‘…The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress…’ Charles Kettering
Or in the case of Charlton Athletic, a split supporter base! If we look back over time, our most successful periods have been when we’ve gone through significant periods of change. I’ve been following Charlton since 1965 and in my lifetime I’ve seen managers come and go, relegations, financial disasters but Charlton have always been in my heart. There may have been ups and downs but we’ve come through them.
When we were going through our darkest hours back in the 80’s and on the brink of extinction, we didn’t have a pot to pee in. Nobody was interested in us despite our history and, according to Martin Samuel, the eighth highest attendance recorded in English football. In fact, the headline on the back of the Evening Standard as we were about to enter court was ‘let them die’. But we didn’t die and we lived to fight another day. Our saviour on the footballing side was ‘Lennie Who?’ Of course it was Lennie Lawrence who nobody had ever heard of. I knew him as a teacher at Malory school and he used to run the district football team. But look at masterstroke that turned out to be even if it was more by luck than judgement.
Lennie passes on the baton to Curbishley (and Gritt) and the rest is history. We have one of the most productive periods that I think I’ll ever see in my lifetime. All of this against a backdrop of adversity, uncertainty and change – Financial problems, battles with the Council and getting back to the Valley. When Curbs decides he’s had enough, I believe the biggest problem was that Richard Murray didn’t review his footballing strategy. Instead, he blindly went and appointed Dowie just to pee off Simon Jordan. Murray needed to change and he didn’t and we just lurched from one crisis to another until we’re on the point of meltdown.
So, along come TJ and Slater on their white chargers… They put some money into the club and it’s all change - A new manager and a new team – Everyone’s happy. We get our Charlton back if only for two seasons. But things turn sour. Rumours of an investor pulling the plug surface and we’re faced with lack of investment in the team and lack of investment in the club. We’re back to square one…
So along comes Roland on his trusty steed and yet again, it’s all change. The only difference is that he’s got a vision. His vision, by and large, is that a number of football clubs in different countries can work together to achieve synergy, create value and efficiencies in order to meet financial fair play rules (I made that bit up but it’s largely correct, IMO). However, he needs the Charlton management team to buy into his vision. Judging by what’s been said on the OS, Chris Powell, rightly or wrongly, didn’t buy into the vision and that's the reason he’s gone. Roland has appointed Jose Riga because clearly he’s Roland’s man to drive the vision forward. We move on…The king is dead, long live the king.
So I say to my fellow Charlton supporters, change is neither sought nor welcomed. It is disruptive and obtrusive and upsets the balance. But in order for us to move forward as a football club we need to embrace this change and see where it takes us. I personally don’t see us being a feeder club for Standard Liege. I see them providing us with the best of its players from its youth set up once we’re back in the Premier League. They can have our squad players.
It’s a new dawn and a new day. We have an uphill struggle to stay in this league BUT WE CAN DO IT. Just believe. Our season starts tonight so you know what you’ve got to do YOU’VE GOT TO MAKE SOME NOISE AND GET BEHIND THE BOYS…C’MON YOU REDS
As someone posted on the Sheffield United song list thread…
You fill up my senses
Like a magnum of Champagne
Like a box of Havana’s
Like a steak meal well done
Like a night up the West End
Like the night bus to Plumstead
Like CHARLTON ATHLETIC
Come fill me again
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Comments
'I see them providing us with the best of its players from its youth set up once we’re back in the Premier League. They can have our squad players.' LOL!!! We won't be getting into the Premier League, we are being weakened as we go on. We are a selling club and Roland has stated it, he will sell the best players and back we drop.
It's a nice attempt to stick a positive spin on things but most fans cannot agree, we support OUR club but it's not OUR club any more... we will be paying to watch an alien club play football at The Valley.
100% support.
and if we beat Millwall....
Support the team. Cheer for the team. Accept the change then you may be glad that you can say "i told you so" to all those who gave up if this comes good.
The future may well be bright for us, it may well not be so bright.
The point that @Valley McMoist is trying to make is that we're just starting on a new chapter, on a new journey under new stewardship just as we have done every time the management or owner has changed.
It's not always panned out, but to stick with the approach we've previously followed is not an option. It's not been working for a long time and perhaps, just perhaps, RD does have the answer. However if it was down to you and the other naysayers we'd never find out and we'd likely end up yo-yoing between the Champ and L1 ad infinitum.
I'm not happy to stick with the devil we know if that's the future it offers.
I'm livid that Powell has been sacked, because, aside from holding a deep personal loyalty to him, I think it was a poor footballing decision. I felt he was becoming a quality manager, who had been dealt an appalling hand; I'm afraid I just don't understand the criticisms of tactical ineptitude. I think he deserved both more time, and more resources, as both an person and (perhaps more importantly) a professional.
But, that's all subjective, and - as should go without saying - I don't expect my opinion on something I have no qualification to talk about, to change anyone's mind.
This network though, I think is a more objective concern. I can't see there being any possibility of us becoming a feeder side for Standard Liege; they can't force young players to move to Belgium, and apart from the possibility of playing in the Champions League groups stage, Liege don't offer much prima facie. But at the same time, I can't see them - or indeed any of the other network clubs - becoming our feeder teams. Placing faith in the fact that we can offer a huge cash injection upon reaching the Premiership, is not necessarily the way Duchatelet may been bargaining on getting his returns.
Specifically, it's this drive to "achieve synergy, create value and efficiencies" that frightens me. He certainly hasn't spent money on us to asset strip us, or run us into the ground, but I feel it's unwarranted to look at us as a closed example of his investment. Really, he's concerned about turning a profit overall, which means that shipping players around to maximise their value is a real possibility; one that's been made concrete, in fact, if the reports that he ordered Thuram to be played are indeed true.
My central concern is that we're being treated like any transnational, in that our playing-resources are just flexible capital to be reallocated accordingly.
Getting rid of Powell ripped a bit of Charlton away for me, but the idea that we might never be able to see a team with that kind of Charlton spirit, is what really frightens me.
I think our like/love for Powell skews things somewhat at the moment. I am sure he deserved better, but ultimately so did we and the football we played under Powell (and I am including the League 1 title season) was for the most part pretty dull. If he was not so universally popular with fans (not just of Charlton) I doubt he would have been here as long as he has this season.
We shall see how things develop over the next season or three and be they for good or ill they will inevitably be interesting. I think it is currently too early to talk of protest or boycott, but I will man the barricades with you if things go badly. I think the summer and our players movements will show the clear direction the club is moving regardless of what happens this season.
I'm prepared to see how this plays out. But I do think it's important to ask ourselves some serious questions about the network model beyond whether or not it could improve performances/results. There's more to a football club than that. What is RD's ultimate goal? Where is Charlton's place in it? What cost will any success come with? Are we comfortable with all this?
These and others are all vital questions that go beyond Yann, Powell, Riga or results IMO.
To both though dont wait too long to assess or to act. And dont attack each other and let RM and RD divide and rule
The key thing now is for RD to be encouraged to communicate more his vision and executional plan, and I think we may see some development in that area soon.
(I am of course aware he might not ever spend any money at all henceforth, but it is far too early to know just yet.)
Hashtagpatronised.
We all occupy slightly different positions on the Charlton loving spectrum, and those positions are subject to change according to events. My views may seem childish to many, but I am sincere about them, and to that end I don't want to dig out fellow Charlton supporters equally sincere but are in a different space to me right now.
As I said in a previous article (the China Syndrome) change is both opportunity and risk.
Leaving the Valley was change as was going back. Appointing Powell was change and so is sacking him.
We still don't have RDs own version of his vision.
One day maybe he will set it out clearly and without vague allusions but until then we have to guess.
Personally I don't agree that we are a feeder club but then it isn't clear what we are or what Roland wants.
Meanwhile the Club remains and it will stand just as long as we fans stand. Old young, new, born or adopted, we are the Club.
I think he does have a plan, and I am interested to see what it is... but a bit more openness would not go amiss at all. (And that does not mean KM or Richard Murray spouting platitudes, that means facts, and it means evidence.)