BUSINESS IS BUSINESS, BUT IT'S NOT FOOTBALL
23-Dec 04:17, by Glyn Hopping
Our East Stander shares his views on the current situation at the club.
As I am sure it has been a continuing source of debate around the four corners of The Valley, the club's seemingly unstoppable spiral towards League One has been the only subject for discussion in the confines of the East Stand lately.
As we have heard from other quarters, the fall in attendances have been apparent all around us, such that fewer and fewer participants arrive each week as the season progresses towards halfway.
However, as this terrible season appears to be turning from bad to worse, should we really be surprised? I read with interest Louis Mendez's recent article in South London Press where he questioned 'the footballing philosophy of this failing organisation'. But I have long since dismissed any thought of there being any 'footballing philosophy' with the current owner and his flunky followers.
I will expand a train of thought that I have held and, indeed, proffered to those of us that are still prepared to turn up on the terraces of the East Stand;
More... 
Comments
Maybe we'll develop into a Spar, Premier Store or a Nisa
eventually becoming an Alldays
before upgrading to a Co-Op,
then an ASDA or ALDI,
maybe one day we'll be a Morrisons
There's no way we'll be a Tesco or Sainsburys unless you're talking express or local.
We'll absolutely never be able to compete with any of the Waitrose, M&S Foods or Fortnam and Masons of this world.
Whilst he hasn't quite achieved a profit yet, in fact he hasn't got to break even
Achieved a profit!!!
I don't agree with his managerial decisions, but he must be a million miles away from achieving a profit!
Jeez who do these people think is funding the losses at the club?
We lost £8 million in his first year!
Eh?
The Standard Socios claim that his game is not about making a club profitable ( and then taking the dividend) but exiting a club and taking the money with him . They speak about him emptying the bank account of €30m, and that his right to this money ( presumably repayment of loans) is disputed. The amount received ( or not) for Watt by Standard features in this investigation by the current owner.
I have to say I am not entirely sure I buy everything the Socios tell us, at least not in the emails Jacques Seron sends us. I think it would need face to face meetings to get to the bottom of it.
The author of this piece however paints a scenario that unfortunately is believable in a functional sense. It could all happen. If it does happen though, it will be seen clearly in the next 4-5 weeks, and if it does (mostly) happen then for me personally that would be gloves off time.
But on another thread for example, @Scoham, who is always sensible, makes a pretty good case that Lookman won't be sold in this window.
It's a well written article that may or may not be on the money, but I for one will definitely be using it as a benchmark to evaluate the next five weeks.
We're going to end up like Woolworths
There is no doubt we will have a wider understanding by the end of January and we will see more definitive evidence as to whether or not the main thrust of the article is correct.
Personally I think the Lookman sale will not happen until summer but RD may try some form of 'sale and leaseback' as Palaarse did with Zaha.
Whatever happens, things do not look rosy at the Valley and I get the feeling that we will have to raise our issues more openly with the media, both mainstream and social, from early next year.
But then again, RD may surprise us with a new experienced manager in January accompanied by 4 or 5 good signings for the squad ... I know, I know, my optimism coming out again, but we can aways hope.
I don't necessarily agree with all that the author writes, but it's his opinion based on what he's seen under RD ownership.
As usual we're in a position where we're having to "wait and see" before inferring any more about what Roland's intentions are, despite Katrien apparently already having told us a number of times before. The above article makes sense in that the only consistent message we've had since RD arrived was the desire to break even, while at the same time being told we've spent £xm on infrastructure.
That we're still pondering the "what are Roland's intentions?" question after already having had two years and four transfer windows under this regime speaks volumes to me - either they don't know what they're doing, or that they do and they realise that it's not something that's particularly palatable to those who wish to see us strive for on-pitch progress.
One other point though, and I've not spoken to Dr Kish about it, we seem to think it's ok for the local newspapers to put links to their advert ridden sites for articles, and criticism is levelled at anyone that cuts and pasts the article into this site yet it seems to be ok for a fan that writes articles in his own time, and for no financial reward, at all, to take hits away from hos own site by copying and pasting his article.
I, personally, think it's nothing more than paranoia. I, actually, think that RD has good intentions but he is just not capable, either himself or those he's hired, or both, to achieve the desired results. The suggestion that he took lots of money from SL is also a little misleading as I don't think he chose to sell he was 'chased out' and in those circumstances you wouldn't expect him to leave them loads of money behind and him take losses with him would you? If you were evicted from your house you would't leave your wallet with money in it on the kitchen table for the net occupants would you?
I think there are lots of things wrong with the club at the moment but I don't think that he is adding real value to the stadium or the training ground with the money he's spend on them. Realistically he would have to find a buyer that wanted a football stadium and/or a training ground facility. If the sites were going to be developed for housing, which is what I imagine would be the most financially profitable, then the stadium and the training ground buildings would probably have to be demolished anyway.
Compare us to a widget making business? Why? You spend money on improving a factory and it has a resale value. You spend money on a football ground and it doesnt.
To me it has become clear he had 3 strands of objectives
1. To develop youngsters through the academy for sale at a profit
2. To buy and sell players at a profit; mainly buying youngsters who would develop and,
3. have a championship side, which if the first 2 are successful should be a decent side with a possibility of achieving promotion ( a nice to have but not an objective). This would run at a loss but be more than covered by 1 and 2 to produce an overall profit.
In his mind his owning a series of clubs would help 1 and 2.
His 2 year review would show:
1. Looking very promising
2. Failing
3. Looks like failing
2 is failing because
(i) underestimated how good the championship is compared to other leagues in Europe
(ii) badly advised on player purchases which have mainly been failures
3 is failing because
(I) and (ii) as for 2
(iii) the league changing the rules on FFP which would mean more investment
So his next action plan, would follow the lines of many businesses
A. concentrate investment in the successful part ie 1 the academy
B. reduce risks in player outlays and cut costs generally
This he seems to be doing.
The bit he is missing is maximising other revenues - which in this case is from supporters, TV money etc, particularly if we get relegated.
The other bit he is taking a huge gamble on the effect on the academy if we get relegated. He seems to be assuming we can still attract the same level of youngsters if we are in Div 1 as Championship. No idea on this.
Slightly different take, but no less depressing from a football point of view, except I think it unlikely he will look to sell the Valley or the training ground without selling the club.
'RD strategy is peculiar but we cannot forgot he is investing money into the infrastructure of the club. I think his strategy is simply, make Charlton a sustainable business, that spends little in fees and wages and sells an academy player every season who has made c20-30 appearances for £3m+.
What I think we all fail to understand is if we recruited a manager who knows the league with a few more quid to invest in proven championship players, rather than relying on this hopeless net work of scouts we could feasible push top 6. (sacking the scouts could save a few quid to invest in a decent player).
Charlton are now at the pinnacle of RDs network of clubs which means the only use we have for the network would be to give reserve team players first team action elsewhere. However our squad is so thread bear we cannot even do that.
RD saved the club but I'm not sure if his ideologies work in football. Maybe he needs to be a little bit more like other foreign Chairman and speculate to accumulate to reach the TV riches of the Prem, or a few more quid for players and a sensible manager and we become a mid table Championship club.
Right now both appeal to me!!
Colin Pearson'
'The Club have many frailties but we have one major strength-0ur Youth team strategy and Academy production line
The hope of the management team is to keep producing new players and sell them - much in the same way that Crewe have been doing for years.
Unfortunately this means that we have no serious ambition to be a Big Club again - just a Nusery or a development club for the Big Clubs
It could be considered that if at some time the Academy players really gelled and became a real
Tour de Force,that the management would see fit to invest some serious money to support the Club's progress and development.Currently we are producing one or two exceptional players on a regular basis but not enough for us to make a winning side in an unsupported way.The young players try hard,but often lack stamina and experience over a number of games ,and as a consequence,a lack of confidence and is soon exposed.
We need to break this sequence of events by
(1) retaining our best players
(2)meld the next generation in progressively with the first team so that they gain experience quickly and
(3)Buy in some good professional players who can assist the young ones and stabilise the team
(4)appoint some quality managerial staff
Winning builds confidence ,not meaningless and desperate changes both at managerial and player level
The current strategy needs a complete overhaul,otherwise we will never iprogress or develop just by importing sub standard players from other R.D. owned clubs
Only the best is good enough for Charlton and it's supporters- not this amateur management approach
Lost in the West'