What sort of realistic timescale are we talking? Charlton WILL get back to the Prem - the question is when. A couple of years before the Berlin Wall fell that event looked a hundred years away, as I say it will happen but when.
First, we clearly have to get rid of the present owners. So - the question is: What will that take? Answer: We must aim to get down to League 2 - and maybe even non-league - as quickly as possible. That has to be our target - and let's face it, if we're making it our deliberate target, it'll feel like we've achieved something when we get there - which we WILL.
This will be the point - or a year later in the non-league? - when we finally get rid, and can then start the recovery.
The recovery - a REAL recovery - isn't going to involve us finishing 14th in League One and aiming for a 'good' season to finish 11th a year later. Let's do it the only realistic way - knock the rotten building down and start afresh.
ATB Dave
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Remember a few years ago - it wasn't that long! - when we WERE in the Prem......a lot of people were pathetically saying "Oh well, relegation won't be that bad, if we go down we'll see us winning more and see more exciting football, and the seats'll be cheaper too." A LOT of CAFC fans were saying stooped things like that. They were getting bored in the Prem. They said that the Championship was Charlton's 'natural level' and undermined the club as it fought against the drop. Wrong. The Prem at the time we were in the Prem - and doing well in the Prem - was CAFC's natural level IMO and that's the level we should be aspiring to now. Personally I don't mind taking a short term relegation or two in order to make a return to the Prem achievable. You can only do that with a well-run club, which we're at present not.
Where X is how many years until Uncle Roland pops his clogs and y is the number of divisions below the Premier League we are.
Nevertheless, the point I was trying to make is a valid one. Put in a nutshell - IMO it doesn't matter if we go down to League Two or even non-league, as this in the overall scheme of things for a great club like Charlton will feel the same as being in poxy League One. CAFC, whilst not being 'massive' like Man City, still belongs in the Premiership/Championship, and where we are outside those two divisions won't matter until we sort ourselves out.
I agree with you - it's about changing the ownership. The question, as already said, is how to get rid of them......sometimes you have to get to your lowest point possible before you can rise. We shouldn't be frittering away energy as fans worrying about whether we'll finish 11th or 9th in League One - that's irrelevant now. We KNOW that the owners are damaging us. That and only that should be the focus of the fans.
Personally - and this is just me, others have different ideas about the nature of support I know - I'd boycott all of next season or at least until the owners are forced out.
[And that comes from someone who used to be a regular in the dark days of Selhurst. If you want success for the club you have to be prepared to focus on the one thing now, get rid of the owners. The problem with calling for a boycott is that there'll always be a core number of people who will break the boycott for the obvious reasons, mostly because they're addicted [no pun intended] to their weekly football, and these guys are often the young ones who live season by season and can't see things over a larger timespan, which is what we probably need now. Interesting debate though, fans have to do what they think is best for the club. Dave
When Man City went down to this league every game was a cup final for the opposition playing in front of a capacity crowd. City had an experienced ex top flight manager in Joe Royle once shortlisted as a replacement for Bobby Robson as England manager; more or less an unlimited player budget; got the best players who were prepared to play at that level; a Board of directors chaired by David Bernstein and including ex players like Dennis Tueart BUT lost to the likes of Lincoln City and Mansfield and struggled from mid table to make the play offs and only got promotion by the skin of their teeth on penalties.
You don't get out of this league on reputation.
Compare that with what we will be facing under this regime.