I have deliberately not yet watched the Southall introductory interview.
I am pleased he gave it. I am pleased he opened the door to his stakeholders.
It sets the right tone for his organisation. In this aspect of his role he is in the business of setting and managing expectation with investors and all stakeholders.
I will watch it but I was first interested in gauging "stakeholder" reactions to his words & performance and the expectations they think he has set though I am mindful the 140 byte instant demands of the internet rarely relate to the real business world. At this stage I view the expectations of some in relation to ESI activities as seriously unrealistic.
There are implications and complications related to the timeline of the deal being completed and I recognise the nature of the very troubled business ESI have acquired.
What do they say about each new President? Judge me after my first 100 days? Well some it seems started that clock ticking from an effective date of November 27. Clearly Mr Southall has had some opportunity to complete some preparatory work but the real work could not be started before the completion of the club purchase on January 2.
Do I think ESI in a perfect world has a missed a step or two? I do but this is a new business with a new executive team taking over a business which has operated without a discernible CEO for 2yrs (at least), with no effective boardroom for 6yrs, with a skeleton staff overseen by a remote Mr 2%, who entrusted the sale to an off site, part time accountant.
It is no surprise so many prospective buyers walked away.
I do like the skill sets evidenced within ESI to this point. HE Tahnoon Nimer as Chairman of an investment house for 13yrs will need little advice on corporate structure, financial planning or strategy, while McHugh offers industry finance experience with Heller providing a background in corporate and organisational disciplines. Mr Southall offers generic business skills, specific market experience and networking skills. The latter is the face of the business to the industry and stakeholders. His "front of house" skills will be important.
Can we be clear however Mr Southall is in executive terms walking into a corporate desert where the inhabitants have lived with the trials, tribulations, stresses and exhaustion of being taken over for nearly 2yrs. He, the business, and we will need time to adjust. We need to allow him, the new business and ourselves time to breathe.
Will ESI and Mr Southall make mistakes? Absolutely. Will I agree with everything they say and do? Absolutely not, but for the first time in probably 5yrs we appear to be not only reading the same book, but starting at least on the same page.
Providing Mr Southall can keep the majority of us turning the pages together then ESI can offer us a viable and hopefully successful future.
If I have one question mark after the interview, it was his stance on youngsters leaving the club. He was kind of advocating it at one point. I.e.Gomez. But then saying it would never happen under his watch i.e Aribo?
Yh did feel a bit like mixed messages there. Maybe he didn't communicate it right, would be good to get clarification.
Probably that future England captains wont leave for 1mil, but the reality is 95% of football teams are selling clubs nowadays so you keep hold of them with decent contracts and get market value.
I have deliberately not yet watched the Southall introductory interview.
I am pleased he gave it. I am pleased he opened the door to his stakeholders.
It sets the right tone for his organisation. In this aspect of his role he is in the business of setting and managing expectation with investors and all stakeholders.
I will watch it but I was first interested in gauging "stakeholder" reactions to his words & performance and the expectations they think he has set though I am mindful the 140 byte instant demands of the internet rarely relate to the real business world. At this stage I view the expectations of some in relation to ESI activities as seriously unrealistic.
There are implications and complications related to the timeline of the deal being completed and I recognise the nature of the very troubled business ESI have acquired.
What do they say about each new President? Judge me after my first 100 days? Well some it seems started that clock ticking from an effective date of November 27. Clearly Mr Southall has had some opportunity to complete some preparatory work but the real work could not be started before the completion of the club purchase on January 2.
Do I think ESI in a perfect world has a missed a step or two? I do but this is a new business with a new executive team taking over a business which has operated without a discernible CEO for 2yrs (at least), with no effective boardroom for 6yrs, with a skeleton staff overseen by a remote Mr 2%, who entrusted the sale to an off site, part time accountant.
It is no surprise so many prospective buyers walked away.
I do like the skill sets evidenced within ESI to this point. HE Tahnoon Nimer as Chairman of an investment house for 13yrs will need little advice on corporate structure, financial planning or strategy, while McHugh offers industry finance experience with Heller providing a background in corporate and organisational disciplines. Mr Southall offers generic business skills, specific market experience and networking skills. The latter is the face of the business to the industry and stakeholders. His "front of house" skills will be important.
Can we be clear however Mr Southall is in executive terms walking into a corporate desert where the inhabitants have lived with the trials, tribulations, stresses and exhaustion of being taken over for nearly 2yrs. He, the business, and we will need time to adjust. We need to allow him, the new business and ourselves time to breathe.
Will ESI and Mr Southall make mistakes? Absolutely. Will I agree with everything they say and do? Absolutely not, but for the first time in probably 5yrs we appear to be not only reading the same book, but starting at least on the same page.
Providing Mr Southall can keep the majority of us turning the pages together then ESI can offer us a viable and hopefully successful future.
Bit late now I suppose, but I had the interview transcribed (Had to go through and manually make edits as the bot that did the bulk of the work had a bit of trouble with the dulcet South East London and Lancashire tones). Caution, it's not exactly perfect, so please point out any glaring errors.
FULL TRANSCRIPT (with timecode)
00:00:01:03 - 00:00:17:16
Olly: Okay you've been around for a few weeks but we can officially say now Matt our full welcome to Charlton Athletic. Let's start at the very beginning. January the 2nd. It was confirmed that East Street Investments have purchased the club. Why Charlton. What is it about Charlton Athletic that made it such an appealing prospect?
00:00:17:19 - 00:00:35:28
Matt Southall: Oh, it's a big club. You know the heritage of the club. The fan base, the location, you know, it’s a Premier League club. And for us as investors we just saw an opportunity.
00:00:36:14 - 00:00:52:12
Obviously Roland, he made it available. It was quite a while ago. You know and I've kept an eye on it. Promotion. And the position that the club's in at the moment, back in the Championship, it just made it really attractive for us.
00:00:53:11 - 00:01:03:25
Olly: And we know that you've been quite a lot of games already over the last month or so. What you made of your Charlton experience so far, seeing the games, meeting fans, all that kind of stuff? what do you make of what you’ve experienced?
00:01:03:28 - 00:01:08:22
Matt Southall: It’s been fantastic. When we agreed the deal,
00:01:10:07 - 00:01:20:23
before it came out, I didn't expect the level of enthusiasm from the fans and the reception that we would get. Yeah it's been, it's been amazing.
00:01:21:10 - 00:01:29:06
Olly: What are the main objectives and aims for ESI, both in the short term, obviously we're halfway through a season now, but the long term perspective as well.
00:01:29:10 - 00:01:56:02
Matt Southall: Yeah. Like with any investment you know it is a long term strategy for us. First and foremost it's sensible. And it's sustainable. You know it's not going to be a boom and bust. We're not going to come in and look to buy Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Gareth Bale as it's been you know touted on Twitter. It’s building it for the long term stability of the club and what I mean.
00:01:56:07 - 00:02:01:06
Olly: Can you tell us a little bit more about our strategy and how it might work towards getting those objectives?
00:02:01:09 - 00:02:38:24
Matt Southall: Yes. You know it's building on the foundations that have already been set. Lee, Steve, they’ve done a fantastic job already, identifying players, lower leagues the Academy—we’ve got a fantastic academy that's brought through players year after year— it's investing into that. And building on those foundations slowly; we can't just come in and start throwing 10 million pounds on this player and that player, taking the wage bill from where we are now to multiples of that.
00:02:38:27 - 00:02:43:00
It's doing it slowly, sensibly, and sustainably.
00:02:43:16 - 00:02:57:26
Olly: And as of any takeover is it always loads of questions about the ins and outs of how the breakdown of the sale of the club and all that kind of stuff goes. But one thing Charlton fans have been discussing is the Valley, the training ground and how how the sale works with that. That can confirm that it’s lock, stock, and barrel?
00:02:58:16 - 00:03:02:25
Matt Southall: Yeah Yeah. So effectively it is lock, stock, and barrel.
00:03:02:27 - 00:03:35:03
However, from my initial call to Roland's representatives, which was at the end of August, to completion the second of January you know for us the main priority was getting him for the January window. So it's a two stage transaction where we’ve… we’ve purchased the club and the stadium. And we have a commitment to purchase the rest of the assets over a period of time. But again you know the main priorities is to get in, invest because
00:03:36:13 - 00:03:56:24
the way the club was going, you know, the recent run of results: if there wasn’t an investment into the club and into the team, who knows where we would have been going? However that's not the case. You know we're working hard. You know I speak regularly to Steve Gallen. I speak to Lee. And we’re looking at bringing bodies in.
00:03:57:11 - 00:04:29:22
Olly: We'll talk about on the pitch matters in a bit… off the pitch: First of all will you be looking to make changes off the pitch? If so what what are the priorities I guess I'm talking about here at the Valley and all that kind of stuff.
Matt Southall: You know what we've what we've inherited is a very lean structure, loyal staff, a lot of loyal staff, and everybody's been working so hard off pitch as well as on pitch to get the club to where it is now you know and as I said in my statement,
00:04:30:11 - 00:05:04:13
What what we feel we've inherited is the foundations to be able to invest, improve, if we need to bring in members of staff that can strengthen in areas, you know marketing, commercial. The commercial side of things, if you look at how the club makes revenues .You get your primary: TV money, which is obviously important being in the Championship. Then what, commercially? You know a lot of fans and a lot of commercial partners, they disassociated from the club under the old regime and that's something where
00:05:04:29 - 00:05:24:15
You know as I spoke to the commercial team I said anyone that you want me to speak to, put me in front of them. It’s all about reconnecting with the local community with the fans, with the local businesses, and moving the club forward.
00:05:24:29 - 00:05:39:28
Olly: I guess with that in mind this is kind of a rebuild in a way.
Matt Southall: Exactly.
Olly: And talk about the Community Trust now as well, as something that's that's very close to the hearts of a lot of Charlton fans and staff of course. QPR before Christmas, you went and met the UpBeats, ever popular with the Charlton fans, how did you find that?
00:05:40:16 - 00:06:11:28
Matt Southall: It was so humbling. I can't even. I can't even explain. You know Jason Morgan: I've been lucky enough to have dinner with him up at Middlesbrough. He's obviously spoken to me a lot about the Community Trust and it’s… it's something that I feel that the club it needs to reconnect with the community. You know I understand it's been hard for the fans and the community over the last few years you know with the ownership of the club.
00:06:12:20 - 00:06:20:13
And that's something that we were committed to build on and it's something that I will be getting involved in, and the rest of the board
00:06:21:23 - 00:06:22:28
going forward.
00:06:24:01 - 00:06:57:11
Olly: Why is it, obviously you’ve been out meeting fans as well. The first time you were here coming through the fans bar and
Matt Southall: just… I did not I expect that! I think I saw on Twitter we were having a FIFA tournament. I said to Rav, I said let's go down , I’ll have a game of FIFA and we went in and, it was George Lapsley, he was playing a fan. So Rav was like I'll show you the rest of the bar. I said OK brilliant yeah. So we walk through. And you know you kind of see people, kind of taking a second look, and we got to the very end
00:06:58:15 - 00:07:10:00
And then a young boy came up he says “Ah Mr. Southall, Can I get a picture with you?” I said “yeah of course you can”. And then the next thing there was more and more people and then… yeah, you saw what happened then. And we had to make a quick exit.
00:07:10:19 - 00:07:11:24
I thought yeah.
00:07:12:14 - 00:07:49:09
You know it's not something we expected but you know having seen the reaction from the fans and given the previous regime very rarely came to the Valley. I think the fans, being able to be present you know, I brought my family, I brought my daughter. I’m a football fan as well you know, I enjoy coming to the games. I enjoy watching the team, I enjoy sport and the team. So for me it's only natural.
Olly: Yeah I guess that's part my next question really, I mean why is it so important to so go and meet fans and have a relationship with the fans if you're gonna be a chairman of a football club like Charlton?
00:07:50:22 - 00:08:25:16
Matt Southall: The football club’s the heart the community. As I said in my first statement we're all the custodians you know so the club was here a long long time before we were here and it's gonna be a long time after. I see owners come. I don't necessarily agree with how they run their club. I have my way of how I want to run the club, and how I want to connect with fans. And that's why I'm going to continue to do. I’ll be honest.
00:08:25:23 - 00:08:40:25
You know there will be decisions I have to make that fans may not like, but I'll be here and I'll be vocal and I'll explain the rationale behind why I make those decisions. And it will be in the long term interest of the club.
00:08:41:16 - 00:08:55:13
Olly: And obviously we're in the very early infancy of all this. And the ownership we've had the press releases, the original press release revealing information about the people involved. But can you give us a little bit more info about the structure behind the group and who's involved?
00:08:55:15 - 00:08:59:29
Yes, East Street Investment is the vehicle to purchase the club.
00:09:00:11 - 00:09:13:22
So obviously His Excellency Tahnoon, Jonathan Heller, and myself. I mean I've been working with the Middle East for a few years now. So it's not something that's brand new.
00:09:17:03 - 00:09:30:25
When I first sat down and spoke to them and explained about the long term potential of the club. They bought into it straight away.And the fact that it's a London-based club.
00:09:32:19 - 00:09:55:28
As you will have seen on Instagram, His Excellency gets a little bit carried away now and again. But it's enthusiasm. He is really, really behind this. And he's committed to making this a success as well. He oversees over 60 companies and every single business, he puts his passion in to make it a success.
00:09:56:08 - 00:10:00:00
And this I think will be no different.
00:10:00:14 - 00:10:07:16
Olly: And with His Excellency, is he someone that will remain in the background, will he be coming to games or is that very much being left…to yourself?
00:10:07:28 - 00:10:19:02
Matt Southall: Yeah, no… He will be coming to games. He won't be coming to many. You know we're planning on getting him here before the end of the month. So that'll be good.
00:10:19:05 - 00:10:38:09
He's looking forward to coming and experience a match. But no, predominantly it would be myself running the club day to day, obviously with the stuff that are already here. And Jonathan, who’s obviously highly experienced in business. He'll be having an input as well.
00:10:38:21 - 00:10:53:11
Olly: OK. Let's talk about the footballing matters now. All the fans want to hear. The priority for them and certainly the football club is Lee Bowyer and his staff. What are your hopes for them as far as the future goes and
00:10:54:04 - 00:10:55:23
If I can say it, a new contract?
00:10:56:04 - 00:11:01:06
Matt Southall: Yes. Lee been been fantastic. You know since he took over as interim
00:11:02:28 - 00:11:37:23
And then obviously getting promoted last season. We’ve met on a few occasions. We've had… we've had some good time together so I could kind of portray to him what our longterm ambitions are. That's important for him as well. You know he wants to know that the new ownership coming in are going in the right direction, have got got the right vision. I've spoken with his agent. And what we decided, for now, obviously being in January, is to focus on the playing side of things and try and tie that up after the window.
00:11:38:16 - 00:11:52:03
I'm comfortable with that. And like I say I think the main thing for me is ensuring that the club stays in the Championship. And then obviously we can take each day as it comes from there.
Olly: And with that in mind I see you mentioned that it was important to get this done before the January transfer window we're in that now, we're a few days in. What are the plans for the next month?
00:12:03:06 - 00:12:16:18
Matt Southall: Well listen, we need to strengthen. We need we need more bodies. Andre Green coming in: very happy with that. He’s one that we looked at in the summer. Financially we couldn't get to where Aston Villa were.
00:12:18:19 - 00:12:51:00
We were lucky enough now to be able to have got that over the line. He did well yesterday. You know, we got a few offers out for other players. It’s just… the January window’s a funny one. Prices are inflated, obviously given who's behind the takeover: Quotations get get inflated as well. When Steve's put in the call inquiring about players, you know…
00:12:51:18 - 00:12:55:24
A couple of zeros go on the end. Yeah. No listen.
00:12:55:26 - 00:13:15:05
Everyone's working around the clock to bring players in.
Olly: the positive side of things and you know the injury list which is a big negative. But players are coming back aren't they? So they're going to almost be like new signings going into January so hopefully by the end of Jan. not only with those new signings we'll have hopefully a more full complement which can only help towards.
00:13:15:07 - 00:13:45:27
Matt Southall: Yeah but I mean if you if you look at how we were doing before we started getting all the injuries you know we were competitive. We drew against West Brom, we beat Derby here. So it's building on that. I know from speaking to Lee he was quite happy with his squad. So if we can bring in a few key players. Obviously we've had this serious injury to to Jonathan, who’s unfortunately gone back. Replacing him is a massive priority. You know, I'm confident we will do that.
00:13:46:13 - 00:13:57:18
Olly: Let's talk a little bit more about the fans again. We've we've touched on a little bit but, when you talk about the potential of this football club, with an engaged fan base behind it, that's huge isn't it?
00:13:57:24 - 00:14:17:12
Matt Southall: It's endless. It's endless. For me it's about reconnecting with the fans. Obviously there's a been a disconnect over the last few years. You know reconnecting with the fans. I’m trying to do that on Twitter. You know I'm invisible at games. I go into the lounges.
00:14:19:00 - 00:14:35:11
When I first came, people were saying oh you can't this can't do that. I said, I can go in there, you know. And then obviously what happened in Crossbars, you know, it's nice! I'll try and get a beer with some of the fans you know, but ultimately
00:14:37:19 - 00:14:44:07
With the fans behind the new ownership, the positive messages, again you know, it’s where we can get to.… Who knows?
00:14:45:10 - 00:15:00:18
Olly: Obviously the fan base is famous for not only you know… they’ve been instrumental in the survival of this football club in the past and also the growth of it in the 90s… all that kind of stuff. What can they do now to help? It sounds very basic…I guess: Come and support the club.
00:15:00:20 - 00:15:34:09
But what can they do to help grow us and take us to a level?
Matt Southall: Well, it is really: it’s simple. You know comeback. Support. I know a lot of fans. I get direct messages. I get tagged in tweets with people saying, you know, “I've been staying away.” One that I remember so clearly. I remember seeing on Twitter, there was a lady and she tweeted a picture of her son. And I didn’t actually see it it till after the first game.
00:15:34:11 - 00:16:03:23
And she said oh you know, “new ownership, new dawn. Do I need to buy a ticket for my 18 month old child?” And then the next day she tweeted she'd been at the game. She tweeted a picture of them together. And for me it was so powerful. The fact that people are coming back. People are supporting you know it’s only good for the club going forward because I said before you know where we can generate revenues is quite limited in terms of TV money, commercial.
00:16:04:06 - 00:16:30:16
You know, if we ever get a full capacity, 27000 fans week in week out that doesn't only motivate the team. You know but it also generates more and more revenue for us to be able to comply with financial fair play. Invest more money into the playing squad et cetera et cetera. As the revenues increase so can the costs. It's about doing it sustainably. And we can only do that with the funds as well.
00:16:30:22 - 00:16:42:15
Olly: And I guess, certainly Lee always talks about the importance of the fans, as far as the performance on the pitch goes, and that, you know, first and foremost, that is the thing that can really help.
00:16:42:24 - 00:17:08:07
Matt Southall: Oh, the fans have been amazing.
You know there's the drums and the atmosphere and I think… I think teams find it hard to come here and play as well. You know, with the fact that the fans are always singing. Against Hull the weather was horrendous. You know, I remember speaking to Nathan after the game, the groundsman, and he was like “I don't know the pitch is going to hold up” you know, because the conditions were that bad constantly. All through, the game singing, singing, pushing, pushing the team on.
00:17:09:03 - 00:17:16:09
Olly: And finally, if I was a fan wavering whether or not to buy a half season ticket now for the next few months what would you say?
00:17:16:17 - 00:17:50:10
Well obviously I'm going to say buy it, aren’t I. But, at the same time. You know, it's true. You know we are here. We're here to reconnect with the fans. You know, we're here to build the relationship back with the community, and 27,000 fans week in week out, will push us on. You know, we need to get back to where the team were. We were fourth in the league at the beginning of the season. The team were performing well and we can get … we can get back there.
00:17:51:08 - 00:18:04:19
Olly: Let’s round things up now by talking about the Academy such a huge part in this football club, always has been, no more punctuated in the game against West Brom on Sunday, in which eleven players involved in that match day squad
00:18:05:04 - 00:18:10:26
have come through the academy. How important is it going to be for the success of the future of this football club?
00:18:11:06 - 00:18:41:02
Matt Southall: Massively, massively. I met Steve Avory for the first time yesterday. Obviously, you know, I've spoken to a lot of people who speak so highly of him. It just goes to show. Yesterday we had a 16 year old, the third youngest player in history. After Jonjo, Paul Konchesky. The players are coming through. You know, as I go back to generating revenues for the club, you know, we aren't naive enough to say, we're not selling club, Liverpool are a selling group.
00:18:41:15 - 00:19:15:03
Leicester is a selling club. So for us to increase our revenues you know we have to bring the players through. We enjoy them. They bring success to the team and they move their careers on. Like Joe Aribo. Obviously you know he went across border. That sort of situation will not happen under my ownership. It will not happen. You know Joe Gomez. He's doing well at Liverpool, played again last night. You know the players that we brought through he's going to continue.
00:19:15:09 - 00:19:27:27
You know, and that is an area where we're going to invest heavily. You know we're currently category two and our objective, in the next couple of years: we want to be a category one club. We have to be.
00:19:29:01 - 00:19:44:05
Olly: Matt, thank you so much. I know you're a very busy man and it's a very busy few weeks ahead. And here’s to a bright future. Thank-you for getting involved in this football club and we'll hope to sit down with you again soon, see where we are.
There weren't really any red flags in Roland's first interview either, or certainly not that were particularly evident without the benefit of hindsight.
Didn’t Roland say that he was an unusual kind of owner because he didn’t care about winning?
I have deliberately not yet watched the Southall introductory interview.
I am pleased he gave it. I am pleased he opened the door to his stakeholders.
It sets the right tone for his organisation. In this aspect of his role he is in the business of setting and managing expectation with investors and all stakeholders.
I will watch it but I was first interested in gauging "stakeholder" reactions to his words & performance and the expectations they think he has set though I am mindful the 140 byte instant demands of the internet rarely relate to the real business world. At this stage I view the expectations of some in relation to ESI activities as seriously unrealistic.
There are implications and complications related to the timeline of the deal being completed and I recognise the nature of the very troubled business ESI have acquired.
What do they say about each new President? Judge me after my first 100 days? Well some it seems started that clock ticking from an effective date of November 27. Clearly Mr Southall has had some opportunity to complete some preparatory work but the real work could not be started before the completion of the club purchase on January 2.
Do I think ESI in a perfect world has a missed a step or two? I do but this is a new business with a new executive team taking over a business which has operated without a discernible CEO for 2yrs (at least), with no effective boardroom for 6yrs, with a skeleton staff overseen by a remote Mr 2%, who entrusted the sale to an off site, part time accountant.
It is no surprise so many prospective buyers walked away.
I do like the skill sets evidenced within ESI to this point. HE Tahnoon Nimer as Chairman of an investment house for 13yrs will need little advice on corporate structure, financial planning or strategy, while McHugh offers industry finance experience with Heller providing a background in corporate and organisational disciplines. Mr Southall offers generic business skills, specific market experience and networking skills. The latter is the face of the business to the industry and stakeholders. His "front of house" skills will be important.
Can we be clear however Mr Southall is in executive terms walking into a corporate desert where the inhabitants have lived with the trials, tribulations, stresses and exhaustion of being taken over for nearly 2yrs. He, the business, and we will need time to adjust. We need to allow him, the new business and ourselves time to breathe.
Will ESI and Mr Southall make mistakes? Absolutely. Will I agree with everything they say and do? Absolutely not, but for the first time in probably 5yrs we appear to be not only reading the same book, but starting at least on the same page.
Providing Mr Southall can keep the majority of us turning the pages together then ESI can offer us a viable and hopefully successful future.
An excellent snap shot of the current business & the directors strengths.
Nothing in business happens overnight & judging from MS on how much non footballing stuff needs to be done it sounds like there's quite lot of work to do in order for the business to become fully functional, MS mentioned he inherited a 'skeleton company'
It sounds like they already know what areas of the business that needs addressing, early indications suggest things will be put right which is exciting.
I find it easier to digest everything discussed when it's written down as there's time to pause, question a statement & reflect on Matt's opinions piecemeal.
For my part, I like what I see and I like what I hear.
On the whole, putting minor reservations to one side at this early stage of ESI's stewardship, I can't believe there are too many Addicks that could find any major fault in what's been done/said thus far.
Agreed, the benchmark over the past 6 years or more, was set exceedingly low - one not even the most double jointed limbo dancer could master - but with the help of us, the faithful, this could be the start of an exciting new era for our famous football club.
I stuck my wrinkly old neck out a couple of days ago but will repeat what I wrote then.....
Matt Southall - one of our own.
( As long as he doesn't move the POTY dinner to Abu Dhabi.....)
I agree that Matt Southall has earned and deserves a welcoming response from us on CL, but I also think he knew that going on video, every little thing would be scrutinised. Well I could have told him what to expect, look what happened after my appearance on that Olympic Stadium BBC documentary, supposedly laying bare the secrecy and evasions of the LLDC. All I got from this lot was @Fumbluff going on about my gilet, (and still does) and NLA pointing out my CAST badge wasn't straight :-) .
It's just what British blokes do, and what's more, they were right. I looked again and realised that after 20 years I'd completely forgotten all the basic rules of TV/video appearances, and shelled out for a half day training with an ex news-anchor. Brilliant, it was. She banned the gilet for anything other than gardening duties. I'd recommend Matt to get something similar, worth every penny. It's like swimming lessons with video, you'll be doing it wrong all the time until someone who knows points out your mistakes and tells you how to do it right.
Look at me, look at me, I’ve got a mustard gilet....
Just listened to it and despite actions being more important than words, in my opinion the words were, all things considered, pretty perfect.
Exactly the kind of words and tone I was hoping for, even if they are rehearsed/planned, they are still the chosen words. Passionate, but controlled. Ambitious but realistic. Sincere and honest.
Couldnt give a monkey about blowing silly money. Doesn’t guarantee anything. The sustainable, long term approach is one I can appreciate, as is the emphasis on the academy and the importance of fan and community engagement.
Good interview. MS comes across as both likeable and well intentioned. Love the subsequent self deprecating humour. I do agree with Golfie about the name dropping though, to me it came across as a little false, like why would this guy have a clue who Konch was? Trying too hard perhaps, but that's no crime.
I'm certainly going to let that spoil it though. I'm delirious that old yellow tooth has gone. I may be a little wary of anyone new, given the way this club has been run since Curbs was allowed to leave, but so far I don't think Matt Southall could have done much better.
Entry of ESI - Initial tone and outlay which a window provides some insight, we’ve already upped our wage budget it seems
Medium term - survival in the championship, securing players, staff and bring in bodies, deeper fan engagement
so a fair bit to judge in a short period, then there is
longer term investment, summer transfers, training ground, Valley, even deeper fan engagement, success or failure against objectives
its interesting what a difference good comms can make or perhaps it’s just the relief at new ownership, as someone remarked the structure is similar to before in terms of running the club, with Meire being Southall, HE being RD, were even having to move on our best player. Hopefully no crappy loan players and team interference - this is the big difference so far it seems.
As the club chairman, it seems reasonable that he would know that when the boy Henry played on Saturday he was up there with Shelvey and Konchesky as one of our youngest ever. As a footy fan, he would be aware of those two who played in the Prem (Shelvey still does) and also for England.
A very encouraging start by the new regime, he comes across well and that can only be a good thing.
" like why would this guy have a clue who Konch was? "
Quite simple. He and HE will have commissioned due diligence on the club they were buying. They would have based their decisions of the historic performance of the club both sporting and financial and the fact that our academy has produced valuable assets historically that have played in the premier league will have been part of the fianacial decision making. These are things that Roland did not do before acquisition.
I continue to be pleased that they have not only done this but are confident enough in their decision making to talk about the asset they have acquired in a positive light.
Good interview. MS comes across as both likeable and well intentioned. Love the subsequent self deprecating humour. I do agree with Golfie about the name dropping though, to me it came across as a little false, like why would this guy have a clue who Konch was? Trying too hard perhaps, but that's no crime.
I'm certainly going to let that spoil it though. I'm delirious that old yellow tooth has gone. I may be a little wary of anyone new, given the way this club has been run since Curbs was allowed to leave, but so far I don't think Matt Southall could have done much better.
I wouldn’t expect someone to know Konchesky was our second youngest debutant, but it probably came up in conversation after Sunday’s game. I’d expect most football fans of his age to know of him. As well as playing for us he played Prem football for Liverpool, Spurs, Fulham and West Ham and was capped by England.
Thinking about it , Matt’s going to get a lot tougher questions heading his way when he does the national press conference, is that today?
We might find out a bit more about some stuff we’ve still got questions about, if the press dig a bit deeper.
Was thinking that. Wonder if he'll be on his own? Might be better having someone like Gallen alongside him. Doubt Heller will get involved. He's just the sheikhs eyes and ears and there to keep tabs on Southall I assume.
The third youngest player after Shelvey and Konchesky was tweeted by @CafcFactsStats and then by the museum so he might have been told by someone or seen it on twitter.
Comments
I have deliberately not yet watched the Southall introductory interview.
I am pleased he gave it. I am pleased he opened the door to his stakeholders.
It sets the right tone for his organisation. In this aspect of his role he is in the business of setting and managing expectation with investors and all stakeholders.
I will watch it but I was first interested in gauging "stakeholder" reactions to his words & performance and the expectations they think he has set though I am mindful the 140 byte instant demands of the internet rarely relate to the real business world. At this stage I view the expectations of some in relation to ESI activities as seriously unrealistic.
There are implications and complications related to the timeline of the deal being completed and I recognise the nature of the very troubled business ESI have acquired.
What do they say about each new President? Judge me after my first 100 days? Well some it seems started that clock ticking from an effective date of November 27. Clearly Mr Southall has had some opportunity to complete some preparatory work but the real work could not be started before the completion of the club purchase on January 2.
Do I think ESI in a perfect world has a missed a step or two? I do but this is a new business with a new executive team taking over a business which has operated without a discernible CEO for 2yrs (at least), with no effective boardroom for 6yrs, with a skeleton staff overseen by a remote Mr 2%, who entrusted the sale to an off site, part time accountant.
It is no surprise so many prospective buyers walked away.
I do like the skill sets evidenced within ESI to this point. HE Tahnoon Nimer as Chairman of an investment house for 13yrs will need little advice on corporate structure, financial planning or strategy, while McHugh offers industry finance experience with Heller providing a background in corporate and organisational disciplines. Mr Southall offers generic business skills, specific market experience and networking skills. The latter is the face of the business to the industry and stakeholders. His "front of house" skills will be important.
Can we be clear however Mr Southall is in executive terms walking into a corporate desert where the inhabitants have lived with the trials, tribulations, stresses and exhaustion of being taken over for nearly 2yrs. He, the business, and we will need time to adjust. We need to allow him, the new business and ourselves time to breathe.
Will ESI and Mr Southall make mistakes? Absolutely. Will I agree with everything they say and do? Absolutely not, but for the first time in probably 5yrs we appear to be not only reading the same book, but starting at least on the same page.
Providing Mr Southall can keep the majority of us turning the pages together then ESI can offer us a viable and hopefully successful future.
Exactly the same goes for Aribo
It’s a great discipline to implement, and provides a realistic time period to carry out an assessment
FULL TRANSCRIPT (with timecode)
00:00:01:03 - 00:00:17:16
Olly: Okay you've been around for a few weeks but we can officially say now Matt our full welcome to Charlton Athletic. Let's start at the very beginning. January the 2nd. It was confirmed that East Street Investments have purchased the club. Why Charlton. What is it about Charlton Athletic that made it such an appealing prospect?
00:00:17:19 - 00:00:35:28
Matt Southall: Oh, it's a big club. You know the heritage of the club. The fan base, the location, you know, it’s a Premier League club. And for us as investors we just saw an opportunity.
00:00:36:14 - 00:00:52:12
Obviously Roland, he made it available. It was quite a while ago. You know and I've kept an eye on it. Promotion. And the position that the club's in at the moment, back in the Championship, it just made it really attractive for us.
00:00:53:11 - 00:01:03:25
Olly: And we know that you've been quite a lot of games already over the last month or so. What you made of your Charlton experience so far, seeing the games, meeting fans, all that kind of stuff? what do you make of what you’ve experienced?
00:01:03:28 - 00:01:08:22
Matt Southall: It’s been fantastic. When we agreed the deal,
00:01:10:07 - 00:01:20:23
before it came out, I didn't expect the level of enthusiasm from the fans and the reception that we would get. Yeah it's been, it's been amazing.
00:01:21:10 - 00:01:29:06
Olly: What are the main objectives and aims for ESI, both in the short term, obviously we're halfway through a season now, but the long term perspective as well.
00:01:29:10 - 00:01:56:02
Matt Southall: Yeah. Like with any investment you know it is a long term strategy for us. First and foremost it's sensible. And it's sustainable. You know it's not going to be a boom and bust. We're not going to come in and look to buy Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Gareth Bale as it's been you know touted on Twitter. It’s building it for the long term stability of the club and what I mean.
00:01:56:07 - 00:02:01:06
Olly: Can you tell us a little bit more about our strategy and how it might work towards getting those objectives?
00:02:01:09 - 00:02:38:24
Matt Southall: Yes. You know it's building on the foundations that have already been set. Lee, Steve, they’ve done a fantastic job already, identifying players, lower leagues the Academy—we’ve got a fantastic academy that's brought through players year after year— it's investing into that. And building on those foundations slowly; we can't just come in and start throwing 10 million pounds on this player and that player, taking the wage bill from where we are now to multiples of that.
00:02:38:27 - 00:02:43:00
It's doing it slowly, sensibly, and sustainably.
00:02:43:16 - 00:02:57:26
Olly: And as of any takeover is it always loads of questions about the ins and outs of how the breakdown of the sale of the club and all that kind of stuff goes. But one thing Charlton fans have been discussing is the Valley, the training ground and how how the sale works with that. That can confirm that it’s lock, stock, and barrel?
00:02:58:16 - 00:03:02:25
Matt Southall: Yeah Yeah. So effectively it is lock, stock, and barrel.
00:03:02:27 - 00:03:35:03
However, from my initial call to Roland's representatives, which was at the end of August, to completion the second of January you know for us the main priority was getting him for the January window. So it's a two stage transaction where we’ve… we’ve purchased the club and the stadium. And we have a commitment to purchase the rest of the assets over a period of time. But again you know the main priorities is to get in, invest because
00:03:36:13 - 00:03:56:24
the way the club was going, you know, the recent run of results: if there wasn’t an investment into the club and into the team, who knows where we would have been going? However that's not the case. You know we're working hard. You know I speak regularly to Steve Gallen. I speak to Lee. And we’re looking at bringing bodies in.
00:03:57:11 - 00:04:29:22
Olly: We'll talk about on the pitch matters in a bit… off the pitch: First of all will you be looking to make changes off the pitch? If so what what are the priorities I guess I'm talking about here at the Valley and all that kind of stuff.
Matt Southall: You know what we've what we've inherited is a very lean structure, loyal staff, a lot of loyal staff, and everybody's been working so hard off pitch as well as on pitch to get the club to where it is now you know and as I said in my statement,
00:04:30:11 - 00:05:04:13
What what we feel we've inherited is the foundations to be able to invest, improve, if we need to bring in members of staff that can strengthen in areas, you know marketing, commercial. The commercial side of things, if you look at how the club makes revenues .You get your primary: TV money, which is obviously important being in the Championship. Then what, commercially? You know a lot of fans and a lot of commercial partners, they disassociated from the club under the old regime and that's something where
00:05:04:29 - 00:05:24:15
You know as I spoke to the commercial team I said anyone that you want me to speak to, put me in front of them. It’s all about reconnecting with the local community with the fans, with the local businesses, and moving the club forward.
00:05:24:29 - 00:05:39:28
Olly: I guess with that in mind this is kind of a rebuild in a way.
Matt Southall: Exactly.
Olly: And talk about the Community Trust now as well, as something that's that's very close to the hearts of a lot of Charlton fans and staff of course. QPR before Christmas, you went and met the UpBeats, ever popular with the Charlton fans, how did you find that?
00:05:40:16 - 00:06:11:28
Matt Southall: It was so humbling. I can't even. I can't even explain. You know Jason Morgan: I've been lucky enough to have dinner with him up at Middlesbrough. He's obviously spoken to me a lot about the Community Trust and it’s… it's something that I feel that the club it needs to reconnect with the community. You know I understand it's been hard for the fans and the community over the last few years you know with the ownership of the club.
00:06:12:20 - 00:06:20:13
And that's something that we were committed to build on and it's something that I will be getting involved in, and the rest of the board
00:06:21:23 - 00:06:22:28
going forward.
00:06:24:01 - 00:06:57:11
Olly: Why is it, obviously you’ve been out meeting fans as well. The first time you were here coming through the fans bar and
Matt Southall: just… I did not I expect that! I think I saw on Twitter we were having a FIFA tournament. I said to Rav, I said let's go down , I’ll have a game of FIFA and we went in and, it was George Lapsley, he was playing a fan. So Rav was like I'll show you the rest of the bar. I said OK brilliant yeah. So we walk through. And you know you kind of see people, kind of taking a second look, and we got to the very end
00:06:58:15 - 00:07:10:00
And then a young boy came up he says “Ah Mr. Southall, Can I get a picture with you?” I said “yeah of course you can”. And then the next thing there was more and more people and then… yeah, you saw what happened then. And we had to make a quick exit.
00:07:10:19 - 00:07:11:24
I thought yeah.
00:07:12:14 - 00:07:49:09
You know it's not something we expected but you know having seen the reaction from the fans and given the previous regime very rarely came to the Valley. I think the fans, being able to be present you know, I brought my family, I brought my daughter. I’m a football fan as well you know, I enjoy coming to the games. I enjoy watching the team, I enjoy sport and the team. So for me it's only natural.
Olly: Yeah I guess that's part my next question really, I mean why is it so important to so go and meet fans and have a relationship with the fans if you're gonna be a chairman of a football club like Charlton?
00:07:50:22 - 00:08:25:16
Matt Southall: The football club’s the heart the community. As I said in my first statement we're all the custodians you know so the club was here a long long time before we were here and it's gonna be a long time after. I see owners come. I don't necessarily agree with how they run their club. I have my way of how I want to run the club, and how I want to connect with fans. And that's why I'm going to continue to do. I’ll be honest.
00:08:25:23 - 00:08:40:25
You know there will be decisions I have to make that fans may not like, but I'll be here and I'll be vocal and I'll explain the rationale behind why I make those decisions. And it will be in the long term interest of the club.
00:08:41:16 - 00:08:55:13
Olly: And obviously we're in the very early infancy of all this. And the ownership we've had the press releases, the original press release revealing information about the people involved. But can you give us a little bit more info about the structure behind the group and who's involved?
00:08:55:15 - 00:08:59:29
Yes, East Street Investment is the vehicle to purchase the club.
00:09:00:11 - 00:09:13:22
So obviously His Excellency Tahnoon, Jonathan Heller, and myself. I mean I've been working with the Middle East for a few years now. So it's not something that's brand new.
00:09:17:03 - 00:09:30:25
When I first sat down and spoke to them and explained about the long term potential of the club. They bought into it straight away.And the fact that it's a London-based club.
00:09:32:19 - 00:09:55:28
As you will have seen on Instagram, His Excellency gets a little bit carried away now and again. But it's enthusiasm. He is really, really behind this. And he's committed to making this a success as well. He oversees over 60 companies and every single business, he puts his passion in to make it a success.
00:09:56:08 - 00:10:00:00
And this I think will be no different.
00:10:00:14 - 00:10:07:16
Olly: And with His Excellency, is he someone that will remain in the background, will he be coming to games or is that very much being left…to yourself?
00:10:07:28 - 00:10:19:02
Matt Southall: Yeah, no… He will be coming to games. He won't be coming to many. You know we're planning on getting him here before the end of the month. So that'll be good.
00:10:19:05 - 00:10:38:09
He's looking forward to coming and experience a match. But no, predominantly it would be myself running the club day to day, obviously with the stuff that are already here. And Jonathan, who’s obviously highly experienced in business. He'll be having an input as well.
00:10:38:21 - 00:10:53:11
Olly: OK. Let's talk about the footballing matters now. All the fans want to hear. The priority for them and certainly the football club is Lee Bowyer and his staff. What are your hopes for them as far as the future goes and
00:10:54:04 - 00:10:55:23
If I can say it, a new contract?
00:10:56:04 - 00:11:01:06
Matt Southall: Yes. Lee been been fantastic. You know since he took over as interim
00:11:02:28 - 00:11:37:23
And then obviously getting promoted last season. We’ve met on a few occasions. We've had… we've had some good time together so I could kind of portray to him what our longterm ambitions are. That's important for him as well. You know he wants to know that the new ownership coming in are going in the right direction, have got got the right vision. I've spoken with his agent. And what we decided, for now, obviously being in January, is to focus on the playing side of things and try and tie that up after the window.
00:11:38:16 - 00:11:52:03
I'm comfortable with that. And like I say I think the main thing for me is ensuring that the club stays in the Championship. And then obviously we can take each day as it comes from there.
00:11:52:17 - 00:12:02:06
Olly: And with that in mind I see you mentioned that it was important to get this done before the January transfer window we're in that now, we're a few days in. What are the plans for the next month?
00:12:03:06 - 00:12:16:18
Matt Southall: Well listen, we need to strengthen. We need we need more bodies. Andre Green coming in: very happy with that. He’s one that we looked at in the summer. Financially we couldn't get to where Aston Villa were.
00:12:18:19 - 00:12:51:00
We were lucky enough now to be able to have got that over the line. He did well yesterday. You know, we got a few offers out for other players. It’s just… the January window’s a funny one. Prices are inflated, obviously given who's behind the takeover: Quotations get get inflated as well. When Steve's put in the call inquiring about players, you know…
00:12:51:18 - 00:12:55:24
A couple of zeros go on the end. Yeah. No listen.
00:12:55:26 - 00:13:15:05
Everyone's working around the clock to bring players in.
Olly: the positive side of things and you know the injury list which is a big negative. But players are coming back aren't they? So they're going to almost be like new signings going into January so hopefully by the end of Jan. not only with those new signings we'll have hopefully a more full complement which can only help towards.
00:13:15:07 - 00:13:45:27
Matt Southall: Yeah but I mean if you if you look at how we were doing before we started getting all the injuries you know we were competitive. We drew against West Brom, we beat Derby here. So it's building on that. I know from speaking to Lee he was quite happy with his squad. So if we can bring in a few key players. Obviously we've had this serious injury to to Jonathan, who’s unfortunately gone back. Replacing him is a massive priority. You know, I'm confident we will do that.
00:13:46:13 - 00:13:57:18
Olly: Let's talk a little bit more about the fans again. We've we've touched on a little bit but, when you talk about the potential of this football club, with an engaged fan base behind it, that's huge isn't it?
00:13:57:24 - 00:14:17:12
Matt Southall: It's endless. It's endless. For me it's about reconnecting with the fans. Obviously there's a been a disconnect over the last few years. You know reconnecting with the fans. I’m trying to do that on Twitter. You know I'm invisible at games. I go into the lounges.
00:14:19:00 - 00:14:35:11
When I first came, people were saying oh you can't this can't do that. I said, I can go in there, you know. And then obviously what happened in Crossbars, you know, it's nice! I'll try and get a beer with some of the fans you know, but ultimately
00:14:37:19 - 00:14:44:07
With the fans behind the new ownership, the positive messages, again you know, it’s where we can get to.… Who knows?
00:14:45:10 - 00:15:00:18
Olly: Obviously the fan base is famous for not only you know… they’ve been instrumental in the survival of this football club in the past and also the growth of it in the 90s… all that kind of stuff. What can they do now to help? It sounds very basic…I guess: Come and support the club.
00:15:00:20 - 00:15:34:09
But what can they do to help grow us and take us to a level?
Matt Southall: Well, it is really: it’s simple. You know comeback. Support. I know a lot of fans. I get direct messages. I get tagged in tweets with people saying, you know, “I've been staying away.” One that I remember so clearly. I remember seeing on Twitter, there was a lady and she tweeted a picture of her son. And I didn’t actually see it it till after the first game.
00:15:34:11 - 00:16:03:23
And she said oh you know, “new ownership, new dawn. Do I need to buy a ticket for my 18 month old child?” And then the next day she tweeted she'd been at the game. She tweeted a picture of them together. And for me it was so powerful. The fact that people are coming back. People are supporting you know it’s only good for the club going forward because I said before you know where we can generate revenues is quite limited in terms of TV money, commercial.
00:16:04:06 - 00:16:30:16
You know, if we ever get a full capacity, 27000 fans week in week out that doesn't only motivate the team. You know but it also generates more and more revenue for us to be able to comply with financial fair play. Invest more money into the playing squad et cetera et cetera. As the revenues increase so can the costs. It's about doing it sustainably. And we can only do that with the funds as well.
00:16:30:22 - 00:16:42:15
Olly: And I guess, certainly Lee always talks about the importance of the fans, as far as the performance on the pitch goes, and that, you know, first and foremost, that is the thing that can really help.
00:16:42:24 - 00:17:08:07
Matt Southall: Oh, the fans have been amazing.
You know there's the drums and the atmosphere and I think… I think teams find it hard to come here and play as well. You know, with the fact that the fans are always singing. Against Hull the weather was horrendous. You know, I remember speaking to Nathan after the game, the groundsman, and he was like “I don't know the pitch is going to hold up” you know, because the conditions were that bad constantly. All through, the game singing, singing, pushing, pushing the team on.
00:17:09:03 - 00:17:16:09
Olly: And finally, if I was a fan wavering whether or not to buy a half season ticket now for the next few months what would you say?
00:17:16:17 - 00:17:50:10
Well obviously I'm going to say buy it, aren’t I. But, at the same time. You know, it's true. You know we are here. We're here to reconnect with the fans. You know, we're here to build the relationship back with the community, and 27,000 fans week in week out, will push us on. You know, we need to get back to where the team were. We were fourth in the league at the beginning of the season. The team were performing well and we can get … we can get back there.
00:17:51:08 - 00:18:04:19
Olly: Let’s round things up now by talking about the Academy such a huge part in this football club, always has been, no more punctuated in the game against West Brom on Sunday, in which eleven players involved in that match day squad
00:18:05:04 - 00:18:10:26
have come through the academy. How important is it going to be for the success of the future of this football club?
00:18:11:06 - 00:18:41:02
Matt Southall: Massively, massively. I met Steve Avory for the first time yesterday. Obviously, you know, I've spoken to a lot of people who speak so highly of him. It just goes to show. Yesterday we had a 16 year old, the third youngest player in history. After Jonjo, Paul Konchesky. The players are coming through. You know, as I go back to generating revenues for the club, you know, we aren't naive enough to say, we're not selling club, Liverpool are a selling group.
00:18:41:15 - 00:19:15:03
Leicester is a selling club. So for us to increase our revenues you know we have to bring the players through. We enjoy them. They bring success to the team and they move their careers on. Like Joe Aribo. Obviously you know he went across border. That sort of situation will not happen under my ownership. It will not happen. You know Joe Gomez. He's doing well at Liverpool, played again last night. You know the players that we brought through he's going to continue.
00:19:15:09 - 00:19:27:27
You know, and that is an area where we're going to invest heavily. You know we're currently category two and our objective, in the next couple of years: we want to be a category one club. We have to be.
00:19:29:01 - 00:19:44:05
Olly: Matt, thank you so much. I know you're a very busy man and it's a very busy few weeks ahead. And here’s to a bright future. Thank-you for getting involved in this football club and we'll hope to sit down with you again soon, see where we are.
Matt Southall: Thanks very much.
Take the 'you know's out and I reckon you could have saved yourself a good hour banging the keys!
;-)
Nothing in business happens overnight & judging from MS on how much non footballing stuff needs to be done it sounds like there's quite lot of work to do in order for the business to become fully functional, MS mentioned he inherited a 'skeleton company'
It sounds like they already know what areas of the business that needs addressing, early indications suggest things will be put right which is exciting.
Superb post grapevine
I find it easier to digest everything discussed when it's written down as there's time to pause, question a statement & reflect on Matt's opinions piecemeal.
For my part, I like what I see and I like what I hear.
On the whole, putting minor reservations to one side at this early stage of ESI's stewardship, I can't believe there are too many Addicks that could find any major fault in what's been done/said thus far.
Agreed, the benchmark over the past 6 years or more, was set exceedingly low - one not even the most double jointed limbo dancer could master - but with the help of us, the faithful, this could be the start of an exciting new era for our famous football club.
I stuck my wrinkly old neck out a couple of days ago but will repeat what I wrote then.....
Matt Southall - one of our own.
( As long as he doesn't move the POTY dinner to Abu Dhabi.....)
Exactly the kind of words and tone I was hoping for, even if they are rehearsed/planned, they are still the chosen words. Passionate, but controlled. Ambitious but realistic. Sincere and honest.
Couldnt give a monkey about blowing silly money. Doesn’t guarantee anything. The sustainable, long term approach is one I can appreciate, as is the emphasis on the academy and the importance of fan and community engagement.
I'm certainly going to let that spoil it though. I'm delirious that old yellow tooth has gone. I may be a little wary of anyone new, given the way this club has been run since Curbs was allowed to leave, but so far I don't think Matt Southall could have done much better.
Entry of ESI - Initial tone and outlay which a window provides some insight, we’ve already upped our wage budget it seems
Medium term - survival in the championship, securing players, staff and bring in bodies, deeper fan engagement
so a fair bit to judge in a short period, then there is
longer term investment, summer transfers, training ground, Valley, even deeper fan engagement, success or failure against objectives
its interesting what a difference good comms can make or perhaps it’s just the relief at new ownership, as someone remarked the structure is similar to before in terms of running the club, with Meire being Southall, HE being RD, were even having to move on our best player. Hopefully no crappy loan players and team interference - this is the big difference so far it seems.
A very encouraging start by the new regime, he comes across well and that can only be a good thing.
I continue to be pleased that they have not only done this but are confident enough in their decision making to talk about the asset they have acquired in a positive light.
We might find out a bit more about some stuff we’ve still got questions about, if the press dig a bit deeper.
Doubt Heller will get involved. He's just the sheikhs eyes and ears and there to keep tabs on Southall I assume.