Watford proved it can work if football people are in charge. Don't particularly want to be part of a network, but anything is better than Roland, I think/hope.
But when RD took over, whilst there was scepticism of how the network would.. work, there were a lot of people willing to give it a go. As a site, I think we were the first to cotton on to the lack of success he had as an owner elsewhere, and think our early opinions have been vindicated. What I see from Red Bull is they can show being a part of a european network can.. work. Two different kettles of fish IMO.
I don't know what I think is worse: - Being owned by a Belgian dickhead (don't need to go into details here) - Being owned by a company that produces a god awful tasting drink that's super unhealthy for you, that'll rebrand the club and everything about it thus losing all identity that was once Charlton and become a bigger Franchise FC than MK Dons? That's like the choice of falling into ****, or falling head first into ****! Whilst Red Bull have success in all sports that they participate in, I'm not sure that I'm willing to trade all of our traditions. Obviously, Roland is going to quote £75million to them. They can afford it and he's thinking "RESULT!" I'd rather have a modest, poorer owner, than any of these pricks.
at the moment, i'd take anything over roland. i'd rather us be in league 2 with a nobody as owner with no money. anything but this..
Doesn't Charlton's annual financial report come out in March? I'm guessing that it will be further bad news, and will weaken Roland's negotiating position. For quite a while now the club has bandied around the "fact" that Roland is putting £1m a month into the club, which if true is probably increasing. It's hard to accept the rumour that his asking price is £75m, in fact you'd think he must be desperate to offload such a failing business. And then the season ends, and the income dries up, no Gomez or Lookman to sell, as C O'L will be advising him, you'd expect him to want rid before that. He has tacitly admitted that his original plan has failed, so from now it can only be pride that keeps him clinging on, and as he sees the losses mount, he will see the writing on the wall. Just a case of when, and we might have to be patient.
I think after relegation to Leauge One (to which he's blamed every other club for not adhering to the FPP rules for that) he's realised that he only has one option to "sell." It's obvious he's playing hardball to make sure he gets the best possible price.
I would have thought the fact he is putting in 1m a month might appear on the books. Most potential buyers would want to look at the financial history of the club they are buying, and an ítem like a 1m a month defecit would show up large. 75m (I use this purely as it is a quoted figure here and there) is a whopping amount for what is financially a failing business. For a lot of 'simple' millionaires, it is immediately a no-go. It needs a big big money operation to turn the tide. If nothing else, it shows the club needs changing radically, and where that leads us, god knows. There is a theory that getting us back to the championship this term would make us more appealing, but the SMT's usual cack handed transfer policy mean that stability in league 1 while haemoraging money are much, much more likely. To be blunt, Roland has made millions in electronics, I asume by employing sensibly and promoting intelligently. In football, he has thrown that out of the window will predictably awfull results. Those who claim he has seen the light are deluded thus far - Slade had a CV that said loud and clear what he would do here, and he complied. The delusion sung repeatedly by the blind loyalists that Roland is the only one out there is thankfully clearly not true - there are potential buyers. Roland could cut his losses now, and get out of a situation he will never understand. If he want's to play hard ball over the sale of a financially crumbling club, he may find market rules telling him there are other clubs available and the buyers have better options. He could negotiate sensibly and try to salvage some money and invest in St. Truiden. Or he could hang about like a rotten corpse stinking the place out with his bloody minded stubborness to forge ahead, and lose much more. I know what I would suggest, and I also know how much attention he pays to what he clearly regards as unimportant people. A return to the championship is important, and with the money floating around the club (Lookman and Fox), it could be done. But almost certainly not by Duchatalet and Meire. It's an ego trip for one, and a once in a lifetime important job in the spotlight for the other, and their inabilities seem to make them determined to cling on, and sink the ship.
Messrs. Murray and Meire told CAST that he was putting in £1m a month. That could be legalese for spending £1m a month, just forgetting to mention what he takes out.
For all takeover updates please visit intothevalley as Reams seems very ITK. All the men he didn't speak to before Millwall gave him some good info.
Apparently we made a loss of £3.78mil in 2014/15, so Duchatelet was "putting in" £300,000 a month essentially. I assume this is the thinking behind Duchatelet putting in £1million a month. Maybe relegation and the subsequent reduction in solidarity payments/match day revenue really were that significant, but a loss of £12mil a season sounds a bit much to me. Especially considering the amount of transfer revenue we've generated this season. A general estimate suggests we've brought in close to £11mil before add-ons. I can see Charlton making a pre-tax profit this year, I guess it depends if the loss of revenue from relegation outweighs the ridiculous amount of players sold.
Interesting feature on the left-wing BBC's 5 O'clock radio 4 news program. Much discontent in Germany over RB Leipzig's rise. Fans feel the club has been turned into a giant advertising hording for Red Bull. If they do buy us out prepare yourself for on-field success, but the end of our identity. The stadium is packed out for tonights derby match. There would be mixed feelings for me. It would be lovely to thrash Palace, but RB Charlton?Not really.
God I hope this is one of the times where he is right. Like telling us how many we were taking to Doncaster away.
