Meanwhile, Roland Duchâtelet already owns six professional football clubs in various European leagues . On 5 and 6 July , he wants his clubs together in Sint - Truiden for a tournament . " For the network teams Duchâtelet sir , this is a chance to get to know each other better," says co-organizer Peter Onkelinx in the Newspaper.
Duchâtelet is no longer directly to the helm at Sint -Truiden , but he certainly still have word to say in the Limburg club . Using his wife Marieke Höfte
This summer, there must be at Stayen a new stand and stand to dedicate in the wealthy businessman tournament in mind among six clubs : Standard , Sint - Truiden , Ujpest ( Hungary ) , Charlton ( English second division ) , Carl Zeiss Jena (German fourth class ) and Alcorcon (Spanish second division ) .
"This is a great initiative ," said Peter Onkelinx , who is site manager at Stayen . Besides a football sa fact Stayen includes a shopping mall , a hotel, apartments and numerous other facilities .
"On Saturday the teams will except Sint -Truiden , with each race finishing 45 minutes . Winner will play a charity match on Sunday against Sint - Truiden . "
" For the network teams of Mr. Duchâtelet is the opportunity to get to know each other better. It is also ideal to give them some . Supporters together , we are still looking for some business partners and possibly TV stations to broadcast the matches from . "
What about the sale of Standard ? What the tournament means to the position of Duchâtelet at Standard is unclear . He had announced last summer to sell after the fans had turned against him Liege club but now Duchâtelet already preparing for the upcoming season of Standard
If anyone is looking for "their Charlton" then the fact that five out of the top six player marks vs Wednesday were academy players might help. I will always remember the team in the 90s with young players coming through, many of them going on to u21 international status and full honours. Respect to Powell and Curbishley before him and Lawrence before that and the late Jimmy Seed. But with respect it's all bollocks if you put any one player or coach above the badge.
The club is getting 1.4 points a game now or a 50% increase on the 30 games before. There is no rational argument to suggest that the current strategy is at fault. So people use emotional manipulation instead.
Season ticket boycotts, war councils in pubs and pathetic attempts to discredit the new owner which time and time again are shown to be baseless spin! The only thing the fans need to do is back the lads tomorrow and Tuesday - not least to save us all having to go to Blackpool next Saturday!
No regrets abouts the past and no need to fear the future... Let us be fully alive for today's match and of course Tuesday. Enjoy the present, the here and now.
I can't believe some of the analogies on here ref Powell and feelings
I can sort of get it from weegie and SA , curb it , fanny , Sadie etc
But not from you boys come on now enoughs enough
It is so not a gender thing, NLA! I don't "fancy" Chris Powell, but I do think he is a charismatic person, an excellent football manager and someone who loves and understands Charlton as much as I do. Our loss will be someone else's gain, and that is quite painful to contemplate for some of us - female or male...
I mean saying stuff like welling up here and choked it's more a female thing to say not fancying Chris I didn't mean that I think the things being said are nice but would men really say this to each other maybe I hang round with a different sort of bloke
More to it for me NLA, although I agree wholeheartedly with all that Weegie says. I was part of the Anti-Apartheid movement, it got pretty rough at times, but I believed in it passionately. People were dying for no reason other than the colour of their skin. Way back in the 60's, I would never have believed that Nelson Mandela would have his statue in Parliament Square, and the idea that there would be black managers in football was inconceivable. I was just so proud of Charlton and its anti racist history and absolutely thrilled to have Chrissy and Alex in charge. Now I do understand that's not an acceptable footballing reason, but nevertheless, for me, it was still important.
If anyone is looking for "their Charlton" then the fact that five out of the top six player marks vs Wednesday were academy players might help. I will always remember the team in the 90s with young players coming through, many of them going on to u21 international status and full honours. Respect to Powell and Curbishley before him and Lawrence before that and the late Jimmy Seed. But with respect it's all bollocks if you put any one player or coach above the badge.
The club is getting 1.4 points a game now or a 50% increase on the 30 games before. There is no rational argument to suggest that the current strategy is at fault. So people use emotional manipulation instead.
Season ticket boycotts, war councils in pubs and pathetic attempts to discredit the new owner which time and time again are shown to be baseless spin! The only thing the fans need to do is back the lads tomorrow and Tuesday - not least to save us all having to go to Blackpool next Saturday!
No regrets abouts the past and no need to fear the future... Let us be fully alive for today's match and of course Tuesday. Enjoy the present, the here and now.
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.
Just for the sake of clarity, as I understand it the actual contractors doing the work are this lot: premierpitches.com/
TGMS are the guys who created the technical spec and I suppose are a bit like the sports pitch equivalent of a firm of architects.
Well it was brave effort AFKA but as suspected many on this board seem locked into their views. I spent 2 weeks drafting a business analysis on the challenges facing our club, outlining opportunities for change and assessing how the network might serve our interests. Based on the flavour of many posts on here I will keep it to myself.
I struggle to understand how people think the endless regurgitation of rumour, speculation, and "informed" leaks serve Charlton Athletic Football Club. The proliferation of the latter suggests we may be better named Colander Athletic. Despite calls for clarity on the unexplained emotions of some over the direction of club, they ignore the reality of our circumstance. Some comments are more in tune with the bonding of a 70s' “hippie camp” than a football club.
The inconvenient truth is, as anyone viewing a compilation of industry figures would see, for 2012/2013 we had 8th worst turnover to debt ratio (trading ability to meet debt) in the Championship. During early January 2014 somebody stepped in to assume responsibility for £32mn of debt to safe guard the clubs ability to continue to trade. The refusal by some to recognise such state of affairs renders much of the recent angst misplaced, misguided or mischievous.
Our debt escalated to new heights as the previous owners funded the club via Parent Company loans, ultimately only providing sufficient monies to facilitate a viable sale of the club, These owners you may recall spent £151 buying the club, to assume liability for the then outstanding debt, staving off the threat of Administration hanging over the club.
In essence Duchatelet picked up the tab for the collective failure of the clubs' previous owners' strategies going back years, pursued no doubt with the best of intentions, but failing to deliver any stability. Without his intervention the gains of the past 2 seasons will have been lost. Would Kermorgant, Smith, Stephens or Wiggins still be with us under the prior regime? What replacements would have been signed? With 80% existing playing staff awaiting new contracts and the sale of club strategy reducing long term commitments what contracts will they have offered new signings?
The squad has struggled with a 16 match in 52 day workload. Imagine the impact of a more intense programme due to additional postponements. Do you see the previous owners paying for a pitch covering & heaters to ease match congestion? In such financial straits with so many players out of contract we faced complete carnage in terms of the constructing a future playing squad. Potentially we still do. The ramifications of the last regimes’ "modus operandi" will be felt long into the summer.
I have no idea whether the M. Duchatelet approach will create a new paradigm in the game or simply be a variation on a theme. Much as I enjoy being a student of innovation my primary interest is the club, its survival and its future ability to compete. What has become evident is the whole circus surrounding the change of ownership has been a distraction too far for which we are all partly to blame. We have allowed the paranoia concerning the “network” and the emotional analysis of Powell’s tenure to undermine the club.
With respect to Powell he is not Charlton Athletic Football Club. I have great respect for him and wish him well but the veneration shown by some does a huge disservice to the likes of Bartram, Ufton, Hewie, Firmani, Kinsey, Peacock or Gritt and many others all of who served our club with talent and integrity, several for virtually their entire careers. I “get” the idolatry. To a degree his profile repeated the Curbishley syndrome where it was not CAFC but Curbishleys’ Charlton beating the PL odds. Maybe due to the shambles which preceded him or the new owners’ antics but the new brand/ mirage soon became Powells’ Charlton.
He performed well as we gained promotion from League 1 and secured our Championship status in the less than perfect circumstances. He deserved the plaudits he received but such profile upon regime change can become a distraction. Almost from Day 1 across media, fans and even players the key issue was a new contract for Chris Powell - understandable but inappropriate.
I respect he had to work with reduced resources. Been there done that, more times than I care to remember. I know the frustration if a new executive changes the rules – lived with that 3 times! It is difficult especially when you have had success. Is it unfair? Absolutely is, but as I learned you embrace the change or you go. What you cannot become is a distraction, as ultimately you become distracted and everyone suffers. The outcome becomes inevitable.
As for those determined to focus on understanding the “Network” I suggest you are pursuing the wrong path. No matter the framework within which we operate, the ONE emphasis must be the needs of Charlton Athletic which then positions the challenge to RD as to how the network serves us. There is no magic recipe nor is it complicated. The needs of the club are known. People can speculate on any range of scenarios. In the end it is meaningless because the one question which matters is, and always will be, how the network will help the club in meeting those needs.
The CLUB need in January was to ensure retention of our Championships status. History has long decreed the January window is the worst time to strengthen the squad, with mostly the wrong players being available at the wrong price. In such circumstances we needed no distractions. Yet all of us chose to lay the unfulfilled entitlements of the prior regime on a new owner. In the timescale available with the scale of repair needed it was/ is an absurd expectation.
For those believing they are losing their club yet unable to define a single element of what it actually means, it may be better to have some gardening leave. No business or club can address a concern if you unable to enunciate what the problem actually is. Blame the Belgian for your disenchantment if you must but he did not create the chasm of inequality in football today, nor did he exhaust our supply of "friendly investors".
Duchatelet seems to be trying to work an angle which may enable us to compete under a business model we might actually be able to afford and in case you had not noticed despite sundry “noises off” he was/ is the only person in town prepared to put the right money - his money on the table.
Football should be about watching and supporting your selected team. We now have the trend of judging if a club is successful not by activity on the pitch but in the transfer market but when did high profile signings ever guarantee success for us. On balance such signings are largely responsible for the challenges of recent years.
As we look forward to re-energizing our playing squad we do so, probably for the first time, with real access to Pan European and even global markets. I doubt there are more than a few Charlton aficionados who have any real understanding of such markets.
The disparaging comments of some to such resource to this point, ignores the contribution of Adjarevic (Yeovil) and Reza (Leeds) securing 6pts in the survival challenge, so making it likely at some level the “bubble of discontent” will continue.
The point is as with the wealth of young talent coming through the academy any overseas players will need time to adjust to their environment and the style of football played in the Championship. They and we will be on a journey. It will probably take time and we will need to show patience as they adjust and develop. It is what supporters do.
For the first time in years we appear to have some financial stability and someone prepared to invest in developing the infrastructure of the club across multiple levels. I have no reason to believe such activity will be to our detriment.
What an excellent post by Grapevine. Breaking it down on a more level here, why would anyone, invest the money RD has, without wanting to make it work. I know people are in 'the wait and see camp', but survival plus the investment RD has stumped up puts me in the pro RD camp.
Selling Kermorgant and Stephens was a massive risk. RD got lucky. Fair play I guess-business involves risk. Not sure it was that well calculated though. Also can't help feeling YK and DS would've both thrived under Riga's style of play. Look at how impressive Deeney was last night playing in an attacking expansive side- a player who, although not quite the same as YK showed a number of similar strengths in his all round game.
Let's hope PP comes good.
All in all RD seems like good news to me, but he's not beyond criticism.
I wish I could post like Grapevine. I don't blame him for not posting his business analysis draft on here as it would get torn to shreds by the usual suspects.
If anyone is looking for "their Charlton" then the fact that five out of the top six player marks vs Wednesday were academy players might help. I will always remember the team in the 90s with young players coming through, many of them going on to u21 international status and full honours. Respect to Powell and Curbishley before him and Lawrence before that and the late Jimmy Seed. But with respect it's all bollocks if you put any one player or coach above the badge.
The club is getting 1.4 points a game now or a 50% increase on the 30 games before. There is no rational argument to suggest that the current strategy is at fault. So people use emotional manipulation instead.
Season ticket boycotts, war councils in pubs and pathetic attempts to discredit the new owner which time and time again are shown to be baseless spin! The only thing the fans need to do is back the lads tomorrow and Tuesday - not least to save us all having to go to Blackpool next Saturday!
No regrets abouts the past and no need to fear the future... Let us be fully alive for today's match and of course Tuesday. Enjoy the present, the here and now.
Really?
Yes Steve... Really enjoyed last night with no fear... And I am 100% confident that Duchatelet is not out to destroy value when he started and over the summer coming up. No idea whether they can retain the best players but we will know soon enough. Current form suggests next season will be more fun than this one!
Dear Mr 49, or may I call you Grapevine, warmest thanks for a superlative post.
Please please do not deprive us of your business analysis. When a club such as Bournemouth (lil ol'?) posts a loss of £15.3 million then it is quite clear that football, which long ago ceased to be a sport, can now no longer call itself a business - or a trade, an industry, a profession - but has entered some twilight fantasy world entirely of its own. Insights such as yours are desperately needed to make sense of what little "normality" still remains, and specifically how things can develop within Roland's Six-pack.
I am certain RD knew from the outset that in CAFC he was getting something very special for an absolute song. (Say, how does Fulham's new owner think about the value he got for the $300 million he reportedly paid Al-Fayed ? ) He was prepared to get involved where the hard-nosed carpetbaggers from Philadelphia feared to tread. At 67 the Network is his project for his senior years, and Charlton will undoubtedly be the apple of his eye. Fascinating times and better days ahead.
Specifically I would love to know if Grapevine can point to a way in which CAFC can break even - and have a competitive squad - as a standalone entity in this league. All the Trust work indicates that it is pretty much impossible due to the imbalances caused by the parachute payments. Yes of course there is the strategy whereby you cover losses by selling young players, however that still implies you can and do sell a young player each season for about 4m. And then still have a squad which can eventually gain promotion.
Various of us have been through all that ad nauseam both here and on the Trust site. And perhaps Grapevine believes that we are all missing various key points. So we would love to be corrected. I do not think anyone is capable of 'tearing to shreds' an analysis from Grapevine, nor can I think of any reason why anyone would wish to.
Grapevine, I think you are correct in your overall summary, but I would make a couple of points.
If the new regime doesn't want rumour, leaks and speculation, then it's a bad move to make a blanket announcement that you are not going to interact with fans/fan groups until the end of the season. This only leads to fans wondering what bad stuff the new owners have in store, which they are not prepared to discuss. Indeed, your own claim that the "ramifications of the previous regime will be felt long into the Summer" is a perfect example of my point.
"January is the worst time to strengthen a squad" - teams picked up several of our players, so not everyone agrees with your historical decree.
16 matches in 52 days - for 5 grand a week, I will do it. As for the state of the pitch - it was all in the due diligence.
Yes, Reza and AA made tangible contributions, but who knows what would have happened with this, that, or the other player in the team instead.
RD referring to us as "one of his children", then selling a talisman striker, and decent midfielder, supplementing the squad with dubious alternatives, announcing a ST deadline, proposing seat moves, undisclosed transfer payments, then sacking a popular manager - all smacks of amateur night at the local drama club.
It left some feeling exploited and like an unwanted add-on to Rolands new plaything.
Having said all that, it's very simple for RD to get all the doubters back on side with a few key signatures (DP, Morro etc), and open up the dialogue channels going forward.
Due to the previous regime - we were already on RD's side when he got here, so however bad the news is..........................
For whatever reason, RD does not seem to do due diligence to the depth I would expect. In my industry, a company with a similar headcount and structure would take 3-6 months, especially if the ownership involved some dodgy offshore setup (and sorry, if some people say 'it's legal' as far as I'm concerned all such arrangements are dodgy). RD seems to have taken four weeks max. It also seems that he came unstuck in Budapest over a matter that due diligence probably would have uncovered.
Then again, we might want to be grateful. He came along when he did, and did the deal in time for the Jan window. If he had strung it out, who knows where we might be. Over the pitch, he has my sympathy. You would have thought that if you were buying a Championship football club, with all the advantages and history Slater will have gone on about, you'd at least expect the pitch to be serviceable, and certainly not the worst in the whole League.
Comments
I like the idea of a Duchatalet tournament, not sure about the 45 minute race but that maybe a translation issue.
I think the sale of SL was all about the right offer and that has not been received, plus events on the pitch have reduced the fans ire.
Not sure if the players are too interested in a get to know you get together that's more from RD's corporate background
Respect to Powell and Curbishley before him and Lawrence before that and the late Jimmy Seed. But with respect it's all bollocks if you put any one player or coach above the badge.
The club is getting 1.4 points a game now or a 50% increase on the 30 games before. There is no rational argument to suggest that the current strategy is at fault. So people use emotional manipulation instead.
Season ticket boycotts, war councils in pubs and pathetic attempts to discredit the new owner which time and time again are shown to be baseless spin!
The only thing the fans need to do is back the lads tomorrow and Tuesday - not least to save us all having to go to Blackpool next Saturday!
No regrets abouts the past and no need to fear the future... Let us be fully alive for today's match and of course Tuesday. Enjoy the present, the here and now.
Really?
It was a thing to be proud of and still be proud of but it was never a reason to not be led by results
And ultimately the players and mgmt staff top and bottom of the club led us to results that were shit enough that the mgr was removed
I can't believe if we had been higher in the league powelly wouldn't still be here
But I can't have it that men are saying things like welling up here
Distraut etc etc
You may feel it pain you a bit but come on it's a bit soft ain't it
TGMS are the guys who created the technical spec and I suppose are a bit like the sports pitch equivalent of a firm of architects.
I struggle to understand how people think the endless regurgitation of rumour, speculation, and "informed" leaks serve Charlton Athletic Football Club. The proliferation of the latter suggests we may be better named Colander Athletic. Despite calls for clarity on the unexplained emotions of some over the direction of club, they ignore the reality of our circumstance. Some comments are more in tune with the bonding of a 70s' “hippie camp” than a football club.
The inconvenient truth is, as anyone viewing a compilation of industry figures would see, for 2012/2013 we had 8th worst turnover to debt ratio (trading ability to meet debt) in the Championship. During early January 2014 somebody stepped in to assume responsibility for £32mn of debt to safe guard the clubs ability to continue to trade. The refusal by some to recognise such state of affairs renders much of the recent angst misplaced, misguided or mischievous.
Our debt escalated to new heights as the previous owners funded the club via Parent Company loans, ultimately only providing sufficient monies to facilitate a viable sale of the club, These owners you may recall spent £151 buying the club, to assume liability for the then outstanding debt, staving off the threat of Administration hanging over the club.
In essence Duchatelet picked up the tab for the collective failure of the clubs' previous owners' strategies going back years, pursued no doubt with the best of intentions, but failing to deliver any stability. Without his intervention the gains of the past 2 seasons will have been lost. Would Kermorgant, Smith, Stephens or Wiggins still be with us under the prior regime? What replacements would have been signed? With 80% existing playing staff awaiting new contracts and the sale of club strategy reducing long term commitments what contracts will they have offered new signings?
The squad has struggled with a 16 match in 52 day workload. Imagine the impact of a more intense programme due to additional postponements. Do you see the previous owners paying for a pitch covering & heaters to ease match congestion? In such financial straits with so many players out of contract we faced complete carnage in terms of the constructing a future playing squad. Potentially we still do. The ramifications of the last regimes’ "modus operandi" will be felt long into the summer.
I have no idea whether the M. Duchatelet approach will create a new paradigm in the game or simply be a variation on a theme. Much as I enjoy being a student of innovation my primary interest is the club, its survival and its future ability to compete. What has become evident is the whole circus surrounding the change of ownership has been a distraction too far for which we are all partly to blame. We have allowed the paranoia concerning the “network” and the emotional analysis of Powell’s tenure to undermine the club.
With respect to Powell he is not Charlton Athletic Football Club. I have great respect for him and wish him well but the veneration shown by some does a huge disservice to the likes of Bartram, Ufton, Hewie, Firmani, Kinsey, Peacock or Gritt and many others all of who served our club with talent and integrity, several for virtually their entire careers. I “get” the idolatry. To a degree his profile repeated the Curbishley syndrome where it was not CAFC but Curbishleys’ Charlton beating the PL odds. Maybe due to the shambles which preceded him or the new owners’ antics but the new brand/ mirage soon became Powells’ Charlton.
He performed well as we gained promotion from League 1 and secured our Championship status in the less than perfect circumstances. He deserved the plaudits he received but such profile upon regime change can become a distraction. Almost from Day 1 across media, fans and even players the key issue was a new contract for Chris Powell - understandable but inappropriate.
I respect he had to work with reduced resources. Been there done that, more times than I care to remember. I know the frustration if a new executive changes the rules – lived with that 3 times! It is difficult especially when you have had success. Is it unfair? Absolutely is, but as I learned you embrace the change or you go. What you cannot become is a distraction, as ultimately you become distracted and everyone suffers. The outcome becomes inevitable.
As for those determined to focus on understanding the “Network” I suggest you are pursuing the wrong path. No matter the framework within which we operate, the ONE emphasis must be the needs of Charlton Athletic which then positions the challenge to RD as to how the network serves us. There is no magic recipe nor is it complicated. The needs of the club are known. People can speculate on any range of scenarios. In the end it is meaningless because the one question which matters is, and always will be, how the network will help the club in meeting those needs.
The CLUB need in January was to ensure retention of our Championships status. History has long decreed the January window is the worst time to strengthen the squad, with mostly the wrong players being available at the wrong price. In such circumstances we needed no distractions. Yet all of us chose to lay the unfulfilled entitlements of the prior regime on a new owner. In the timescale available with the scale of repair needed it was/ is an absurd expectation.
For those believing they are losing their club yet unable to define a single element of what it actually means, it may be better to have some gardening leave. No business or club can address a concern if you unable to enunciate what the problem actually is. Blame the Belgian for your disenchantment if you must but he did not create the chasm of inequality in football today, nor did he exhaust our supply of "friendly investors".
Duchatelet seems to be trying to work an angle which may enable us to compete under a business model we might actually be able to afford and in case you had not noticed despite sundry “noises off” he was/ is the only person in town prepared to put the right money - his money on the table.
Football should be about watching and supporting your selected team. We now have the trend of judging if a club is successful not by activity on the pitch but in the transfer market but when did high profile signings ever guarantee success for us. On balance such signings are largely responsible for the challenges of recent years.
As we look forward to re-energizing our playing squad we do so, probably for the first time, with real access to Pan European and even global markets. I doubt there are more than a few Charlton aficionados who have any real understanding of such markets.
The disparaging comments of some to such resource to this point, ignores the contribution of Adjarevic (Yeovil) and Reza (Leeds) securing 6pts in the survival challenge, so making it likely at some level the “bubble of discontent” will continue.
The point is as with the wealth of young talent coming through the academy any overseas players will need time to adjust to their environment and the style of football played in the Championship. They and we will be on a journey. It will probably take time and we will need to show patience as they adjust and develop. It is what supporters do.
For the first time in years we appear to have some financial stability and someone prepared to invest in developing the infrastructure of the club across multiple levels. I have no reason to believe such activity will be to our detriment.
Have a good summer.
Grapevine 49
G49 v G21
You are the daddy when it comes to posting things that everyone should listen too
What a fantastic post I am envious of your manor and how you write
Your summary is one that I totally agree with
Thank you pal
I think it's an amazing post
I doff my cap and raise you a glass
If greenie Jr wants a tattoo real bad then it should say
G49 is the daddy
PonySpotter21 " dems is all c++ts we done em in it"
Let's hope PP comes good.
All in all RD seems like good news to me, but he's not beyond criticism.
Dear Mr 49, or may I call you Grapevine, warmest thanks for a superlative post.
Please please do not deprive us of your business analysis. When a club such as Bournemouth (lil ol'?) posts a loss of £15.3 million then it is quite clear that football, which long ago ceased to be a sport, can now no longer call itself a business - or a trade, an industry, a profession - but has entered some twilight fantasy world entirely of its own. Insights such as yours are desperately needed to make sense of what little "normality" still remains, and specifically how things can develop within Roland's Six-pack.
I am certain RD knew from the outset that in CAFC he was getting something very special for an absolute song. (Say, how does Fulham's new owner think about the value he got for the $300 million he reportedly paid Al-Fayed ? ) He was prepared to get involved where the hard-nosed carpetbaggers from Philadelphia feared to tread. At 67 the Network is his project for his senior years, and Charlton will undoubtedly be the apple of his eye. Fascinating times and better days ahead.
Various of us have been through all that ad nauseam both here and on the Trust site. And perhaps Grapevine believes that we are all missing various key points. So we would love to be corrected. I do not think anyone is capable of 'tearing to shreds' an analysis from Grapevine, nor can I think of any reason why anyone would wish to.
If the new regime doesn't want rumour, leaks and speculation, then it's a bad move to make a blanket announcement that you are not going to interact with fans/fan groups until the end of the season.
This only leads to fans wondering what bad stuff the new owners have in store, which they are not prepared to discuss.
Indeed, your own claim that the "ramifications of the previous regime will be felt long into the Summer" is a perfect example of my point.
"January is the worst time to strengthen a squad" - teams picked up several of our players, so not everyone agrees with your historical decree.
16 matches in 52 days - for 5 grand a week, I will do it.
As for the state of the pitch - it was all in the due diligence.
Yes, Reza and AA made tangible contributions, but who knows what would have happened with this, that, or the other player in the team instead.
RD referring to us as "one of his children", then selling a talisman striker, and decent midfielder, supplementing the squad with dubious alternatives, announcing a ST deadline, proposing seat moves, undisclosed transfer payments, then sacking a popular manager - all smacks of amateur night at the local drama club.
It left some feeling exploited and like an unwanted add-on to Rolands new plaything.
Having said all that, it's very simple for RD to get all the doubters back on side with a few key signatures (DP, Morro etc), and open up the dialogue channels going forward.
Due to the previous regime - we were already on RD's side when he got here,
so however bad the news is..........................
Just tell us.
For whatever reason, RD does not seem to do due diligence to the depth I would expect. In my industry, a company with a similar headcount and structure would take 3-6 months, especially if the ownership involved some dodgy offshore setup (and sorry, if some people say 'it's legal' as far as I'm concerned all such arrangements are dodgy). RD seems to have taken four weeks max. It also seems that he came unstuck in Budapest over a matter that due diligence probably would have uncovered.
Then again, we might want to be grateful. He came along when he did, and did the deal in time for the Jan window. If he had strung it out, who knows where we might be. Over the pitch, he has my sympathy. You would have thought that if you were buying a Championship football club, with all the advantages and history Slater will have gone on about, you'd at least expect the pitch to be serviceable, and certainly not the worst in the whole League.