Dinner with Nicola Cortese

[VectisSaint]

The whole idea of a 40000 seater stadium and Saints competeing for the league title appears to me very unlikely to me.

 

Teams like Liverpool Tottenham and Everton cannot do it so I doubt whether we can.

 

Just happy to have a team to watch and support and do not care about Cortese's Dream which no doubt other Chairman have too

40,000 is hardly unrealistic, is it? We already have 33k+ capacity. so another 7k? Liverpool & Everton have capacities in excess of 40k, and like Spuds are looking to increase their capacities, in Liverpool's case so that they can compete with Manure. Liverpool are averaging 42.7k this season even though they are crap. Spuds are averaging 35.7k, which is 98.5% of capacity. They could clearly bring in more punters if they had the capacity. Everton likewise. If we had 40k capacity it doesn't mean we would have to have 40k crowds for every home game, but it will allow us to get more plastics in for games against the likes of Manure, Arse and so on, when we know from the past that we can sell out the current ground for these games. 40k really isn't that much of a dream if we are competing in the PL, I might even suggest that to compete in the PL 40k might be somewhat conservative.

[John B]

40,000 is hardly unrealistic, is it? We already have 33k+ capacity. so another 7k? Liverpool & Everton have capacities in excess of 40k, and like Spuds are looking to increase their capacities, in Liverpool's case so that they can compete with Manure. Liverpool are averaging 42.7k this season even though they are crap. Spuds are averaging 35.7k, which is 98.5% of capacity. They could clearly bring in more punters if they had the capacity. Everton likewise. If we had 40k capacity it doesn't mean we would have to have 40k crowds for every home game, but it will allow us to get more plastics in for games against the likes of Manure, Arse and so on, when we know from the past that we can sell out the current ground for these games. 40k really isn't that much of a dream if we are competing in the PL, I might even suggest that to compete in the PL 40k might be somewhat conservative.

 

You can believe whatever you want but it is joke to think that Saints will be able to compete for the title in the next twenty years

[St Chalet]

Given that the views are not that of the OP and therefore one step further removed from a truly quotable source I have made a small edit to the orginal post in light of some of the members concerns and deleted all other posts that quoted the allegation.

 

http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?24915-Libel-Reminder

[aintforever]

You can believe whatever you want but it is joke to think that Saints will be able to compete for the title in the next twenty years

 

It totally depends on how much money they are willing to throw at it, I remember when people were debating wether Chelsea could break into the "big three", then there is Man City - a club renowned for being completely sh!t.

[Matthew Le God]

I suggest you just get a bit of realism in your life Cortese's just spinning a tale like politicians do.

 

 

It just not going to happen

 

You can believe whatever you want but it is joke to think that Saints will be able to compete for the title in the next twenty years

 

Spurs have a ground only 3,000 bigger than St Mary's, yet are competing in the Champions League. Money can make a big difference and Spurs have spent heavily. I'm sure Cortese is more than aware of the levels of finance it would take to compete at such a level. He would also be aware of whether or not he has those kinds of finances available to him before making such statements to fans at the dinner.

 

Of course without heavy investment it wouldn't happen. But with investment I don't see why you think it isn't possible. Nothing coming from the club at the moment suggests that they aren't investing heavily for the future. For example the circa £5m spent on staff transfers in the last 18 months despite being in the 3rd tier and the multi million pound plans for the training ground.

Edited 19 December, 2010 by Matthew Le God

[CHAPEL END CHARLIE]

You really do have to raise an eyebrow when the chairman publicly states he has alternate investors already lined up to replace the Liebherr's should their commitment to the club waiver - in his opinion. It seems to me this comes perilously close to an employee threatening to sack his employer !

 

History shows that a great many successful businessmen come pre-loaded with overinflated ego's, and to be perfectly frank our chairman is obviously no exception to that rule. No one will care of course if his deeds match his words and he can deliver the success this old club (& its long suffering fanbase) so desperately desires.

[docker-p]

I see that admin have edited the original thread and deleted a number of posts.

The original is still available on the UI site for the time being should anyone be interested.

[RedWillie]

and Blackburn Rovers in the 90's...

[NickG]

I see that admin have edited the original thread and deleted a number of posts.

The original is still available on the UI site for the time being should anyone be interested.

 

go on, I'll ask - what's changed?

[Spudders]

Just going back to the original post in this thread, it still hasn't been explained how his colleagues account is lifted word for word from Spudguns account of the meeting a few weeks ago.

 

My guess is that the email was the one sent out from Saintslist. One of the Saintslist admins contacted myself (and I assume ladysaint) to ask if we’d mind them passing on our accounts from the meeting with Nicola. Our comments were therefore taken, combined and distributed to all its members. Not sure if the original posters colleague has intentionally made out they were his own comments, or facts have just been lost in translation as they’ve been passed on, but there are some additional bits on the original post that I’ve not seen written down before.

 

 

 

You really do have to raise an eyebrow when the chairman publicly states he has alternate investors already lined up to replace the Liebherr's should their commitment to the club waiver - in his opinion. It seems to me this comes perilously close to an employee threatening to sack his employer !

 

History shows that a great many successful businessmen come pre-loaded with overinflated ego's, and to be perfectly frank our chairman is obviously no exception to that rule. No one will care of course if his deeds match his words and he can deliver the success this old club (& its long suffering fanbase) so desperately desires.

 

Everyone slated Nicola on here saying that it was Markus’s project and that they thought Nicola wouldn’t be so interested after Marks’s death. As far as I can see, all he has done is come out and prove that he wants to be here for himself. The fact he’s mentioned that he even has other people he knows of who would invest, just reassures me that he will be here for a long time. If there is one thing Nicola has not got, it’s an overinflated ego, he doesn’t want to be in the limelight at all. In fact at the meal I even asked him if he’d communicate with the fans a bit more often.

[Turkish]

40,000 is hardly unrealistic, is it? We already have 33k+ capacity. so another 7k? Liverpool & Everton have capacities in excess of 40k, and like Spuds are looking to increase their capacities, in Liverpool's case so that they can compete with Manure. Liverpool are averaging 42.7k this season even though they are crap. Spuds are averaging 35.7k, which is 98.5% of capacity. They could clearly bring in more punters if they had the capacity. Everton likewise. If we had 40k capacity it doesn't mean we would have to have 40k crowds for every home game, but it will allow us to get more plastics in for games against the likes of Manure, Arse and so on, when we know from the past that we can sell out the current ground for these games. 40k really isn't that much of a dream if we are competing in the PL, I might even suggest that to compete in the PL 40k might be somewhat conservative.

 

Comparing us to Liverpool is utter madness, Liverpool, however well or badly they are playing are one of the biggest clubs in the world, Saints are not.

[LostBoys]

Very interesting thanks for posting this

[doddisalegend]

40,000 is hardly unrealistic, is it? We already have 33k+ capacity. so another 7k? Liverpool & Everton have capacities in excess of 40k, and like Spuds are looking to increase their capacities, in Liverpool's case so that they can compete with Manure. Liverpool are averaging 42.7k this season even though they are crap. Spuds are averaging 35.7k, which is 98.5% of capacity. They could clearly bring in more punters if they had the capacity. Everton likewise. If we had 40k capacity it doesn't mean we would have to have 40k crowds for every home game, but it will allow us to get more plastics in for games against the likes of Manure, Arse and so on, when we know from the past that we can sell out the current ground for these games. 40k really isn't that much of a dream if we are competing in the PL, I might even suggest that to compete in the PL 40k might be somewhat conservative.

 

Wierdly I can see crowd numbers going down as we go higher up the leagues becuase cost of watching Saints will become more of an issue when we reach the PL. To fill or near fill a larger stadium I would have thought pricing would have to be quite competitive.

[Thedelldays]

Wierdly I can see crowd numbers going down as we go higher up the leagues becuase cost of watching Saints will become more of an issue when we reach the PL. To fill or near fill a larger stadium I would have thought pricing would have to be quite competitive.

 

its about value for money.....people will pay up if the value is there...like now..paying nearly £30 for a division 3 game..yet we get the biggest crowds most weeks

[doddisalegend]

its about value for money.....people will pay up if the value is there...like now..paying nearly £30 for a division 3 game..yet we get the biggest crowds most weeks

 

yeah I can see that to a point (although I pay about £18.00 a game not £30.00). However there is always a point that will get to much for people. Arsenal for example charge £96.00 for the best seats in house for a cat A game the cheapest is £49.00 in the family enclosure. Cat B (someone like Wigan) games range from £34 in the family enclosure upto £67.00 for the best seats. Those sort of prices would see me going to SMS less not more, I appreciate other my feel different however.

[Thedelldays]

yeah I can see that to a point (although I pay about £18.00 a game not £30.00). However there is always a point that will get to much for people. Arsenal for example charge £96.00 for the best seats in house for a cat A game the cheapest is £49.00 in the family enclosure. Cat B (someone like Wigan) games range from £34 in the family enclosure upto £67.00 for the best seats. Those sort of prices would see me going to SMS less not more, I appreciate other my feel different however.

 

it is rather silly comparing arsenal or chelsea or even spurs with us...or any top flight london team...

[doddisalegend]

it is rather silly comparing arsenal or chelsea or even spurs with us...or any top flight london team...

 

Why are those not the teams we hope to be like?

[Thedelldays]

Why are those not the teams we hope to be like?

 

yeah...you were on about ticket prices...london has its own economy

[SaintRichmond]

Comparing us to Liverpool is utter madness, Liverpool, however well or badly they are playing are one of the biggest clubs in the world, Saints are not.

 

Liverpool's gates in the old Div 2 were not very high

 

Then along came Bill Shankley

 

I agree with Cortese, success breeds success, and gates of 40000 are not unrealistic if we were (say) in the Top Four and in Europe etc

[doddisalegend]

yeah...you were on about ticket prices...london has its own economy

 

You could be right Man U are a bit better price wise ranging from £27.00 to £50.00 however those prices are discounted for Members which cost another £27.00 a year.

[Saint J 77]

Adkins seems the right appointment to me at the moment;

 

1) good working relationship with Cortese - the most important thing

2) good record at this level

3) rated within the game as having ability to go further

4) modern approach

 

But clearly no plan B ...yet

[NickG]

plan B is get a new manager when you lose a game - I read it here!

[hamster]

Funny that if AP's pre-season was such a cock up AC waited until we thumped BRFC 4-0 away before firing him.

And the bit about possibly not signing any players in January, as most of the players we're interested in would be involved in relegation fights or promotion pushes so their clubs wouldn't want to sell??? It will be january, nearly every club is potentially in either a promotion push or relegation fight. Sounds like the an excuse already.

Oh and the bit about if the Liebherrs family did sell up he had other investors to take their place. I thought the club was not for sale, so why is he sounding out other investors?

But what do i know, I'm just an agenda driven mong.

 

 

It had to be valued as part of Markus's estate, nothing unusual about that but maybe those doing the valuing are of a similar mold to our Markus too, Nicola seems a decent sort so I wouldn't worrry personally if the club ever went that way.

[jam]

Wierdly I can see crowd numbers going down as we go higher up the leagues becuase cost of watching Saints will become more of an issue when we reach the PL. To fill or near fill a larger stadium I would have thought pricing would have to be quite competitive.

 

Think of an away game last spring and you'll get an idea of the sorts of people that'll suddenly reappear if / when we get reestablished in the prem.

[doddisalegend]

Think of an away game last spring and you'll get an idea of the sorts of people that'll suddenly reappear if / when we get reestablished in the prem.

 

Maybe but that was one match and a cup final. Are they going to turn up week in, week out at £45-50 a pop? I'm not so sure. I have a sh it paying job, a big mortgage and two money drains (sorry kids). For me a large increase in the cost of tickets would see me go less to SMS regardless of the opposition, becuase I just couldn't afford it. Now I might be the odd one out and 40.000 other people can afford it more than I can, but I doubt it.

[hamster]

You can believe whatever you want but it is joke to think that Saints will be able to compete for the title in the next twenty years

 

Nah, that could never happen could it. Sorry for sarcsm not intended to offend.

[hamster]

Liverpool's gates in the old Div 2 were not very high

Then along came Bill Shankley

 

I agree with Cortese, success breeds success, and gates of 40000 are not unrealistic if we were (say) in the Top Four and in Europe etc

 

The missing piece perhaps. Wasn't Shankly a boot boy or suchlike. Yes, a genius who was primarily a football man. Well spotted. I agree btw.

[Macey_J2]

County Saint, you're two weeks out of the loop, WAKE THE F**K UP!

[Matthew Le God]

Liverpool's gates in the old Div 2 were not very high

 

Then along came Bill Shankley

 

Liverpool in the 2nd tier...

 

1955 - 36k

1956 - 37k

1957 - 35k

1958 - 38k

1959 - 36k

1960 - 30k

1961 - 29k

1962 - 39k

[sadoldgit]

Funny that if AP's pre-season was such a cock up AC waited until we thumped BRFC 4-0 away before firing him.

And the bit about possibly not signing any players in January, as most of the players we're interested in would be involved in relegation fights or promotion pushes so their clubs wouldn't want to sell??? It will be january, nearly every club is potentially in either a promotion push or relegation fight. Sounds like the an excuse already.

Oh and the bit about if the Liebherrs family did sell up he had other investors to take their place. I thought the club was not for sale, so why is he sounding out other investors?

But what do i know, I'm just an agenda driven mong.

 

And while we are at it, how can ge be so sure that the trophy cost us promotion? Playing in multiple competitions doesn't seem to cost teams doing doubles and trebles. Just as well NC isn't CEO of ManU. He has hardly broken the bank this season to get us out of Div One and we are supposed to believe that he would spend a fortune in the Prem? LOL He is playing a PR game and you can't blame him for that.

[sadoldgit]

its about value for money.....people will pay up if the value is there...like now..paying nearly £30 for a division 3 game..yet we get the biggest crowds most weeks

 

Do you really think we could ever average 40k though? Really?

[sadoldgit]

plan B is get a new manager when you lose a game - I read it here!

 

No Nick, Plan B is when you get a new manager when you have just had a thumping win away from home : )

[Matthew Le God]

Do you really think we could ever average 40k though? Really?

 

Why are you so sure Saints wouldn't? Every season in the Premier League at St Mary's averaged over 30k, including the relegation season of 2004/05 (30,610). That was for a poor team lacking anything in the way of investment in its 119 year (at that point) history.

 

With...

 

- a team challenging in the top 10 of the Premier League

- investment in the players

- a larger stadium allowing for more flexible pricing structures

- larger numbers of away fans in a larger St Mary's

 

...and I think averages of 40k+ are entirely possible.

Edited 20 December, 2010 by Matthew Le God

[Deppo]

The first half of those quotes are direct copies taken from my post on the subject.

 

There's no "I" in "team", Spudgun.

[Draino76]

/\

Depends on the spelling.

[Liquidshokk]

My guess is that the email was the one sent out from Saintslist. One of the Saintslist admins contacted myself (and I assume ladysaint) to ask if we’d mind them passing on our accounts from the meeting with Nicola. Our comments were therefore taken, combined and distributed to all its members. Not sure if the original posters colleague has intentionally made out they were his own comments, or facts have just been lost in translation as they’ve been passed on, but there are some additional bits on the original post that I’ve not seen written down before.

 

 

 

 

 

Everyone slated Nicola on here saying that it was Markus’s project and that they thought Nicola wouldn’t be so interested after Marks’s death. As far as I can see, all he has done is come out and prove that he wants to be here for himself. The fact he’s mentioned that he even has other people he knows of who would invest, just reassures me that he will be here for a long time. If there is one thing Nicola has not got, it’s an overinflated ego, he doesn’t want to be in the limelight at all. In fact at the meal I even asked him if he’d communicate with the fans a bit more often.

 

What did Nicola say to your request for more communication? I'd love to here more from him on the OS more often. Silence is deadly. Can cause all sorts of rumours on here especially.

[saintscottofthenortham]

No Nick, Plan B is when you get a new manager when you have just had a thumping win away from home : )

 

Sadoldgit... You are STILL going on about that 0-4 win? For the 20th time, look closely as I am bored of saying it now...

 

I WAS THERE AND WE WERE NOTHING SPECIAL.

 

Honestly, I'm so sorry to have to keep saying it, but he was playing you. He never meant the things he said. He never intended on moving away with you. He had no intention of covering you in cream and eating cherries off yours hairy nips. He has done a runner up north and will currently be propping up yet another bar chatting up some other poor old lonely heart.

 

Alan. Has. Left. You. Sad. Old. Git.

[hypochondriac]

Sadoldgit... You are STILL going on about that 0-4 win? For the 20th time, look closely as I am bored of saying it now...

 

I WAS THERE AND WE WERE NOTHING SPECIAL.

 

Honestly, I'm so sorry to have to keep saying it, but he was playing you. He never meant the things he said. He never intended on moving away with you. He had no intention of covering you in cream and eating cherries off yours hairy nips. He has done a runner up north and will currently be propping up yet another bar chatting up some other poor old lonely heart.

 

Alan. Has. Left. You. Sad. Old. Git.

 

That is rubbish.

[alpine_saint]

The problem I have with the feedback like this is that we are seeing so little of "The Plan" unveiling itself over a week-by-week period...

 

The current squad is making little progress, imo.

[saintscottofthenortham]

The problem I have with the feedback like this is that we are seeing so little of "The Plan" unveiling itself over a week-by-week period...

 

The current squad is making little progress, imo.

 

Surely this is down to the Epic Failure of the Summer Transfer Window?

[Johnny Bognor]

There's no "I" in "team", Spudgun.

 

There is no 'I', but there is 'me'

[Dalek2003]

As I have said before I certainly do not rate Adkins as the best candidate that we might have had.I have said before that I think the whole affair was botched and that we should have set someone up before sacking Pardew on the spur of the moment.

 

It is a re-run of 2004. After vocal minority scared off the planned appointment of es England and Saints manager,Hioddle, the club appointed the wholly inadequate Sturrock, from League 1. The rest is history. (Not that the vocal few like to admit their major role in dumping us down two leagues).

[saintscottofthenortham]

Thats right Dalek. Pardew was the new Messiah, taking us to heights we never thought we would see. But we wern't happy. We made that very clear, forced him out and now we have appointed someone who shows not a single sign of taking us forward?

 

Pratt.

[Windmill Arm 2]

Still you'd agree that if Paul Lambert applied we might have just called him in for a chat???

Has Paul Lambert achieved promotion from League 1 on more than one occasion?................no I don't think he has has he, you doom mongering old weasel!

[alpine_saint]

Surely this is down to the Epic Failure of the Summer Transfer Window?

 

So this season should be considered a write-off, then.

 

Not sure NC sees it that way.

[Turkish]

Liverpool's gates in the old Div 2 were not very high

 

Then along came Bill Shankley

 

I agree with Cortese, success breeds success, and gates of 40000 are not unrealistic if we were (say) in the Top Four and in Europe etc

 

As Matthew Le God has posted

 

Liverpool in the 2nd tier...

 

1955 - 36k

1956 - 37k

1957 - 35k

1958 - 38k

1959 - 36k

1960 - 30k

1961 - 29k

1962 - 39k

 

Do you think if we were wining the league and champions league we would attract crowds of 75K+ the size of Man Utd, Real Madrid and Barcelona? Comparing us to Liverpool is madness, utter, utter madness. In fact it's madder than there with the 'Rickie Lambert should play for England' campaign on here.

[sandwichsaint]

This whole thread is one big wind-up!

 

Most of the first half of that post is copied verbatim from stuff on here 4 weeks ago - I can't believe the defamatory remarks that were put upin the second part (and have since, very wisely(!) been deleted) and I certainly can't believe NC said anything like this:

 

>

 

If that is anywhere near the 'truth' then it beggars belief we didn't get a loan striker in once it was clear RL and LB were both crocked ... there's running it 'sensibly' and there's running it 'sensibly' ... until we get out of this league any talk of five years and of 45k gates and of the CL is just that - talk!

 

Let's see some action in January!

[GenevaSaint]

You can believe whatever you want but it is joke to think that Saints will be able to compete for the title in the next twenty years

 

That all depends on what direction Liverpool, Man U, Chelsea and Arsenal take really doesn't it. If they all break away to form a European super league there's every chance we might one day win a devalued title.

[saintscottofthenortham]

So this season should be considered a write-off, then.

 

Not sure NC sees it that way.

 

No... Because we have the January window where we have been assured funds are available. Also, fortunately for us there has been no runaway at the top of the league this year. So we are still in with a shout. You were the one who said the first team wernt upto scratch. I was just pointing out why.

[lordswoodsaints]

I think they should check the carbon monoxide levels in that place,some of that seems a tad optimistic to me.