Funny that the only receipts Tommy is willing to show currently are the ones showing that Russell Slade didn't know how to pick a player. We all already knew that, I don't think anyone lamented the moving on of Slade. We didn't want him in the first place, he was miserable from the start, he played dour, terrible football and couldn't pick a player. Crofts played every game and Foley regularly played at holding midfield where he was one of the least inspirational players I've ever seen do anything and made Grant Basey look like Dennis Rommedahl for pace. I don't give a shit about the power struggle between Driesen and Slade, as far as I'm concerned neither should have been anywhere near the club. My concern is far more focused on the terrible job done in killing our upwards momentum when we had Powell, driving him out of the club and then dumping us down to this horrible division again with terrible poorly-planned signings when we'd finally built some momentum and some hope up again. Driesen was a part of that and those of you delving into this ridiculous back and forth where Tommy points out that a player he suggested went on to do more than work in Stratford Greggs and acting like it matters are insane. As has been noted before, Ackworth has named a few players over the years who it turns out would have been great signings. Do you want him on the scouting team next? He believes he can talk to ghosts and I'd still rather have him than the bloke who pops up gloating every time we lose, having pops at people we know have contributed more to Charlton in a day than all his little scouting reports put together over the years. It doesn't matter if we had Messi, Ronaldo and de Bruyne lined up and ready to go until Bowyer put the kibosh on it (they jump out of tackles), you know what he was part of and what that did to the club.
Journalism? This is the level of The Sun "journalism".
It's feeding a perception of someone with lies to back that perception. It's smart, but also really sad. I'm sure fans would love to hear the truth and then make up their own mind instead of being fed these kind of lies.
I can understand you don't want me here as I have all the evidence to expose you.
I will take a look at some more stuff you published
I think if I was going to “exposed” as you put it that would have happened rather earlier in the 35 years I’ve been writing about Charlton.
You can’t even read a byline or acknowledge that you got that wrong, even though it is central to your point.
In any event the central issue is that Duchâtelet is a nutter who employed unqualified individuals, wasted millions and damaged the club. Agree or disagree?
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
Where does he say that ?
He like literally says it in his "article"
This e-mail is the only discussion I had with Russel about players. These are the unimpressive foreign players he is talking about
From this:
he goes to this:
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?
He takes a story, keeps 1% truth and then makes up all the rest. It's sad really.
I wasnt lying when I said that I have evidence of almost everything that happened.
I didn’t write the story, as above, but you seem not to understand how journalism works. You gather information from a variety of sources and with a story like this there isn’t going to be a definitive version,. It isn’t going to be how you saw it, especially as you weren’t talking before it was written.
Anyone who has ever read a piece about themselves in the media will know this. Your truth isn’t going to be the same as theirs.
Nevertheless this piece shed a great deal of light on you at the time. It is you who are taking one piece of information which you claim is inaccurate to assert that 99% is wrong.
And why are you even here?
Trying to get on Sandgaard's radar and/or change perceptions now he knows our current recruitment problems?
Are Allen and Grant , Scott Allen the Scottish midfielder that started out at Dundee United and went to West Brom and Jorge Grant who's name has come up on here a few times over the years when midfielders are discussed and is currently at at Peterborough?
Jamie Allen who is at Coventry now and Conor Grant who is at Plymouth now
My question is how or why Thomas has this amount of time to read, write and reply on here.
it’s just strange, you’re no longer with the club. I don’t understand why you are trying to show up airman brown. What are you gaining from that? You work for another club and it’s just weird and unprofessional. You shouldn’t feel like you have to make a point to the Charlton fans, the past with Roland is now history.
If you were yes/noing players put to you by the manager, and others. What considerations were given to attributes other than x is a good player?
Who considered things like leadership, balance, making sure you had enough goals in the team, left and right footed balance, especially of set piece delivery.
The details like a center back partnership were you wanted a dominant center back but also one that could play out from the back.
Were things like this considered in the yes/noing or just x is good enough and worth y amount of fee and wages?
We all know his chief tools were Football Manager and Transfermarket.com (and Roland, the biggest tool of them all).
Think that’s harsh Bob, surely working in the industry you’d have a better insight than the vast majority of us on here on just how much scouting and recruitment has evolved over the last ten years and the part that technology, video and data analysis now plays?
True, but that is the case at clubs like Brentford and they have reaped the rewards.
I’d love to know what analysis was done to suggest that the relatively untried 18 year old Anil Koc was good enough for a relegation battle one tier below the premiership.
We all watched this slow motion car crash with our own eyes - there’s little personal credit to be salvaged by anyone who was driving.
My question is how or why Thomas has this amount of time to read, write and reply on here.
it’s just strange, you’re no longer with the club. I don’t understand why you are trying to show up airman brown. What are you gaining from that? You work for another club and it’s just weird and unprofessional. You shouldn’t feel like you have to make a point to the Charlton fans, the past with Roland is now history.
I 'showed up' when I saw Jimmy Stone going after Sandgaards son while he knows nothing about him or his role. He didnt know anything about my role either, but wasnt shy to spread some lies to turn fans against me.
If results stay this way I can already predict that they (Airman and Stone) will fabricate some more weird stories like they did with me just to get attention.
My question is how or why Thomas has this amount of time to read, write and reply on here.
it’s just strange, you’re no longer with the club. I don’t understand why you are trying to show up airman brown. What are you gaining from that? You work for another club and it’s just weird and unprofessional. You shouldn’t feel like you have to make a point to the Charlton fans, the past with Roland is now history.
I 'showed up' when I saw Jimmy Stone going after Sandgaards son while he knows nothing about him or his role. He didnt know anything about my role either, but wasnt shy to spread some lies to turn fans against me.
If results stay this way I can already predict that they (Airman and Stone) will fabricate some more weird stories like they did with me just to get attention.
You forgot Matt Wright, who wrote the piece I posted, again. Do you even know who he is?
Are Allen and Grant , Scott Allen the Scottish midfielder that started out at Dundee United and went to West Brom and Jorge Grant who's name has come up on here a few times over the years when midfielders are discussed and is currently at at Peterborough?
Jamie Allen who is at Coventry now and Conor Grant who is at Plymouth now
Thomas didn't bring up the article and was right to call it out.
He's also just shown that his being "a block to transfers" could have turned Andrew Crofts, who played one season before being done with us, into John McGinn.
It's almost as if signing past it 30+ year olds is a bad use of funds when your budget is tight. At least we've learned our lesson.... Oh wait.
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?!
Didn’t George Dobson save Wimbledon from relegation last season almost single handedly?
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?!
Didn’t George Dobson save Wimbledon from relegation last season almost single handedly?
Thomas didn't bring up the article and was right to call it out.
He's also just shown that his being "a block to transfers" could have turned Andrew Crofts, who played one season before being done with us, into John McGinn.
It's almost as if signing past it 30+ year olds is a bad use of funds when your budget is tight. At least we've learned our lesson.... Oh wait.
If I wasnt there to 'block' in the promotion season you would have had Abu Ogogo - who is now playing for Southend in the national league - instead of Josh Cullen. And i'm not even joking.
My interest in this is as an amateur fan not a professional.
In 2016 I would have shared Airman's view that Andrew Crofts would have been a decent signing based on his performances at the levels above the Division that we were playing. Clearly I was wrong. He even triggered a contract extension but fortunately got picked up by Scunthorpe where he hardly played.
Similarly I supported the signings of Harry Arter, Joe Ledley ( who was signed in a panic out of the window and pitched straight into action) and Ben Watson based on their previous reputation. All of them were decent players but past their best when we picked them up.
This doesn't mean that we shouldn't sign players in their 30's because the likes of Christian Dailly and Darren Pratley have served us well.
I am interested @ThomasD are there circumstances where you would support the signing of veteran players?
I’m surprised how many people are treating TD as some sort of scouting guru.
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.
[long post snipped]
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.
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?!
Didn’t George Dobson save Wimbledon from relegation last season almost single handedly?
He did, you are right, but it didn't work for him at Sunderland.. Clearly likes in London.. My point was, some moves don't work out for players for what ever reason..
My question to Thomas is.. Who's reasonability is it, to get an understanding of the players personality and would he fit in to the club? Do they know the ethos of the club.. Did he take any of this in to consideration when recommending players..
My interest in this is as an amateur fan not a professional.
In 2016 I would have shared Airman's view that Andrew Crofts would have been a decent signing based on his performances at the levels above the Division that we were playing. Clearly I was wrong. He even triggered a contract extension but fortunately got picked up by Scunthorpe where he hardly played.
Similarly I supported the signings of Harry Arter, Joe Ledley ( who was signed in a panic out of the window and pitched straight into action) and Ben Watson based on their previous reputation. All of them were decent players but past their best when we picked them up.
This doesn't mean that we shouldn't sign players in their 30's because the likes of Christian Dailly and Darren Pratley have served us well.
I am interested @ThomasD are there circumstances where you would support the signing of veteran players?
I’m surprised how many people are treating TD as some sort of scouting guru.
I don’t think anyone is. I’m certainly not. Why does everything always have to be exaggerated?
For me, he works in a field I find interesting and, like it or not, he had an involvement in our recruitment over a number of years. He’s shared a great deal in the last 24hrs that I can’t be alone in finding interesting, and it’s entirely down to the individual how much weight or credibility they give it. Some will give zero before they’ve read one word, that’s entirely their choice.
Question is @ThomasD - interested in freelancing this summer to see if we're better off with or without you? I'm sure Sandgaard would consider if you had enough support...
Thomas didn't bring up the article and was right to call it out.
He's also just shown that his being "a block to transfers" could have turned Andrew Crofts, who played one season before being done with us, into John McGinn.
It's almost as if signing past it 30+ year olds is a bad use of funds when your budget is tight. At least we've learned our lesson.... Oh wait.
If I wasnt there to 'block' in the promotion season you would have had Abu Ogogo - who is now playing for Southend in the national league - instead of Josh Cullen. And i'm not even joking.
He was good against us in those play off semi finals for Shrewsbury
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.
If there was a 21 page thread about me here, I’d advise you all to see a professional 😳
There are numerous threads on here about numerous characters who have had contacts with our club. Most wouldn’t give two shits about it as they are professionals who really couldn’t care less what a bunch of supporters thought about them on a forum.
Yet this poor soul feels he needs to come on here & put the record straight? And we’re lapping it up? This is all in the past. What does it matter? It’s just more bilge from a time that has left us where we are now. That’s what we should be concentrating on. Not listening to some school boy who played at being a scout & failed at our expense, giving his excuses & trying to dig our fans out in the process.
Question is @ThomasD - interested in freelancing this summer to see if we're better off with or without you? I'm sure Sandgaard would consider if you had enough support...
Thomas didn't bring up the article and was right to call it out.
He's also just shown that his being "a block to transfers" could have turned Andrew Crofts, who played one season before being done with us, into John McGinn.
It's almost as if signing past it 30+ year olds is a bad use of funds when your budget is tight. At least we've learned our lesson.... Oh wait.
If I wasnt there to 'block' in the promotion season you would have had Abu Ogogo - who is now playing for Southend in the national league - instead of Josh Cullen. And i'm not even joking.
He was good against us in those play off semi finals for Shrewsbury
Thomas didn't bring up the article and was right to call it out.
He's also just shown that his being "a block to transfers" could have turned Andrew Crofts, who played one season before being done with us, into John McGinn.
It's almost as if signing past it 30+ year olds is a bad use of funds when your budget is tight. At least we've learned our lesson.... Oh wait.
If I wasnt there to 'block' in the promotion season you would have had Abu Ogogo - who is now playing for Southend in the national league - instead of Josh Cullen. And i'm not even joking.
And had your former boss run our club properly we would not have been in that division, and/or we would have had a proper budget and plan to get out of it
@ThomasD is your opinion on Dobson based on watching him this season with us or previous seasons? Speaking your language here, this season among L1 midfielders he has the 2nd most tackles won and 8th most interceptions (both per 90 and per 1000 oppo touches), on the ball he isn't amazing but he's a 24 year old holding midfielder we got for free in league 1 so he's not going to be like Cullen/Bielik and be able to do it all. To say he's league 2 standard massively damages the vision you are trying to present of yourself as this brilliant analyst when he is about to win about 95% of our player of the year vote.
For me, our recruitment quality has dropped off since Bowyer left. Every window under him was very good (unless ESI were involved for all/part of it) and he's continued to show good recruitment at Birmingham particularly with loan signings this season which kind of backs up the idea he was good at building a squad, especially using the loan market. Even under TS, Bowyer still got Stockley/Millar in on loan who were both brilliant, the quality of our loan signings under Adkins/Jackson has not been the same standard
My interest in this is as an amateur fan not a professional.
In 2016 I would have shared Airman's view that Andrew Crofts would have been a decent signing based on his performances at the levels above the Division that we were playing. Clearly I was wrong. He even triggered a contract extension but fortunately got picked up by Scunthorpe where he hardly played.
Similarly I supported the signings of Harry Arter, Joe Ledley ( who was signed in a panic out of the window and pitched straight into action) and Ben Watson based on their previous reputation. All of them were decent players but past their best when we picked them up.
This doesn't mean that we shouldn't sign players in their 30's because the likes of Christian Dailly and Darren Pratley have served us well.
I am interested @ThomasD are there circumstances where you would support the signing of veteran players?
I’m surprised how many people are treating TD as some sort of scouting guru.
I don't think anyone is. The question is.
If Thomas D was the reason why we signed all the crap players and we signed the good players despite him, how comes the recruitment has got worse since he left?
The period from the window we signed JFC and Page to the summer championship window was probably, all things considered, our best in a decade. Despite the lack of investment.
It's probably a coincidence and a host of other factors and nothing to do with Thomas D but it's been awful, early Roland levels of awful, since.
Comments
In any event the central issue is that Duchâtelet is a nutter who employed unqualified individuals, wasted millions and damaged the club. Agree or disagree?
it’s just strange, you’re no longer with the club. I don’t understand why you are trying to show up airman brown. What are you gaining from that? You work for another club and it’s just weird and unprofessional. You shouldn’t feel like you have to make a point to the Charlton fans, the past with Roland is now history.
We all watched this slow motion car crash with our own eyes - there’s little personal credit to be salvaged by anyone who was driving.
If results stay this way I can already predict that they (Airman and Stone) will fabricate some more weird stories like they did with me just to get attention.
Uncanny
He's also just shown that his being "a block to transfers" could have turned Andrew Crofts, who played one season before being done with us, into John McGinn.
It's almost as if signing past it 30+ year olds is a bad use of funds when your budget is tight. At least we've learned our lesson.... Oh wait.
My question to Thomas is.. Who's reasonability is it, to get an understanding of the players personality and would he fit in to the club? Do they know the ethos of the club.. Did he take any of this in to consideration when recommending players..
For me, he works in a field I find interesting and, like it or not, he had an involvement in our recruitment over a number of years. He’s shared a great deal in the last 24hrs that I can’t be alone in finding interesting, and it’s entirely down to the individual how much weight or credibility they give it. Some will give zero before they’ve read one word, that’s entirely their choice.
There are numerous threads on here about numerous characters who have had contacts with our club. Most wouldn’t give two shits about it as they are professionals who really couldn’t care less what a bunch of supporters thought about them on a forum.
Yet this poor soul feels he needs to come on here & put the record straight? And we’re lapping it up? This is all in the past. What does it matter? It’s just more bilge from a time that has left us where we are now. That’s what we should be concentrating on. Not listening to some school boy who played at being a scout & failed at our expense, giving his excuses & trying to dig our fans out in the process.
It was established at that point, and said by Gallen and Bowyer multiple times, that you were not involved in scouting and only had a veto.
Furthermore, he was never our player anyway.
For me, our recruitment quality has dropped off since Bowyer left. Every window under him was very good (unless ESI were involved for all/part of it) and he's continued to show good recruitment at Birmingham particularly with loan signings this season which kind of backs up the idea he was good at building a squad, especially using the loan market. Even under TS, Bowyer still got Stockley/Millar in on loan who were both brilliant, the quality of our loan signings under Adkins/Jackson has not been the same standard
If Thomas D was the reason why we signed all the crap players and we signed the good players despite him, how comes the recruitment has got worse since he left?
The period from the window we signed JFC and Page to the summer championship window was probably, all things considered, our best in a decade. Despite the lack of investment.
It's probably a coincidence and a host of other factors and nothing to do with Thomas D but it's been awful, early Roland levels of awful, since.
Would be interesting to hear what @ThomasD role in Yann's departure was? No doubt he will deny having anything to do with it.