scheme of things that is an extremely EXTREMELY small minority. Almost nobody has seen this as anything other than a positive. What you are seeing has been created in your own head.

[Jimmy_D]

Good positive interview, I'm impressed

 

I'd love to see us eventually lift the Premier League Trophy... I'm starting to believe it might one day be possible...

 

re: his eyes moving left or right, that just means he's constructing or recalling sounds in his head, which isn't all that surprising considering English isn't his first language...

[Spudders]

No feedback yet from the two posters going to dinner with NC tonight. Can't still be passing the port.

 

Got home a couple of hours ago and spent the last couple of hours chatting to my housemate about all the different things discussed tonight. Due to the press interview today, there's obviously a lot of overlap where the same questions were asked and answered by those who attended the meal with Nicola, as has been talked about in the interview. There were other points that came up that weren't in the interview, many of which I think would be fine to post.

 

I'll type some bits and bobs up and add them to the forum, but for me the most important thing after spending the evening listening to Nicola, is that I am 100% confidant our club is (and will continue to be) in great hands.

[hypochondriac]

Cheers Spudgun. Any chance of outlining the main themes of what was said? I've stayed up pretty much to wait to see if anything was posted!

[Spudders]

Just typing some stuff up now, will do it as quick as i can

[hypochondriac]

Just typing some stuff up now, will do it as quick as i can

 

Much appreciated

[Spudders]

Shall I stick comments on this thread, or do you think it warrents it's own thread?

[hypochondriac]

Own thread mate.

[Matthew Le God]

Will deserve its own thread.

 

I wish I had an invite to one of these dinners at St Mary's.

[hypochondriac]

Just hurry up about it cos I need sleep

[Spudders]

done for starters. will add more points in the morning

[saintedwill]

Great interview. Makes me extra proud to be a Saints fan. Anyone notice the only poor piece of body language from Nicola is when he rubs his nose (touching your face is a sign you are being economical with the truth) when he says he doesnt know where the rumours come from. He knows perfectly well and there are plenty of clues in the interview.

 

but neither he, or the bbc want to get landed with a defamation suit!

[St Marco]

Very good interview.

 

What gets me about this place is people are so quick to bash people based on a rumour. Which pretty much every time turns out to be wrong.

 

I trust NC as others have mentioned. Reason why is because he seems honest and on the level. His year and a bit here has been so much better then what we have had since droppng out the PL, we went to Wembley and won our first trophy for 30+ years. Would people seriously prefer the whole Lowe/Crouch/Wilde era again?

When people make up a rumour or talk bad about him have you noticed they do so from the shadows? Nobody wants to come out in public and say he is doing a bad job or he has done something wrong. Instead they stay hidden in secrecy, throwing little bits of info to various places such as The Echo and on here and some people buy into it. If these people had some balls they would come out and say who they are and tell it as it is. Reason they won't do that is because chances are they know they will be in court pretty quick over it. So some people question why do you trust him. Its not so much a case of trusting him, more so of not trusting the people who talk about him from the shadows and spread rumours. As others have mentioned, they seem like past staff who moved on and feel sour about it. Or people who under the old regimes would get something for nothing out of the club. I am glad these people are gone from the club. We looklike we are being run properly for a change, and some people just can't seem to handle that.

[dubai_phil]

Impressed.

He has been a bit bonkers at times but he is our nutter and he wants success for Saints.

 

There was even a hint in there that he accepts he was wrong re the media, that isn't the cartoon dictator character that some have tried to create.

 

The bottom line for me is that he made a promise to his friend before he died, I would be astonished if he didn't carry that through.

He may break a few eggs getting us there but I look forward to seeing Nicola realise the dream that Markus had.

 

Which is the polite but less interesting version of what Mr Saints so clearly stated!

 

+1

 

Leadership is a strange science. Too woolly and things drift along, too dictatorial and you get Rupert. Single minded pursuit of an objective with good people around you giving their expertise into the plan? Could work.

 

Seeing the interview, and also Spudgun's (ALMOST) excellent post dinner report (he forgot to tell us what they actually ate!) convinces me that we are heading in the right direction.

 

If we needed one thing cleared up that spoke a thousand words it was the Rickie performance issue. Pre-Season was wrong. (I put my hand up here as being one who felt we didn't do enough in pre-season post WGS, I have been shown to be wrong, we did more and it had damaged one of our key players)

 

For those who worry about disgruntled employees, go read some articles on "Implementing Change Management within an Organisation". NC has implemented MANY changes. Human beings in the main don't like change, especially in their work areas.

 

But the critical thing is that the OLD ways had taken us to League One. So one helluva lot of things HAD to change.

 

Now the ONLY question I see that hasn't been asked is ...

 

What do we need to do to Rickie to get him back to his proper level of fitness instead of being broken?

[torsaint]

What are we going to do about the Sun? An apology from them at least.

[thefunkygibbons]

Nice long interview

 

Can someone edit the first post to place the link in it

[georgeweahscousin]

I think the majority of Saints fans are turning in favour of NC now. That is a good thing.

 

Onwards and Upwards. Together.

[dronskisaint]

I don't think anyone can really tell if they are lying without being an incredible behavioural expert or knowing a lot more about the person.

 

I also personally don't think lie detector machines work.

 

Mine does...but she has been married to me for 30 years

[farawaysaint]

What are we going to do about the Sun? An apology from them at least.

 

Yeah right, and maybe if you wish really hard that may happen and Christmas will be brought to Somalia this year.

[sandwichsaint]

All good positive stuff and combined with the dinner party comments it seems to show that NC is in it for the long haul and that he is deadly serious about the type of club he wants to build - a super-club if you will. It is good that the club is in such committed hands, we appear to have money, he appears to back NA and we will spend in Jan if the right players are available, or in the summer if they aren't. All good stuff and it should be a very interesting ride.

 

Whether he really can combine the investment required (in players/wages/infrastructure) with the available income streams (trust fund(?)/broadcasting/commercial/ticket sales) and deliver crowds of 45k remains to be seen .... I guess he thinks that if anyone can then he can!

[Thorpe-le-Saint]

Here is the link to the video:

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/southampton/9270086.stm

[Bourno]

danroan Dan Roan

#saintsfc fans - full-length Nicola Cortese BBC interview now up @ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/southampton/9270086.stm

[notnowcato]

Horse droppings, bloody amateur body language reader.

[Liquidshokk]

I don't understand what you are saying here.

 

I meant communicating with the press, fans etc wasnt top of Cortese priorities because there were so many things going on in the background, i.e Markus Passing, issues with Pardew and putting so many big changes in place. So people we're left to speculate about things, start rumours and generally put Cortese down as ignorant and a non communicator... I think he admits that communication should have been better and I expect to hear a lot more from the club hereon..

[Spudders]

+1

 

Leadership is a strange science. Too woolly and things drift along, too dictatorial and you get Rupert. Single minded pursuit of an objective with good people around you giving their expertise into the plan? Could work.

 

Seeing the interview, and also Spudgun's (ALMOST) excellent post dinner report (he forgot to tell us what they actually ate!) convinces me that we are heading in the right direction.

 

If we needed one thing cleared up that spoke a thousand words it was the Rickie performance issue. Pre-Season was wrong. (I put my hand up here as being one who felt we didn't do enough in pre-season post WGS, I have been shown to be wrong, we did more and it had damaged one of our key players)

 

For those who worry about disgruntled employees, go read some articles on "Implementing Change Management within an Organisation". NC has implemented MANY changes. Human beings in the main don't like change, especially in their work areas.

 

But the critical thing is that the OLD ways had taken us to League One. So one helluva lot of things HAD to change.

 

Now the ONLY question I see that hasn't been asked is ...

 

What do we need to do to Rickie to get him back to his proper level of fitness instead of being broken?

 

Very good post Phil. Good point too about my lack of food detail, I will go and add some to my thread now!

 

What are we going to do about the Sun? An apology from them at least.

 

Nicola confirmed that the Sun actually offered to print an apology, but he said not to worry about it (of course they now owe him a favour ). Again though, it just goes to show that despite all the suggested problems with the media, actually there is a good relationship in place between the club and the general media.

[hypochondriac]

I meant communicating with the press, fans etc wasnt top of Cortese priorities because there were so many things going on in the background, i.e Markus Passing, issues with Pardew and putting so many big changes in place. So people we're left to speculate about things, start rumours and generally put Cortese down as ignorant and a non communicator... I think he admits that communication should have been better and I expect to hear a lot more from the club hereon..

 

Fair comment.

[SAR Boy Saint]

I've just thoroughly enjoyed the last 24 mins listening to NC. I find him genuine in his enthusiasm for the club to succeed and I feel it's fantastic that he has a Plan B should the Liebherr's decide enough is enough (not that I think they do!), and not just walk away.

 

I honestly think we have a bright future ahead of us, with a few hiccups along the way (well, we are Southampton, it's the law!!), so lets enjoy ourselves and look forward with more than hopes and dreams with fingers crossed. It will happen, we are on our way back!!

[Danbert]

To me he came across as a paranoid control freak who was flattered to be linked to Silvio Berlusconi.

[Liquidshokk]

To me he came across as a paranoid control freak who was flattered to be linked to Silvio Berlusconi.

 

Probably the qualities we need in a chairman to make sure we are a success..... and wouldnt you be flattered?

[hypochondriac]

One thing I did want to add and I felt was slightly wrong of Cortese was to claim that there was nothing left academy wise. What is Chamberlain and some of the others? Quite a few of them have been at the club for ages.

[Liquidshokk]

One thing I did want to add and I felt was slightly wrong of Cortese was to claim that there was nothing left academy wise. What is Chamberlain and some of the others? Quite a few of them have been at the club for ages.

 

Fair point. Although I would think he actually meant there was nothing left of the academy setup when they arrived due to finance probs.

[cadiz saint]

To you maybe.

[richardc]

if you look on the bbc website it says

Saints not for sale says Cortese butt agrees South China FC deal - i was very intrigued and excited until i clicked on it and realised it was a separate thread about Nicky Butt - Eyes are starting to play havoc on me

[Ian the Red]

Just listened to the interview, excellent, just f$%^ing excellent!! I have always been in the pro NC camp and I trust that now everyone can see he is geniune bloke who truely wants to see Saints back in the top flight and not simply hanging in there but challenging for the top of the league. Very refreshing to have someone running our club who has the business skills to make SFC a hugely successful club and who is extremely positive and forward thinking individual.

 

COYR

[dubai_phil]

Probably the qualities we need in a chairman to make sure we are a success..... and wouldnt you be flattered?

 

Let's face it, ain't that many (of us older chaps) on here who wouldn't want to be linked to Berlusconi - if it got us invites to his parties....

 

 

 

 

This doesn't mean I condone his actions, just it would be a far easier way of being surrounded by fit young fillies than running around a Golf Course Stalking oops sorry, Marshalling the Dubai Ladies Golf all week...

[Clifford Nelson]

Let's remember some of the football chairmen around the country, such as Bates, Ashley, Mitchell, Ridsdale, etc. Listen to that interview, and, OK I give you that he isn't the smoothest public speaker, doesn't chose his words as well as he could, appears a bit paranoid at times (but that doesn't mean they're not after him), and isn't great at spinning stuff, but I wouldn't swap him for any of the seriously dodgy characters with their warped judgements that litters the game.

[Matthew Le God]

Let's remember some of the football chairmen around the country, such as Bates, Ashley, Mitchell, Ridsdale, etc. Listen to that interview, and, OK I give you that he isn't the smoothest public speaker, doesn't chose his words as well as he could, appears a bit paranoid at times (but that doesn't mean they're not after him), and isn't great at spinning stuff, but I wouldn't swap him for any of the seriously dodgy characters with their warped judgements that litters the game.

 

Remember he isn't doing interviews in his first language.

[Clifford Nelson]

Indeed, that's what I was trying to capture.

[The Majestic Channon]

Here is the link to the video:

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/southampton/9270086.stm

 

Thanks, 14-01 mins is my favourite part.

[Saint Billy]

Good to hear an in depth interview with NC, it was long overdue, but clears up many issues and gives some peace of mind.

[Frank's cousin]

Just a couple of points... try and keep it brief :-)

 

1. On those that are still 'questioning' - no issue with asking questions and despite my faith in NC, I can see that there are severalm questions that in an ideal world we would have answers to, and we could all be 100% assured. The trouble is in many cases we are talking about private or confindential or even commercially sensitive information. Pwersonnaly I can live with 'not knowing' and support NC. Its not blind faith, because I too have the questions, but I do understand that soem things can not be answered in public.

 

2. On the 'dark forces' - I think I have a pretty good idea who this is. The thing is it does not surprise me that they would not have 'got on' with NC - no more jobs for the old boys and 90K a year for hosting a few lunches... the club is looking for value and for those that add a real conribution. The issue I have say with some the old guard is that if they really loved the club and had its best interest at heart, ADD something positive for free and prove the value you add and I can bet once NC see the value, Something can be worked out - but the days of freebies have gone. And whilst we are doing well, are making good progress etc, can anyone really tell me that those spreading shiete in the press really love the club? If you love the club, you dont try and undermine the work that is being done just because you are ****ed off with the CEO... because that just shows selfishness in the extreme

 

3. Good interview - ' Dune , WTF are you on with the looking to the left sheite' its feckin obvious that this was a planned interview and given its over 30 mins in length pre edit, that he was looking at a cue card FFS. He planned what he wanted tpo get acrooss and made sure about it which is as it should be... feck me do you see conspiracy in everything?.... jeez

[qwertySFC]

Excellent interview by NC - some interesting insight to some of the underlying stirring that occurs surrounding the club. It comes across to me that several noses have been put out of place during the takeover - personally I don't believe that the club requires this old fashioned approach of allowing previous people associated with the club to promote hospitality - and this I believe has rubbed a few people up the wrong way because they felt they were "owed" .

 

Well as a supporter for 40 years I'm owed as well - but I'll take that like every other decent Saints fan and my continuous feeling of being "owed" by putting money into the club , they can pay me back in providing a quality set up , a decent forward thinking approach to youth development, a great stadium to sit in, a stable long term commitment and the excitement of watching us return to the premiership, along with honesty - a degree of openness , no board room squabbles , no debt , money to spend and most of all - HOPE, after years of utter chaos ...I wonder how many clubs in this country would "just love" to be in our position - maybe not in this division but in our Chairman .

[Joesaint]

Thanks to NC I have never been happier with the club, I am well chuffed.

[Frank's cousin]

... for me the most interesting was his take on parachute payments - a veiled dig at our friends down the road? ;-) I can see Cortese rallying a few chairman to the FL to look at this again, because there, this level of parachute encourages clubs to enter into contracts they cannot really afford and gamble, as well as the obvious competitive advantage...

[dune]

I actually think it's worth noting that both dune and hypo have been fairly positive about NC today.

 

What are you on about. Aside from the ticket tax (which i may have mentioned) and not sacking Pardew earlier i've got no complaints so far.

[revolution saint]

Good interview by Cortese and a lot of encouraging stuff. It's nice to aspire to be Barcelona - I don't think we can be but nothing wrong with trying. The only question marks are over finance really.

 

To what extent was Markus bank rolling us? We've spent pretty big for a div 1 club and even though we're debt free and a big club for this division you'd have to wonder how long we could carry on if the financial burden is entirely the club's. There was talk of Markus financing the training ground developments is this still the case given that that costs have tripled? The same would apply to transfers - maybe not so much in div 1 but if we do get promoted where is the financial muscle coming from to be better than the other champ clubs (some with parachutte payments)? Of course I'm not saying money is everything but it helps and the U18 and development squad are probably a couple of years away from taking up the slack if we fail to invest in quality players.

 

I realise that maybe Cortese can't answer those questions but given our justifiable anger at Pompey getting away with spending beyond their means then I don't think it's wrong to ask the question, "where is the money coming from?"

 

I don't want anyone thinking that I'm having a go at Cortese at all - just that on the points above we still have unanswered questions - if this all goes tits up and we're lumbered with more debt we can't afford then we'd be kicking oursleves for not at least considering asking questions.