Part of the reason has been an internal battle raging between the newly appointed manager and the network scout, which is best illustrated by the signing of Andrew Crofts.
We can reveal that a key part of the arguments between Meire and Slade about Crofts stemmed from the fact that Driesen insisted that the midfielder, who has spent the last six seasons playing at a higher level than Charlton’s current League One status, simply wasn’t good enough.
Instead, Driesen spent the summer recommending a series of unimpressive foreign players, who have been resisted by Slade to the extent that he has declared he’s not interested in any of Driesen’s views.
The episode leaves many questions. Why did Slade have to expend so much time and energy to make what should have been a relatively standard signing of a 32-year-old free agent? And how many more players slipped by as a consequence?
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.
Don't use twitter but this young man's reappearance out of the blue is intriguing. OK, he's had the gumption (assuming it is him) to pop up on here, but strikes me he's trying to distance himself from the stench that unfortunately is involved in a freehold and an inept individual that is equally unpopular with our forthcoming opponents on Saturday. To this individual, the 2 underlings did irreparable damage that we still have to live with to this day. Would love to see where they end up next.As long as it's nowhere near SE7 I'm content, though alas the man that gave them work experience is still about. So frustrating we can't move on from him.
Can understand the negativity towards him as a key figure in the highly damaging Roland circus but can't get my head around people objecting to him airing his views or his version of events.
Of course it's not objective or 100% accurate or an independently verified Guardian profile because it's his version of events..that's the point.
It's still very helpful in trying to decipher what the hell is going wrong at the club now and what recruitment system we now use. Is Martin Sangaard the new TD with power of veto or does he do all the suggesting/proposing and Dad has the veto ? Do they all have to agree , including the manager or is it a family affair? Why is this a state secret ?
Many including me have made rude and abusive comments about TD on here over the years so why shouldn't he have a right to reply if he is courteous about it ? He isn't a convicted murderer or rapist for God's sake.
Or do we have a moral right to silence people we don't like ?
I hope everyone can now see how people like Airmanbrow operate. They hear one story from someone and turn it into something else just to make them look bad and to sell his crappy magazine.
I like Airman Browns critical eye being passed over poisonous owners like Roland and his fucked up way of running a football club . He may not be 100% correct on everything but he pointed out what a clueless out of her depth fool Katrien was and that Roland was and still is poisonous for our club , the bellend even sold to crooks at a bullshit fantasy price that he believes in and which has led to our ground /training ground being split from ownership . so take your tone down Thomas D because Airman amongst many things has fought tooth and nail for our club with good intentions All the way .
I like Airman Browns critical eye being passed over poisonous owners like Roland and his fucked up way of running a football club . He may not be 100% correct on everything but he pointed out what a clueless out of her depth fool Katrien was and that Roland was and still is poisonous for our club , the bellend even sold to crooks at a bullshit fantasy price that he believes in and which has led to our ground /training ground being split from ownership . so take your tone down Thomas D because Airman amongst many things has fought tooth and nail for our club with good intentions All the way .
'Not 100 procent correct?' You are kidding, right? You just saw that he just makes things up to make poeple look bad. Thats what he does.
You thought John Mcginn was an unimpressive foreign player? lol
Also good that you bring up Crofts to show everyone I wasnt lying with my story. Crofts was awful by the way, and everyone on this forum knows it.
Thanks Airman, finally something good comes out of you.
As ever, the truth probably lands somewhere in the middle but reading that article in hindsight... god, Crofts was so poor. We got one awful season out of him and then he only made 13 more senior appearances across three clubs in the following three years. We really messed that up giving him what was probably a very decent contract. But he had to be good if he came from a club in the league above us apparently.
Leaving aside the McGinn portion of Tommy's version of events, I tend to believe this story surrounding Crofts is true since both sides have now reported it. I'm afraid that's +1 credibility for Driesen IMO.
You thought John Mcginn was an unimpressive foreign player? lol
Also good that you bring up Crofts to show everyone I wasnt lying with my story. Crofts was awful by the way, and everyone on this forum knows it.
Thanks Airman, finally something good comes out of you.
There’s no need to be snarky. There’s plenty of good come out of Airman, whereas you, to many of us, are inextricably linked to an awful time in our history, and to an owner who had no interest in us as fans, or the history of the club. As far as we’re aware, you’ve never criticised Roland, or the way he ran the club. Happy to be proved wrong though.
Also happy to hear your side of the story, and fair play for coming on here to put it to us. I think you’ll find you get a fair hearing. Most of us are happy to admit when we’ve got things wrong. I hope you are too.
Don't use twitter but this young man's reappearance out of the blue is intriguing. OK, he's had the gumption (assuming it is him) to pop up on here, but strikes me he's trying to distance himself from the stench that unfortunately is involved in a freehold and an inept individual that is equally unpopular with our forthcoming opponents on Saturday. To this individual, the 2 underlings did irreparable damage that we still have to live with to this day. Would love to see where they end up next.As long as it's nowhere near SE7 I'm content, though alas the man that gave them work experience is still about. So frustrating we can't move on from him.
My impression is that it probably started with the slight Twitter spat with Jimmy Stone on Tuesday over the role Martin Sandgaard now has, as the analyst
And while I am questioning about TD's defence of his record, it cannot be denied that the recruitment since RD (and TD) left has been terrible.
Slade was the most disappointing manager of the RD era, in that I expected a seasoned manager who knew the EFL backwards to move us on, and instead we got someone past his sell by date.
I was like TD and thought Dobson was a cart horse with limited ability .
I admit I was 100% wrong , this kid is a workhorse with a brilliant attitude and he’s the only one stopping me going in to that dressing room ‘falling down’ style and unloading on them . Hes tackling and linking up of play has been the one shining light in a pile of shit . Player of the season has been won by him already .
Yes he’s not Hollywood but more than good enough for us at this level .
After his resurgence under Jacko these last few months since those early not so good games , have you changed your view on him .
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?
I don't think it's a coincidence, I think that unfortunately signing players isn't an exact science, and some DoFs have their moment and it passes. I hope that isn't the case with Gallen but he did seem to do excellent work bringing in players he was aware of from previous years and experiences and that well may have run a little dry. Driesen didn't scout anything, he looked at data, which is essentially what Martin Sandgaard will be doing. The problem we had in the early days of Driesen was actual football people were being overuled based on data and only data. It's very important that that isn't the case now and we will see. There's no evidence that the pool of players we're signing from has reduced because of Driesen, none whatsoever. We have been for the last few years and continue to be now recruiting players exclusively from the UK, and we know that it was Gallen and his contacts who were unearthing the Gallaghers and the Bieliks, we're hardly missing out on the finest League Two talent because Tommy is no longer reading data reports on Rochdale's left back. With Gallen at the moment I think of Steve Walsh. At Leicester, he identified Mahrez, Vardy and Kante among others and contributed to Leciester's ridiculous title win. He then went to Everton and recommended £150m worth of dross. He also says he suggested Andy Robertson, Harry Maguire and 16 year old Erling Haaland, but I find it hard to believe anyone chose Davy Klaassen, Morgan Schneiderlin and Michael Keane over them. He now works as a special adviser for Charlotte FC in the MLS. His moment has passed.
I also think the difference this season is we aren't necessarily buying bad players, we're getting decent players and wrecking them. Alex Gilbey was MK Dons' player of the year for two successive seasons at this level, and last night looked like a non-league player against that same team. MacGillivray was Pompey's player of the season last year, Scott Fraser was everyone's favourite player but I'm sure we'll ruin him yet. Chuks was a logical signing based on how well he did for us in League One, Stockley was good for actual Charlton before looking like an imposter the whole time Adkins was there after we signed him permanently. DJ was excellent for Swindon at L1 level and looked ready for a step up, Leko was good for us in the Championship but now looks atrocious in League One. There's some signings in there that aren't great, mostly last season under the cap at short notice, but there's few signings I've looked at this season and thought were a terrible idea. In fact, the players who arguably seemed least logical - George Dobson run out by Sunderland and Sean Clare unwanted at Oxford, CBT let go by L2 Tranmere - have given better accounts of themselves than most of the others. The loans have gone sideways, there's no doubt Gallen is struggling to identify usable potential, but the profile of our signings has actually been pretty good on paper. I don't know how far he can be blamed for the failure of the coaching staff to get that talent onto the pitch where others have succeeded. Fresh ideas might be the answer, but as Airman says Driesen was nothing more than an obstacle that has been removed.
I always enjoy your posts, but I think this is one of the best and most accurate and even keiled assessments of our transfer situation over the last two years. Unfortunately it'll probably be lost in this thread (I'm trying to catch up, I'm only on page 19, no spoilers). But just wanted to give you a shout for this.
I think what a lot of us struggle with is that there isn't one thing we can point to and say "this is the thing that's clearly wrong." There are questions around Jacko, but some of our best performances in the last calendar year have come under him. There are questions around recruitment, but there have been recruitment successes, and players who have performed better for us than they currently are (Gilbey being a good example, same with Clare the last couple weeks). In many ways it's the worst possible situation: a lot of things, both big and small, are and have been going wrong at the club. And that is not something that can be fixed overnight or by replacing a manager or even some players.
Part of the reason has been an internal battle raging between the newly appointed manager and the network scout, which is best illustrated by the signing of Andrew Crofts.
We can reveal that a key part of the arguments between Meire and Slade about Crofts stemmed from the fact that Driesen insisted that the midfielder, who has spent the last six seasons playing at a higher level than Charlton’s current League One status, simply wasn’t good enough.
Instead, Driesen spent the summer recommending a series of unimpressive foreign players, who have been resisted by Slade to the extent that he has declared he’s not interested in any of Driesen’s views.
The episode leaves many questions. Why did Slade have to expend so much time and energy to make what should have been a relatively standard signing of a 32-year-old free agent? And how many more players slipped by as a consequence?
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.
Eek
Point to AB for accuracy in reporting.
Point to Thomas for accuracy in scouting evaluation of Andrew Crofts.
Don't use twitter but this young man's reappearance out of the blue is intriguing. OK, he's had the gumption (assuming it is him) to pop up on here, but strikes me he's trying to distance himself from the stench that unfortunately is involved in a freehold and an inept individual that is equally unpopular with our forthcoming opponents on Saturday. To this individual, the 2 underlings did irreparable damage that we still have to live with to this day. Would love to see where they end up next.As long as it's nowhere near SE7 I'm content, though alas the man that gave them work experience is still about. So frustrating we can't move on from him.
My impression is that it probably started with the slight Twitter spat with Jimmy Stone on Tuesday over the role Martin Sandgaard now has, as the analyst
And while I am questioning about TD's defence of his record, it cannot be denied that the recruitment since RD (and TD) left has been terrible.
Slade was the most disappointing manager of the RD era, in that I expected a seasoned manager who knew the EFL backwards to move us on, and instead we got someone past his sell by date.
I felt sorry for Slade. I believe it was Orient pre-season and his body language was awful in an interview he gave. I think he saw VERY quickly what a s*** show he got himself into.
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?????
Nah.
It stinks.
If there was a 21 page thread about you on a forum wouldn’t you feel entitled to a reply? Aren’t people allowed at least that?
Like I said, I don’t see an issue with him giving his side of the story. Whether you believe all, some, or none of it is down to you. I was erring towards the latter but the Lee Crofts thing has now been validated to some extent by Airman.
Driesen and squirrel face were given positions they should never have been allowed to operate in. Wtf was Dushitelet thinking of. Whatever we may think of him, he's a successful businessman.
Interesting read.. and a good insight that is for sure.. But we can all agree scouting and recruiting players has changed a lot over time. And no doubt TD played a role in some of good bits of business and some poor bits.. But fair play coming on here to give an opinion, which I think we should respect him for that.
I don't think our recruitment on paper has been overall bad, but maybe just mismanaged.. We have benefit previously from players coming to us, having made no impact at other clubs.. George Dobson for example.
Recommending players I think is the easy part, but getting an understanding of the personality, speaking to people who knows the player, are they happy living in a big city, what could effect them personally.. Who's reasonability is that? That for me is a key!
Then do they really want to come to Charlton, or is it just about money?!
Comments
Part of the reason has been an internal battle raging between the newly appointed manager and the network scout, which is best illustrated by the signing of Andrew Crofts. We can reveal that a key part of the arguments between Meire and Slade about Crofts stemmed from the fact that Driesen insisted that the midfielder, who has spent the last six seasons playing at a higher level than Charlton’s current League One status, simply wasn’t good enough. Instead, Driesen spent the summer recommending a series of unimpressive foreign players, who have been resisted by Slade to the extent that he has declared he’s not interested in any of Driesen’s views. The episode leaves many questions. Why did Slade have to expend so much time and energy to make what should have been a relatively standard signing of a 32-year-old free agent? And how many more players slipped by as a consequence?
And from Thomas Driesen's post earlier...
Eek
Can understand the negativity towards him as a key figure in the highly damaging Roland circus but can't get my head around people objecting to him airing his views or his version of events.
Of course it's not objective or 100% accurate or an independently verified Guardian profile because it's his version of events..that's the point.
It's still very helpful in trying to decipher what the hell is going wrong at the club now and what recruitment system we now use. Is Martin Sangaard the new TD with power of veto or does he do all the suggesting/proposing and Dad has the veto ? Do they all have to agree , including the manager or is it a family affair? Why is this a state secret ?
Many including me have made rude and abusive comments about TD on here over the years so why shouldn't he have a right to reply if he is courteous about it ? He isn't a convicted murderer or rapist for God's sake.
Or do we have a moral right to silence people we don't like ?
You thought John Mcginn was an unimpressive foreign player? lol
Also good that you bring up Crofts to show everyone I wasnt lying with my story. Crofts was awful by the way, and everyone on this forum knows it.
Thanks Airman, finally something good comes out of you.
Are these the unimpressive foreign players your are talking about Mr Airman? LOL
Mcginn is playing for Aston Villa
Allen is playing for Coventry
Grant is one of Plymouth's best players
This is the e-mail where Russell got crazy over and pushed Katrien to sign Crofts and Foley.
He may not be 100% correct on everything but he pointed out what a clueless out of her depth fool Katrien was and that Roland was and still is poisonous for our club , the bellend even sold to crooks at a bullshit fantasy price that he believes in and which has led to our ground /training ground being split from ownership .
so take your tone down Thomas D because Airman amongst many things has fought tooth and nail for our club with good intentions All the way .
As ever, the truth probably lands somewhere in the middle but reading that article in hindsight... god, Crofts was so poor. We got one awful season out of him and then he only made 13 more senior appearances across three clubs in the following three years. We really messed that up giving him what was probably a very decent contract. But he had to be good if he came from a club in the league above us apparently.
Leaving aside the McGinn portion of Tommy's version of events, I tend to believe this story surrounding Crofts is true since both sides have now reported it. I'm afraid that's +1 credibility for Driesen IMO.
And while I am questioning about TD's defence of his record, it cannot be denied that the recruitment since RD (and TD) left has been terrible.
Slade was the most disappointing manager of the RD era, in that I expected a seasoned manager who knew the EFL backwards to move us on, and instead we got someone past his sell by date.
A reason why we might not have gone for Mcginn....
Hibernian say they have turned down an offer of about £750,000 from Nottingham Forest for midfielder John McGinn.
The 22-year-old, who has three Scotland caps, joined Hibs from St Mirren in July 2015, signing a four-year contract at Easter Road.
Asked if he anticipated further offers, Hibs head coach Neil Lennon told BBC Scotland: "Possibly.
"But the initial bid is nowhere near our valuation of the player. I think it was round about £750,000."
Ended up going to Aston Villa for £2m+ in the last year of his deal with interest from Celtic too.
Essentially there was no way he was going to a League One club on our budget.
Unimpressive foreign player according to Airmanbrown
Hes tackling and linking up of play has been the one shining light in a pile of shit .
Player of the season has been won by him already .
Yes he’s not Hollywood but more than good enough for us at this level .
After his resurgence under Jacko these last few months since those early not so good games , have you changed your view on him .
McGinn ended up having a fantastic 16/17 with Hibs which ended with promotion and that attracted Championship interest in the summer of 2017.
He might’ve been in budget a year earlier. We spent 800k on Nicky Ajose that same 2016 summer.
I think what a lot of us struggle with is that there isn't one thing we can point to and say "this is the thing that's clearly wrong." There are questions around Jacko, but some of our best performances in the last calendar year have come under him. There are questions around recruitment, but there have been recruitment successes, and players who have performed better for us than they currently are (Gilbey being a good example, same with Clare the last couple weeks). In many ways it's the worst possible situation: a lot of things, both big and small, are and have been going wrong at the club. And that is not something that can be fixed overnight or by replacing a manager or even some players.
Point to Thomas for accuracy in scouting evaluation of Andrew Crofts.
Let the games continue.
I believe it was Orient pre-season and his body language was awful in an interview he gave.
I think he saw VERY quickly what a s*** show he got himself into.
Wtf was Dushitelet thinking of. Whatever we may think of him, he's a successful businessman.
I don't think our recruitment on paper has been overall bad, but maybe just mismanaged.. We have benefit previously from players coming to us, having made no impact at other clubs.. George Dobson for example.
Recommending players I think is the easy part, but getting an understanding of the personality, speaking to people who knows the player, are they happy living in a big city, what could effect them personally.. Who's reasonability is that? That for me is a key!
Then do they really want to come to Charlton, or is it just about money?!