From the minutes of one of last season's much-vaunted fan meetings:
"KM said Alcorcon and Sint Truiden have no impact whatsoever on Charlton. She said that 'early on' there was some reliance on other clubs in the network and some player exchanges. She added, 'this is not an issue now' and said that today it [the network] was principally an information exchange"
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Or totally unaware/deluded.
Take your pick.
It's like that shitty drone music you used to get in lifts in the 90's
Of the players that joined us directly from a network club, i.e TBH, Buyens, Reza, Astrit, Bulot, Thuram, Watt, the Serbian keeper whose name escapes me (have I missed anyone?), a couple of notable disasters aside, most were actually reasonably successful for us. We haven't signed a player from within the network since Standard were sold, but a number of our unwanted players have been dispatched and there allowing, on the face of it at least, some lightening of the wage bill.
We did pick up a couple of managers from within the network that left a bit to be desired, but the majority of poor player signings were made from external to the network.
The network of clubs isn't and never has been the real problem, it has always been the people running it.
Yes he's getting rid of players on big wages but do you think we will see that money? I don't. We also haven't received a fee for the players either (if we have it will be a minimal fee to appease FIFA).
The network is awful. A handful of decent players (Buyens, TBH, Bulot, the unfit Astrit and the unfit Watt) from Standard just isn't good enough.
http://www.hertfordshirefa.com/news/2017/jun/vacancy-the-fa-independent-non-executive-director
Buyens I also feel was a very good player, a great passer of the ball. The problem for him though was he had the stigma of being Belgian as well as the network stigma.
Neither is ever going to be in the hall of fame but under different circumstances could have been very successful signings.
In essence, the question was 'would Charlton have a bigger budget if Roland Duchatelet did not also own Alcorcon and Sint Truiden? '
In essence, she said no.
I maintain that the network, or at least the idea of it, isn't the problem. It works for other clubs. So much of what RD and KM have done is okay in principal, it has mostly been the execution - such as appointing cheap, unqualified managers, or having Driesen advising on transfers - that has been the problem.
Like RD is red, red robin us of our pride.