I'm glad that "the middle ground" view has been aired. Much of the polarised view is based on fear of the unknown or coloured by the departure of Chris Powell. Those showing an element of appreciation for what RD might be trying to achieve are forming that view in hope that the club will progress and relief that administration now seems almost impossible.
My humble opinion is that there is nothing to fear and there are already as many positives as negatives. We will all know a lot more at the start of next season. In the meantime we should just focus on the next three games.
I haven't read all posts but this was the first I jumped on. For me it is an appropriate view to take. I am pro RD for these reasons. He physically paid money to buy our club. I'm pretty sure the size and the value of investment equates to a desire to want it to succeed. If we stay up, apparently he'll have to pay an extra £4m. Again a financial commitment. He is likely going to have to spend money on the pitch in the summer, another outlay. He has given certain players new contracts like Wiggins and JJ. This seems to me that if the balance is right, ie they are good enough to improve the team, but not cripple us financially, he will stump up the cash. There has been a lot of rumour surrounding Kermorgant and the manner of his departure. I don't know what bits were true, but I am guessing RD thought it made commercial and footballing sense to let him go, trusting in his replacements.
As it turns out, none of them have lit the world alight, but then neither had any of the players Powell bought in in the summer have either. That may be a tad harsh on CP because he was getting what he could with little funds. The point I am making is that RD has backed us with one underlying fact running through his thought process 'FFP'
I am glad he is thinking this way. I think a lot of clubs are going to get a wake up call over the next few years, and having a successful businessman run a club in a sport that is basically a 'business' now, counts for a lot. You also have to factor in that aside from the upper echelons of the premiership, most clubs run at a loss. In the interim, I believe RD is plugging a £7m loss, because our revenues certainly don't cover player wages and outgoings etc.
He also talks of youth. People say Riga may head up our academy next season. I think he's done well and would like him to stay, but if he gets hold of those youngsters for a sustained period, then thumbs up from me. We all know the continent have produced better footballers technically for years. England, and its coaching is weak. If we could adopt a continental style of coaching and development, we could start to make major changes. I will also argue that he has said he wants to get the club on a footing where we don't have to sell young talent on the cheap.
People might say that we are likely to lose any stars to other clubs in the network. For me there are no other clubs in 'the network' apart from Standard Liege. Now if we lose a player to Liege because they are champions league, then the chances are we would've lost them anyway because they are above the level we play at. The fact that we get no money for them is bad, but it's his money anyway and has long as he is supporting us then that is all that matters.
The only negative thing I have heard is the 'demand' CP play his players prior to the Sheff Utd game. If that happened then that is poor, but I believe it may have been an isolated incident brought on through friction in his relationship with CP. Since then, the likes of Thuram' and Nego haven't had a look in. I haven't heard any rumblings or rumours that RD has demanded Riga play certain players. You may say because Riga is a puppet, but it is like any organisation. They have a relationship, RD and CP didn't. If Riga tells RD they aren't good enough, because of that trust, they don't play.
I'm not saying it was right of RD to question and scrutinise CP to that extent, but as with all organisations/teams, you trust those you have a relationship with. I am a massive CP fan, his record as manager was excellent, even up until this season under the circumstances of uncertainty. However, 6 wins in 30, Cousins, Pritchard on the right wing, Simon Church etc, wasn't working. I'm not being harsh on CP, but if he was still here, I don't believe we'd be in the position we are in now.
I get we are a very family, community and moral club. We aren't the type of club historically (certainly in my time) to chop and change and be in the spotlight. The whole sacking of a club legend is easy fodder for the Patrick Collins and tabloid/national paper football journalists about football losing its values. They write an easy article without knowing the deeper story.
I appreciate this is one sided, pro RD, and AKFA called for a meeting in the middle:) but I believe in progress. Getting behind the man who financially supports our club I believe, is how we can action progress.
Great that is the ideal way in modern football stadium. Got to have a grass pitch, if the run off areas are plastic that doesnt matter a jot.
@calydon_road artificial pitches are not allowed above Rymans League level.
Thanks. I didnt know that. I was aware they got banned sometime in the 90s I think. I thought the new hybrids were now allowed? I have read the spec now and its turf on the top.
In my eyes that pitch is still technically artificial but you could argue that all day long. Does anyone have the F.A. definition of "artificial" to hand perchance ?
It's perhaps slightly ironic that the seemingly prudent and sensible approach that RD wants to adopt is actually quite appealing, yet it is ultimately this that has resulted in Charlton Athletic, a club at least twice the size of AFC Bournemouth, not being able to compete with them in the transfer market for a highly effective player and fans favourite.
Although the supposed 800,000 on PP might suggest otherwise..............
Football fans bemoan the state of the game, the debt incurred by clubs that leads to uncertainty and in some cases closer of there beloved club. RD has a vision that this 'fools gold' way of running a football isn't the only way to do it. If would be nice of him to explain how he is wanting to change the way a football club is run without debt, as this incertainty surrounding his method does create this divide we are seeing within our clubs supporters, but at the end of the day it's his business and he calls it how and when he'll feels fit.
I'd rather be the club in the UK to be trying a new way of existing in modern football than lurching from money men to money men with that nagging feeling if the owners was ever pulled out due to debt, we wouldn't have our charlton.
Ultimately RD's plan can only really succeed if the rest of the teams play by the FFP rules, and I just cannot see that happening.
Even here in Oz where they have a Salary Cap in the Rugby League and AFL the clubs can normally find a way around the rules via 'third-party payments' (ie a local car dealer paying a player $200,000 PA to be their 'brand ambassador' and so on.
So, essentially, whilst I admire RDs plan I cannot help but think that we are going to be playing with one hand tied behind our backs by paying players sub 8k per week (and still losing 7 million per year) whilst other club pay 15-20k per week (losing probably 20 million + per year) but have a much better chance of striking gold.
As the estimable Airman Brown has pointed out repeatedly there is simply no way to breakeven in the Championship unless the playing staff budget is utterly slashed - and that means relegation.
The only way forward is for FFP to be properly enforced and clubs forced to live within their means but I just can't see that happening.
There are two ways I can see to break even in the Championship on say a five year cycle. One is to discover and sign up some real gems which you are then able to sell for say £5m and the other is to become a yo-yo club and spend one year in five in the Premier League thus gaining access to parachute money. We only have 8 months to wait to see how FFP will work in practice and whether any club will have sanctions applied... Like you Ormiston I have my doubts as to whether they will follow through.
AFKA, you have voiced an excellent demand for reason, and basically something that I don't possess, patience. It makes no sense to be, as you say, constantly arguing about who is right or wrong, when clearly no-one is going to win that argument right now.
The fact is that as a successful businessman, Roland will definitely have a forward plan for perhaps 5 years. I would love us to have some awareness of that plan, which would allow us all to measure progress. Any Business that sets off into the future without a plan, is in fact planning to fail. I keep harping on about the Academy, and developing our youngsters. We are currently seeing on the pitch the wisdom of such a strategy, for me the signs are very promising.
Morning, as regards the pitch, I believe it's all been signed off and ready to go. As far as I'm aware it's a fully grass pitch with fibre sand with 3G going around the edge (where the linesman run) & technical area. New drainage system & undersoil heating are going in.
There are two ways I can see to break even in the Championship on say a five year cycle. One is to discover and sign up some real gems which you are then able to sell for say £5m and the other is to become a yo-yo club and spend one year in five in the Premier League thus gaining access to parachute money. We only have 8 months to wait to see how FFP will work in practice and whether any club will have sanctions applied... Like you Ormiston I have my doubts as to whether they will follow through.
Fair point, but how many players have left the Championship for that kind of money recently? There may be a couple but generally speaking you are looking more in the 2 million bracket and lower.
The real issue there is that the PL clubs can scout globally (many are using the Africa-to-France route) so they don't have the same need for the "pyramid" system they had in the past.
Plus, top young players and their agents are so savvy now in signing only shorter deals so they can go for just compensation to a PL club - and take a fat signing on fee.
Lidivision. across Europe and Africa - we have no way of knowing yet what access CAFC will have to the Liege network until there is a statement and some activity over the summer. So far our young players like Cousins and Harriot have signed 3 year deals. Let's see what happens with Poyet, Fox and all the other names mentioned who have not yet played for the first team. I agree it is rare, perhaps once or twice a season across the whole division. And if CAFC regularly sells the best young players then surely prospects in the league are damaged?
as stated above their is a proposal document on the greenwich website but that website is awful (quelle bon surprise) and none of us can get a link to work to the relevant page. just go to planning search and enter "charlton athletic" that worked for me.
Whilst it may be a done deal from the CAFC side of things, planning consent is still required. The draft project plan amongst the documents on the above link has work starting on 19th May and finishing on 7th July. Hopefully this can go ahead as planned as any slippage will, I guess, have a knock-on effect on the start of the 2014/15 season.
There are detailed technical specs submitted with the application. Certainly make interesting reading if you're a bit of a geek like me. :-)
Whilst it may be a done deal from the CAFC side of things, planning consent is still required. The draft project plan amongst the documents on the above link has work starting on 19th May and finishing on 7th July. Hopefully this can go ahead as planned as any slippage will, I guess, have a knock-on effect on the start of the 2014/15 season.
There are detailed technical specs submitted with the application. Certainly make interesting reading if you're a bit of a geek like me. :-)
guilty as charged.
if RBG even try blocking/delaying an application for a football team to build a football pitch....mmmm they couldnt possibly could they?
I've always been in the "let's give it time" camp, with the huge qualifier that we must avoid relegation at all (reasonable) cost. So the concern around SCP/Yann/Stephens & inferior replacements is obviously justified, but doesn't for me mean that RD's broader vision is necessarily wrong (it is definitely unproven however). If we stay up - and we really ought to from our current position - then we effectively start again. (and hopefully RD has already learned some lessons)
I understand those who feel the heart & soul of the club have been ripped out. I don't feel so wounded, personally - the previous owners were hardly inspiring, and over a 40+ year period it's been hard to fall in love with owners/directors muchof the time. Actually the golden period of 1988 to about 2005 could be regarded as an exceptional period, one few clubs experience.
And even here, the reputation has been tarnished by subsequent events. Did those who disillusioned now feel OK about us chucking money at mercenaries like Marcus Bent? Did it feel like 'our' Charlton with him and Jimmy Floyd leading the line?
Then we have the issue of youth. Of course it's essential that our best young talent is on decent contracts. Any real stars amongst them will be sold - accept this. The question is how we use any funds. When Lee Bowyer was sold, that (I assume) meant we were under less pressure to sell Rufus, we bought Kinsella for a fraction of the money in, and laid foundations for promotion. That's the model we have to follow, at least in the short term.
If FFP is a sham, then maybe such prudence will never work. But i don't blame RD for trying to construct a model that is not reliant on obscenely rich people chucking their dubiously-obtained cash around...
if RBG even try blocking/delaying an application for a football team to build a football pitch....mmmm they couldnt possibly could they?
No need to be guilty in the slightest. Sorry if my posting implied that!
They could in theory block it, and a local resident could make waves, but I'd be surprised if there were any objections, as it's simply a replacement of the current pitch, albeit with the need for a plant room for the pumps and boiler for the undersoil heating and the irrigation system.
I'm a bit surprised that planning consent is required, but not being a surveyor or town planner I have no idea for the justification!
The specs are pretty damned good so we will have a really good pitch next season!
I've always been in the "let's give it time" camp, with the huge qualifier that we must avoid relegation at all (reasonable) cost. So the concern around SCP/Yann/Stephens & inferior replacements is obviously justified, but doesn't for me mean that RD's broader vision is necessarily wrong (it is definitely unproven however). If we stay up - and we really ought to from our current position - then we effectively start again. (and hopefully RD has already learned some lessons)
I understand those who feel the heart & soul of the club have been ripped out. I don't feel so wounded, personally - the previous owners were hardly inspiring, and over a 40+ year period it's been hard to fall in love with owners/directors muchof the time. Actually the golden period of 1988 to about 2005 could be regarded as an exceptional period, one few clubs experience.
And even here, the reputation has been tarnished by subsequent events. Did those who disillusioned now feel OK about us chucking money at mercenaries like Marcus Bent? Did it feel like 'our' Charlton with him and Jimmy Floyd leading the line?
Then we have the issue of youth. Of course it's essential that our best young talent is on decent contracts. Any real stars amongst them will be sold - accept this. The question is how we use any funds. When Lee Bowyer was sold, that (I assume) meant we were under less pressure to sell Rufus, we bought Kinsella for a fraction of the money in, and laid foundations for promotion. That's the model we have to follow, at least in the short term.
If FFP is a sham, then maybe such prudence will never work. But i don't blame RD for trying to construct a model that is not reliant on obscenely rich people chucking their dubiously-obtained cash around...
There are two ways I can see to break even in the Championship on say a five year cycle. One is to discover and sign up some real gems which you are then able to sell for say £5m and the other is to become a yo-yo club and spend one year in five in the Premier League thus gaining access to parachute money. We only have 8 months to wait to see how FFP will work in practice and whether any club will have sanctions applied... Like you Ormiston I have my doubts as to whether they will follow through.
In the medium to long term all the clubs will be able to break even if they all follow the FFP rules and offer players less money.
The Agents are only going to demand more and more money so those that are, realistically, never going to make it in the Premier League will have to accept a lot less money.
I think the number of clubs that believe that they can afford to bankroll their club for ever are so few that I think the rest will be able to force through FFP. If not then all those that are voting against it will need to be willing to dump c. £5m a year on excessive players wages, and I cant't see that happening for ever.
I've always been in the "let's give it time" camp, with the huge qualifier that we must avoid relegation at all (reasonable) cost. So the concern around SCP/Yann/Stephens & inferior replacements is obviously justified, but doesn't for me mean that RD's broader vision is necessarily wrong (it is definitely unproven however). If we stay up - and we really ought to from our current position - then we effectively start again. (and hopefully RD has already learned some lessons)
I understand those who feel the heart & soul of the club have been ripped out. I don't feel so wounded, personally - the previous owners were hardly inspiring, and over a 40+ year period it's been hard to fall in love with owners/directors muchof the time. Actually the golden period of 1988 to about 2005 could be regarded as an exceptional period, one few clubs experience.
And even here, the reputation has been tarnished by subsequent events. Did those who disillusioned now feel OK about us chucking money at mercenaries like Marcus Bent? Did it feel like 'our' Charlton with him and Jimmy Floyd leading the line?
Then we have the issue of youth. Of course it's essential that our best young talent is on decent contracts. Any real stars amongst them will be sold - accept this. The question is how we use any funds. When Lee Bowyer was sold, that (I assume) meant we were under less pressure to sell Rufus, we bought Kinsella for a fraction of the money in, and laid foundations for promotion. That's the model we have to follow, at least in the short term.
If FFP is a sham, then maybe such prudence will never work. But i don't blame RD for trying to construct a model that is not reliant on obscenely rich people chucking their dubiously-obtained cash around...
I was a fan of Chris Powell and used to refer to him as SCP. Along with Curbs and Mike Bailey he is one of my favourite Charlton managers. I also do not agree with the sacking of managers mid season. We now have a transfer window for players , I do not believe it is unreasonable for managers to have the same rules. Having said that,walking away from Bramall Lane I had the same feeling as I had 3 years earlier when Parky lost the televised game to Swindon. I felt that I had witnessed Powell's swansong. We were bottom of the league ( albeit because of a sequence of bad results the previous afternoon ) and out of the Cup. Something needed to change.
I was initially cynical about Riga. I thought he had been put in as a puppet for Duchalet. That Wednesday I was dreading turning on my BlackBerry in the Pub and seeing the team line up on the Charlton Life match thread . Once I saw Hamer was playing I breathed a sigh of relief. I felt Riga was picking his own team and that the rumours about SCP being forced to play Thuram-Ullien were probably inaccurate.
Since then I have felt that the excellent spirit within the camp which was a hall mark of Powell's 3 years in charge has been retained as evidenced last Monday when we pulled back the 2 goal deficit and also in my opinion the quality of football has improved under Riga.
My concerns about Duchalet were always short term. The sale of Kermorgant and Stephens undoubtedly weakened us for the relegation run in , as did the strange exit of Ben Alnwick .Ironically these events meant that Diego Poyet was promoted to the first team and has demonstrated what a great prospect he is. The one signing that no one has complained about is Astrit Ardarevic who although not fit his cameos have been excellent in my view with his 3 assists against QPR, Forest and Leeds and goal against Yeovil going a long way to harvesting us a valuable 8 extra points. I would love to see him stay.
Medium to long term I have always been filled with more optimism than I have for a number of seasons at this level and I hope that next season we will continue to see our academy youngsters come through with a sprinkling of astute older signings and be at least mid table but looking at the play offs and not over our shoulder.Clubs like Bolton and QPR (if they stay down) will need to off load some quality players and they will not be able to command the contracts going forward that they have historically enjoyed .We can take advantage of this.
The club doesn't need to wait for planning permission to do the work on the pitch. It's perfectly legal to proceed without it - even if it was a structure that is likely to affect others, which it isn't - in anticipation of the decision and almost impossible to see such an application being turned down. It makes no difference, legally, if the work has already been done by the time it is approved and it's likely to be approved by officers under delegated powers rather than at committee, I would think.
The club doesn't need to wait for planning permission to do the work on the pitch. It's perfectly legal to proceed without it - even if it was a structure that is likely to affect others, which it isn't - in anticipation of the decision and almost impossible to see such an application being turned down. It makes no difference, legally, if the work has already been done by the time it is approved and it's likely to be approved by officers under delegated powers rather than at committee, I would think.
But why is there a need for a submission, thats what I don't understand. Additional admin cost for both club and council.
The club doesn't need to wait for planning permission to do the work on the pitch. It's perfectly legal to proceed without it - even if it was a structure that is likely to affect others, which it isn't - in anticipation of the decision and almost impossible to see such an application being turned down. It makes no difference, legally, if the work has already been done by the time it is approved and it's likely to be approved by officers under delegated powers rather than at committee, I would think.
Thanks, Airman. I think it's almost impossible for it to be turned down although you could argue its a change of use to a pitch that actually allows football to be played.... :-)
Comments
As it turns out, none of them have lit the world alight, but then neither had any of the players Powell bought in in the summer have either. That may be a tad harsh on CP because he was getting what he could with little funds. The point I am making is that RD has backed us with one underlying fact running through his thought process 'FFP'
I am glad he is thinking this way. I think a lot of clubs are going to get a wake up call over the next few years, and having a successful businessman run a club in a sport that is basically a 'business' now, counts for a lot. You also have to factor in that aside from the upper echelons of the premiership, most clubs run at a loss. In the interim, I believe RD is plugging a £7m loss, because our revenues certainly don't cover player wages and outgoings etc.
He also talks of youth. People say Riga may head up our academy next season. I think he's done well and would like him to stay, but if he gets hold of those youngsters for a sustained period, then thumbs up from me. We all know the continent have produced better footballers technically for years. England, and its coaching is weak. If we could adopt a continental style of coaching and development, we could start to make major changes. I will also argue that he has said he wants to get the club on a footing where we don't have to sell young talent on the cheap.
People might say that we are likely to lose any stars to other clubs in the network. For me there are no other clubs in 'the network' apart from Standard Liege. Now if we lose a player to Liege because they are champions league, then the chances are we would've lost them anyway because they are above the level we play at. The fact that we get no money for them is bad, but it's his money anyway and has long as he is supporting us then that is all that matters.
The only negative thing I have heard is the 'demand' CP play his players prior to the Sheff Utd game. If that happened then that is poor, but I believe it may have been an isolated incident brought on through friction in his relationship with CP. Since then, the likes of Thuram' and Nego haven't had a look in. I haven't heard any rumblings or rumours that RD has demanded Riga play certain players. You may say because Riga is a puppet, but it is like any organisation. They have a relationship, RD and CP didn't. If Riga tells RD they aren't good enough, because of that trust, they don't play.
I'm not saying it was right of RD to question and scrutinise CP to that extent, but as with all organisations/teams, you trust those you have a relationship with. I am a massive CP fan, his record as manager was excellent, even up until this season under the circumstances of uncertainty. However, 6 wins in 30, Cousins, Pritchard on the right wing, Simon Church etc, wasn't working. I'm not being harsh on CP, but if he was still here, I don't believe we'd be in the position we are in now.
I get we are a very family, community and moral club. We aren't the type of club historically (certainly in my time) to chop and change and be in the spotlight. The whole sacking of a club legend is easy fodder for the Patrick Collins and tabloid/national paper football journalists about football losing its values. They write an easy article without knowing the deeper story.
I appreciate this is one sided, pro RD, and AKFA called for a meeting in the middle:) but I believe in progress. Getting behind the man who financially supports our club I believe, is how we can action progress.
Great that is the ideal way in modern football stadium. Got to have a grass pitch, if the run off areas are plastic that doesnt matter a jot.
I am unable to open the link.
@calydon_road artificial pitches are not allowed above Rymans League level.
In my eyes that pitch is still technically artificial but you could argue that all day long. Does anyone have the F.A. definition of "artificial" to hand perchance ?
Although the supposed 800,000 on PP might suggest otherwise..............
RD has a vision that this 'fools gold' way of running a football isn't the only way to do it.
If would be nice of him to explain how he is wanting to change the way a football club is run without debt, as this incertainty surrounding his method does create this divide we are seeing within our clubs supporters, but at the end of the day it's his business and he calls it how and when he'll feels fit.
I'd rather be the club in the UK to be trying a new way of existing in modern football than lurching from money men to money men with that nagging feeling if the owners was ever pulled out due to debt, we wouldn't have our charlton.
Even here in Oz where they have a Salary Cap in the Rugby League and AFL the clubs can normally find a way around the rules via 'third-party payments' (ie a local car dealer paying a player $200,000 PA to be their 'brand ambassador' and so on.
So, essentially, whilst I admire RDs plan I cannot help but think that we are going to be playing with one hand tied behind our backs by paying players sub 8k per week (and still losing 7 million per year) whilst other club pay 15-20k per week (losing probably 20 million + per year) but have a much better chance of striking gold.
As the estimable Airman Brown has pointed out repeatedly there is simply no way to breakeven in the Championship unless the playing staff budget is utterly slashed - and that means relegation.
The only way forward is for FFP to be properly enforced and clubs forced to live within their means but I just can't see that happening.
We only have 8 months to wait to see how FFP will work in practice and whether any club will have sanctions applied... Like you Ormiston I have my doubts as to whether they will follow through.
The fact is that as a successful businessman, Roland will definitely have a forward plan for perhaps 5 years. I would love us to have some awareness of that plan, which would allow us all to measure progress. Any Business that sets off into the future without a plan, is in fact planning to fail. I keep harping on about the Academy, and developing our youngsters. We are currently seeing on the pitch the wisdom of such a strategy, for me the signs are very promising.
The real issue there is that the PL clubs can scout globally (many are using the Africa-to-France route) so they don't have the same need for the "pyramid" system they had in the past.
Plus, top young players and their agents are so savvy now in signing only shorter deals so they can go for just compensation to a PL club - and take a fat signing on fee.
So far our young players like Cousins and Harriot have signed 3 year deals. Let's see what happens with Poyet, Fox and all the other names mentioned who have not yet played for the first team.
I agree it is rare, perhaps once or twice a season across the whole division. And if CAFC regularly sells the best young players then surely prospects in the league are damaged?
http://www.tgms.co.uk/253--sports-pitch-construction-drainage-projects.htm
as stated above their is a proposal document on the greenwich website but that website is awful (quelle bon surprise) and none of us can get a link to work to the relevant page. just go to planning search and enter "charlton athletic" that worked for me.
http://publicaccess.royalgreenwich.gov.uk:81/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=_GRNW_DCAPR_76822
Whilst it may be a done deal from the CAFC side of things, planning consent is still required. The draft project plan amongst the documents on the above link has work starting on 19th May and finishing on 7th July. Hopefully this can go ahead as planned as any slippage will, I guess, have a knock-on effect on the start of the 2014/15 season.
There are detailed technical specs submitted with the application. Certainly make interesting reading if you're a bit of a geek like me. :-)
if RBG even try blocking/delaying an application for a football team to build a football pitch....mmmm they couldnt possibly could they?
I understand those who feel the heart & soul of the club have been ripped out. I don't feel so wounded, personally - the previous owners were hardly inspiring, and over a 40+ year period it's been hard to fall in love with owners/directors muchof the time. Actually the golden period of 1988 to about 2005 could be regarded as an exceptional period, one few clubs experience.
And even here, the reputation has been tarnished by subsequent events. Did those who disillusioned now feel OK about us chucking money at mercenaries like Marcus Bent? Did it feel like 'our' Charlton with him and Jimmy Floyd leading the line?
Then we have the issue of youth. Of course it's essential that our best young talent is on decent contracts. Any real stars amongst them will be sold - accept this. The question is how we use any funds. When Lee Bowyer was sold, that (I assume) meant we were under less pressure to sell Rufus, we bought Kinsella for a fraction of the money in, and laid foundations for promotion. That's the model we have to follow, at least in the short term.
If FFP is a sham, then maybe such prudence will never work. But i don't blame RD for trying to construct a model that is not reliant on obscenely rich people chucking their dubiously-obtained cash around...
They could in theory block it, and a local resident could make waves, but I'd be surprised if there were any objections, as it's simply a replacement of the current pitch, albeit with the need for a plant room for the pumps and boiler for the undersoil heating and the irrigation system.
I'm a bit surprised that planning consent is required, but not being a surveyor or town planner I have no idea for the justification!
The specs are pretty damned good so we will have a really good pitch next season!
The Agents are only going to demand more and more money so those that are, realistically, never going to make it in the Premier League will have to accept a lot less money.
I think the number of clubs that believe that they can afford to bankroll their club for ever are so few that I think the rest will be able to force through FFP. If not then all those that are voting against it will need to be willing to dump c. £5m a year on excessive players wages, and I cant't see that happening for ever.
I was initially cynical about Riga. I thought he had been put in as a puppet for Duchalet. That Wednesday I was dreading turning on my BlackBerry in the Pub and seeing the team line up on the Charlton Life match thread . Once I saw Hamer was playing I breathed a sigh of relief. I felt Riga was picking his own team and that the rumours about SCP being forced to play Thuram-Ullien were probably inaccurate.
Since then I have felt that the excellent spirit within the camp which was a hall mark of Powell's 3 years in charge has been retained as evidenced last Monday when we pulled back the 2 goal deficit and also in my opinion the quality of football has improved under Riga.
My concerns about Duchalet were always short term. The sale of Kermorgant and Stephens undoubtedly weakened us for the relegation run in , as did the strange exit of Ben Alnwick .Ironically these events meant that Diego Poyet was promoted to the first team and has demonstrated what a great prospect he is. The one signing that no one has complained about is Astrit Ardarevic who although not fit his cameos have been excellent in my view with his 3 assists against QPR, Forest and Leeds and goal against Yeovil going a long way to harvesting us a valuable 8 extra points. I would love to see him stay.
Medium to long term I have always been filled with more optimism than I have for a number of seasons at this level and I hope that next season we will continue to see our academy youngsters come through with a sprinkling of astute older signings and be at least mid table but looking at the play offs and not over our shoulder.Clubs like Bolton and QPR (if they stay down) will need to off load some quality players and they will not be able to command the contracts going forward that they have historically enjoyed .We can take advantage of this.