BBC: Nicola Cortese at heart of Southampton's success story

[Saint-Armstrong]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25420261?

[CB Fry]

In other words: managers are replaceable. In other words: MP currently in a helicopter to North London. Nicola playing the media like an old violin.

[Saint Garrett]

Just like that other article in the paper the other week - good to see him getting the praise he deserves though.

[Saint Charlie]

Interesting in depth look.

 

I remember someone on here saying not that long ago that "pretty much any decent Chief Exec could do as good a job as Cortese."

 

[Bucks Saint]

I wish my seat was consistently clean and smelt the same every week just before I sat down: it would make me a top class supporter. Good for NC to still have some areas to improve

[Bearsy]

plenty of new information there i.e. that our scouting is "unerringly accurate" (sic). Some stuff is not as revolutionary as made out tho, Portsmouth have been getting their kit from skips for years.

 

srsy tho, when did you ever read an article like that bout a chairman? It's like MLG got a job at bbc or something. I entered every paragraph expecting news of the 50k seat cortesedome.

[trousers]

Looks like a bit of a re-hash of this article to me: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2515877/Southampton-masterplan-win-Premier-League.html but still a good read none the less.

[buctootim]

Not a criticism but I do find it slightly scary that any group of people is coddled and insulated quite so much

 

"When Southampton travel away from home, the hotel is often booked for two nights rather than one. On the first night, club staff arrive and clean the already pristine rooms. They hoover up every particle of dust that might cause illness or carry a bug. Then bespoke mattresses are placed on each bed, tailored to each player. The duvets, the pillow cases and the sheets are washed and ironed by the club, using the same washing powder and the same methods. So wherever the players are, their bed smells and feels the same. The club chef travels to each hotel ahead of the players, to oversee the cooking and preparation of food. The players know and trust the food that is presented to them. It looks the same, tastes the same, smells the same, wherever they are staying. Techniques are borrowed from sports across the world. Staff are constantly learning."

[Bearsy]

I wish my seat was consistently clean and smelt the same every week just before I sat down: it would make me a top class supporter. Good for NC to still have some areas to improve

 

You know when Westwood come down for the pompey youth game? He sat in ur seat.

[Bewildered]

Mostly a rehash of the Mail stuff, but there seemed to be an added desperation to make sure that the intended audience believes that if Cortese leaves the club would fall to pieces and that he is not short of offers either. I'm being overly suspicious, I know, but the final few paragraphs gave that particular piece a different tone to the usual love-ins we read now.

[buctootim]

Interesting in depth look.

 

I remember someone on here saying not that long ago that "pretty much any decent Chief Exec could do as good a job as Cortese."

 

 

Any Chief Exec with the same resources was the quote. Given we are mid table, half the league's CEOs are doing just that.

[buctootim]

when Westwood come down for the pompey youth game? He sat in ur seat.

 

you've dropped your aitch again Bearsy.

[Saint Charlie]

Any Chief Exec with the same resources was the quote. Given we are mid table, half the league's CEOs are doing just that.

 

So you think that half the PL CEOs would do as good a job as NC if he left tomorrow?

[trousers]

Mostly a rehash of the Mail stuff, but there seemed to be an added desperation to make sure that the intended audience believes that if Cortese leaves the club would fall to pieces and that he is not short of offers either. I'm being overly suspicious, I know, but the final few paragraphs gave that particular piece a different tone to the usual love-ins we read now.

 

Wasn't it also Ben Smith that broke the "Cortese to leave if Katrina Liebherr doesn't let him continue to run things his way" story at the end of last season? I think you're right, this does have a whiff of a "gentle reminder" to the Liebherrs about it. Maybe there was an agreement with Katrina to review things "around Christmas" and this is Cortese's way of highlighting to her how good things are at the moment...

[Saint Charlie]

Wasn't it also Ben Smith that broke the "Cortese to leave if Katrina Liebherr doesn't let him continue to run things his way" story at the end of last season? I think you're right, this does have a whiff of a "gentle reminder" to the Liebherrs...

 

Yes. I don't think there is anything cynical here though, its all pretty true and makes for good timing due to Spurs "interest".

 

Basically another way of saying he won't be going anywhere.

[Colinjb]

In other words: managers are replaceable. In other words: MP currently in a helicopter to North London. Nicola playing the media like an old violin.

 

When the very first sentence of the article itself reads;

 

This progressive young Argentine has been praised for his tactical nous but he will not have given a second thought to swapping Saints for Spurs

 

Then no, can't share your cynicism.

[hypochondriac]

Any Chief Exec with the same resources was the quote. Given we are mid table, half the league's CEOs are doing just that.

 

Pretty much. I see the PR company is earning their wage. Despite Cortese doing a good job this sort of article is nauseating.

[stevegrant]

Not a criticism but I do find it slightly scary that any group of people is coddled and insulated quite so much

 

"When Southampton travel away from home, the hotel is often booked for two nights rather than one. On the first night, club staff arrive and clean the already pristine rooms. They hoover up every particle of dust that might cause illness or carry a bug. Then bespoke mattresses are placed on each bed, tailored to each player. The duvets, the pillow cases and the sheets are washed and ironed by the club, using the same washing powder and the same methods. So wherever the players are, their bed smells and feels the same. The club chef travels to each hotel ahead of the players, to oversee the cooking and preparation of food. The players know and trust the food that is presented to them. It looks the same, tastes the same, smells the same, wherever they are staying. Techniques are borrowed from sports across the world. Staff are constantly learning."

Yeah, the attention to detail is impressive, but the whole "showing up to a 5-star hotel with your own mattresses and not trusting their kitchen staff to cook a proper meal" thing is a bit diva-ish, for want of a better description

[hypochondriac]

Yeah, the attention to detail is impressive, but the whole "showing up to a 5-star hotel with your own mattresses and not trusting their kitchen staff to cook a proper meal" thing is a bit diva-ish, for want of a better description

 

I highly doubt this line:

 

The players talk about their chairman as someone who constantly surprises them, challenges them and demands more from them.

 

The players more than likely do not give a toss about the chairman.

[hypochondriac]

The scouting set-up is the envy of the biggest clubs in England, it is focused, structured and unerringly accurate.

 

Really? How do you explain Ramirez and Forren?

 

Targets are identified months in advance. Panic buys are a thing of the past.

 

Boruc? That article is hilarious.

 

he is committed to the Southampton way and committed to Cortese beyond all else.

 

As I said, nauseating...

Edited 17 December, 2013 by hypochondriac

[Turkish]

On of the things i've never seen Nicola credited with and he should be, is the ability to recruit a PR company able to get self promotional PR articles unedited onto the BBC and national media so regularly.

[Saint Charlie]

I highly doubt this line:

 

 

 

The players more than likely do not give a toss about the chairman.

 

Are you one of those two blokes who handed in their season tickets because of the parking charges?

[hypochondriac]

Are you one of those two blokes who handed in their season tickets because of the parking charges?

 

No and this has nothing to do with that so slightly odd that you would bring it up. The very idea that Luke Shaw is committed to a chairman above all else is utterly utterly laughable. As others have pointed out above, the article reads like a PR piece and has clearly been released by the club for a reason ('insiders' PMSL).

[hypochondriac]

On of the things i've never seen Nicola credited with and he should be, is the ability to recruit a PR company able to get self promotional PR articles unedited onto the BBC and national media so regularly.

 

Oh completely. If you are going to employ a PR company then this is the sort of stuff you want and on the BBC too! Think of the exposure.

[Saint Charlie]

There were whispers on here a while back that Shaw's contract includes an escape clause incase of NC leaving. All the players that signed new contracts mentioned NC as the main driving force at the club.

 

Its pretty obvious that theres a lot of mutual respect between him and the players and that most of whats been done in a positive way since the takeover has been driven by Cortese.

 

Wouldnt swap him for any other PL Chief Exec personally. Gold and Sullivan are WHU through and through yet a complete laughing stock.

[sfc1976]

[Frank's cousin]

The scouting set-up is the envy of the biggest clubs in England, it is focused, structured and unerringly accurate.

 

 

 

Targets are identified months in advance. Panic buys are a thing of the past.

 

 

 

he is committed to the Southampton way and committed to Cortese beyond all else.

 

 

 

as if by magic a thread on Nc is never complete without Hypo's cynicism. What I want to know first up is what happened to the old/original Hypo? The one who presented a sensible argument, even defending the principles of Chairman Lowe? Did he bottle it in the face of the forum elite cynics and bullies?

 

couple of points: scouting includes identifying youngsters for the academy. Second, No club on this planet gets all transfers right... For every Lovren there will be a Forren. And as with all those castigating a young keeper right now, the names are pretty consistent with those who 'always knew Lallana would never make it' .....

 

attention on to detail is always going to appear mildly obsessive if not Barry, when viewed from the outside. But as with Brailsford and team sky, it's not the individual elements, but small incremental benefits that add up. Sometimes it's even less about sleeping better or eating the right food when away and more about what the attention symbolises - what it demonstrates.

[hypochondriac]

There were whispers on here a while back that Shaw's contract includes an escape clause incase of NC leaving.

 

What whispers? Who said this?

 

All the players that signed new contracts mentioned NC as the main driving force at the club.

Of course they did. Oddly every single player and manager mentions it in interviews. It's almost as if they are told to mention it. That sounds like the sort of thing a PR firm that releases select bits of insider information to newspapers and the BBC would do...

 

Its pretty obvious that theres a lot of mutual respect between him and the players and that most of whats been done in a positive way since the takeover has been driven by Cortese.

There may well be mutual respect between the chairman and the players but that isn't what the article said was it. It went way overboard.

 

Wouldnt swap him for any other PL Chief Exec personally. Gold and Sullivan are WHU through and through yet a complete laughing stock.

I certainly wouldn't swap him with Gold and Sullivan but they are pretty much the worst examples in the premier league. He has his flaws like all chairmen but has done a lot of good as well. That doesn't make the style and content of this article any less laughable.

[stevegrant]

Second' date=' No club on this planet gets all transfers right... For every Lovren there will be a Forren.[/quote']

The article does state quite clearly that our scouting system is "unerringly accurate". If that were true, surely we wouldn't have spunked £3m+ on Forren, as our "unerringly accurate" reports of him would have shown him to have the turning circle of a bendy bus.

[Batman]

what we should do, is boycot the club.

[St Chalet]

Wasn't it also Ben Smith that broke the "Cortese to leave if Katrina Liebherr doesn't let him continue to run things his way" story at the end of last season? I think you're right, this does have a whiff of a "gentle reminder" to the Liebherrs about it. Maybe there was an agreement with Katrina to review things "around Christmas" and this is Cortese's way of highlighting to her how good things are at the moment...

 

The same Ben Smith who said last night on Twitter that MP is going nowhere.

[CB Fry]

what we should do, is boycot the club.

 

You need to team it up with a protest march through town or it's all a bit pointless.

[St Chalet]

Yeah, the attention to detail is impressive, but the whole "showing up to a 5-star hotel with your own mattresses and not trusting their kitchen staff to cook a proper meal" thing is a bit diva-ish, for want of a better description

 

Failure to have a credible #2 goalkeeper will cost us more that a few bed bugs.

[hypochondriac]

as if by magic a thread on Nc is never complete without Hypo's cynicism.

What are you on about with another long rant? I comment on a number of posts, don't pretend that I say nothing for ages then just post on this as it isn't the case.

 

What I want to know first up is what happened to the old/original Hypo? The one who presented a sensible argument, even defending the principles of Chairman Lowe? Did he bottle it in the face of the forum elite cynics and bullies

I am completely unchanged. I understand that each situation is different and will comment on things individually. If you cannot see that this piece has clearly been written with an agenda in mind then you are blind! Other posters have pointed it out before me.

 

couple of points: scouting includes identifying youngsters for the academy. Second, No club on this planet gets all transfers right... For every Lovren there will be a Forren. And as with all those castigating a young keeper right now, the names are pretty consistent with those who 'always knew Lallana would never make it' .....

Who mentioned a keeper? The article itself described it as unerringly accurate yet I don't consider our dealings in the transfer market to be so. We have made some excellent buys but also signed some dross like many clubs...

 

attention on to detail is always going to appear mildly obsessive if not Barry, when viewed from the outside. But as with Brailsford and team sky, it's not the individual elements, but small incremental benefits that add up. Sometimes it's even less about sleeping better or eating the right food when away and more about what the attention symbolises - what it demonstrates.

I have no problem with attention to detail. My main gripe was with how the article was written rather than the majority of the content. The Daily Mail article for instance was quite an interesting read last week but this PR stuff is insulting to any half intelligent person.

[Frank's cousin]

The article does state quite clearly that our scouting system is "unerringly accurate". If that were true, surely we wouldn't have spunked £3m+ on Forren, as our "unerringly accurate" reports of him would have shown him to have the turning circle of a bendy bus.

 

fair point but when including academy scouting, it certainly increases the hit percentage above way above the average. And allowing for journalistic license, it is certainly going to be 'more accurate' than most.

 

i just find it a bit odd, than when good things are written, fans seem to want to find fault and criticise. No one is perfect and that includes Nc, but good pr and press does zero harm even if stretching the reality a little. So why the need to rebuke?

[hypochondriac]

fair point but when including academy scouting, it certainly increases the hit percentage above way above the average. And allowing for journalistic license, it is certainly going to be 'more accurate' than most.

 

i just find it a bit odd, than when good things are written, fans seem to want to find fault and criticise. No one is perfect and that includes Nc, but good pr and press does zero harm even if stretching the reality a little. So why the need to rebuke?

 

 

Nope. The Daily Mail article was interesting and a good piece, as were all the positive match reports about our style of play and how well we were doing this year (something that Cortese deserves praise for). Surely you can see the difference between those and this article?

[Frank's cousin]

I have no problem with attention to detail. My main gripe was with how the article was written rather than the majority of the content. The Daily Mail article for instance was quite an interesting read last week but this PR stuff is insulting to any half intelligent person.

 

 

Ha ha. 'Long rant' - I see you have even adopted the 'mantra' of the short attention scanners.... It's a pr piece... It's going to be tot, and it's going to be positive... Which is good no? And wtf... 'You take issue with the way it was written' .... Why, who seriously needs to care when something is positive? As to agenda....Jeez, the agenda was positive pr spin... Which any intelligent person can see, but most don't feel offended by it.

 

Had ad something been deliberately negative, fair Enoch, can understand fans being more sensitive about negative pr, especially if inaccurate, but positive? FFA you need to get out more....

[aintforever]

Interesting in depth look.

 

I remember someone on here saying not that long ago that "pretty much any decent Chief Exec could do as good a job as Cortese."

 

 

I reads well and he's doing a good job but Rupert Lowe had us 4th in the Prem at christmas at one point, spending a fraction of what Cortese has.

[KelvinsRightGlove]

I reads well and he's doing a good job but Rupert Lowe had us 4th in the Prem at christmas at one point, spending a fraction of what Cortese has.

 

Granted it was probably less, but probably not by as much as you would think.

 

It's easy to look at the sums now, compared to then. But the figures in football from 10 years ago are massively inflated.

 

As a % of revenue, I'd imagine the expenditure at present is not as much higher as you may immediately think.

 

There also wasn't the same number of high spending clubs backed by wealthy owners there are now. Top flight football is a different beast than it was 10 years ago.

[aintforever]

Granted it was probably less, but probably not by as much as you would think.

 

It's easy to look at the sums now, compared to then. But the figures in football from 10 years ago are massively inflated.

 

As a % of revenue, I'd imagine the expenditure at present is not as much higher as you may immediately think.

 

There also wasn't the same number of high spending clubs backed by wealthy owners there are now. Top flight football is a different beast than it was 10 years ago.

 

The Prem has changed but I think only 3 clubs had a net spend higher than us over the summer - that is a million miles from life under old Rupes. No comparison at all.

[Turkish]

Granted it was probably less, but probably not by as much as you would think.

 

It's easy to look at the sums now, compared to then. But the figures in football from 10 years ago are massively inflated.

 

As a % of revenue, I'd imagine the expenditure at present is not as much higher as you may immediately think.

 

There also wasn't the same number of high spending clubs backed by wealthy owners there are now. Top flight football is a different beast than it was 10 years ago.

 

This simply isn't true. The summer after we got to the cup final and finished 8th, which was the summer preceding our 4th placed at Christmas, our spending was lower than our incoming from outgoing transfers, the same thing happened the following season. In fact the only year we significantly, by saints standards, pushed the boat out was in the summer of 2002/03 where we had a net spend of £8m. In the years between moving to St Mary's and relegation we had a net spend of around £7.5m.

 

So the truth is that it was 'probably less but not as much as you think' is horsesh*t. £7.5m between over three seasons is a f*ck lot less than £70m In two season. Cortese has spent significantly more in a shorter period. Almost 10 times more, I will tell you now income hasn't gone up 10 times since then.

[Huffton]

Yeah, the attention to detail is impressive, but the whole "showing up to a 5-star hotel with your own mattresses and not trusting their kitchen staff to cook a proper meal" thing is a bit diva-ish, for want of a better description

 

Might seem that way from the outside, but its not that new. Cycling teams have been using their own chefs at hotels for years. THey literally rock up on the morning of the stage/race, boot out the hotel chefs and get on with cookinh their own teams food. Its one less variable for the management to worry about, the riders (or player in Saints case) are getting a decent nutritious meal, and they know what they are eating will be prepared to their liking. Got a feeling a few of the bigger teams (Sky etc) do the mattress thing as well. An athlete recovers best on a decent nights sleep, and a familiar mattress aids good sleep.

[Saint137]

Might seem that way from the outside, but its not that new. Cycling teams have been using their own chefs at hotels for years. THey literally rock up on the morning of the stage/race, boot out the hotel chefs and get on with cookinh their own teams food. Its one less variable for the management to worry about, the riders (or player in Saints case) are getting a decent nutritious meal, and they know what they are eating will be prepared to their liking. Got a feeling a few of the bigger teams (Sky etc) do the mattress thing as well. An athlete recovers best on a decent nights sleep, and a familiar mattress aids good sleep.

 

Yep, the big cycling teams bring mattresses with them. And I'm sure if you ask Spurs about the risks of using hotel chefs they'll have a view on how much it can cost you (although I think the infamous Spurs-WHU match was later proven not be as a result of hotel food poisoning)

[scotty]

you've dropped your aitch again Bearsy.

 

 

[Winnersaint]

Might seem that way from the outside, but its not that new. Cycling teams have been using their own chefs at hotels for years. THey literally rock up on the morning of the stage/race, boot out the hotel chefs and get on with cookinh their own teams food. Its one less variable for the management to worry about, the riders (or player in Saints case) are getting a decent nutritious meal, and they know what they are eating will be prepared to their liking. Got a feeling a few of the bigger teams (Sky etc) do the mattress thing as well. An athlete recovers best on a decent nights sleep, and a familiar mattress aids good sleep.

i agree there here is much that is familiar with Sky's marginal gains here. Also worth noting that Sky hit their targets earlier than expected. Dave Brailsford's achievements will hopefully be mirrored by Nicola Cortese. I fancy they are very much cut from the same cloth.

[Lallana's Left Peg]

Very shocked to read that they don't spend any more than a few minutes on the opposition. You've got to have an incredible amount of belief in the way you play to almost completely ignore any element of how the opposition play or the things they do. It might also explain the amount of times Pochettino is frantically giving players instructions in the first 20mins of the game.

[CB Fry]

Granted it was probably less, but probably not by as much as you would think.

 

It's easy to look at the sums now, compared to then. But the figures in football from 10 years ago are massively inflated.

 

As a % of revenue, I'd imagine the expenditure at present is not as much higher as you may immediately think.

 

There also wasn't the same number of high spending clubs backed by wealthy owners there are now. Top flight football is a different beast than it was 10 years ago.

 

So what exactly are we to conclude from this?

 

Are you saying Lowe pretty much invested in the first team about the same as Cortese?

 

Or is Cortese more or less just as tightfisted now as Lowe was then?

 

As the amounts are "probably less but not by as much as you might think" (ie not much different in real terms) then it follows that you have to believe one of the two statements above.

 

So do let us know.

[Dig Dig]

Hypo said himself ages ago that Cortese is very much all about player power and ensuring that they are well looked after. Not exactly surprising that the players have some sort of loyalty to him. Even Ramirez gets on with Cortese exceptionally well inspite of not seeing eye to eye with Pochettino.

 

Some people on here just completely embarrassed themselves re Cortese (Clotese, lol) time and time again and will always hold back on admitting the fundamental transformation of our club since he has been here. The default is to just point to the resources he's had but I actually think the structure and philosophy from top to bottom is the main benefit, lots of club have money but still royaly **** things up.

[manji]

Not a criticism but I do find it slightly scary that any group of people is coddled and insulated quite so much

 

"When Southampton travel away from home, the hotel is often booked for two nights rather than one. On the first night, club staff arrive and clean the already pristine rooms. They hoover up every particle of dust that might cause illness or carry a bug. Then bespoke mattresses are placed on each bed, tailored to each player. The duvets, the pillow cases and the sheets are washed and ironed by the club, using the same washing powder and the same methods. So wherever the players are, their bed smells and feels the same. The club chef travels to each hotel ahead of the players, to oversee the cooking and preparation of food. The players know and trust the food that is presented to them. It looks the same, tastes the same, smells the same, wherever they are staying. Techniques are borrowed from sports across the world. Staff are constantly learning."

Its not mollycoddling even the poshest Hotels are really unhygienic same as Cruise Liners. Mass Catering, Laundry,Cleaning spreads infections big time.

[Turkish]

Hypo said himself ages ago that Cortese is very much all about player power and ensuring that they are well looked after. Not exactly surprising that the players have some sort of loyalty to him. Even Ramirez gets on with Cortese exceptionally well inspite of not seeing eye to eye with Pochettino.

 

Some people on here just completely embarrassed themselves re Cortese (Clotese, lol) time and time again and will always hold back on admitting the fundamental transformation of our club since he has been here. The default is to just point to the resources he's had but I actually think the structure and philosophy from top to bottom is the main benefit, lots of club have money but still royaly **** things up.

 

This is true. I said ages ago the players get treated like royalty and get whatever they want. One of the biggest issues Pardew had was that Cortese was forming close relationships with senior players which Pardew objected to and was one of the reasons why their relationship started to become strained.