Welcome to the first in a semi-regular series of articles from everyone’s favourite TUI poster SF73 who will attempt to share his (Mc)Nuggets of wisdom with you.
So another transfer window brings another threat by Cortese to up sticks and leave. Message board wisdom seems to indicate that this is another attempt by our Chairman to engage the Liebherrs in a game of chicken designed to free up more cash to be spent in the January transfer window. However, I’m not sure I agree with this…. The January window has always been the poor relation of its August cousin. Clubs in the top half do not tend to make many moves and the window mainly revolves around the clubs at the wrong end of the table desperately bringing in as many transfers and loans as possible in order to try and retain their place at the top table (as evidenced by players having to take a delicatessen number when arriving to sign on at Loftus Road last year).
One thing that is for sure is that if Sky Sports are giving prominence to this story then it’s more than internet rumours and, in all likelihood, the rumours have emanated from Cortese himself. So if he’s not after a few quid to spend in January what is Cortese is after? The Elephant in the room would have to be AC Milan. The club has been in disarray the past couple of years and after sitting a massive 30 points behind league leaders Juventus, this week sacked their manager. By all accounts the new man in looks like being former player Clarence Seedorf, a man with no managerial experience. It must be assumed that Seedorf’s role is more of a head coach appointment and they would need a strong Executive to work above looking after player transfers and the rest, something we know Cortese has no qualms about being involved in. Cortese has an affinity with AC and a move back to his home country must have some appeal to both him and his family. One further thing to bear in mind is that Italian clubs are in for a massive injection of cash from the new TV deal which is the first one that Seria A has signed which is comparable to the deal the Premier League has. If Cortese is set on competing on the Champions League front then he may well feel that Milan gives him a better chance of doing this than Saints.
However, I’m leaning toward another theory. One comment that is constantly trotted out by those who are not fans of NC is that "he is just an employee of the club”. This is quite correct and I’m sure something that rankles with Cortese given the huge leaps the club has made during his tenure in charge. Cortese’s role is pretty unique in the PL in that, although he is a mere of employee he is responsible for every decision at the club from who the manager will be to which (tea) spoons the club uses. We pretty much have absentee owners who its plain to see have none of the interest in the game that Markus did. The only comparable situation to this would be Daniel Levy at Spurs. Levy is far better known by the general public and Spurs fans alike than the actual owner, the foreign shores living, Joe Lewis. However, unlike Cortese, Levy does have a substantial shareholding in Tottenham’s parent company ENIC.
So I suspect this latest show of strength from NC is for one of two reasons. Firstly to get the Liebherr’s to give him an ownership share, something that personally I would have no issue with as it would be something that would tie him to the club for at least the medium term or secondly an attempt to force the Liebherr’s hand and get them to sell the club in its entirety (and let’s face it, it’s an asset they blatantly have precious little interest in) to a consortium group headed by Cortese (who has stated in the past that he would be able to find buyers for the club if ever the Liebherr’s did want out).
A worrying thing for the fans is that, such is Cortese’s massive influence over the club at present, his leaving would leave a massive hole which I could not see who would be able to fill in the short term. To be blunt, there isn’t even a Andrew Cowan to his Rupert Lowe.
One thing which is for sure is that, one way of the other, the situation has to be resolved quickly. As much as all clubs would like to deny it, it has been evident time and time again that off the pitch instability has a habit of finding its way onto the pitch……