The Trust is going to keep its beady eye on all aspects of the Network. The relatively easy bit is the football results, you can find the first of a weekly update on all the clubs
on the Trust website.
However we are also working on a comprehensive "hub" which will try to map out the commercial outlook at each club. We think that this is vital in order to understand better how the RD network functions, and thus what our place in it really is.
We realise this will only interest a minority. On the other hand, the minority are often very interested. If you have comments or tips, either on the footie side, or the commercial side, of these clubs' fortunes, we would love to hear from you, either here, on the Trust site, or direct to me.
Comments
Small matter of securing six or seven more points but think you know what I mean when there are 15(?) players out of contract this summer.
Standard still remains in the hands of Roland Duchâtelet ? Confidant Dudu Dahan (43 ) thinks so. And he should know , because the Israeli does almost all the players' transfers for Standard . Dahan light also been a glimpse of the future of the club
Dudu Dahan is one of the most important executives in Belgian football . The Israeli is known as a confidant of President Roland Standard Duchâtelet last summer and arranged all transfers of the club . It is he who Guy Luzon brought from Israel to Liege .
"Where I see Luzon end? Maybe I'm a dreamer, but I think Standard European summit can be . They have everything : a stable owner , the Academy , the facilities, the fans ... "
A stable owner , you say. Then it can not better sell Standard this summer.
" Duchâtelet holds an unbelievable amount of the club. If he wanted to sell the club it's because he was offended by the fans . He comes , investing money and time , attracts sponsors to his good name , and then the fans do not want him and attack him . So he starts asking himself in question.
But what about selling ?
"Even though Duchâtelet says he will sell the club, I do not see anyone stepping forward to do that . I do not think Duchâtelet will sell. He loves Standard to much to just leave the club in hands of unreliable buyers. Duchâtelet is a businessman , but Standard is more than a business for him. "
Mpoku(midfielder) said after his contract extension he had an ambitious Duchâtelet seen. What did he mean?
" Next season will be a better standardteam than now . I am aware of the preparation of the technical staff and i'm sure the fans will appreciate what direction it goes . "
Thanks for this article.
The Supporters' Trust is monitoring all the results of the RD network clubs. Can you recommend a Belgian results website which would usually give attendances for STVV games? So far, I have not found one. I did though find a site which listed attendances for the 12-13 season which showed STTV as the best supported team in the division. Why is this, do you think?
What do you think about Standard in the playoffs? As distant observers, we think they are faltering. What is the view in Belgium?
Maybe RD wants to replicate what Liege are doing with Charlton, maybe not though.
The Network watch is a great initiative as long as it is done even handedly .. The good and the bad and a context is given to the reports so we don't all overreact over one sentence or word miss spoken.
He has made some mistakes but he has also promised to invest in a new pitch and an expansion to the training ground (subject to approval). Those two items will cost quite a bit of money and also bear in mind that he paid for the dome to cover the pitch that cost £15k a week for a few weeks.
On the other hand, he sold Yann and didn't replace him with any real quality
I think the Trust needs to ask who is running the squad at CAFC for 2014/15.
Under company law it should be directors and employees of CAFC.
Simple loaded question
I imagine Reams was one of the commentators, given he's started an ITTV thread about your Googling skills (don't bother). Helpfully he's found you a link for STVV's attendances in 2012-13: go here and click 'attendance' above the table. STVV are first in the list, average attendance 5996, 49% of capacity.
The network is about enhancing liege ?
It is possible that he wants all his teams to work for each other
I did not make clear what i was asking for. Yes I already had googled the table that gave me the historic attendances (but thanks for the thought, Reams:-)) What I am after is a website which I would use to check results each week, but which usually gives attendances. For example Soccerway generally does not, in that division. Sometimes it is hit and miss and depends on the club. Last week I could not get the Ujpest attendance, this week I have it.
@NLA
The Trust is not monitoring results because we believe the network is about enhancing Liege. We do it because CAFC is now part of a business which has other clubs in it. So it's good to be informed about the other clubs' progress, and in time to monitor off field goings on, such as the tax affairs at Ujpest, because they could affect Charlton.
But as to your question about it being a matter of company law; surely if we are owned by Staprix, the person 'running' the squad need only be an employee of Staprix? Further, we are talking about an executive role, so isn't company law irrelevant to that role? (I am only asking, and think its an interesting question you have raised)
However, what could be more interesting is this: if STVV and Ujpest are not owned by Staprix (we believe they are not), would it be against company law if somebody from outside those clubs insists that one of their players is loaned to Charlton (frankly I doubt it. It would just be a case of the chairman - RD's son at Ujpest - leaning on the head coach. Happens all the time)
But yes the overall question of who makes these decisions in the network, is crucial, and we, the fans of CAFC, do have a right to know this, in our opinion; so we will make it our business to find out.
I believe each has its natural potential. I think it unlikely that RD sees CZJ as future Bundasliga participants any more than he sees CAFC as Premier League title hopefuls.
Can anyone on here seriously see how Charlton can be of any tangible help to SL anytime soon ? For that to happen he has to make us thrive and a thriving Charlton within touching distance of promotion to the money pot might just make any businessman reappraise his priorities.
Let's get to safety this term and see what happens over the summer. I think it will answer a lot of questions.
On a lighter note, i can see , instead of Marbella and Gibraltar, our pre season friendlies being SL, Ujpest and CZJ this coming season, with the players being 'put up' in boot camp style accomodation.
@pragueaddick are you publishing the monitoring on a website? Whats the average gate for Liege? Do we know what their admission prices are?
Our plan is to extend this monitoring beyond just the footie results, but gathering the data is a shed load of work as I have discovered. But it would be a good idea to, among other things, detail the admission prices. That is easy enough to get.
The really elusive data is that of the TV deals in each country. In the case of Ujpest we believe there is a new deal which could be worth maybe £3m annually, which would make them already profitable, but that figure is so far anecdotal.
Edit. Bigger below (nudge nudge)
I'm guessing they realise that now, so their advisor needs asking what he was doing, he's obviously not up to the job. If you run a business, would you trust an advisor who gave bad advice the last time around? In old fashioned terms, you would need a new chief scout.