My reasoned counter argument starts with two ugly facts Captain. 1. We are in the bottom 3 with a woeful 24 points. 2. We have won 5 league games all season using the tactics of the Hopeless One, which rather suggests that said tactics do not work. I long ago concluded that for some of our fans, relegation to League One is a price well worth paying so long as they continue to see six tunnel jumps a season.
If Roland turns out to be an asset-stripper pure and simple the future is bleak for our club, but it was bleak anyway. Starting next season in L! with a 15-point deduction was a distinct possibility, so if Roland turns out to be a vulture picking over the bones, think what vultures are attracted to. I think it's fair enough to remember where we were heading before, maybe I was more pessimistic than some about the previous situation, but I'll hold fire for a while yet, although the goalkeeping decision is not just a mistake, it's toxic.
What really irritates me is this "we were going down anyway mentality" Er No we weren't or at least I was more confident of staying up under Slater than I am with this cowboy. If press reports are to be believed 24 approaches were made for this club in the last 18 months, which kinda suggests Slats had a sellable asset and pisses all over the arguments that Slats and Jimi ran out of money. It also is untrue and without foundation that we were ever going into administration. In fact, I assume that source that leaked that libel was the same source that said the very same thing 18 months ago...... I am still waiting for the trust and the fans forums to publish the minutes of their meeting last week, I am sure they are livid our two best players are sold, a promising goalkeeper replaced by someone that has more flaps than Jordan and a French player who spent last year playing in an Hungarian league in front of a crowd of 150. This new guy will give us away to his son like he did with his others clubs, keeping the cherry for himself. My spider senses tell me we are a turkey that has being sold to Bernard Matthews...
According to Richard Murray's official spokesman Prague Addick on CL, there were 30 "bids" for Charlton after we were promoted from League One. 27 were from hucksters, Walter Mitty's or Millwall fans with too much time on their hands. Josh Harris never put his money on the table as the asking price was too high Koc pulled out "at the 59th min of the 23rd hour" And that leaves good old Hercule Poirot and his rag bag and bob tail army of European misfits (also known as 'our new players')
Typical> According to Slater only two offers were received, and the other was vetoed by the FA because those involved insisted on anonymity. I wasn't one to knock Slater + Jiminez as you know, but surely it's irrelevant whether we were better off under them- they wanted out and they got out. Sorry but I just can't picture them poring over the idiocy on CL and making their decision to leave on that basis. If they received 24 approaches (as opposed to offers) in 18 months that tells me they have letting it be known for that long that they wanted out. In their words they "felt it was time to pass on the baton", which seems an excellent euphimism to me, although I do realise that,like V-a-v, you are more of a hyperbole man yourself.
I was rather hoping that there were facts. Being something that can be seen or proved. One of the facts are that we never went into admin under Slats - nor do any papers get filed nor did they even contemplate administration. To even suggest that was the case is a mistruth and likely a libel. I also said approaches-not offers, carefully allowing debate on the subject. What I suggested in my post neatly side stepped is that CAFC were a sellable asset hence the interest, one must assume that the tyre kickers were overlooked and those that benefitted Slats and Jimi (and CAFC as the interest is mutual) were entertained. The club was looking up. Not as many would have you believe was this a panic sell. If its irrelevant if we were better off with them, than it was unfair for you to post about possible administration 15 points deductions and all that shat. As I said previously, I felt they were treated terribly by some of our more plastic fans. One should speak up for those that helped this club progress and factually under Slats we did.
So how does ruining us as a club fit in with his plan of making money, exactly? He hasn't made money on us so far... £14m investment, where exactly is he making that back in the current climate, and if we go down where does he make it back? He's a businessman, pure and simple. I doubt he's got much interest in the history of the club, but he's had previous success with clearing teams out and starting again with youth, not sure where the evidence is that he's not doing that here? Surely a 4 1/2 year contract to Wiggins is a sign of that? I thought Susan Boyle turned you down Certainly would not be happy with League One next season, and I have major reservations about RD's strategy, but you haven't explained how he's intending to make this quick money you're referring to. By all accounts we got zip for Alnwick, and I can't believe Kermit was more than 500k and Stephens £750k, which must have been a similar amount to what we spend on Polish Pete. So if we accept that he's spent £14m for the club and only sold assets of £500k... where is his quick buck coming from exactly? Still also don't get why backing a man that took us to a record points total, then 9th in the Championship is suddenly worthy of such vitriol. We've had a lousy pitch, a shocking number of injuries to our best players, others (Pritchard, Jackson) have clearly lost form, and no money for replacements... yes those are all convenient excuses, but they're also perfectly valid, especially the last one. What would you do exactly? Who's going to take over to create the VolauVent dream?
Typical> No I don't have facts, they are in short supply. It's fair to assume that S&J were fed up pumping money into Charlton, it goes back to what Mark Hulyer said, that owning a football club is like standing with your wallet upside-down over a drain. Don't you think it's more likely that they'd had enough of this than of a pro-Murray pro-Powell anti-S&J forum? How else could we stop losing money other than by taking the steps Roland has taken? I'd be far more upset by losing all my money than by a group of internet warriors who didn't like me. They were faced with 3 alternatives- 1-selling up 2-taking these drastic steps 3-administration. Can you think of any others?
If Roly thinks that selling your best assets, alienating your fans base, and dropping a division is a good way to stop losing money, then perhaps he is not the man that we fans want. FFS what are we a football club with ambition or a supermarket reducing our losses? There was a 4th option. Supporting the previous board hoping that they made good on their visions- some boards do actually appreciate that losing money is a given, but the fun of the gamble drives them on to spend more on better players and managers. Not our Roly then? in four weeks he has done more damage than Slats did in 2 years!
Well, to start with the asking price that Roly has to pay Slater & Jiminez falls by £4m if we get relegated this season. RD has certainly made a very promising start to saving himself that £4m hasn't he...indeed the cynic might suggest that the manifest bufoonery so far is an act of sabotage, so Laurel and Hardy like has it been... ... unless you think that Thuram is better than Alnwick , Astrix is better than Stephens, and the Ayatollah whatever his name is, is better than Yann. I don't. I have got this rather old fashioned, pre globalisation view of Charlton. I want us owned by local businessmen with bad comb overs & wearing sheep skin coats. I admit to having a problem in general with people like Duchatelet and their type, worming their way in to much loved local institutions like ours for reasons that have nothing to do with football. Stick to your own slimy country, mate. That may be an un PC view, but it is mine and I won't be changing it. The EU has been an unmitigated disaster for the UK in my opinion. We can't deport dangerous foreign criminals, every second shop now sells bratwurst and Polish sausage, and our plumbers are no longer called Bert, but Woijech. No thanks. You ask me sarcastically about the VolauVent dream for Charlton...here you go.... Curbs in the dug out Roger Alwen in the board room Garry Nelson in the opposition penalty box
don't panic Mr Vol. the home guard of warmington on sea will be here to protect you from those nasty europeans. I thought this was supposedely about football not a UKIP press briefing. Your dream needssimple psychoanalysis to identify that you live in the past and are afraid of the future. Yes the future may be scary and it may contain a belgian bogeyman but it sure as hell will not contain a local businessman in a sheepskin coat riding a whitecharger to save the club. Let us live in the 21st century and face the reality we find ourselves in. We do not have the resource to change it. As to the qualityof thuram vis a vis alnwick or polish pete v yann we are about to find out, but i won't pre judge any player.
I'd take Garry Nelson in a heartbeat and I'm not impressed by what I've seen of Thuram. I'm also gutted at the sale of Kermorgant. I get your view, and agree with bits of it, but we've had plenty of foreigners in who've made a very positive difference to the club and always prided ourselves on tolerance, and I like the look of Reza and hopefully the Polish kid. I'm totally not saying I'm happy with what's happened in the last 2 weeks, I'm not happy at all, but if there's a long-term strategy to build through youth, and there is some evidence to suggest that's the case, then at least it's a strategy I can understand. Alnwick was the biggest mistake of the transfer window in my opinion, as I thought Yann was incredible, but also we'd built a team that didn't know how to play without him. And the problem with the dream you've outlined is that in the money-obsessed world we can't go back to the vision you outline without some serious funding (not going to happen), going down to League One (hopefully not going to happen) or a long-term strategy... I'm hoping we're operating the latter. The beneficiaries I've seen so far are: Leyton Orient Bournemouth Poyet Lennon ... so there are 2 positives. All I'm arguing is it's too soon to tar RD with the 'evil foreigner' tag, until we see what's happening in the loan window and what happens in the summer. They obviously had some intent to fill at least one of the huge holes in the side with Gradel, and I'm pinning a bit on the Pole. If we're relegated, I may join in the barracking.
Given the players we have, compared with other teams, 24 points is not woeful, but par for the course IMO. Powell's tactics and team selections have at times been poor, but that is not the principal reason we are where we are. Of course I don't want relegation. To suggest I and others would welcome it if it meant keeping Powell is silly - we do not support him because of the tunnel jumps, or his record as a player, or the colour of his skin. We support him because he has done a good job as manager.
P.S. I would like to know a positive vision for an alternative... a practical one. P.P.S. also agree with Typical that Jiminez and Slater get a bad rep given what they did. I do think they ran out of money when Cash (or whoever) pulled out, so tried to sell up and ceased serious investment, but I don't quite get how that's their fault.
i still think we'll survive this year. you have to remember we have not had a home game for near enough 2 months. we're gonna have a few in a row at home now and with a completely different side i'd bet good money our crap home form voodoo has disappeared with all the players we've lost. we'll pick up on average more points now and the players will bed in. The weather will improve too, as will the valley pitch so we can play football again. dont get me wrong, i was furious after saturdays result, but having thought on it a bit i dont think all is as bad as seems. our new owner let us bid 1.5m for gradel, since when did we last bid that much for a player? i think if we survive this year we'll be pushing playoffs next year after a proper summer of strengthening and regrouping. we already have the bones of a good first 11 for next year - lb, rb, 2 strikers, good youth reinforcements for all positions. it aint a bad idea to let the aging players go, or the ones that have tried to leave actually leave. i hope CP is in charge - he deserves a proper crack at the championship with board backing, not one season of "lets see how your L1 team does" or one where our owners went broke and forced upon him a bare minimal squad.
they both have good reputations / pedigree. ones off to the world cup and the other was wanted by prem clubs in the summer. we have to give them a chance, just cos none of us know their names and they havent scored 20 goals on their debuts doesnt mean over time they'll be crap. i think they deserve a chance... there's 2 things we definitely know about them - they're cheaper than sodall and yann, and they'll likely match the goals them two have scored this season (which isnt hard).
