Southampton confirm new board structure with Gao at the helm

Southampton Football Club has today announced a new board structure following the departures of vice-chairman Les Reed, and chairman Ralph Krueger last campaign respectively.

Via the official Saints website, the club has quoted, that following its statement at the end of last season, it can confirm its new board structure for the 2019/20 season, and going forward.

“Majority shareholder Mr Jisheng Gao will now take the position of Chairman of the club and St Mary’s Football Group. Katharina Liebherr re-joins the St Mary’s Football Group board whilst Nelly Gao and Martin Semmens will also become members of the St Mary’s Football Group board and Vice-Chairs of the club board”.

“Martin Semmens has also been appointed as CEO of Southampton Football Club, and will lead the club on a day-to-day basis”.

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With this news, it seems that club owner Jisheng Gao will be taking a more hands-on approach to the proceedings of ‘his’ club – along with this, his daughter Nelly Gao has become part of the board, who has previously been involved in the club’s proceedings during the Gao’s takeover around two years prior.

Gao has recently spoken out about his plan for the club and the way he wants to run things, but he will now get the chance to have a more hands-on approach.

Whilst the daughter of former owner, and hero Markus Liebherr – Katharina Liebherr, who took ownership of Saints after the tragic passing of her father rejoins the board.

She and her father oversaw back-to-back promotions that saw Saints reach the promised land that is the Premier League – and therefore could continue to be a key asset to have at the club.

Besides this, the appointment of Martin Semmens as CEO, who will lead the club on a day-to-day basis, is the only relatively unknown addition to the new board – though it is believed that he has been operating as the club’s vice chairman since Les Reed’s mentioned departure, as well increased his workload to fulfil Krueger’s role, after his exit from the club.

It will be a vital summer and pre-season for the club and a settled boardroom can only help to stabilise things at St Mary’s with Ralph Hasenhuttl preparing for the 2019/20 season.