Had a chat to a mate at the golf club yesterday who, via his company, is a significant club sponsor. He does not claim to be "in the know" or Jimenez's best mate or to have any special insight so this isn't one of those "I've heard from a good source so mark my words..." comments. However, the substance of it all is that he thinks we are in the brown stuff unless new investment is found. By that he means that there is a real fear within the powers that be that season ticket sales are going to be way down on current numbers and the recent spate of exiting loanees is simply to get the cash flow adjusted a bit. There is a very real threat of administration and if we find ourselves 15 points clear of relegation at any point soon then it could become a reality. For all our moans and groans on the playing front recently I was surprised to hear this. We are clearly under severe financial pressure as the numbers that are freely available via VOTV or banded about by those who profess to be "ITK" on other sites. But if my mate is right I'm surprised and concerned. Might all be piss and wind of course.
All the messages coming out of Charlton indicate financial problems and judging from the posts on 'ere we all accept that. You never know, The Doctor might be able to emulate Curbs, and achieve success on a shoestring budget. Our financial problems have hardly come out of the blue, which makes you wonder why we got the loanees in in the first place. Hollands for Frimpong, BWP for Hulse and Fox for Seaborne would have done. And Smith for Obika come to that.
I think it's common knowledge that we are strapped for cash- how badly is something I think a very select few know. The summer does concern me, but hopefully we can generate 5odd million in player sales (solly, hamer and maybe another?). If CP is given some of that then I have faith he'll get us back to being competitive. I still think there is a lot of 2+2 and getting 5.
Seaborne was dreadful, as is Karkar. It was not a surprise to see him head back to his club, especially as we had Cedric Evina and now Rhyos Wiggins who's back from injury. In terms of season ticket sales, from one of my previous posts, a common theme is that people are holding off renewing as the state of the economy, petrol, cost of living increasing, getting to and from games has increased significantly. If we were in massive financial trouble, Dale Stephens would have been sold to Villa for £2million, and would be advertising players where possible. I'm expecting to see fewer ST holders this season, but this will be linked to the economic state, rather than anything else, the main reason why we see poor away attendances. It's something that is affecting all clubs at this level.
I think Villa only offered something like £450,000 up front for Stephens, meaning we would have made very little (if any) profit on him. Agree that there are other things affecting peoples decisions to renew (i.e petrol prices, train prices, etc), but I think those things are only an issue when coupled with how poor performances have been this season. If we were playing brilliant football, and had some prospect of doing well next season, I don't think people would mind paying extra to get to games etc. The reality is that many people do not feel they are getting good value for their money (whether that be the cost of season tickets, train travel, petrol money, programmes/beer/hot-dogs etc).
I don't think it's BS. But without accounting training, I'm not confident in last season's accounts. I think there's been some 'creative' accounting, as I struggle to see how/why the club could have endured all the pain of two relegations (and associated redundancies) to follow up with a season where revenue only just covers the running costs, before any playing expenses come into it. I also note that on another forum it seems to be the same people talking of financial doom now as those who predicted in the summer that the club wouldn't complete this season. Also a strange overlap with those who think Powell is set to be sacked any minute (which doesn't seem to be a cheap option). Agree with WWOCB on 'value for money'. I think that's the deciding factor
If you mean our players going out on loan I cannot see that making much difference. The clubs they have gone to could not afford to make any significant contribution to their wages (Cambridge Utd? Wimbledon? Colchester?). I think that was just for sound footballing reasons. Brentford may chip in for BWP's wages but I would guess by no means all, and if he doesn't start to perform they may send him back. I remember at Christmas they had to return a borrowed player who was doing well and wanted to stay (slipped my mind who) because they could no longer afford to contribute to his wages (let alone pay all).
I heard Brentford have £1million pounds to spend on a striker and that's why they're doing so well....
If this is true, or even close to the truth, you have to wonder what our new owners (whoever they are) envisaged for the club. Last season we must have exceeded their expectations. This season we must have at least met them in the league (top half of the table, just), and crowds have held up remarkably well considering our awful home form and drab football. It could all have easily been so much worse. Not getting promoted last year or getting relegated this. In which case how much worse off would we be? I can only assume their plan was to whip the club into shape (and they have succeeded brilliantly) and sell it on at a profit. Is that any less likely to happen now? I know the world economy is struggling, but it is no worse off than was expected two years ago when they took over.
In truth it seems like we are in a bit of financial bother, but nothing more than that. I doubt a club with "administration fears" would sign Obika on loan in the past few weeks, be taking a look at players on trial (we offered a cash-fee for that player Carr who is now trialling with Liverpool), and be trying to get experienced players such as Gower in. If the 'Charlton Life' rumours of a similar nature, were true, given they go back to pre-season, we would hardly have forked out a 6 figure fee for Lawrie Wilson, £2/300k for Button (when we already have Hamer, Sullivan and Pope), nor would we have signed Fuller (when we could instead have signed DNG for a 5 figure fee and probably half Fuller's wages). In fact, given we were looking at Carr and a number of other youngsters, I do doubt the owners would wish to continue sticking money in, to invest in the future, if there was no money to spend.
I said that we are in financial trouble at the beginning of the Season.I am not ITK but I know a couple of people who are.Most people,on here, vilified Rick Everitt for his postings on CL about our financial position,I don't know Rick by the way.We had some deals lined up in the Summer and the money was pulled by KC.We are in the brown stuff and if new backers can't be found we will be even deeper in the brown stuff.This is not idle speculation,we can't carry on the way we are going.
A lot of what was said in the summer was exaggerated. We're in a poor financial situation, but tell me what clubs outside of the premiership aren't? I still believe administration talk is nonsense. We could see under the last few months of the Murray regime that it could be a possibility, but truth be told I don't see things as being that bad. I certainly haven't heard anything that makes me threat for our immediate future.
The bloke said that Charlton would not complete the season. End of story. What Mary and WWOCB say makes sense to me. I don't expect a promotion push next season, I hoped for 15th or better this season.
I didn't vilify him, I said he was a CL person, and wondered why one or two kept mentioning him on 'ere.
This is what i dont understand, how different are we performing to expectations anyway ? What could have been better right now today ? Top of the Championship by 12 points ? What has happened to be in financial trouble no more than we were when the new regime came in ?
There were stories circulating a few months ago that one of the investors had pulled out. That's all you've got to go on, rumour and second hand snippets.
I have absolutely no idea or inside track as to what is happening financially at the club. But I can tell you with an cast iron guarentee those pant sniffing, puddle jumping, planks over on Charlton Life don't either. This board has never let us down, in fact they have done fantastically. They are trying to destroy the club with vicious rumours, lies, and bollocks just so they can get to play in the boardroom again. They are pushing this club closer to ruin more than any board has ever done. This supporters trust and the voice of the valley are as pathetic as they are vile. Stay away, (Unless you have a train set, raging impetigo and clarks brogues)
Not quite sure how this turned into an assault on CL, easy though that might be at times. I tried to be clear in my initial post that this was not about all that stuff. It was simply passing on a conversation with an individual who has been a corporate sponsor of Charlton for a number of years and, like the rest of us, is anxious to see some sign that the progress that has undoubtedly been made in the last couple of years is both sustainable and a building block for further progress. Quite apart from all the bellyaching on CL, a number of us on this board, myself included, have been agonising about our season ticket renewals on the basis of vfm as much anything else. Despite the miracles that CP has performed this year in getting this squad to mid-ptable, I think we are pretty much agreed with Eddie that we are a couple of player sales away from being a train crash. If the finances dictate that Soilly, Wiggins, Hamer and Stephens are sold (we'd get two bob for anyone else) without that money being reinvested then next season will not be a spectacle that will have pepole flocking to renew at the higher prices. The conversation I had was not a "we're f****d" thing. It was a reasoned and sensible offering from someone who cares and probably understands just a little more than the average punter but not enough to be "ITK".
Interesting the concept of worrying about renewing season ticket .I have supported charlton for 45 years and sometimes buy a season ticket and sometimes dont.Either way I will miss 4 or 5 home games a season so money wise it works out about the same.The beauty of not having a season ticket is that when it is cold and they have been playing bad you dont feel duty bound to go.I think the problem with having a season ticket when they are playing bad you feel you have to go even if you dont want to .The downside is having to buy the ticket on the day or over the internet but the advantage is you can sit anywhere you like.Any stand and any tier dependent on your mood[quite time with thermos in west upper or lively in north upper with drums and all. The problem of course is that the club needs the season ticket money to fund the squad but ho hum
If they want new ST holders they need a new advertising strategy. The last one I remember (the 2nd season in League One) was literally a begging campaign. Whoever does their current communications is doing a poor job of it.
