Staplewood Should Be Renamed Markus Liebherr Park

I have often stated that a fitting memorial to Markus Liebherr should be put into place, with the club's new training ground about to be unveiled later today they have a great chance to do so.

The problems surrounding the redevelopement of Staplewood are well known as is the fact that it has taken around 18 months longer to complete and the original budget of £15 million doubled, it was going to be the crowning glory for former Chairman Nicola Cortese but would become one of the things that eventually made Katharina Liebherr realise that the club was spiralling out of control in terms of corporate governance and that she would need to step in.

Staplewoode originally came into being as a football ground back in the mid 80's when local Sunday League side Road Sea changed to Saturday football and somehow got into the Wessex League followed by quick promotion to the Southern as businessman Peter Price built a club out of scratch, however with little support due to the remote location and little income coming into the club from sponsorship etc by the early 90's the club had folded.

Saints stepped in and bought Staplewood and immediately had a reserve team pitch up to Southern League standard as well as plenty of land for training etc, Clive Woodward was much maligned by Saints supporters, but behind the scenes he was hard at work and oversaw a revamp of the facility around a decade ago that made in one of the best in the country at that time.

This was not good enough for Cortese who wanted bigger and better, nothing wrong with that apart from the fact he overspent on everything, something that would have probably meant he would have been asked to resign long ago in most big corporations, but football is different and Saints success on the field masked the shortcomings off it.

But now the new training facilities are ready to be unveiled to the World and perhaps now is the time to rename them in honour of the man who stepped in and saved the club, for me renaming St Mary's would be a step too far, we all laugh at the egotists who buy football clubs and name the ground after them, Markus Liebherr was never that sort of person, he was a more modest and quiet man who shunned publicity, however if we dont name the ground after his, perhaps naming the training ground would be ideal.

I may be jumping the gun here perhaps the club have their own thoughts in mind for a tribute to Markus, but I can think of nothing better or more appropriate than renaming Staplewood, "Markus Liebherr Park" somehow it seems very fitting and a permanent reminder of a man who was held in affection and continues to be so in the heart and mind of every Saints supporter.

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