Saints mourn their saviour
Thursday 12 August 2010 20:00
FourFourTwo.com blogger and Southampton fan Chris Cox pays tribute to the man who saved the South Coast club from extinction
Yesterday, Southampton Football Club was left in a state of shock and
disbelief at the passing of a man who can only be described in just one
word. Saviour.
A man whose sheer passion for the game and desire
for success kept the game going in the city of Southampton following
its darkest hour. Markus Liebherr is a man who will be sorely missed.
In times like these, it is easy for people with little or no
association to jump on a bandwagon and act as if they knew the victim.
The majority of Southampton fans didn’t know the man himself, but they
didn’t need to know him on a personal level.
His incredible
gesture of taking a football club with no hope, shattered pride and most
of all no future, was one that filled every Southampton fan with
delight. The trip to Wembley last season underlined it all. People could
be proud to call themselves Southampton fans once again.
Perhaps one regret fans will have is that owing to the hype of Mr
Liebherr’s takeover in 2009 they probably never thought to stop and
take a moment to thank him and his team for their purchase of the club.
Sadly
the chance to do so has now passed, as is often the way with these
things. But every single fan, regardless of whether they agree with the
club’s current operational procedure or not, will be thankful to Mr
Liebherr for everything he did.
From the outside looking in it would appear that Southampton’s
fan base is divided over the club’s movements off the field recently.
Everything from staff car parking to the restriction of press
photographers on matchdays have caused unrest. Noses have been put out
of joint, but Mr Liebherr’s death puts it all into perspective; Quite
simply without him there would be no club to have debates over.
It looks as if the club is being run in a way that ensures that
it has a long term future, with all possible revenue streams being
tapped, ensuring that Southampton is run as a real business, and not
some sort of Chelsea or Manchester City of the Football League.
Rather
than simply taking money from the owner and putting it into where
funding is needed, the club appears to be making an effort to be
self-sufficient. If that is to happen, tough decisions have to be made.
Whether
or not the club is profitable, or even still operating ten years down
the line will be the ultimate judgement of whether decisions over the
simplest things such as club photography are the correct ones to make.
Whatever you may think of the way Southampton Football Club is
being run, the reaction in the football community speak volumes. The
match against MK Dons has been postponed. When football heroes pass on, a
minute’s applause or silence is the biggest gesture on offer. The
Football League, which many would call an enemy of the club when it
concluded that it should be deducted ten points, effectively cutting its
Championship throat, issued a statement mourning Mr Liebherr. Clearly
it can’t all be bad.
The club is insisting that its future and goals remain the same. A
return to the top flight was the late owner’s dream and now there is no
bigger catalyst to drive the team towards the Premier League than to do
it to preserve the memory of the man that did so much in such a small
amount of time.
Everyone associated with the club should take
their time to mourn Mr Liebherr’s passing then do all they can to ensure
that the potential of the club is realised, one step at a time –
beginning with promotion to the Championship.
Thank you Mr Liebherr, on behalf of all Southampton fans.
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