I think I'm right in saying that every season since Curbs left we've made a substantial loss. What factors made it possible to run at a profit before? We had a productive Academy run by the highly respected John Cartwright, and a manager who knew how to bring young players on. We also had a small squad, but everyone could play their part, sometimes playing in more than one position, minimising the need for loanees. We were able to buy good players cheap, because our manager could see what players like Kins and Robbo would bring to the team. There was also an excellent working relationship between manager and chairman, in fact Murray said that sometimes Curbs treated the club's money like his own. Anything else? How many of these factors apply now? So, my question is, can we get back to running at a profit?
we may do eventually. FFP will come into effect and salaries on a whole will take a nose dive. reliance on academy players will become more the norm for most clubs and the clubs will then get some of the bargaining power back. they will no longer be held ransom by average players
What always surprised me in the early years of our demise from the Prem was that the club was always very stringent when paying out transfer fees. Even when we sold Scott Parker for £10m I do not remember much more than that being spent the following transfer window on the likes of Jeffers, Murphy, Rommedahl etc. Then once Curbs goes, Dowie is afforded substantial funds to bring in likes of Reid, Bougherra, Faye, Tarore, Piggybank out of whom I would only consider Reid a successful signing. Then once more, under Pardew following relegation, millions is wasted in bringing players like McCarthy, Moutouakil and more noteably Varney and McCleod to the club. Admittedly, this would have come out of the Darren Bent money. I think what initially really crippled us was that there were a number of players whose contracts did not have 'relegation wage drop' clauses upon our drop out of the top flight. I read reported at the time we were still paying Darren Ambrose £20k+ a week the season we were relegated to League One! Looking forward, I think unfortunately we found ourselves outside of the riches of the premier league when the global financial crisis hit, meaning without owners with deep pockets we like many others would and will moving forward have to cut our cloth accordingly. It is good that we now have an owner who it would appear is going to invest but not to the point where he is just throwing money at the club chasing the pot of gold. Of course the best chance the club stands of runnnig at a profit is success on the pitch, this in turn will lead to an upturn in attendances, hospitality, club shop etc (although not as impoprtant now the shop has been out-sourced). However any success/growth should be measured, gradual and built on solid foundations.
With all this rain??? Can't se it going ahead, in fact it may be called off already but the Club will not tell us until an hour AFTER the KO should have been.
Sky PL cash, but if it all gets dished out to agents/players it won't go far... How many successful clubs actually make a profit..?
The only way will be getting promoted. If we do, then hopefully Murray will learn from past mistakes and not see us fall to another precarious position. Though I don't think Roland is the kind of guy to go on a massive splurge should a miracle happen.
It is no exaggeration to say that the collapse in Charlton's fortunes in recent years was down to one man....Simon Jordan. Murray was so determined to shaft him ("enjoy the Championship you tosser") that he lost all sense of reason and not only appointed Dowie and his brother , but let him loose with the cheque book, frittering away all of the hard work & money that Curbs had accrued. Impossible to say if we will ever turn a profit again, very unlikely I would have thought given the age of our infrastructure & the decline in our fan base. Geniuses like Curbs only come along once in a blue moon.
I must say I'm firmly of the view that someday somehow, dunno when, dunno where (should have been a songwriter) that the bubble will burst very messily and football will return to sanity in some way. Unlikely at the moment with the number of Kazillionaires ready to waste their money on a hobby. At some point surely the obscenity of it all will just burst the bubble. Anyhow, as I wait expectantly for the footy equivalent of Armageddon, can we ever break even in the meantime? Unlikely at the moment as I suspect Roland or any other owner has not simply wiped out any debts but rather has structured them in such a way that we now owe him. Prudent management, a stadium move/some form of redevelopment of the Valley to bring in alternative revenue whether or not we are still there in a playing sense could come through in the next few years. I think wages etc will generally taper down outside the obscenity that is the PL so prudent management, ethical practices etc will be more possible even if they are a bit unlikely. I've never quite understood how we got so skint so quickly. We were the model of a prudently run club, had two (three?0 years parachute payments and sold the likes of Bent and Young for a lot of dosh. I know we pissed several fortunes up the proverbial tree with Pardew and Dowie but I still fail to see how we got quite so pot-less in the course of about four years. Probably best that we never know........
How we got from prudent model club to pot-less has baffled me... Doesn't make sense when factoring in those big player sales after relegation... Were the wages still that demanding..? Lot's of player turnover under Pardew, but even under him sales far out did purchases... Was the majority of cash really wasted on player wages..? I've never been convinced. Vol your right, there is no question in my mind that Murray's ego run away with him around this time, even to the point of going to press and wanting to take some of the credit for Curbs success... The appointment of Dowie only ever looked like an exercise in pissing off Jordan, but it backfired big time... His biggest mistake was he only started to look for investment when it was too late... I'm gutted he's still involved, and I'm sure I'm not alone, but that won't bother his many sycophantic followers, especially those that enjoy picking up their bit of inside info at The Valley car park...
Valid points about the post-Curbs era, and the way Richard Murray "snapped up" Dowie before he could make it home to his family. But to the present- can we compete in this division against the money clubs? It depends on whether V-a-v is right about managers like Curbs only coming once in a blue moon. I watched the U-21's a lot when Nathan Jones was in charge of them, and certainly have him marked down as an exceptional manager-to-be. He had an amazing grasp of how to mould a team which played to the strengths of the players, who often had to be rotated. I think it's possible he could be tempted to return if offered the post of manager.
