The first candidate to replace Nicola Cortese has been named in a national newspaper and will raise a few eyebrows.
Christian Purslow is the man the papers are tipping to succeed Nicola Cortese as the CO of Southampton Football Club, this will raise a few eyebrows as Purslow is the man who oversw the sale of Liverpool Football Club to the American John W Henry and it is this that will make some say he is an appointment to find a buyer for the club, but this would be to gloss over just what situation Purslow found himself in.
He is a well educated man and made his money heading a variety of companies, in 2009 he was a season ticket holder at Anfield and with the club in financial meltdown due to the infamous owners Gillette & Hicks he was appointed its CEO in June of that year with a brief to negotiate with RBS over the £360 million loan the club had with them.
A big hitter in the financial World he had soon brought in £80 million into the coffers from a shirt sponsorship deal for four years with Standard Chartered Bank, he had the connections.
But his name in Liverpool folklore is sealed, he clearly had the clubs best interests at heart and in negotiations at finding a buyer as the club headed towards administration and worse, he fought off Hicks & Gillette as they sought to use the club for their own ends, rejected many offers to buy the club from those either offering to little or in his eyes unsuitable and eventually found the right match in the Boston Red Sox owner John W Henry.
I wont go into full detail but Purslow fought against dirty and underhand tactics and snatched Liverpool from the jaws of oblivion and delivered it to safe hands with plenty of high court action on both sides of the Atlantic along the way.
Those who suggest he may be brought in to over see a sale could be right, but if they are he is a football man who will look to make sure that the club if it is sold goes to the right buyer as Im sure Katharina Liebherr would wish, in all of this many have overlooked that she could probably have offloaded the club long ago if she had really wanted too.
When NESV took over in October 2010, Purslow stood down as CEO but remained in an advisory capacity for a while, he is well thought of by both the owners of LFC and its fans and is seen as the man who played a major role in taking the club out of the hands of two owners who were leading it into the abyss and lead it to the right hands.
If he arrives at Saints it will of course raise the question that he might be a more temporary appointment to steady the ship, whatever he is though he is a man who knows football, respects it and has his finger on the pulse of major finance.
One of the things that the Katharina Liebherr will have been concerned about would have been the commercial income coming into the club which was paltry given our status, a CEO is not just responsible for on field performances but off field too, Christian Purslow would undoubtably have the contacts to increase this dramatically, so his appointment would be far more than just a holding role.
Purslow had dropped out of the limelight since leaving Liverpool, part of that was because Hicks & Gillette pursued him legally for over two years regarding the sale of Liverpool this only being concluded in January 2013 when they dropped all allegations, perhaps now he feels able to get back into football, with his experience perhaps he is the man to take us to the next level.