If Roland Duchatelet ever imagined the Network as one big happy family where everybody supports all the teams, a glance at Charlton Life will have quickly cured him of that . Indifference, contempt, and hostility were the most common emotions on display during the fractious end to the season. Even among those of us who felt curious about rather than hostile to the network concept, and therefore felt it worth trying to track the clubs, there was a definite feeling of schadenfreude as Standard slipped up in the play-offs.
Doubtless driving these negative feelings was the widespread suspicion that Standard was the “mothership” and that Charlton would be subservient to its needs. The influx of largely sub-standard players in January had fed this suspicion. The counter-argument that as a businessman RD would see the prize of FAPL TV money as the priority, did not gain much traction, especially while it was possible that we would actually be two divisions lower after six months of his ownership.
But the summer dealings at Charlton dispelled the idea of Charlton as a feeder club. As the summer unfolded, the arrival of Igor Vetokele and Yoni Buyens heralded a significant upgrade in the quality of player arrivals; while it was clear the club did all it could to keep Poyet, the young man giving the finger to the idea that playing in the UCL on loan at Standard was better than warming the bench at West Ham. The word was quietly put about that RD had learned lessons and was seeking steady progress at all clubs.
The latest word from across the Channel though, suggests the Standard fans are far from happy. They do not seem especially concerned with what RD is doing at Charlton but a section of their support believes he is taking money out of the club by reducing the quality of both the playing and coaching staff. It is said that exit from the UCL at this stage could trigger furious demonstrations.
Smarter people than me, Belgian journalists among them, have tried and failed to establish what RD wants to achieve, and how, in football and previously in politics. Just when we were able to start buying into the “steady progress” theory, news of fresh unrest from the Belgian Steel City reached us. Trouble at t’Mill.
What then should be our attitude towards Standard? There is a school of thought that relishes the idea of RD looking at the gold mine of FAPL revenue and making Charlton the focus of all his resources. That might seem a good solution for us, but I believe that there would be a hidden trap, both for us and for RD.
Both clubs are owned by one company, Staprix N.V.. RD will measure his success by the success of the company. He is not, thankfully, a property wheeler and dealer, so he is not looking for profit through a stadium deal. He seems to want ‘orthodox’ growth; more success on the field means bigger attendances, people spending more at the ground, and more TV revenue. Then, he would say, the trick is not to blow it on players.
Now if Standard do badly, the Staprix revenues falter or become threatened. And the Standard fans are very stroppy; the word is that failure to get past Zenit will spark demonstrations. We cannot yet assess accurately the justification for their discontent. They seem to have a reputation as potential moaners. But that may put pressure on RD into spending more on them, which might mean less for us. But if they do well, the company does well; he can boost the Standard squad without hesitating to complete the jigsaw of a potentially exciting re-build of our team.
If Standard make it past Zenit St Petersburg in the next two games, they are in the Group stage of the UCL. That is where you get serious money just for getting out of bed. We want them to be there, I believe. In money terms they will earn far more than if they go out now, but instead win the Belgian League. Ideally they will do both. That’s good for us. More money for both clubs, and no jealous Belgian eyes cast across the channel.
And anyway, Standard seem like a good club, from a proud working class city, with passionate fans. And they play in red. A proper club, which is perhaps more than you can say for Zenit. In Soviet times they were really no great shakes, nor were they until 2005, when Gazprom took a controlling stake. Even if they weren’t part of the network, I know which of the two I’d want to progress.
But they are our brothers in arms now. Allez les Rouches!
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I personally want all the clubs in the network to be treated equally with their individual best interests at heart to achieve as much success as they can. I'm uncomfortable with the thought of one or two clubs being top dogs and maybe benefiting to the detriment of the others dimly because the financial rewards are greater.
I wouldn't want Charlton to lose out in someway for the benefit of another club so I'm not going to be a hypocrite and say it's ok for us to benefit. To that end I want all the Network clubs to be successful So "C'mon you Rouges" (and c'mon any other team playing).
All clubs with big history and prizes but with long stints of troubling financial situations, weird deals and a serious lack of stability.
He has bought them at the right time, extracted a lot of money out of them towards his company and has on numerous occasions threatened to sell on if the occasion was there.
There is a lot less progress to be made at Standard in relation to Charlton, who were as i understand it down and out. Standard is very much the 2nd biggest team in Belgium (no its not fc bruges, they can burn in hell) and generates a lot of intrest from French, Russian and Portugese clubs. The potential there is in transfers of players they buy on the cheap or go through their impressive youth set up that has created players like Fellaini and Witsel (amongst many others). He has/had dreams of redeveloping the area and the stadium but that seemed to have gone very quiet.
Either way , they dont want him, they dont respect him and they seem to prefer the gun ho lets go for bankrupt approach (with dodgy weeling and dealing) that they had in the past. They have forgotten that up until a few years ago they were the laughing stock of Belgium with all talk but nothing to show for.
And the smarter amongst them fear the fact that there is a circle of agents around RD that seem to do all the scouting and bring players in. Not for the long term benefit of the club, a good player for Charlton will cost 2-3 million to progress, buying the same kind of ilk for Standard will cost double or triple if he truly wants to be a CL regular and overcome Anderlecht. That is a very big gamble to take , without a guarantee that this will pay out in the end.
What he does at Charlton is completely different from what he does at Standard (except for the ticket prices if i remember correctly) so i think both have their own role in his project.
Charlton seems to be about rebuilding, the feeling about Standard is that he's in it to sell it.
But they do create one hell of an atmosphere when they are up for it.
disclaimer *some slight exaggeration might have found its way into the above text*
The game is on Sky Sports.
Sky Sports 5 on the red button while the Celtic game is on.
http://www.wiziwig.tv/broadcast.php?matchid=273223&part=sports
Is class relevant in 2014? Even if it is, then surely St Petersburg's significantly larger population than Liege's population, combined with the spread of wealth in Russia, must ensure St Petersburg has a larger working class than Liege?
Zenit's fans seem passionate as well, so that can't be a factor in choosing which team you would want to progress.
In relation to Zenit you state "In Soviet times they were really no great shakes" is this relevant in choosing to support the opposition?
Is your opposition to Zenit actually based on a dislike of Russian politics or Russians or both?
They are not what we like to call a properly run club, they are like all the other ones in the money top 20.
Thanks for your comments
What I have understood about Standard is that they strongly symbolise the community spirit of a city which has had to change with the times. There is even a film in the works about that, which I believe Henry may show at the Museum when it is ready. Personally, I like such clubs.
Dislike of Russians. Do I seem like such a person? Sorry if I give that impression. I had two Russian girlfriends before I got married and made good friends with two Russian guys who worked with me in the mid 90s. But I live in the Czech republic and am married to a Czech woman. I'm sure you know the history, and I can see what Russians are up to here right now. So yes I am definitely wary of the Russian State and the oligarchs whom I consider to have stolen money from their own people. One of the ways they have tried to gain legitimacy is by attaching themselves to football. Have you ever seen any evidence of Roman Abramovic's fanatical devotion to football before he tipped up in London and bought Chelsea? Which Russian club's terraces did he stand on?
Zenit are a club artificially enriched by Gazprom, and Gazprom is itself an example of dodgy crony capitalism, and tries to dispel that perception by attaching itself to football. So yes, I wish nothing but ill to Zenit and other Russian clubs, and I think that unless Putin stops his murderous willy-wagging we should take the World Cup away from Russia.
Well you did ask...:-)
Man city are starting a network. Udinese have had one running for some time. These are designed to improve one club by achieving savings for that club. The parent is still being run at huge losses.
Its a fine distinction but there is another model, akin more to a co-operativeoperative. Economies of scale can be applied to give savings to all the members but how can you do this in football? Well we are getting to see with players in but also with Reza and PP out. RD will save packets because he should be able to outperform on transfer net spend. Why?
FORM and INJURY
Imo, if you think about these as metaphorical liabilities on a a balance sheet you can see why having a group structure with multiple accounts will be very useful. Shit players who aren't performing can be loaned to another club with minimal change to contracts. This way, you have another couple if bites at the cherry if transfer moves don't work out.
That's a huge advantage applied to football club operation.
You can't use too much stat analysis in sport finance, it's littered with intangibles like last minute winners and dodgy refs( just like @seriously_red would say
It needs to be run in the interests of all. Of course the larger club will have more needs and demands and things will run top down naturally. But it can be equitable and more of a family-structure than the Udinese model.
Next issue is that this all may be banned in the next few Years by regulators if it proves successful. But I've written enough prefer to ignore that particular scenario at the moment.
I can see why you would like a club as described in the first paragraph of your reply.
Some of your posts have in my opinion seemed to be carrying a dislike of Russia and / or Russians. However if you say you don't, then fine I'll take you at your word.
I can understand why with connections to the Czech Republic you may be likely to feel a certain way. And why the Russian state, politics and Oligarchs may cause certain feelings as well. I can also see why you might dislike Zenit.
But I don't think it is ok to dislike someone or something simply for being from Russia (we appear to agree on this).
Not all Russian clubs are the same. You may find the history of Spartak Moscow of interest.
In my view, held from RD's takeover, so not formed in response to subsequent events, the reason for buying Charlton was the same as buying his other clubs and what successful entrepreneurs do, and that is for one reason and one alone - to make a return on his investment.
For him is not the Sheik Mansoor or Abramovitch way - for the club to be a billionaires play thing. In RD'S case its a risky business venture where the system is awash with cash but the rewards tend to go to players, managers and agents except in very few cases. He believes he has hit on a formula where economies of scale can operate, by intergroup loan arrangements, by pooling scouting resources amongst other things. If as well we believe the story that Poyet may have been offered to play for SL in the CL, then when going head to head in the transfer market with other clubs, he may well get players across the line by the allure of the network being a greater opportunity than merely signing for one club..
I believe that the exit strategies for different clubs in the network will be the same - selling to get back his investment plus a return thereon, but the timescales and the mechanism of sale may be different for each network club.
In the case of Charlton, it pretty obvious why he bought us. The price was right. The spivs needed to sell and the price was falling. He could have waited until the end of the season but the risks of leaving it too late and the costs of relegation may have been a bigger gamble than buying in January and hoping to bolster the club's playing resources sufficient to stave off relegation. That gamble nearly backfired after the poor transfer window and subsequent departure of SCP. His exit strategy is pretty clear as well IMHO, it's to get us to the PL, and keep us there. He will sell at a time when he judges he can get his best return. That may be after a couple of years or could be longer. It is unlikely that he will cut and run quickly unless another Mansoor hoves into view.
His exit strategy for SL will essentially be the same - selling when the price is right. If our Belgian friend is right and he has shaken the tree and sold some low hanging fruit already, he must think that more will rippen in the medium to long term.
Personally I don't think it will matter much to us if SL don't progress in the CL. Last seasons team has been dismantled/ decimated for whatever level of return he was able to achieve. Why was Buyens loaned to us (a fall out at SL seems to be the line)? Surely he would be an asset to SL? I doubt he allowed that to happen if he really thought that SL being in the CL was an absolute priority for the network/his investment in it. Indeed SL failing to progress may be to our advantage as it may allow him to push us forward quicker towards the PL, especially if we are in good shape come January?
I do not share your belief that our future and fortune should be tied to SL winning.
'Conflict of Interest' shouts loud and which is deemed illegal in many business's.
SL lose, their fans start kicking hard at RD and he gets the right hump.
As stated by @Belgian_Spur "the feeling about Standard is that he's in it to sell".
It is just as likely in our best interest if he sells SL. At least we won't have to hear the SL Boss telling us they have call on our best players.
I married an Irish girl and feel the same about those bloomin English
I certainly don't profess to understand RD's strategy yet. In fact, when I wrote the article on Monday it read rather different - even more pro RD - but then I started reading about the new wave of discontent at Standard and had to do a pretty hefty rewrite. I hope we all treat this as kicking theories around rather than a concrete conclusion about the merits of RD and his strategy.
But what I have noticed with companies made up of international networks with office in Czech R. is that they make decisions based on how the global company is doing rather than ho the Czech company is doing. So some of them had to suffer "global hiring freeze" even though they were doing well here and needed the staff; and then when WPP in particular started doing well again they once again became ready to buy agencies in the Czech R, even though the local market is doing badly - because the cash balances and sentiment inside WPP are healthy. So I thought it might apply to Staprix too. Get hands on UCL money - enough money to boost Standard squad and get that second decent striker for Charlton. Out of UCL - not so much money....spend it on Standard to stop those ultras invading his office again, or spend it on that Charlton striker. My point is, much better if he has the money coming in for both.
But for sure, he could be thinking in a completely different way.
The one that does my head in is Karl Zeiss Jena. Where the hell is the money trail there?
BTW BASE is a Belgium mobile phone company.