New Southampton owner leading club’s resurgence from the shadows

Katharina Liebherr keeping with family tradition and letting others dominate the spotlight

Southampton owner Katharina Liebherr is pictured before the Premier League match between Southampton and Liverpool at St Mary's Stadium in Southampton, southern England, on March 1, 2014. Glyn Kirk / AFPShow less

There was a solitary picture and, understandably, it is a little grainy. It was a stroke of luck that Robin Jones, the photographer, had captured the woman now running Southampton Football Club.

His lenses were not deliberately pointed at Katharina Liebherr. She just happened to be on the edge of the shot, leaning slightly to her left, as he caught the view of the directors’ box at St Mary’s one day.

But when Southampton’s executive chairman Nicola Cortese resigned in January, Jones’s picture was syndicated everywhere. It was the only image available of Liebherr, the billionaire thrust from the background into the limelight.

She had none of the 21st-century status symbols: no Wikipedia entry, no Twitter account. In an era when amateur photographers plaster "selfies" of themselves all over the internet, Liebherr is an anomaly, a throwback, an antidote to the publicity-hungry.

Rather, she maintains family traditions of privacy that border on secrecy. She is not the Premier League’s most reclusive owner – not everyone is convinced that Ali Al Faraj, the Saudi businessman officially in charge of Portsmouth during a bizarre phase, ever actually existed – but she is the most mysterious now.

Southampton’s non-executive chairman had contrived to remain unobtrusively out of sight throughout her life. Even the sudden death of her father, Markus, in 2010 did not change that. Liebherr inherited her wealth, thought to be in excess of £3 billion (Dh18.6bn), but the ambitious Cortese was the front-of-house attraction at Southampton. The attention was focused on the Italian.

Then Liebherr was forced out of the shadows where, seemingly willingly, she had spent her life. The presumption is the Swiss was being groomed to succeed her father, who suffered a fatal heart attack a year after buying Southampton, then a League One club encumbered with a points deduction after going into administration.

Now they are in eighth place, on course to equal their best Premier League finish, but the seeds of their revival were sown in central Europe. Hans Liebherr, whose five children included Markus, began a construction machinery company in 1949. The Liebherr Group is best known for making cranes, and many a city skyline features them, but the owning family has experienced a low-profile success.

Even in Switzerland, where the Liebherr Group is based and ranks among the major employers, they give few interviews. Bequeathed a stake in the firm by his father, Markus also formed the MALI Group, a conglomeration of five companies focusing on research, design and manufacture of road and rail transmissions, systems and vehicles, before branching out into football in 2009.

Katharina's first job at Southampton involved fire fighting. Mauricio Pochettino, the manager, said last year he would resign if Cortese, who appointed him, left the club. She persuaded him to stay and ruled out selling any of the club's much-admired English talents in January.

The restructuring of the board followed. While Katharina Liebherr has been a prominent presence at games in the past three months, her actions suggest she would rather delegate the day-to-day running of Southampton to others. Gareth Rogers, the chief financial officer, was promoted to become chief executive and, in effect, Cortese’s successor. Hans Hofstetter, a business lawyer, was added to the board. A chief commercial officer should be the next addition to the leadership team.

The most eye-catching appointment so far was the choice of German Ralph Krueger as chairman. A former ice hockey player and coach and a member of the World Economic Forum, he had been an adviser to the Canadian team who won gold medal at the Sochi Olympics.

Liebherr and Krueger first met in October when he was recommended by a sports-marketing company. It suggests she had planned for the succession, even though Cortese was still at Southampton then.

Yet Krueger is a typical Liebherr choice, indicating Katharina is her father’s daughter. Like Cortese, he combines financial and sporting knowledge. His history suggests Krueger is a similarly determined character.

That may be as well. It is shaping up to be a pivotal summer for Southampton. Pochettino’s pressing game has earned him admirers and the club may discover suitors – possibly Tottenham – will be keen to recruit their coveted coach.

They can anticipate offers for their gifted young players, too: left-back Luke Shaw could be the subject of bids from both Chelsea and Manchester United, while captain Adam Lallana's remarkable progress might be reflected in the transfer market, too, along with midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin's consistent excellence.

But the chances are that Liebherr, who still lives in Switzerland, will be a hands-off owner. With a new board in place, she can fade from the picture. That, probably, is how she likes it.

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