I don’t read Twitter so can’t comment on stuff Driesen has been saying about us or what fans have been saying to him, but I for one am interested in hearing what he has to say about that period and likewise any rebuttals other have to his comments.
Unless I have missed a post - there is no proof, as yet, that this is him posting …..
Happy to be corrected
Accept there's some sad people about, but would someone really take the time to start up an account and write a 95 thousand word essay on what may or may not have happened?
Unless I have missed a post - there is no proof, as yet, that this is him posting …..
Happy to be corrected
Accept there's some sad people about, but would someone really take the time to start up an account and write a 95 thousand word essay on what may or may not have happened?
@ThomasD What was your role in the sale of Yann Kermorgant?
"One of the things I see people say about me is that I told Roland to sell fan favorite Yann Kermorgant. I have no idea where this came from (Airmanbrown or Jimmy Stone maybe)?
In my report I highlighted him as our best player. But 3 of the other scouts said he was getting old and we could probably find better. So Roland listened to these poeple who were far more experienced then me and who did a very good job at Standard Liege in the years before. These same people also suggested Reza te come to Charlton, I didn't say 'no' but I said I had my doubts about him adjusting to English football"
That's not true is it Thomas?
I don't see how you can know or the other if that was a true statement or not.
Because I know it not to be true, I was party to discussions at the time. The stuff going on when Yann was sold was pure madness. Even Katrien fought against it but the Network Scout had his way.
I think it is healthy to hear different perspectives and takes. Doesn't mean you have to believe them or give them credit but better to have both sides of stories surely.
Can't understand wanting to censor someone for putting a first hand view forward. Let them put it forward and challenge and debate it if you disagree/ can counter it.
Trying to suppress and censor airing of views and cancel people is probably one of the contributing reasons we're in such a mental society at present.
As it pointed out who decides who and what is worthy of voicing their views? Seems a terribly authoritarian approach.
I'm not on twitter and rarely view it so have not seen exchanges but having seen some of the abuse Charlton fans dish out on there doesn't surprise me if people give it back to Charlton fans....we're not some homogenous unit of people....there's some utter shitstains support our club from what I've witnessed over the years and I've never got the whole gotta love each other cos you support same shit football team mentatility...used to a long time ago but the internet put paid to that lol.
Bloke has had the minerals to pipe up and give his view on here whether it be factual or otherwise. Up to readers to take what's said at face value or not. It's not like we've invited him into the inner sanctum of the "Favourite Cheeses?" thread.
@ThomasD What was your role in the sale of Yann Kermorgant?
"One of the things I see people say about me is that I told Roland to sell fan favorite Yann Kermorgant. I have no idea where this came from (Airmanbrown or Jimmy Stone maybe)?
In my report I highlighted him as our best player. But 3 of the other scouts said he was getting old and we could probably find better. So Roland listened to these poeple who were far more experienced then me and who did a very good job at Standard Liege in the years before. These same people also suggested Reza te come to Charlton, I didn't say 'no' but I said I had my doubts about him adjusting to English football"
And this is where I just don’t buy it, he takes little responsibility for the poor signings and the sales but all the credit for the good players picked up. It’s fluffing his own reputation
In fairness, he did say “ The poeple who follow me on twitter have seen me name many times the players I was involved with and that where not a succes (Ceballos, El Hadji Ba, Franck Moussa, Roger Johnson). I probably am forgetting a few.”
“I probably am forgetting a few” is doing some really heavy lifting there
@ThomasD What was your role in the sale of Yann Kermorgant?
"One of the things I see people say about me is that I told Roland to sell fan favorite Yann Kermorgant. I have no idea where this came from (Airmanbrown or Jimmy Stone maybe)?
In my report I highlighted him as our best player. But 3 of the other scouts said he was getting old and we could probably find better. So Roland listened to these poeple who were far more experienced then me and who did a very good job at Standard Liege in the years before. These same people also suggested Reza te come to Charlton, I didn't say 'no' but I said I had my doubts about him adjusting to English football"
And this is where I just don’t buy it, he takes little responsibility for the poor signings and the sales but all the credit for the good players picked up. It’s fluffing his own reputation
In fairness, he did say “ The poeple who follow me on twitter have seen me name many times the players I was involved with and that where not a succes (Ceballos, El Hadji Ba, Franck Moussa, Roger Johnson). I probably am forgetting a few.”
“I probably am forgetting a few” is doing some really heavy lifting there
Wish I could bloody forget some of the players he “approved” too.
No one asking for censoring or ‘cancelling’ what ever people think that means.
it’s very easy to post something on here, and pick and choose your replies, instead of dodging being interviewed by say Jimmy for the podcast or anyone with a journalistic background and having a proper conversation where facts get examined, it’s reputation laundering, and watching people stroking their chins, going on about both sides is just nonsense.
If Thomas had anything about him, he’s do a proper interview, otherwise it’s a grifter excusing the grift
I can understand some people not being his biggest fan, but I can’t understand why anyone would have an issue with him giving his side of the story. Use your own intelligence & critical analysis to decide how much (if any) of it you believe.
What you have to remember is Roland,Katrien and Thomas turned Charlton into a laughing stock. Riga was a very good manager who Roland could always call on. After Riga left the second time things went down hill very quickly. Peeters and Riga are also fluent in French,Dutch,and English . Would have expected the other scouts in Roland’s set up to have been the same…
This club has never recovered from Roland’s takeover.
No better then Farnell puffing himself up on twitter earlier this week.
these rats of the past coming out when results look poor, and some fans jumping on them as honest brokers, is actually quiet sad
I don't get it either it is proper weird. He's just after five minutes of fame.
Perhaps unfair. He may think he’s been unfairly maligned? Twitter can be a harsh place, but he’d have well advised to not try to dish it back to Charlton fans as it only makes things worse.
Can’t read his tweets anyway, because he blocked me years ago. If you’re reading this, could you unblock me Thomas D?
No one asking for censoring or ‘cancelling’ what ever people think that means.
it’s very easy to post something on here, and pick and choose your replies, instead of dodging being interviewed by say Jimmy for the podcast or anyone with a journalistic background and having a proper conversation where facts get examined, it’s reputation laundering, and watching people stroking their chins, going on about both sides is just nonsense.
If Thomas had anything about him, he’s do a proper interview, otherwise it’s a grifter excusing the grift
Has he dodged interviews with other journalists or just with Jimmy? I think he's made it pretty clear why he doesn't want to speak to Jimmy.
A separate debate can be had on Tommy's decision to dodge an interview with Jimmy but if he doesn't want to engage because he feels he won't be taken seriously, that's his prerogative.
First I would like to say that I will only post in this topic and not on any other topics. It's your forum and some poeple will not want me here and I respect that.
I will explain what my role was for Charlton throughout the years and how recruitment worked and changed throughout the years under Roland. Some fans will find it interesting. Others will say 'im obsessed' or 'live rent free'
Whatever you think, one thing is sure and that is that I worked my ass off for Charlton and gave everything I had for the club, especially in the last years when I was given final say on the transfers. I was asked many times by different people from the press to explain things, but every time I gave the exact same anwser and that is that I didnt want to say bad things about other people in the press. With this post here it will stay here.
Lets start at the beginning, and that is before Roland bought the club. I was an unexperienced new scout for Standard Liege and worked together with 5 other experienced scouts under the supervision of a director of sports. Roland was interested in buying Charlton but they were in a bad situation and he asked all the scouts to make a report about the Charlton squad: who are the best players, which positions do we need to add, who can we sell or let go, which players we could replace with players from our other clubs etc. Some of the scouts went to come watch live games at the valley, I only watched on video as I prefer. I still have all these reports from all scouts so I can say exactly who said
what about which player. One of the things I see people say about me is that I told Roland to sell fan favorite Yann Kermorgant. I have no idea where this came from (Airmanbrown or Jimmy Stone maybe)? In my report I highlighted him as our best player. But 3 of the other scouts said he was getting old and we could probably find better. So Roland listened to these poeple who were far more experienced then me and who did a very good job at Standard Liege in the years before. These same people also suggested Reza te come to Charlton, I didn't say 'no' but I said I had my doubts about him adjusting to English football.
I did gave my 'ok' for Astrid Ajdarevic and Loic Nego to come in. Not because Nego 'was better then Chris Solly' as people seem to think I said. I don't know where that came from either, but because he was a very talented full back who could play both right and left and also as an attacking winger, a position he now regurly plays for the Hungary national team. Solly had many problems with his knee, so Loic would be a good young cover. He played one bad game and people judged him on that saying he was out of his depth. But the reason he did not play anymore had nothing to do with his quality, there was a conflict between him and Jose Riga and I will not get further into this as its a personal matter for them.
Now, about Polish Pete. He wasn't a player from the network but he was new signing. To understand this signing you have to know how the recruitment worked at that time. There was a method for signing new players and that was that 2 of the scouts must agree on the signing of a player. Because you get so many players being proposed by agents (and scouts) not all scouts can watch every player so work was divided and then Katrien had to make the decision when she would get the reports.
She would sent the proposed players to 2 or 3 scouts and she would sent the proposed players from scouts/managers to 1 or 2 other scouts. From the moment Bob Peeters came in the managers would also count as one of the scouts so if the manager plus one scout would agree then she would also proceed with negotiations. So with Polish Pete, two of the french speaking scouts agreed
on him and Katrien signed him. I had never seen him play for one minute, nor did 2 other scouts. Only the 2 people who watched him were responsible for him. And that happened with all the players coming in. Igor Vitokele, most on here would agree it was a very good player before his injuries, I also never had anything to do with. I'm Belgian, Igor is Belgian, but I was never consulted for this tranfer.
Bob Peeters plus one scout agreed on him so Katrien signed him. That's the way it worked. Many fans say I don't take responsibility for the failed signings during Rolands time, but why on earth would I take responsibilty for players I didn't even watch for one second. Sometimes I was involded but then it was me against 2 other scouts or me against a scout and the manager and then Katrien would follow the majority. This was the case for Christophe Lepoint and Zakarya Bergdich, both I didn't think were good enough. I will never say I was not involved in any bad signings. The poeple who follow me on twitter have seen me name many times the players I was involved with and
that where not a succes (Ceballos, El Hadji Ba, Franck Moussa, Roger Johnson). I probably am forgetting a few.
And sometimes it was more nuanced then just saying yes or no for a player. I did say yes for Naby Sarr, but not at the transfer fee and wage he was getting. I told in my report he was a raw talent but should only sign him when he would be 'cheap'. Which he was not.
When we got relegated from the championship, things changed. Roland and Katrien made a evalution of the scouting and the poeple who made most of the mistakes were not consulted anymore.
So now it was just me and the manager - Russel Slade. We also had a change in strategy to bring more Englisch players in. Like some people already stated here I quickly had a fallout with Slade over signings.
He wanted to sign Crofts and Foley and I didnt. Instead of Crofts I wanted to sign John Mcginn who was at that time in the 2nd division of Scottisch football. Slade then sent me an e-mail with Katrien attached that this was ridicilious and Mcginn is no leader and we needed a leader like Crofts. Katrien followed Russel and I was little bit angry with how this all happened, especially the way Russel acted. Roland bought back Belgian first division club STVV and I started to work more and more for them
and less and less for Charlton. After some time I was given the final say of all transfers for STVV.
But then it all changed again when Katrien left. Roland no longer had his person who he could trust in Charlton to deal with signings. Because I did very well in STVV having final say on transfers he gave that role to me now in Charlton and the poeple in Charlton (Steve Gallen and the manager) would do the negotiations and propose players from agents, and propose players themselves but I had to give the 'go or no go'. If we would have multiple targets for one position, I got to say who the most important was. This worked very well.I would give the ok and then Steve would make the negitiations.
Like I already said many times before, and like Mr Sandgaard said himself some time ago, Steve is the very best in negotiating and Charlton is very lucky to have him. What Steve does not have, is the time to analyze all potential signings.Same for the manager. So you will never hear me say that I am better then Steve or Lee in analyzing players, but I did have the time to watch 10 games of a player where as Steve or Lee only had time to watch some highlights. Steve also went to watch some players in live games, but again, he did not have the time to really really analyze.
I had to say no to many players and I know that frustrated them, but I think I made the right decision every time and they would agree on that now. We would have not had such a great squad if I didn't say no to those players.
It was just very good teamwork. If Steve, Lee and the agents only would propose bad players, then my hands where tied also and we would have signed only bad players.
But because they sent some really good players and I filtered out the bad ones, it was very succesful. The only player that I proposed myself was Josh Cullen who was fantastic against us with Bradford.
All the rest came from Steve, Lee and agents and then I had to watch them.
This is the only truth. Everything else that comes from people like Airmanbrown or Jimmy Stone is just hear say bullshit from frustrated people. I have hundreds of emails and whatsapp messages that can verify everything I say.
He blocked countless ordinary Charlton fans who just asked him questions he didn’t like. No malice, no nastiness, just questions.
He has had numerous opportunities to speak to journalists about his real experiences of working under Douchbag at CAFC but never has.
Instead he chooses to ask & be accepted onto a well known supporters forum (where a lot of those he blocked are members) so he can tell his side of the story?????
What you have to remember is Roland,Katrien and Thomas turned Charlton into a laughing stock. Riga was a very good manager who Roland could always call on. After Riga left the second time things went down hill very quickly. Peeters and Riga are also fluent in French,Dutch,and English . Would have expected the other scouts in Roland’s set up to have been the same…
This club has never recovered from Roland’s takeover.
They may not have been fluent in all three, but I’d be surprised if they didn’t at least have passable English.
Comments
Any ex employee? Or only ones that are labeled as baddies? What about if Russell Slade signed up?
Hence why I don’t trust TD as far as I could throw him.
And am uncomfortable with him being here.
Can't understand wanting to censor someone for putting a first hand view forward. Let them put it forward and challenge and debate it if you disagree/ can counter it.
Trying to suppress and censor airing of views and cancel people is probably one of the contributing reasons we're in such a mental society at present.
As it pointed out who decides who and what is worthy of voicing their views? Seems a terribly authoritarian approach.
I'm not on twitter and rarely view it so have not seen exchanges but having seen some of the abuse Charlton fans dish out on there doesn't surprise me if people give it back to Charlton fans....we're not some homogenous unit of people....there's some utter shitstains support our club from what I've witnessed over the years and I've never got the whole gotta love each other cos you support same shit football team mentatility...used to a long time ago but the internet put paid to that lol.
Bloke has had the minerals to pipe up and give his view on here whether it be factual or otherwise. Up to readers to take what's said at face value or not. It's not like we've invited him into the inner sanctum of the "Favourite Cheeses?" thread.
it’s very easy to post something on here, and pick and choose your replies, instead of dodging being interviewed by say Jimmy for the podcast or anyone with a journalistic background and having a proper conversation where facts get examined, it’s reputation laundering, and watching people stroking their chins, going on about both sides is just nonsense.
Riga was a very good manager who Roland could always call on. After Riga left the second time things went down hill very quickly.
Peeters and Riga are also fluent in French,Dutch,and English . Would have expected the other scouts in Roland’s set up to have been the same…
This club has never recovered from Roland’s takeover.
A separate debate can be had on Tommy's decision to dodge an interview with Jimmy but if he doesn't want to engage because he feels he won't be taken seriously, that's his prerogative.
No malice, no nastiness, just questions.
He has had numerous opportunities to speak to journalists about his real experiences of working under Douchbag at CAFC but never has.
Instead he chooses to ask & be accepted onto a well known supporters forum (where a lot of those he blocked are members) so he can tell his side of the story?????
Nah.
It stinks.