He seemed to get on with watt very well interesting to see if he stays now then we will really know that he has a say
Are we to believe that Roland has completely abandoned the philosophy he has adhered to rigidly for the last two and a half years? I can't see it. By the time the new season kicks off I expect that we will have a squad which will have most of us hoping for little more than L1 survival. Steve Brown and others speak well of Slade, but he's never worked for people like Roland and Katrien before, and they will be making the decisions on who is sold and for how much. He may well have more say on who comes in, but unless he has Curbs' genius for picking up a bargain he'll be looking at the bottom end of the market.
FHB - correct For every rough diamond in that part of the transfer market, there are also 99 lumps of coal. The boy from Huddersfield only played 22 times for them in 3 seasons.
Vincent Tan isn't a million miles away from RD - so Slade does have some experience in that sense. I also believe he had 6 months under Orients ''eccentric'' owner also. Then theres Barry Hearn.. I like him, but some of his practices were interesting to say the least. He seems to be an individual who is happy to ''get on with it''. I think he's a solid appointment, but again, it allllllllllllll depends on what support he is given.
Don't really don't know what to say. I read all of the snippets from the press conference. I think that I heard it all before, when we had Peeters, Luzon, Fraeye and Riga.
Bizarre that Murray, who said he would improve communications, chose today to shine the spotlight on himself. Like KM, he doesn't seem to see what has happened to Charlton in the last few years, or see his part in it as viewed from the rest of the ground. Like the rest of the circus, he's planning to stick with it. Bit like Sepp Blatter and his minions at FIFA, the blame is always tose who criticise. As for Slade, welcome I suppose. Cardiff fans have made their feelings very clear, but part of that seems to be that they aspire to not just winning but also playing good football. That must be a nice position to be in. Orient fans look a lot more kindly on his tenure, but with due respect to both clubs, Cardiff aspire to more, and with our owners, we are much more on the level of Leyton Orient. For us, we appear to be a position where we simply hope for the guy to buy reasonable players, and to have an idea of who to buy.We really need to bounce back at the first attempt, but that would be a tough call for a well run club. We are a lot nearer to the Blackpool model than many of us would have believed possible two years ago. And Katrien is still CEO. She hasn't learnt from the mistakes made at CAFC. She is one of them.
The Press Conference was going well until we had the football equivalent of somebody farting in a packed room - Slade confessing that he only had a verbal agreement on playing affairs. Wilder had asked for written assurances, don't forget. This tells me that the unemployed 55 year old journey man was keen to take the Charlton job, come what may. Also note his rather Meire-like comment that he would have a "huge say" in player sales/buys. A "huge say" is not the same as "the only say"
Slade's interview in the South London Press today do not inspire confidence. In fact, they sound remarkably similar to those made by his compliant predecessors For instance, when asked about his ideal squad size for next season, Right Said Fred replied: "Between 22 and 25 you've got to have. The important thing now is the role the younger players have to make up those numbers" Mmm...sounds strangely familiar ? In short - a small squad because Roland doesn't believe in paying players who won't play, with kids who are not ready thrown in.
We will end up with about 16-18 players with first team experience, that will include Diarra, Jackson, Solly, Johnson and Kashi who is coming off the back of a serious injury. Not only do we have players with poor injury records, we also seem to have an incredibly incompetent medical team. Next season could be a disaster, especially as we won't be able to make emergency loan signings.
Sounds like same old same old. Each manager when he comes in thinks he can succeed under Roland's terms where others have failed. Always ends the same way too. Early days yet, though, let's see how the squad takes shape.
