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Thank you Markus.

Stepgar

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Suhari

Suhari

Posted
Posted
I can't imagine how good it must feel for you people that have been following this club since forever and those that could be lucky enough to be at the game, I feel really happy for you! I just want to reach out and hug everyone everywhere!!!!

 

Fan's around the world! Go on then, I'll hug you back. Not in a gay way mind.

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CanadaSaint

CanadaSaint

Posted
Posted (edited)

At the suggestion of Suhari, on the Cortese thread, I think now is a good time and here is a good place for this - the comments made by David Bick at Markus’s memorial service:

 

“I will confine myself here to two short stories. I sincerely hope these stories will convey a sense of the man who was a giant in more ways than one.

 

“At Wembley, for the JPT final, I was sitting just behind Markus and, at the point it was clear the Saints had won the trophy, he turned, looked at me and, like a true Englishman, his right thumb went up.

 

“Markus was taking so much genuine pleasure at seeing the first signs of success for the Saints in his ownership. To me, and I suspect many others, Markus is an honorary Englishman and a top Saint.

 

“The fact is, Markus fell in love with Saints the moment he landed in Hampshire, in the spring of last year, to look at buying the club, with Nicola Cortese.

 

“Markus had clearly developed a very close relationship with his old friend, Nicola, which demonstrated a deep level of trust between the two men.

 

“It was a bond the strength of which is seen only so very rarely between two people. As we say in England, they were joined at the hip.

 

“In that regard, we do extend our thoughts and sympathies to Nicola and his family. Nicola has lost his best friend.

 

“Together they made their plan for the Saints. There was the takeover plan, the three-year plan, the five-year plan and so on.

 

“Markus’s abiding passion was, and still is, to return Saints to the highest echelons of football.

 

“He lived and breathed the Saints, all the while backing his friend’s judgement calls on every occasion, without hesitation.

 

“To Markus, that trust with his closest friend was all important and absolute.

 

“So, if I may, to my second and final story, and I am very grateful to Markus’s partner, Lore, and to Nicola for their kind permission to enable me to tell you this story.

 

“It concerns a watch – of course, it’s Switzerland, it’s bound to concern a watch. It concerns a watch, or at least at the beginning of the story two watches.

 

“I think this story tells you about Markus as a thoughtful man. I believe it tells you Markus knew a lot more about himself than he was letting on.

 

“A few weeks after the Wembley final, Markus and Nicola were having one of their constant discussions about the further progress and development of the club.

 

“Markus was convinced that this season the Saints would gain promotion, if not actually win the League One title.

 

“Markus said to Nicola, ‘Starting this season I will buy you a special new watch every time we win a trophy, or a title, or gain promotion.’

 

“Nicola said ‘That’s fine Markus, but every time you must also buy the very same watch for yourself, so that we can both wear the watch commemorating every success.’ Markus readily agreed with this.

 

“Then, more recently, Markus spent a few days with Nicola’s family on holiday. He said he was going to physically go to buy the first two watches in the very near future.

 

“Nicola replied ‘Really, there’s no rush Markus, there’s a long season ahead.’ Then, nearly two weeks ago Markus flew into England for his first league match of the season.

 

“At this point he had not been well. In the event, Markus was not well enough to actually attend the game. But he still managed to attend Nicola’s birthday party that evening, Saturday, August 7.

 

“Markus said to Nicola ‘I wanted to show you, in person, the book containing a description of the model of watch I want to buy for you and for me.’

 

“Yet again, Nicola said to him ‘There is no rush.’

 

“As Markus was leaving that Sunday for Switzerland, Markus opened the car door so that he could show Nicola a photograph he had taken of the watch being advertised on an airport posterboard.

 

“Markus had only days earlier walked painfully across from one side of Zurich Airport to the other to buy the watch.

 

“Because the model of the watch was so new, he was told at the airport shop that it was only available from headquarters.

 

“Markus immediately phoned through an order for the watch, for his collection later from a shop in the centre of Zurich.

 

“That Sunday, after the first match of the season, was to be the last time Markus and Nicola saw or spoke to each other.

 

“On the Monday, despite Lore's plea for him not to travel alone, he drove himself from his main home the 80 miles to his apartment in Zurich.

 

“From there, he took himself to the shop to buy the new model of watch that he had reserved some days earlier.

 

“He returned to the apartment and spoke to Lore and said simply ‘I have got the watch, I have got the watch for Nicola.’ “He passed away just a little later that evening.

 

“It turned out that he had only bought a single watch. It seems that he never intended to buy one of the watches for himself.

 

“To Markus, it was so, so important that he got the watch for Nicola, even though it seemed at the time that he could have waited for nine months.

 

“Why did Markus not buy that watch for himself, why did he not buy the two watches as they had agreed?

 

“Only Markus knows the full answer to that one, but I’m sure we can all reach our own conclusions.

 

“It was a mark of this delightful man that he was pre-occupied with doing thoughtful acts for others, especially his dearest friend Nicola, even while he was suffering pain and discomfort.

 

“As the club has already reflected, to say that Markus will be missed is an unmistakable understatement.

 

“Every employee of the club, all the fans and everyone associated with Southampton Football Club pays tribute to you, Markus, to your very welcome contribution to our lives, even though you had, very sadly, only been with us for such a short time.

 

“Personally, I felt a growing friendship with you and a huge respect for you.

 

“I say to you, Nicola, here today that I know you will respect Markus’s wishes to carry on with the project of the Saints that had become so dear to his heart. You know how much he trusted you, and you him.

 

“Nelson Mandela once said of himself that he was the captain of his soul. I believe that Markus was also the captain of his own soul.

 

“Markus, you will never be forgotten. May you truly rest in peace.”

Edited by CanadaSaint
Italics are hard to read but I can't change them
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Frank's cousin

Frank's cousin

Posted
Posted
Thank you St Marcus, tell Ted that the new boy, NA, done good.

 

Think Ted. Markus and the old guard will have already had a wry smile, a little nod about teh boy doing good... cheers canada for rreposting that... must be the emotions of teh day as it left me with tears in my eyes rereading that... what a wierd, strange and wonderful 7 years, that were turned around by the 'it's just a modest investment, I think we can do something great there*' Gentlemen Markus and Nicola. Thank you both.

 

* quote taken from teh article that appeared in a swiss newspaper shortly after Markus had bought the club.

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Frank's cousin

Frank's cousin

Posted
Posted
its the first time i have felt emotional today, reading the watch story and all that.

 

so sad he has missed it all

 

Its weird... I undersatnd all the fans who got all emotional during and after teh match... fair play, but for me That just made me feel elated and if honest a sense of relief... the bits that got to me todya were watching NIge's first interview when he was close to tears and when asked how he summed it up... ''pride'' - you could see what it meant to him after 9 months of real graft. I know we like to take the micky over his cliched press interviews, but for me thats his way of keeping everything focused - but in not letting out emotion for so long, it builds up andwe saw that to today - it was not relief for nige, as I am ure they always believed, more a release from teh pressure of a long hard season.... and then the watch story - Markus would have loved that today, he would have enn emensly proud of all that was achieved and I think he would reserve a special piece of Praise by the wsy his close friend has driven the club forward. Nicola get some stick form some quarters, and I am not going to say that he should not, everyoone has tehir views I nguess and if his approach goes against your principles of how a club should work and function, then its not going to be easy to say nothing even if the success on the pitch makes it look like a little sad..... but its the drive to succeed that realises the ambition, and having ambition is nothing without the will and graft to make it work, even if it means breaking a few eggs to make the premiership cake.

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so22saint

so22saint

Posted
Posted

very emotional day today as this season was my mum's last. she went into a coma last August and thought she was dreaming when she came round and I told her we were top of the league. battled through to January but died during our bad run. not surprisingly the watch story has filling up. I don't really believe in an afterlife, but love the thought of Markus, my mum, Ted, Bally, Darren's mum etc. watching the game from a celestial Dell.

 

back to the Moet!

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kenneth_kenobi

kenneth_kenobi

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Posted

I am at a mine site in PNG, no coverage of game, and relied on messages from my son watching in Dubai, and a mate watching in Brisbane. So emotional, and all thanks to Markus - here is his statement when buying the club:

 

"I believe we have a superb opportunity to rebuild this great Club. Clearly, this will require resources, planning, hard work and patience. We will assemble a strong management team at every level of the Club. We will act rapidly, but also plan for the long term, because I am here for the long term."

"I also look forward to the Club re-engaging with the fans and the local community. We cannot succeed without their backing."

"We should not expect instant success, but our fans, employees and other stakeholders can expect 100 per cent commitment from me and my team."

 

Well Markus you, Nicola and Nigel have made it happen.

 

Thank you again from us ALL - RIP

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Halo Stickman

Halo Stickman

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Posted

Markus Liebherr will live forever in the hearts of Saints’ fans the world over. The man is a legend, and, yes, we should build a statue to honour him. I dread to think where SFC would be without him and Nicola Cortese; we certainly wouldn’t have been celebrating promotion back to the Premiership tonight!

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SuperMikey

SuperMikey

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Posted

Without Markus, there would be no Southampton FC. We owe him everything.

 

When I was waiting for the players to come out onto the balcony to celebrate after the game I looked up at the sky and a smile spread across my face at the thought of Markus looking down and taking pictures of it all!

 

Rest in peace big man, and I hope you get to see the big times we've got coming!

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saint_jas

saint_jas

Posted
Posted
At the suggestion of Suhari, on the Cortese thread, I think now is a good time and here is a good place for this - the comments made by David Bick at Markus’s memorial service:

 

Would love this to be in a golden thread or something. Markus Liebherr legemd

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Lighthouse

Lighthouse

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Posted

I never knew I could feel so much sorry for a businessman born into a vast amount of wealth but here I am. It's nothing short of tragic Markus isn't alive to see this.

 

Thank you Markus! You will forever be a legend in the eyes of Saints supporters.

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Viking Saint

Viking Saint

Posted
Posted
I am at a mine site in PNG, no coverage of game, and relied on messages from my son watching in Dubai, and a mate watching in Brisbane. So emotional, and all thanks to Markus - here is his statement when buying the club:

 

"I believe we have a superb opportunity to rebuild this great Club. Clearly, this will require resources, planning, hard work and patience. We will assemble a strong management team at every level of the Club. We will act rapidly, but also plan for the long term, because I am here for the long term."

"I also look forward to the Club re-engaging with the fans and the local community. We cannot succeed without their backing."

"We should not expect instant success, but our fans, employees and other stakeholders can expect 100 per cent commitment from me and my team."

 

Well Markus you, Nicola and Nigel have made it happen.

 

Thank you again from us ALL - RIP

 

phenomenal ;o)

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Ric

Ric

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Posted

I have to admit to getting just a little bit emotional at 2-0, as I reflected on our journey of the last three years - and how I wished Markus could have been here to see this match, and see what has been achieved thanks to his investment.

 

And of course it goes far beyond just the money - it's the business plan and desire to get every aspect of the club right: doing things the right way.

 

Thank-you Markus :)

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Kingsbridge Saint

Kingsbridge Saint

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Posted

Thank you Markus, the Liebherrs and Nicola Cortese. You have delivered and Saints fans across the World will never forget what you have done. Everything else is a bonus now. We have the infrastructure to support a PL club with moderate investment, and can build a sustainable PL future. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You.

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