10 years ago today

[Turkish]

A great man left our lives. Such was his love for the club he’s never accepted another job in football despite AC Milan chasing him the whole time he was with us. we were his baby and after having us an adopted child would never be the same. 

from training grounds worth £15m that cost £40m, to banning the press and getting himself banned from a few places it’s fair to say he made his mark

how about a minutes applause on 10 Minutes from the fans on Saturday to show our appreciation for Nick Nack king of Southampton 

 

[OldNick]

Personally, he brought us Marcus who put his trust in him. Ok, he was an abrasive character but he got us on the road to recovery. 

If Marcus hadnt passed he may well have been here a lot longer and became more respected.

[trousers]

3 minutes ago, OldNick said:

Personally, he brought us Marcus who put his trust in him. Ok, he was an abrasive character but he got us on the road to recovery. 

If Marcus hadnt passed he may well have been here a lot longer and became more respected.

*Markus

[S-Clarke]

Anyone can spend someone else's money, which is what he was doing. A very divisive character, the cheer in the corridors when he left St Mary's was audible.

Still can't believe he got himself on the programme for the first game in the Champ, says it all really!

[Turkish]

10 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

Anyone can spend someone else's money, which is what he was doing. A very divisive character, the cheer in the corridors when he left St Mary's was audible.

Still can't believe he got himself on the programme for the first game in the Champ, says it all really!

He was a great businessman though. Not many chairman could close a sponsorship deal with the largest recruitment company in chilworth 

[Barsiem]

Slate his ego all you want, but we had an incredible period of success under his stewardship.  One (admittedly lower league) cup, back to back promotions, and purchasing some players who went on to become Southampton legends like SRL and Fonte - both purchased whilst we were in L1.  He also brought in people like Pooch and was key in players like Lallana staying.

Would it all have gone tits up eventually? Probably... But still it was a great time to be a saints fan

[Saint Fan CaM]

30 minutes ago, Barsiem said:

Slate his ego all you want, but we had an incredible period of success under his stewardship.  One (admittedly lower league) cup, back to back promotions, and purchasing some players who went on to become Southampton legends like SRL and Fonte - both purchased whilst we were in L1.  He also brought in people like Pooch and was key in players like Lallana staying.

Would it all have gone tits up eventually? Probably... But still it was a great time to be a saints fan

Absolutely this. Just don’t understand why anyone would want to diss such a successfully influential person in the clubs history. Sure, he broke some eggs in making the omelette - but it needed doing, was all done with the blessing of Markus and laid the foundations for a remarkable series of promotions that many thousands enjoyed. Move on.

[Turkish]

6 minutes ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

Absolutely this. Just don’t understand why anyone would want to diss such a successfully influential person in the clubs history. Sure, he broke some eggs in making the omelette - but it needed doing, was all done with the blessing of Markus and laid the foundations for a remarkable series of promotions that many thousands enjoyed. Move on.

Given Marcus died around a year after he joined a lot of the stuff that happened wasn't.

[John Boy Saint]

53 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

Still can't believe he got himself on the programme for the first game in the Champ, says it all really!

I always thought that programme pose was all about the deal he was about to do with Arsenal for Oxlaide- Chamberpot later that week , Apparently the young lads parents had been sneaking about touting Alex to Arsenal (a friend and Arsenal fan who knows folk in key positions in Arsenal even asked me about him before any of us had the merest whiff - I just poo-pooed it as nonsense).

I later heard from someone who had an evening with Cortese, that Arsenal had come clean to Saints in confidence once Mum and Dads scheme was set in motion. Arsenal turned up at Saints for the negotiations, and were told that a deal would be done that day, if Arsenal don't agree to Saints price tag and conditions Arsenal will leave the building and agree never to come in for Alex again.  And off he went getting highly paid to build an impressive splinter collection in his backside.

There was a tale of one ticking timebomb in the sale agreement, Saints would be paid something like £10,000 when he played more than 10 minutes of a match, if you have any recall on 81+ minutes Alex would be subbed on. After a few months Arsenal received an invoice for over £100,000 from Saints claiming these £10k's, Arse tried to wriggle out of it stating the games and times when Ox took to the pitch after 80 minutes, and Saints countered that with all the 90+ added times those games went to.

Of course being a bit of an egotist he was probably reminding Leeds that we had snaffled Lee Barnard from under their noses at half past the 11th hour, and Lee was in SMS the same night Leeds were unveiling him in their home match programme.

[Charlie Wayman]

1 hour ago, S-Clarke said:

Anyone can spend someone else's money, which is what he was doing. A very divisive character, the cheer in the corridors when he left St Mary's was audible.

Still can't believe he got himself on the programme for the first game in the Champ, says it all really!

Of course because that is human nature in this country of ours when a disruptor enters the corridors of power, determined to wake up all the lazy bastards in the organisation who did FA all day yet expected an easy job for life without effort or responsibility.

Personally I liked Cortese and what he was trying to achieve and wished he had stayed longer. Markus was no fool and trusted that guy so he couldn't have been all bad.

[bpsaint]

1 hour ago, Turkish said:

He was a great businessman though. Not many chairman could close a sponsorship deal with the largest recruitment company in chilworth 

I loved the way in 2013/14, NikNak had managed to secure a deal with Adidas to supply our kit, and we were going to have lovely gold detailing on our bog standard plain red kit that you could buy unbranded for £20, because Lotus were going to be the team sponsor, before fucking it up and having to go back to AAP3 for a new deal.

[Saint Fan CaM]

4 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Given Marcus died around a year after he joined a lot of the stuff that happened wasn't.

Surprised a CoT member would get a key name spelling wrong…attention to detail is key to success when small margins are involved. Now who was it that said that? 🤔😉

[Turkish]

54 minutes ago, John Boy Saint said:

I always thought that programme pose was all about the deal he was about to do with Arsenal for Oxlaide- Chamberpot later that week , Apparently the young lads parents had been sneaking about touting Alex to Arsenal (a friend and Arsenal fan who knows folk in key positions in Arsenal even asked me about him before any of us had the merest whiff - I just poo-pooed it as nonsense).

I later heard from someone who had an evening with Cortese, that Arsenal had come clean to Saints in confidence once Mum and Dads scheme was set in motion. Arsenal turned up at Saints for the negotiations, and were told that a deal would be done that day, if Arsenal don't agree to Saints price tag and conditions Arsenal will leave the building and agree never to come in for Alex again.  And off he went getting highly paid to build an impressive splinter collection in his backside.

There was a tale of one ticking timebomb in the sale agreement, Saints would be paid something like £10,000 when he played more than 10 minutes of a match, if you have any recall on 81+ minutes Alex would be subbed on. After a few months Arsenal received an invoice for over £100,000 from Saints claiming these £10k's, Arse tried to wriggle out of it stating the games and times when Ox took to the pitch after 80 minutes, and Saints countered that with all the 90+ added times those games went to.

Of course being a bit of an egotist he was probably reminding Leeds that we had snaffled Lee Barnard from under their noses at half past the 11th hour, and Lee was in SMS the same night Leeds were unveiling him in their home match programme.

It can’t be true about Oxlaide-Chamberlain. Remember how people dismissed the 15 minute clause Guly had…

[david in sweden]

There are two sides to Cortese's tenure with Saints that warrant some comment.

Firstly.. Identifying Saints situation ..he got Markus Liebherr to buy the club and save us from the grasp of some alternative asset-stripping crooks.

His overview of the outdated 20th Century administration wrought havoc to the lives of many of the Saints faithful, but was doubtless necessary

and he introduced strong financial limitations, including the dismembering of the then-Academy and possibly the loss of players like Tyrone MIngs.

Here endeth the first lesson..... but sadly the man who on his own admission knew nothing about football, or the history of the club he had acquired.

His subsequent ban on former heroes like MLT and Benali didn't endear him to the fan base and was just one of many contentious measures he introduced.

 

The worst action as he took control over the role of D.o.F  and personally agreed / or refused all transfer deals.  His poor judgment is historical.

In a Sky interview...(some time after his dismissal) Alan Pardew, (who had also laid the groundwork to Nigel Adkins two promotion sides) said

Cortese questioned his judgement and asked .. " Do you really want to pay 1 million for a 27 year old striker from L1 .?..."  (namely Rickie Lambert) 

After winning JPT trophy, Cortese refused to pay 2 million that Reading wanted for the on-loan Michial Antonio ..(he felt was too-much).

At this point it should be stated that almost the entire squad that Adkins used to get us back up to the Prem. cost... less than 6 million pounds. 

 

Back in the Prem. Cortese begrudgingly paid  7 million for Jay Rodriguez (he did get something right), but then his mishandling of transfers hit 

epic proportions when he reverted to his  "European contacts " , (who aware of his footballing ignorance must have seen him coming),

when he doubled the transfer record and spent 13 million on Gaston Ramirez .

When asked why he signed for Saints ?  Ramirez said " I couldn't believe how much they offered me "   (suggested he was paid 65K / week).               Impatient with what he saw as a lack of success  by Christmas, Cortese savagely sacked Adkins and then brought in Mauricio Pochettino ...                   (someone who to  this day has failed to impress me).. and was allowed to buy in " a player of his choice " ..that was Dani Osvaldo.

That fee was an even more impressive 14 million + salary, and despite the memory of his fantastic solo goal v. Man City , most fans will                       easier recall his notorious  training ground punch-up (with Jose Fonte)...  which led to his suspension and eventual move away to foreign parts. 

(A chapter that will be unlikely to appear in Pochettino 's sometime future autobiography).

The total of these two ill-judged deals cost the club around 50 million (fees +salaries) was believed to be completed with "loans" at high interest rates.

Sadly there were other equally underwhelming deals, but for lesser fees.   A burden that stayed on the books for several years afterwards.   

At last Cortese's long-awaited departure from SMS was celebrated by many of us.  

Edited January 15 by david in sweden

[Ex Lion Tamer]

2 hours ago, Barsiem said:

Slate his ego all you want, but we had an incredible period of success under his stewardship.  One (admittedly lower league) cup, back to back promotions, and purchasing some players who went on to become Southampton legends like SRL and Fonte - both purchased whilst we were in L1.  He also brought in people like Pooch and was key in players like Lallana staying.

Would it all have gone tits up eventually? Probably... But still it was a great time to be a saints fan

 

Edited January 15 by Ex Lion Tamer

[Huffton]

Shame he wasn't still around during the VVD saga, I doubt he would have handled it quite as meekly as we did at the time

[Turkish]

6 hours ago, david in sweden said:

There are two sides to Cortese's tenure with Saints that warrant some comment.

Firstly.. Identifying Saints situation ..he got Markus Liebherr to buy the club and save us from the grasp of some alternative asset-stripping crooks.

His overview of the outdated 20th Century administration wrought havoc to the lives of many of the Saints faithful, but was doubtless necessary

and he introduced strong financial limitations, including the dismembering of the then-Academy and possibly the loss of players like Tyrone MIngs.

Here endeth the first lesson..... but sadly the man who on his own admission knew nothing about football, or the history of the club he had acquired.

His subsequent ban on former heroes like MLT and Benali didn't endear him to the fan base and was just one of many contentious measures he introduced.

 

The worst action as he took control over the role of D.o.F  and personally agreed / or refused all transfer deals.  His poor judgment is historical.

In a Sky interview...(some time after his dismissal) Alan Pardew, (who had also laid the groundwork to Nigel Adkins two promotion sides) said

Cortese questioned his judgement and asked .. " Do you really want to pay 1 million for a 27 year old striker from L1 .?..."  (namely Rickie Lambert) 

After winning JPT trophy, Cortese refused to pay 2 million that Reading wanted for the on-loan Michial Antonio ..(he felt was too-much).

At this point it should be stated that almost the entire squad that Adkins used to get us back up to the Prem. cost... less than 6 million pounds. 

 

Back in the Prem. Cortese begrudgingly paid  7 million for Jay Rodriguez (he did get something right), but then his mishandling of transfers hit 

epic proportions when he reverted to his  "European contacts " , (who aware of his footballing ignorance must have seen him coming),

when he doubled the transfer record and spent 13 million on Gaston Ramirez .

When asked why he signed for Saints ?  Ramirez said " I couldn't believe how much they offered me "   (suggested he was paid 65K / week).               Impatient with what he saw as a lack of success  by Christmas, Cortese savagely sacked Adkins and then brought in Mauricio Pochettino ...                   (someone who to  this day has failed to impress me).. and was allowed to buy in " a player of his choice " ..that was Dani Osvaldo.

That fee was an even more impressive 14 million + salary, and despite the memory of his fantastic solo goal v. Man City , most fans will                       easier recall his notorious  training ground punch-up (with Jose Fonte)...  which led to his suspension and eventual move away to foreign parts. 

(A chapter that will be unlikely to appear in Pochettino 's sometime future autobiography).

The total of these two ill-judged deals cost the club around 50 million (fees +salaries) was believed to be completed with "loans" at high interest rates.

Sadly there were other equally underwhelming deals, but for lesser fees.   A burden that stayed on the books for several years afterwards.   

At last Cortese's long-awaited departure from SMS was celebrated by many of us.  

You forgot the Vegaard Forren debacle. Cortese had been sold the player but one of his contacts and to put pressure on him to close the deal he was told Liverpool were interested, he pushed the deal through and we all know how that turned out. 

[Ted Bates Statue]

Ooh, Nicky Cortese

He pooed in Franny's pool and lost a golden spoon

[ErwinK1961]

12 minutes ago, Huffton said:

Shame he wasn't still around during the VVD saga, I doubt he would have handled it quite as meekly as we did at the time

Yeah, I reckon he’d have negotiated a world record fee for a defender.

[Turkish]

3 minutes ago, Ted Bates Statue said:

Ooh, Nicky Cortese

He pooed in Franny's pool and lost a golden spoon

Ha ha some good Bantz about the spoon 

 

[CB Fry]

8 hours ago, Charlie Wayman said:

Of course because that is human nature in this country of ours when a disruptor enters the corridors of power, determined to wake up all the lazy bastards in the organisation who did FA all day yet expected an easy job for life without effort or responsibility.

This hard-working mega grafting machine you are describing completed one entire full season as a top flight football club Chairman. One.

When he cried off from that he never ever again worked in top flight football ever, ever again.

An easy life without effort or responsibility, indeed.

[John Boy Saint]

8 hours ago, Turkish said:

It can’t be true about Oxlaide-Chamberlain. Remember how people dismissed the 15 minute clause Guly had…

Found it in the Independent- from way back. It’s the kind of stunt Cortese would likely have put in place to teach anyone else with the same idea a lesson.

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/arsenal-revealed-to-be-paying-southampton-ps10-000-every-time-alex-oxladechamberlain-plays-20-minutes-or-more-8775909.html

[RedArmy]

Like his methods or not he had the squad believing in his ambition to crack the top 4, and we were on our way to do it with Poch and that squad. 
 

I’d pick him every single day over some fucking idiot like Rasmus or Kreuger. 
 

 

[Maggie May]

9 hours ago, david in sweden said:

There are two sides to Cortese's tenure with Saints that warrant some comment.

Firstly.. Identifying Saints situation ..he got Markus Liebherr to buy the club and save us from the grasp of some alternative asset-stripping crooks.

His overview of the outdated 20th Century administration wrought havoc to the lives of many of the Saints faithful, but was doubtless necessary

and he introduced strong financial limitations, including the dismembering of the then-Academy and possibly the loss of players like Tyrone MIngs.

Here endeth the first lesson..... but sadly the man who on his own admission knew nothing about football, or the history of the club he had acquired.

His subsequent ban on former heroes like MLT and Benali didn't endear him to the fan base and was just one of many contentious measures he introduced.

 

The worst action as he took control over the role of D.o.F  and personally agreed / or refused all transfer deals.  His poor judgment is historical.

In a Sky interview...(some time after his dismissal) Alan Pardew, (who had also laid the groundwork to Nigel Adkins two promotion sides) said

Cortese questioned his judgement and asked .. " Do you really want to pay 1 million for a 27 year old striker from L1 .?..."  (namely Rickie Lambert) 

After winning JPT trophy, Cortese refused to pay 2 million that Reading wanted for the on-loan Michial Antonio ..(he felt was too-much).

At this point it should be stated that almost the entire squad that Adkins used to get us back up to the Prem. cost... less than 6 million pounds. 

 

Back in the Prem. Cortese begrudgingly paid  7 million for Jay Rodriguez (he did get something right), but then his mishandling of transfers hit 

epic proportions when he reverted to his  "European contacts " , (who aware of his footballing ignorance must have seen him coming),

when he doubled the transfer record and spent 13 million on Gaston Ramirez .

When asked why he signed for Saints ?  Ramirez said " I couldn't believe how much they offered me "   (suggested he was paid 65K / week).               Impatient with what he saw as a lack of success  by Christmas, Cortese savagely sacked Adkins and then brought in Mauricio Pochettino ...                   (someone who to  this day has failed to impress me).. and was allowed to buy in " a player of his choice " ..that was Dani Osvaldo.

That fee was an even more impressive 14 million + salary, and despite the memory of his fantastic solo goal v. Man City , most fans will                       easier recall his notorious  training ground punch-up (with Jose Fonte)...  which led to his suspension and eventual move away to foreign parts. 

(A chapter that will be unlikely to appear in Pochettino 's sometime future autobiography).

The total of these two ill-judged deals cost the club around 50 million (fees +salaries) was believed to be completed with "loans" at high interest rates.

Sadly there were other equally underwhelming deals, but for lesser fees.   A burden that stayed on the books for several years afterwards.   

At last Cortese's long-awaited departure from SMS was celebrated by many of us.  

Interesting write up but that’s a bizarre trope about Poch. He’s responsible for my favourite ever Saints team. To see us tear through sides in the Prem with our young side was a real novelty at the time, considering we’d spent much of the 90s struggling to stay in the league.

[Dellyears]

11 hours ago, Charlie Wayman said:

Of course because that is human nature in this country of ours when a disruptor enters the corridors of power, determined to wake up all the lazy bastards in the organisation who did FA all day yet expected an easy job for life without effort or responsibility.

Personally I liked Cortese and what he was trying to achieve and wished he had stayed longer. Markus was no fool and trusted that guy so he couldn't have been all bad.

Cortese oversaw some great years following the disastrous years. We owe him a lot

[david in sweden]

12 hours ago, Maggie May said:

Interesting write up but that’s a bizarre trope about Poch. He’s responsible for my favourite ever Saints team. To see us tear through sides in the Prem with our young side was a real novelty at the time, considering we’d spent much of the 90s struggling to stay in the league.

Poch. obviously had " personal skills " that went home to some players and he did help stabilise the team, who had Lambert, Lallana and Rodriguez on form 

but I found it disappointing that he (perhaps inevitably) hopped off to Spurs.. (definitely NOT my favourite club) ..who took a hard hand when denying

him a translator for team talks and media interviews. 

He seems to have " claimed"  a lot of credit ...for developing the young Luke Shaw,(?).. who was already an established player in the side from the Adkins era. 

Given the enormous sums of money that Chelsea have spent in the last 18 months, he's not cutting down trees  a.t.m. at Stamford Bridge.

[Fan The Flames]

He was a cunt, but he was our cunt.

[rooney]

Did not like the man but will be grateful that he persuaded Markus to buy our club as a good business proposition. £15m for the Stadium, Training Ground and the farm land plus players was like FFP in reverse.

[Ex Lion Tamer]

3 hours ago, david in sweden said:

Poch. obviously had " personal skills " that went home to some players and he did help stabilise the team, who had Lambert, Lallana and Rodriguez on form 

but I found it disappointing that he (perhaps inevitably) hopped off to Spurs.. (definitely NOT my favourite club) ..who took a hard hand when denying

him a translator for team talks and media interviews. 

He seems to have " claimed"  a lot of credit ...for developing the young Luke Shaw,(?).. who was already an established player in the side from the Adkins era. 

Given the enormous sums of money that Chelsea have spent in the last 18 months, he's not cutting down trees  a.t.m. at Stamford Bridge.

I think you're on shaky ground here David. Not only was he brilliant for us but he did a phenomenal job with Spurs, getting them to second place finishes and a Champions League final.

It hasn't worked for him at PSG and Chelsea -  he needs a club to sign players that fit his system and I'm not sure he's been getting that

[david in sweden]

1 hour ago, Ex Lion Tamer said:

I think you're on shaky ground here David. Not only was he brilliant for us but he did a phenomenal job with Spurs,

getting them to second place finishes and a Champions League final.

It hasn't worked for him at PSG and Chelsea -  he needs a club to sign players that fit his system and I'm not sure he's been getting that

 

Am not denying that, but I think he inherited some good names when he arrived at Spurs and gave Harry Kane a long overdue run in their first team,

BUT there are no prizes for second place and Spurs still haven't won anything in the reign of the last three Popes...

 

Every manager wants " those sort of signings ", but I think Chelsea still have a few expensive names from the Lampard and Potter era,

and I wonder how much more they are allowed / willing to spend, as they are still unpleasantly mid-table  and a run of bad results might leave

them nearer the  drop zone,  ( but can't ever see them being relegated...) but Poch's days may be numbered if he doesn't get some good results PDQ.

Edited January 16 by david in sweden