I know lots of things are said in the heat of battle and in this case I take battle to mean Thomas’ “battle to acquire CAFC and battle it was. Premiership football in five years ? with regular European football in fifteen. Very lofty ambitions and I’m certainly not knocking that. His starting point is a beleaguered third tier team desperately in need of reinforcements, a still relatively inexperienced manager and coaching staff, a magnificent stadium that is coming up for some TLC and a training ground that is less than half way through a vital upgrade. Not the most promising of beginnings of what would be a journey not completed by any other English football club. It’s not all negatives though. Thomas is correct that Charlton Athletic are a unique club with a unique history and just like him a passionate and willing fan base, hungry and eager for any success. A location in an area that has massive support potential and really, if tapped into successfully its truly massive. What better club to embark on a moonshot voyage ?
The rate of change and successes required to hit those eye watering targets will be nothing short of staggering. Although promotion this season is without doubt the aim, I think it’s fair to say that given what the club has endured in recent times and the strength of the squad it’s far from a certainty. Assuming this season is eventually just the catalyst for change and nothing more, then the programme looks even more eyebrow raising.
What’s going to be needed to ignite the rockets ? Certainly money. Some on the above list can only be achieved with money. The Valley, Sparrows Lane and the first team squad right now need money spent, but we know that in football, throwing money at a club doesn’t necessarily bring success, although I also think it’s fair to say it helps.
What is going to be the thing that makes Charlton Athletic different from all the others in reaching Mr. Sandgaards goals ? Why will it be us that sparkle and shine and not Sunderland or Portsmouth or Derby or Blackburn ?
This season has to be about consolidation and for me used as a platform for building a squad for next season. Anything else a bonus. One down, fourteen to go. The more I think about it the more I think Thomas has given us all a welcome and exciting fiction. I think seeing CAFC competing at the very highest level is highly unlikely. The financial chips are stacked so heavily against it. I don’t really care and would be happy with a target of promotion to the top flight and a secure and solid future for the club. Just like this season anything else an unbelievable bonus.
Perhaps the reason TS is a mega multiple successful businessman and I'm not is that he believes it’s possible and I just don’t. I’m really excited by what’s ahead of the football club over the next few years because I believe Thomas believes it’s possible. I think it’s going to be an unbelievable journey with a few crashes on the way to something better than we currently have. Where the moonshot reaches I just don’t know. Regular European football- its just not possible. Is it ?
Comments
While I would obviously love us to be a 'top club' vying for Champions League places every season, I think that becoming a stable, mid-table Premiership team is a more attainable goal.
Even this will not be easy and I think that we should temper our expectations and concentrate on becoming a 'top club' in League one first.
I have a colleague in Milan who has always been a mad keen Juventus supporter but who is now pissed off with Ronaldo because their kick-off times are now fixed to suit the Asian market rather than the Itlian one
As for the Brent comparison, they stop with the guitar, you don’t get as rich as Sandgaard, or have a successful growing medical firm, that has to deal with the FDA, without being a super and ruthless business man. He is positive, and I hope he can start by changing and embedding a really strong culture throughout the club.
Personally I don't think that Europe is an impossible target. Plenty of average sides have got up and around it.
5-7 years Premier League
12-15 years Europe
17-20 years champions league will do me 😉
Honestly for me I'd be very happy to be a stable championship club that flirts with the play offs every now and again. Premier League is a bonus but of course it can become reality with the right people in charge and investment in players
We all know the players who have slipped through our hands for peanuts, that are playing at a much higher level.
If Bournemouth, Leicester, Southampton, Sheffield United and Wolves can do it, why can’t We?
We need to focus on the here and now, and getting back out of this division, is a must, but not a given.
We need to build a squad that can compete at a higher division and go through the gears, just want a team to be proud of, not mercenaries out for a payday, so much money has been wasted under Roland.
Adam Mathews would be a great start, will Dillion share the vision?
Hope we can get Alfie on a longer term contract, with a promotion clause where his wages increase significantly if we gain promotion.
Shame it was a step backwards yesterday.
But it will focus minds on what needs to be done today, rather than day dreaming about the future.
Always a positive angle to take. We know more about our squad following that game, if we do so then do Bowyer and Gallen.
Anyone thinking about a “stepping stone” or an easy wage is just a passenger.
1. Thomas Sandgaard has done the impossible, by buying a club that wasn't allowed to be sold, agreeing a deal with a landlord it's impossible to do deals with and re-uniting and re-invigorating a desperate, bewildered and fractured fanbase. So the merely "very difficult" needn't be so much as a challenge for him.
2. Manchester City have done exactly the same. Within fifteen years of playing in the third tier, they had won their third Premier League title. If you told Thomas Sandgaard that Manchester City has exceeded that target, he would want to know why anyone thinks Charlton Athletic can't achieve it.
3. Leicester City moved from tier 3 to Premier League champions in seven years. If you told Thomas Sandgaard that Leicester City had exceeded the target in half the time, he would want to know why anyone thinks Charlton Athletic can't achieve it.
Set yourself an ambitious target and you may well miss it. But, would any current Charlton fan right now complain if within fifteen years we were "only" a mid-table, well-run, profitable Premier League team?
One more thing. To win games in fifteen years' time, we will need players who are about eight, nine or ten years old right now. Who are you going to sign for at that age? A team desperate to cling on to its L1 status, or a team with an ambitious owner, heading to take the club as high as it can?
I think that, under Thomas Sandgaard, every single stakeholder in Charlton Athletic - players, staff, supporters and ambitious, young footballers - is going to have to re-set their outlook. In the simplest terms, for the first time ever, kids playing for Charlton are going to have to make sure they have one extra piece of vital equipment before they can consider themselves a footballer. A passport.
Bowyer can get us to the Championship, of that I am sure. It is after then that I am left with questions. That's not a problem for now though. That may be next seasons or even the season after's problem.
In Bowyer, Gallen, Jackson, Avory, Euell and Sandgaard we must now trust to take us forward.
The more money you have the more mistakes you can make. Bournemouth, us, Bolton, Leicester (when O'Neil had gone), Sunderland the list goes on. Were all established Premier league sides and made bad, or aweful recruitment decisions, that they couldn't afford to rectify.
Also it wasn't our managers that agreed the fees for Gomez, Grant, Pope et al.
Of course the manager is important but having someone in charge of buying and selling, who is actually good at it is vital.
Plenty of clubs went down to league 1 and have found it a long slog to get back but have but I believe we have the solid foundations now and passion hard work and a bit of good will hopefully we can progress back to the promised land but for now I'm happy just to have this takeover to have happened after a ridiculous 9 months