I will say thanks to Jiminez and Slater, as while they never piled in the cash most of us wanted them to, they DID steady the ship a bit, take us out of league one, and by all accounts keep putting money in as the debts piled up. I'm sorry the Yanks pulled out, and the impression I stay with is that our directors set the Price way too high, but we'll move on, and if we're parting the ways, Thank You seems a fair reaction.
By no means done and dusted though. Unless I missed something here! I'll put my hopes back on 'simmer'.
But whether it was the American or this guy, we can only spend a % of our turnover(?) is it due to FFP? I know there are ways around it, but thats more true for Premiership clubs than the lower leagues (sponsorship loopholes etc).
Yup I agree in a way... They did rescue us at the time (remember when we had people like Bally Smart playing on non-Contract terms, i.e. not disrespect but thats a Conf. South sort of signing) and they did help to get us out of League One by splashing the cash when required... Unfortunately they couldnt stump up the cash to make us competitive enough in the Championship (possibly due to FFP?) So for partly what they've done... Thank You
The word is he will change our colours to all chocolate and the club name to Charlton Valiants. with the juniors to be known as Charlton Sprouts. I am glad the new owner is European rather than Asian or American and not a flagrant embezzler or war criminal for a change, but I was hoping for something on a bigger scale. I have always said that Charlton is a prime target for takeover: --- relatively small debt --- "natural" catchment area of over one million with more added if a really successful club --- very good youth set-up --- modern stadium with 27,000 capacity, wholly owned, and freehold training ground --- prestigious community and charitable programs (advantageous for a foreigner trying to get a foothold, and maybe citizenship, in this country) But the new rules don't allow owners to pour in money, anyway, so I will be more than happy with steady progress. Someone posted that he "only" put in two million odd for new players at Standard. That amount well spent on our team could put us in a play-off spot next season. As for this season, a couple of quarter million players added should see us half-way up the table.
A message from a Liege fan on our Facebook page: HI EVERY ONE I AM FROM BELGUIM FROM YOU DESEREVE TO NOW !!! THIS MAN "DUCHATELET" IS EVERETHING EXCEPT A MAN WITH GOOD INTENTIONS !!! LOOK WHAT WE DID THIS SUMMER AGAINST HIM IN STANDARD DE LIEGE !!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsLZNESkaSc HE WILL DESTROY YOUR CLUB AND AT THE END YOU WILL HAVE ONLY MORE PROBLEMS THAN BEFORE TRUST ME !!!! ULTRAS INFERNO! I'm impressed with the English.
I would put Gliksten & Murray in the same category, as both ultimately proved to be disasters for CAFC. Hopefully the Belgian will pay Murray off and remove, once and for all, his chaotic influence on the Club.
Did you miss the report that fans were furious with his policy of selling the clubâs best players..? Sums up Gliksten & Murray perfectly..? if you need to ask who the "ambitious fans" are, you could start by looking at the thousand of empty seats at The Valley... A football club is not just a business... Not all of us care for stagnation & survival, some of us want to see direction that feels it could lead to success, a plan that offers hope...
Rather this happen then not, thats my prominent first thought. I want to see january being our turning point now... surely some players will be brought in.
Spot on... Sadly Vol, Many fans first thoughts are that they offer Murray a role at the club, then offer Airman his job back...
Is hard to know what exactly went on at Standard Leige, but if he bought the club for 35 Million, sold the best players, pocketed 20 million (is that normal?) and this year they are on the top of the table courtesy of his selection of coach, sounds like success to me.
lets just enjoy the news. if he does sell top assets then that's fine by me as long as he keeps us steady - which he looks like he does do to his clubs. we need to get out of the rut of losing money every month somehow, then when we're profitable we can build on it. it's good news! we wont be (as) skint anymore
Who on earth is Roland Duchâtelet ? Find out in this brilliantly researched and expertly authored article (ok, it's basically cobbled together from his wikipedia page plus some Google translated articles). www.castrust.org/2013/12/famous-belgium-latest-name-charlton-take-saga/
I'm with this too! Let's hope for some new faces in january and a few contracts renewed. Airman Brown can always send in a CV.
Gliksten-ruined Charlton without bringing anything to the party. Richard Murray presided over the best Charlton era of my lifetime and while I don't venerate him and think mistakes he made, with others ultimately lead to our demise, we should remember how much of his own time, and money went into the club. This Belgium fella seems to have upset a reactionary bunch of fans who style themselves as ultras, wear black, let of flares and smoke and take pride in their approach, making videos of themselves, remind you of anybody? He also seems to have remained resolute, treated the club as a business and under his stewardship they have risen to the top of the Belgium league. Still not sure what an ambitious fan is, if you mean they go to every match wanting a win, that's me, if you mean they expect instant and unrealistic success and will scream for the head of the manager and to sack the board, and boo a team off that's drawing at half time, then they were a substantial part of the previous malaise and could be again. Football is not just a business to you or me, but to the current owners, Zabeel, Josh Harris, and Roland Duchatelet, it is. To some extent we need to let them get on with the business, remind them that it's more to us if we need to, but let them get on with it. Your problem with Murray is as a result of decisions he made because he behaved as a fan not a businessman. The people who would have him and Slick Rick back are those who argue football is not a business and will put businesses off investing. Let's give our new owner, if that is what Roland Duchatelet becomes, a chance, and for more than half a season, let them run the football business and we'll bring the "more".
"Unusually this story has also featured on the Official Charlton site, which would seem to give it some weight." Or The Official Site is OK at communication when the story isn't made up!
Just had a look around some other forums/twitter/Facebook - love the way they're as so many people ITK in the last few hours
I've been on CL too looking for information. The only hard fact I can find is that - suprise suprise - the Daily Malice jumped the gun, and this deal IS'NT signed and sealed yet. There are rumours of other interested parties, and various other bits and bobs, but the fact is no one really appears to know too much at the momento, and the Mail is a S**t* newspaper that probably could'nt predict which month Christmas will fall in next year. My hope is there will be an announcement before tomorrows match, but hope is all it is.
