Southampton’s minority shareholder, Katharina Liebherr, recently disclosed a unique connection with Ralph Hasenhuttl that transcended the realm of football. This was evident when Hasenhuttl attended her wedding.
Hasenhuttl had been dismissed by Southampton due to a lackluster start to the previous season, leaving him without a job since. Southampton’s decision to replace him with Nathan Jones did not yield the desired results, with some fans regretting the move after the club was relegated.
Although Liebherr is now a minority shareholder at Southampton, she played a significant role in the appointment of Hasenhuttl as the manager in 2018. She confessed that her first encounter with the Austrian left a lasting impression, making it clear that he was the ideal choice for the Southampton manager role. She was struck by his fervor, passion, and commitment to developing young players.
Liebherr also disclosed that her connection with Hasenhuttl extended beyond their professional association. She told Swiss daily Blick, “When I met him, I knew very quickly: this is our coach. His fire, his passion, how he sees football and how he wanted to use our players, also our youngsters. And that’s sometimes with coaches somehow…I’ve experienced it differently, let’s put it that way. Everything fitted. And from that, a friendship developed that went beyond football.”
Liebherr expressed her happiness that Hasenhuttl attended her wedding, even after Southampton had parted ways with him. She acknowledged that she would have understood if he had chosen not to attend given the circumstances, but she appreciated his personal decision to be present at the ceremony in Zurich, saying, “Yes, it makes me happy. It shows that we did something right, we try to use the people at our club according to their strengths and give them freedom and trust. He didn’t have to come after all that’s happened. He wanted to.”
The future of Hasenhuttl’s coaching career remains uncertain, as it is unclear which club he will join next. He had previously managed RB Leipzig in Germany before his tenure at Southampton.
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