Can anybody explain why we appear to be so poor at transfer dealings?
I just can't put my finger on it.
At a guess
Katrien's poor negotiation skills and lack of experience in football Desperation to get higher earners off the wage bill Working towards the target of breaking even - sell a higher earner, use fee and money saved on wages to replace with a free transfer on lower wages Possibly players having low release clauses in contracts but that comes back to Katrien's negotiating
With all the money in football now these are very low fees. Can't really see how anyone can argue that they're fair when you see the sort of figures other clubs bring in.
!.5 million (or even less!) is a disgrace. if he stayed and honoured his contract he would be worth more than 1.5 million in his effect on the team alone. I absolutely support Cousins desire to leave, and think it is good for him, but at that price it isn't good for us. What on earth has Katrien Meire learned? Signing the likes of Sarr on a four year contract, and accepting a pathetic fee for Cousins are typical examples of her uselessness. I really believe I could have negotiated a better deal for Charlton with regard to Jordan Cousins, indeed one where club, player, new club, agents and fans would recognise it as fair and reasonable. And I am a moron.
!.5 million (or even less!) is a disgrace. if he stayed and honoured his contract he would be worth more than 1.5 million in his effect on the team alone. I absolutely support Cousins desire to leave, and think it is good for him, but at that price it isn't good for us. What on earth has Katrien Meire learned? Signing the likes of Sarr on a four year contract, and accepting a pathetic fee for Cousins are typical examples of her uselessness. I really believe I could have negotiated a better deal for Charlton with regard to Jordan Cousins, indeed one where club, player, new club, agents and fans would recognise it as fair and reasonable. And I am a moron.
I disagree Seth. I get your point about the money we paid for Sarr and Bauer etc, and yes you are right KM got taken for a ride on how much we paid them, but I don't believe Cousins is worth more than £1.5m max.
He's just not as good as people think he is. £1.5m is a fair price, and I doubt KM or anyone would get much more for him
El Hadji Ba will do a job in League1.. with jackson and crofts providing passing ability i wouldn't be too upset.
However, the fee for Cousins is a shambles, he is an engine, not great technically but a brilliant championship player! I would want closer to £3m when you consider Lewis Cook from Leeds has gone for 6m + add-ons after 1 season in the championship! Well done Katrien you cucking funt
Ba reminds me me of the football table games you used to find in the amusement arcades at the seaside, smack him on the head and his leg comes out to kick the ball, I won't be losing any sleep if he goes.
We should sell pope if we that desperate for money at least we got cover for goalkeeper. We are selling cousins cheap and we have no midfield fucking idiots I'm done was going to go to bury don't think I'll bother any more get the flairs out what a clueless set of fuckers division 4 for the first time ever here we come. It's embarrasing
I can't believe he wants to go to QPR there shit I could understand burnley in premier league but them in there match box ground it's all bullocks.can we chuck these Belgiums out our country now we are out of Europe. Piss off
I doubt any prem clubs would've come in for him. QPR will be an attractive proposition for him being a London club and recently in the prem
He's young, has a decent record, tons of potential, and he's british. He is nowhere near his peak age group yet either. If they sign him now you could still get 15 years out of him. For a club to have just earned £150m that offer is derisory.
It appears to come from the QPR end. A lower figure in the public domain would suit them as it looks to their fans as if they have a bargain and are shrewd negotiators. Having been a basket case for years in the way they recruited players they need that.
But even if it isn't true it has been repeated so often now it will be accepted as fact.
Why didn't Charlton get a figure out there in advance? They will no doubt try and get a different (and possibly true) figure out there but it will be too little and too late.
Again Katrien will at best be reactive, not proactive, in getting her story out there and so loses again. Her news management is close to non-existent, we have no comms manager and no comms strategy. Did they think the Solly deal would deflect anger over a Cousins sale? They certainly thought that the Ajose, Novak and Holmes deals would bring back lapsed ST holders as they have instructed the company calling those ex-STs to ask the question.
Most of use realised that Cousins, and JBG, would go as soon as we were relegated. They want to go and more importantly the club are desperate to move them on. Their new contracts last summer were very expensive (£25k pw for JBG according to Redhenry who is normally a realiable source).
Katrien had, and presumably still has, targets each season for player sales. So someone has to go.
The question is that what are KMs sales targets? How much does she need to raise? Because if we "only" get £1.5m for Cousins but she budgeted for it being £3m then that extra money has to come from somewhere.
Roland could loan the club he owns some more money. Yes, he could but I don't think it is likely. He's set the budget and that will be that. So it either comes from savings or from sales. KM appears to have told Roland that changing the Belgian deckchairs for some British versions on the Charlton Titanic will stop the ship sinking.
But the good ship Charlton will only survive if it changes direction more substantially. Away from the small, inexperienced, injury prone iceberg that sunk the ship last year and towards the open sea of a balanced squad, with a good blend and an experienced skipper (which in Slade at least we have).
So Meire has to somehow meet Roland's budget AND allow Slade to build a proper squad. Even for an experienced and skilled CEO that would be a big ask, for Katrien it will be next to impossible.
Youngsters: Dimitar Mitov, Ezri Konsa, Terell Thomas, Ollie Muldoon, Brandon Hanlan and Josh Umerah Trialists: Lewis Buxton, Andrew Crofts and Kevin Foley
Havent traveled to Austria Injured: Ahmed Kashi, Alou Diarra and El-Hadji Ba Other: Jordan Cousins
So looks like Nick Pope has gone to Austria as per the question asked... Shame that the three injured players havent traveled as if they are to remain with Charlton it would surely be good for them to be there based on bonding reasons at least.
Youngsters: Dimitar Mitov, Ezri Konsa, Terell Thomas, Ollie Muldoon, Brandon Hanlan and Josh Umerah Trialists: Lewis Buxton, Andrew Crofts and Kevin Foley
Havent traveled to Austria Injured: Ahmed Kashi, Alou Diarra and El-Hadji Ba Other: Jordan Cousins
So looks like Nick Pope has gone to Austria as per the question asked... Shame that the three injured players havent traveled as if they are to remain with Charlton it would surely be good for them to be there based on bonding reasons at least.
Youngsters: Dimitar Mitov, Ezri Konsa, Terell Thomas, Ollie Muldoon, Brandon Hanlan and Josh Umerah Trialists: Lewis Buxton, Andrew Crofts and Kevin Foley
Havent traveled to Austria Injured: Ahmed Kashi, Alou Diarra and El-Hadji Ba Other: Jordan Cousins
So looks like Nick Pope has gone to Austria as per the question asked... Shame that the three injured players havent traveled as if they are to remain with Charlton it would surely be good for them to be there based on bonding reasons at least.
Yes considering Lennon has gone.
Seems from the list that Patrick Bauer has gone.
Either means that both Lennon and Bauer are closer to fitness than you'd think or that Diarra and Ba are out for as long as Kashi
I don't believe Cousins is a 3 million pound player now, but i certainly would expect him to be in a few years. All those saying the price is fair, it should look fair when you take into account the development potential of a player. 2 years in the champ already, improved each year, pretty young.....1.5 million is bad business.
But who knows what it will really be.
Two weeks ago I had hopes the squad might look decent enough with quality. Now I am dreading the look of it in another 2 weeks.
He's young, has a decent record, tons of potential, and he's british. He is nowhere near his peak age group yet either. If they sign him now you could still get 15 years out of him. For a club to have just earned £150m that offer is derisory.
Think 900,000 for Pope is very good offer , considering most fans 12 months ago would have let him go for nothing
No it's not. "Most" fans don't matter when it comes to transfer fees, and that's entirely subjective anyway. Pope has the quality to be a Premier League keeper. Joe Hart went for 1m a decade ago despite being younger. He had bigger upside but inflation has been dramatic since then and Pope is far closer to the finished article.
He's young, has a decent record, tons of potential, and he's british. He is nowhere near his peak age group yet either. If they sign him now you could still get 15 years out of him. For a club to have just earned £150m that offer is derisory.
Think 900,000 for Pope is very good offer , considering most fans 12 months ago would have let him go for nothing
I've beenb vocal of my support for Pope. His record at lower leagues is better than Joe Hart's was. He has tons of potential and £900k is nowhere near enough.
We don't need the money like we previously did so NO DEAL is the way forward.
I'd rather lose Cousins for £1.5 than Pope at £900k - Both have tons of potential but I feel Pope is more likely to reach his.
The upshot of Meire working within her budget is that last season she allowed players such as Williams, Vaz Te, Sonogo, and yes, Johnson, to be pressed on floundering managers who were inadequately supported at the beginning of the season. The approach is kind of, 'thats sort of all right, and if this don't work we'll always have that....Academy academy academy to boot'.
If Slade has been clearly told right now, 'these are your players, these will leave, you have to get on with it' then we know where we are. Instead we have loads of maybe's.
Maybe the injured players will get fit. Maybe one or two players expected to leave will stay. Maybe you can get a tune out of the more dodgy players like Watt, Cebellos, Ba, Johnson or whoever. Maybe the promising youngsters will bestride the stage like Colossuses. Maybe when Slade says players won't leave for rubbish fee's it is true Maybe when Slade says we will get players in, it is over and above the choice we have now, including the triallists.
Lots of maybes, each worthy of a plan and contingency.
I don't believe Katrien is capable of anything like the kind of planning and attention to detail needed.
When commenting on one area of difficulty last season, the injuries, her shallow response was we have to scout players that have played 30 times the previous season. That is kind of it with Katrien isn't it? Katrien lives in the kind of world where you hire agents in, or consultants, or temps, or extra security or whatever. Or ask Siri.
Henry puts it so well, at best she is a reactive CEO, and usually her reactions are very costly and wrong.
Before relegation the club were in denial, no thought of planning for the inevitable which most could see coming as early as February, and since then we have had a call the midwife approach to all the subsequent tasks.
Katrien said it was now a fresh start at Charlton, there is a long way to go to make that claim seem credible.
Comments
Katrien's poor negotiation skills and lack of experience in football
Desperation to get higher earners off the wage bill
Working towards the target of breaking even - sell a higher earner, use fee and money saved on wages to replace with a free transfer on lower wages
Possibly players having low release clauses in contracts but that comes back to Katrien's negotiating
With all the money in football now these are very low fees. Can't really see how anyone can argue that they're fair when you see the sort of figures other clubs bring in.
I absolutely support Cousins desire to leave, and think it is good for him, but at that price it isn't good for us.
What on earth has Katrien Meire learned? Signing the likes of Sarr on a four year contract, and accepting a pathetic fee for Cousins are typical examples of her uselessness.
I really believe I could have negotiated a better deal for Charlton with regard to Jordan Cousins, indeed one where club, player, new club, agents and fans would recognise it as fair and reasonable.
And I am a moron.
He's just not as good as people think he is. £1.5m is a fair price, and I doubt KM or anyone would get much more for him
However, the fee for Cousins is a shambles, he is an engine, not great technically but a brilliant championship player! I would want closer to £3m when you consider Lewis Cook from Leeds has gone for 6m + add-ons after 1 season in the championship! Well done Katrien you cucking funt
Surprised that Pope is still here.
He's young, has a decent record, tons of potential, and he's british. He is nowhere near his peak age group yet either. If they sign him now you could still get 15 years out of him.
For a club to have just earned £150m that offer is derisory.
I'm not sure I believe the £1.5m figure.
It appears to come from the QPR end. A lower figure in the public domain would suit them as it looks to their fans as if they have a bargain and are shrewd negotiators. Having been a basket case for years in the way they recruited players they need that.
But even if it isn't true it has been repeated so often now it will be accepted as fact.
Why didn't Charlton get a figure out there in advance? They will no doubt try and get a different (and possibly true) figure out there but it will be too little and too late.
Again Katrien will at best be reactive, not proactive, in getting her story out there and so loses again. Her news management is close to non-existent, we have no comms manager and no comms strategy. Did they think the Solly deal would deflect anger over a Cousins sale? They certainly thought that the Ajose, Novak and Holmes deals would bring back lapsed ST holders as they have instructed the company calling those ex-STs to ask the question.
Most of use realised that Cousins, and JBG, would go as soon as we were relegated. They want to go and more importantly the club are desperate to move them on. Their new contracts last summer were very expensive (£25k pw for JBG according to Redhenry who is normally a realiable source).
Katrien had, and presumably still has, targets each season for player sales. So someone has to go.
The question is that what are KMs sales targets? How much does she need to raise? Because if we "only" get £1.5m for Cousins but she budgeted for it being £3m then that extra money has to come from somewhere.
Roland could loan the club he owns some more money. Yes, he could but I don't think it is likely. He's set the budget and that will be that. So it either comes from savings or from sales. KM appears to have told Roland that changing the Belgian deckchairs for some British versions on the Charlton Titanic will stop the ship sinking.
But the good ship Charlton will only survive if it changes direction more substantially. Away from the small, inexperienced, injury prone iceberg that sunk the ship last year and towards the open sea of a balanced squad, with a good blend and an experienced skipper (which in Slade at least we have).
So Meire has to somehow meet Roland's budget AND allow Slade to build a proper squad. Even for an experienced and skilled CEO that would be a big ask, for Katrien it will be next to impossible.
Youngsters: Dimitar Mitov, Ezri Konsa, Terell Thomas, Ollie Muldoon, Brandon Hanlan and Josh Umerah
Trialists: Lewis Buxton, Andrew Crofts and Kevin Foley
Havent traveled to Austria
Injured: Ahmed Kashi, Alou Diarra and El-Hadji Ba
Other: Jordan Cousins
So looks like Nick Pope has gone to Austria as per the question asked... Shame that the three injured players havent traveled as if they are to remain with Charlton it would surely be good for them to be there based on bonding reasons at least.
Either means that both Lennon and Bauer are closer to fitness than you'd think or that Diarra and Ba are out for as long as Kashi
But who knows what it will really be.
Two weeks ago I had hopes the squad might look decent enough with quality. Now I am dreading the look of it in another 2 weeks.
No it's not. "Most" fans don't matter when it comes to transfer fees, and that's entirely subjective anyway. Pope has the quality to be a Premier League keeper. Joe Hart went for 1m a decade ago despite being younger. He had bigger upside but inflation has been dramatic since then and Pope is far closer to the finished article.
We don't need the money like we previously did so NO DEAL is the way forward.
I'd rather lose Cousins for £1.5 than Pope at £900k - Both have tons of potential but I feel Pope is more likely to reach his.
The upshot of Meire working within her budget is that last season she allowed players such as Williams, Vaz Te, Sonogo, and yes, Johnson, to be pressed on floundering managers who were inadequately supported at the beginning of the season. The approach is kind of, 'thats sort of all right, and if this don't work we'll always have that....Academy academy academy to boot'.
If Slade has been clearly told right now, 'these are your players, these will leave, you have to get on with it' then we know where we are. Instead we have loads of maybe's.
Maybe the injured players will get fit.
Maybe one or two players expected to leave will stay.
Maybe you can get a tune out of the more dodgy players like Watt, Cebellos, Ba, Johnson or whoever.
Maybe the promising youngsters will bestride the stage like Colossuses.
Maybe when Slade says players won't leave for rubbish fee's it is true
Maybe when Slade says we will get players in, it is over and above the choice we have now, including the triallists.
Lots of maybes, each worthy of a plan and contingency.
I don't believe Katrien is capable of anything like the kind of planning and attention to detail needed.
When commenting on one area of difficulty last season, the injuries, her shallow response was we have to scout players that have played 30 times the previous season. That is kind of it with Katrien isn't it? Katrien lives in the kind of world where you hire agents in, or consultants, or temps, or extra security or whatever. Or ask Siri.
Henry puts it so well, at best she is a reactive CEO, and usually her reactions are very costly and wrong.
Before relegation the club were in denial, no thought of planning for the inevitable which most could see coming as early as February, and since then we have had a call the midwife approach to all the subsequent tasks.
Katrien said it was now a fresh start at Charlton, there is a long way to go to make that claim seem credible.