It’s a clusterfuck and has been so since the Danish egomaniac walked through the door.
As soon as he got that fucking guitar out I knew we were in trouble.
I am losing interest by the minute in the club, it just doesn’t feel like it belongs to us any longer with all this madness behind the scenes.
Anyone who can’t see what’s going on right now at the club is simply in denial.
Why can’t we just have a normal fucking owner?
Just for a bit of balance here, I perfectly understand peoples concerns about the off the pitch situation.
However for me personally, with the appointment of Garner, this is probably the most excited I’ve been going into a new season at this juncture in a while. This could of course all go in the gutter if we don’t continue to get some decent bodies through the door - but it does at the moment feel like recruitment mistakes of the past have been rectified and we have a clear plan that we are working towards.
The possibility of seeing a dynamic, forward thinking, attacking Charlton far outweighs some shoddy shenanigans going on with the commercial behind the scenes side of the club (stuff which as an average fan I feel wouldn’t even be recognisable to me on the most part if I didn’t go on social media).
I think before jumping to conclusions as to whether UK employment law is being properly applied, it's worth mentioning that our Non-Exective Director, Leo Rifkind, works for Freshfield's, who specialize in many areas of international law.
I'm not saying he's involved in the day to day running of the Club and is necessarily an expert in this field himself, but he'll probably know where to direct TS should the Sandgaard's seek his advice. I doubt they'd be 'winging it' as it were.
He doesn't anymore. Left 9 months ago. He's now an investment manager at Atai Life Sciences, whoever they are.
Hmmm.
Wonder why he's still listed as being in post on the OS....
More less than positive information not for sharing with the fans ?
Because he still is in that post. I know you clearly aren't a fan of TS and probably haven't got over Jackson's sacking yet but you're wrong here.
"Leo joined atai in 2021 and is part of the investment team in London where he works on sourcing and due diligence of investment opportunities and venture portfolio management. Leo has a particular interest in enabling technologies for the treatment of mental health disorders.
Prior to joining atai, Leo practiced as an M&A lawyer for seven years, including at Freshfields, Simpson Thacher, and Skadden Arps, where he worked on large-cap transactions in technology, healthcare, and sport, notably advising on Blackstone’s acquisition of a majority stake in MagicLab, Apax Funds’ acquisition of Baltic Classifieds Group and Sandgaard Capital’s investment into Charlton Athletic, where he sits on the board."
Those transfers are coming. You’re mad if you think that’s all we’re bringing in. Those are just the ones we’ve able get done early and having three new faces has us ahead of most of the competition at this stage.
Anyway, this isn’t the transfers thread but somehow it’s become the place for anyone who fancies a moan about anything to congregate for the day. We’ll see if that’s still the case tomorrow.
I think the point is that no one can be sure we are building a successful side, so to assert that what is happening at The Valley is likely to be outweighed by football developments is at best premature.
Objectively, we’ve signed three out of contract League Two players; allowed one of our best players to leave by not offering him a contract; dismissed an unproven manager with deep connections to the club and appointed another with similarly limited experience who most fans had never heard of; and we have one fewer first-team coaches than last year, leaving aside Jason Euell’s ability and history.
Meanwhile, the club’s long serving and trusted first-team analyst has been let go and replaced by someone who was an intern in L2 last season and the long serving and respected club secretary has been nudged aside to be replaced by someone from quite junior non-league.
I have no idea of the actual merits of those coming in or who else might be recruited, but overall it seems fair to assume that cost cutting is a factor in the above, as it will be in the abrupt sacking of the supporter liaison officer.
The football changes may turn out well. I hope so. But any assumption that they will is currently just wishful thinking.
Those transfers are coming. You’re mad if you think that’s all we’re bringing in. Those are just the ones we’ve able get done early and having three new faces has us ahead of most of the competition at this stage.
Anyway, this isn’t the transfers thread but somehow it’s become the place for anyone who fancies a moan about anything to congregate for the day. We’ll see if that’s still the case tomorrow.
I think the point is that no one can be sure we are building a successful side, so to assert that what is happening at The Valley is likely to be outweighed by football developments is at best premature.
Objectively, we’ve signed three out of contract League Two players; allowed one of our best players to leave by not offering him a contract; dismissed an unproven manager with deep connections to the club and appointed another with similarly limited experience who most fans had never heard of; and we have one fewer first-team coaches than last year, leaving aside Jason Euell’s ability and history.
Meanwhile, the club’s long serving and trusted first-team analyst has been let go and replaced by someone who was an intern in L2 last season and the long serving and respected club secretary has been nudged aside to be replaced by someone from quite junior non-league.
I have no idea of the actual merits of those coming in or who else might be recruited, but overall it seems fair to assume that cost cutting is a factor in the above, as it will be in the abrupt sacking of the supporter liaison officer.
The football changes may turn out well. I hope so. But any assumption that they will is currently just wishful thinking.
100% agree with all of this.. I can't see how he can again say we will have a top 6 budget this year, at the moment we have made so many cut backs..
Replacements that have come in so far, are certainly on a fraction of those that have left.. Time will tell if they are up to same standard.
On the football side, a lot is going to depend on Ben Garner. As Airman says, we don't know that much about him but if he has that fire in his belly and ability to do well we will do ok. Of course, in the pond we fish in there are no certainties. Adkins looked a decent bet, JJ wasn't given a chance and Euell even less so. Ben Garner has a chance and I wish him well for one. I don't understand the thought process behind it but even Duchatelet who wasn't bothered found a decent manager, then did his best to destroy him but it can happen.
On the football side, a lot is going to depend on Ben Garner. As Airman says, we don't know that much about him but if he has that fire in his belly and ability to do well we will do ok. Of course, in the pond we fish in there are no certainties. Adkins looked a decent bet, JJ wasn't given a chance and Euell even less so. Ben Garner has a chance and I wish him well for one. I don't understand the thought process behind it but even Duchatelet who wasn't bothered found a decent manager, then did his best to destroy him but it can happen.
But will Garner get the time? Quite a few of us are frustrated with the way things have gone the last few years. We need a brilliant start to the season, if not I can see after 10 games a section of fans on Garner and Thomas's back.
Those transfers are coming. You’re mad if you think that’s all we’re bringing in. Those are just the ones we’ve able get done early and having three new faces has us ahead of most of the competition at this stage.
Anyway, this isn’t the transfers thread but somehow it’s become the place for anyone who fancies a moan about anything to congregate for the day. We’ll see if that’s still the case tomorrow.
I think the point is that no one can be sure we are building a successful side, so to assert that what is happening at The Valley is likely to be outweighed by football developments is at best premature.
Objectively, we’ve signed three out of contract League Two players; allowed one of our best players to leave by not offering him a contract; dismissed an unproven manager with deep connections to the club and appointed another with similarly limited experience who most fans had never heard of; and we have one fewer first-team coaches than last year, leaving aside Jason Euell’s ability and history.
Meanwhile, the club’s long serving and trusted first-team analyst has been let go and replaced by someone who was an intern in L2 last season and the long serving and respected club secretary has been nudged aside to be replaced by someone from quite junior non-league.
I have no idea of the actual merits of those coming in or who else might be recruited, but overall it seems fair to assume that cost cutting is a factor in the above, as it will be in the abrupt sacking of the supporter liaison officer.
The football changes may turn out well. I hope so. But any assumption that they will is currently just wishful thinking.
Of course it’s wishful thinking the same as every season and every team but fans wanted change and a clear out and that’s what we’ve got/getting I’m personally excited for the season and where we’ll be at the end of the transfer window it’s a shame others aren’t and people can’t just get behind the club for once.
On the football side, a lot is going to depend on Ben Garner. As Airman says, we don't know that much about him but if he has that fire in his belly and ability to do well we will do ok. Of course, in the pond we fish in there are no certainties. Adkins looked a decent bet, JJ wasn't given a chance and Euell even less so. Ben Garner has a chance and I wish him well for one. I don't understand the thought process behind it but even Duchatelet who wasn't bothered found a decent manager, then did his best to destroy him but it can happen.
But will Garner get the time? Quite a few of us are frustrated with the way things have gone the last few years. We need a brilliant start to the season, if not I can see after 10 games a section of fans on Garner and Thomas's back.
I wouldn't even give it 10 games. Anyone who was at MK Dons 3 games in last season knew then the season would be a write off.
On the football side, a lot is going to depend on Ben Garner. As Airman says, we don't know that much about him but if he has that fire in his belly and ability to do well we will do ok. Of course, in the pond we fish in there are no certainties. Adkins looked a decent bet, JJ wasn't given a chance and Euell even less so. Ben Garner has a chance and I wish him well for one. I don't understand the thought process behind it but even Duchatelet who wasn't bothered found a decent manager, then did his best to destroy him but it can happen.
But will Garner get the time? Quite a few of us are frustrated with the way things have gone the last few years. We need a brilliant start to the season, if not I can see after 10 games a section of fans on Garner and Thomas's back.
I wouldn't even give it 10 games. Anyone who was at MK Dons 3 games in last season knew then the season would be a write off.
Shocking performance that night after an equally shocking performance away to Oxford, a bore draw against Wednesday and a limp exit from the League Cup. The writing on the wall for the season was plain to see
Let’s just go back to the Matt southall and co days shall we?
No let's not. Why does it have to be so binary.
I've given two examples of normal chairmen who run their clubs sensibly and successfully above in Berylson and Parish.
It doesn't have to be a choice between scum like ESI and the other circuses that have got their hands on our club over the past decade and what would pass as normal owners.
Agree it doesn’t have to be so binary, but it’s also not a choice. If TS sells we have no control over who replaces him as owner. Without being about to sell the stadium and training ground we’re not going to be as attractive as we could have been under RD (and he’s not going to sell them while they’re valued at £50m+).
It feels like we’re getting closer to the point where as a fan base we want to roll the dice again in the hope that we get the right owner. A bad start to the season could push many somewhere in the middle closer to supporting that.
What we as a fan base seem to be after is a wealthy ambitious owner who cares about success on the pitch, identifies and appoints the right football people and doesn’t get too involved, they can then sit back and watch the wins roll in. I struggle to see that happening, with the losses clubs make you need someone willing to risk millions, and with that wealth they’ll likely have an equally big ego. You have to don’t you to think you can make a profit in football? It’s no surprise when new owners come in trying to do things differently rather than throw huge amounts of money at it or let others run the club for them.
Wigan appear to have got lucky but who knows how long that’ll last. Other big clubs at this level have had takeovers, spent more and are still in L1. Will we eventually get that right owner ourselves? The last decade or so doesn’t suggest we will.
Those transfers are coming. You’re mad if you think that’s all we’re bringing in. Those are just the ones we’ve able get done early and having three new faces has us ahead of most of the competition at this stage.
Anyway, this isn’t the transfers thread but somehow it’s become the place for anyone who fancies a moan about anything to congregate for the day. We’ll see if that’s still the case tomorrow.
I think the point is that no one can be sure we are building a successful side, so to assert that what is happening at The Valley is likely to be outweighed by football developments is at best premature.
Objectively, we’ve signed three out of contract League Two players; allowed one of our best players to leave by not offering him a contract; dismissed an unproven manager with deep connections to the club and appointed another with similarly limited experience who most fans had never heard of; and we have one fewer first-team coaches than last year, leaving aside Jason Euell’s ability and history.
Meanwhile, the club’s long serving and trusted first-team analyst has been let go and replaced by someone who was an intern in L2 last season and the long serving and respected club secretary has been nudged aside to be replaced by someone from quite junior non-league.
I have no idea of the actual merits of those coming in or who else might be recruited, but overall it seems fair to assume that cost cutting is a factor in the above, as it will be in the abrupt sacking of the supporter liaison officer.
The football changes may turn out well. I hope so. But any assumption that they will is currently just wishful thinking.
Of course it’s wishful thinking the same as every season and every team but fans wanted change and a clear out and that’s what we’ve got/getting I’m personally excited for the season and where we’ll be at the end of the transfer window it’s a shame others aren’t and people can’t just get behind the club for once.
A clear-out is only as good as what replaces it, presumably. I wonder what evidence you have that people didn’t get behind the club last season (buying about 10,000 season tickets for instance)?
Let’s just go back to the Matt southall and co days shall we?
No let's not. Why does it have to be so binary.
I've given two examples of normal chairmen who run their clubs sensibly and successfully above in Berylson and Parish.
It doesn't have to be a choice between scum like ESI and the other circuses that have got their hands on our club over the past decade and what would pass as normal owners.
Agree it doesn’t have to be so binary, but it’s also not a choice. If TS sells we have no control over who replaces him as owner. Without being about to sell the stadium and training ground we’re not going to be as attractive as we could have been under RD (and he’s not going to sell them while they’re valued at £50m+).
It feels like we’re getting closer to the point where as a fan base we want to roll the dice again in the hope that we get the right owner. A bad start to the season could push many somewhere in the middle closer to supporting that.
What we as a fan base seem to be after is a wealthy ambitious owner who cares about success on the pitch, identifies and appoints the right football people and doesn’t get too involved, they can then sit back and watch the wins roll in. I struggle to see that happening, with the losses clubs make you need someone willing to risk millions, and with that wealth they’ll likely have an equally big ego. You have to don’t you to think you can make a profit in football? It’s no surprise when new owners come in trying to do things differently rather than throw huge amounts of money at it or let others run the club for them.
Wigan appear to have got lucky but who knows how long that’ll last. Other big clubs at this level have had takeovers, spent more and are still in L1. Will we eventually get that right owner ourselves? The last decade or so doesn’t suggest we will.
If you mean protests I really can't see that happening for a number of reasons. I think what will happen is the longer we remain in the division and uncompetitive then a lot of supporters will drift away from going to games, maybe its already started with the decrease in season ticket numbers
Those transfers are coming. You’re mad if you think that’s all we’re bringing in. Those are just the ones we’ve able get done early and having three new faces has us ahead of most of the competition at this stage.
Anyway, this isn’t the transfers thread but somehow it’s become the place for anyone who fancies a moan about anything to congregate for the day. We’ll see if that’s still the case tomorrow.
I think the point is that no one can be sure we are building a successful side, so to assert that what is happening at The Valley is likely to be outweighed by football developments is at best premature.
Objectively, we’ve signed three out of contract League Two players; allowed one of our best players to leave by not offering him a contract; dismissed an unproven manager with deep connections to the club and appointed another with similarly limited experience who most fans had never heard of; and we have one fewer first-team coaches than last year, leaving aside Jason Euell’s ability and history.
Meanwhile, the club’s long serving and trusted first-team analyst has been let go and replaced by someone who was an intern in L2 last season and the long serving and respected club secretary has been nudged aside to be replaced by someone from quite junior non-league.
I have no idea of the actual merits of those coming in or who else might be recruited, but overall it seems fair to assume that cost cutting is a factor in the above, as it will be in the abrupt sacking of the supporter liaison officer.
The football changes may turn out well. I hope so. But any assumption that they will is currently just wishful thinking.
Of course it’s wishful thinking the same as every season and every team but fans wanted change and a clear out and that’s what we’ve got/getting I’m personally excited for the season and where we’ll be at the end of the transfer window it’s a shame others aren’t and people can’t just get behind the club for once.
A clear-out is only as good as what replaces it, presumably. I wonder what evidence you have that people didn’t get behind the club last season (buying about 10,000 season tickets for instance)?
I’d say it’s more so this season but then that comes down to whether people think it’s good to get rid of Jackson and Washington for example.
I do you don’t, I think some Charlton fans have just got ridiculous opinions on what they want from a Charlton owner I remember when Roland was here and fans just wanted an owner who cared and come to games and invested a bit of money and that’s what Sandgaard is doing.
Those transfers are coming. You’re mad if you think that’s all we’re bringing in. Those are just the ones we’ve able get done early and having three new faces has us ahead of most of the competition at this stage.
Anyway, this isn’t the transfers thread but somehow it’s become the place for anyone who fancies a moan about anything to congregate for the day. We’ll see if that’s still the case tomorrow.
I think the point is that no one can be sure we are building a successful side, so to assert that what is happening at The Valley is likely to be outweighed by football developments is at best premature.
Objectively, we’ve signed three out of contract League Two players; allowed one of our best players to leave by not offering him a contract; dismissed an unproven manager with deep connections to the club and appointed another with similarly limited experience who most fans had never heard of; and we have one fewer first-team coaches than last year, leaving aside Jason Euell’s ability and history.
Meanwhile, the club’s long serving and trusted first-team analyst has been let go and replaced by someone who was an intern in L2 last season and the long serving and respected club secretary has been nudged aside to be replaced by someone from quite junior non-league.
I have no idea of the actual merits of those coming in or who else might be recruited, but overall it seems fair to assume that cost cutting is a factor in the above, as it will be in the abrupt sacking of the supporter liaison officer.
The football changes may turn out well. I hope so. But any assumption that they will is currently just wishful thinking.
Of course it’s wishful thinking the same as every season and every team but fans wanted change and a clear out and that’s what we’ve got/getting I’m personally excited for the season and where we’ll be at the end of the transfer window it’s a shame others aren’t and people can’t just get behind the club for once.
A clear-out is only as good as what replaces it, presumably. I wonder what evidence you have that people didn’t get behind the club last season (buying about 10,000 season tickets for instance)?
I’d say it’s more so this season but then that comes down to whether people think it’s good to get rid of Jackson and Washington for example.
I do you don’t, I think some Charlton fans have just got ridiculous opinions on what they want from a Charlton owner I remember when Roland was here and fans just wanted an owner who cared and come to games and invested a bit of money and that’s what Sandgaard is doing.
Any owner will invest money or they won’t be the owner for very long, because the club cannot break over time outside the PL (if then). Duchatelet’s spending stands comparison with any previous regime - he just spent money badly. The point about his attendance was that he never came after 2014, not that anyone cares whether an owner is there regularly.
I wouldn’t have let Washington go; my view on Jacko, which I haven’t offered, is that he would not have succeeded here so in all the circumstances he is better off at AFCW.
We are never going to get a perfect owner and Sandgaard easily gets over the low bar set by his predecessors back to 2010, but equally that doesn’t mean he should get the unqualified adulation he appears to crave either. In fact I think he is given more credit because of what has gone before, not less.
In my opinion fans will drift away rather than protest if the team fails again. But people on message boards and social media spend far too much time thinking about what other people in the same forums are saying. Very little of it matters. It’s all about the numbers in the end.
Those transfers are coming. You’re mad if you think that’s all we’re bringing in. Those are just the ones we’ve able get done early and having three new faces has us ahead of most of the competition at this stage.
Anyway, this isn’t the transfers thread but somehow it’s become the place for anyone who fancies a moan about anything to congregate for the day. We’ll see if that’s still the case tomorrow.
I think the point is that no one can be sure we are building a successful side, so to assert that what is happening at The Valley is likely to be outweighed by football developments is at best premature.
Objectively, we’ve signed three out of contract League Two players; allowed one of our best players to leave by not offering him a contract; dismissed an unproven manager with deep connections to the club and appointed another with similarly limited experience who most fans had never heard of; and we have one fewer first-team coaches than last year, leaving aside Jason Euell’s ability and history.
Meanwhile, the club’s long serving and trusted first-team analyst has been let go and replaced by someone who was an intern in L2 last season and the long serving and respected club secretary has been nudged aside to be replaced by someone from quite junior non-league.
I have no idea of the actual merits of those coming in or who else might be recruited, but overall it seems fair to assume that cost cutting is a factor in the above, as it will be in the abrupt sacking of the supporter liaison officer.
The football changes may turn out well. I hope so. But any assumption that they will is currently just wishful thinking.
Of course it’s wishful thinking the same as every season and every team but fans wanted change and a clear out and that’s what we’ve got/getting I’m personally excited for the season and where we’ll be at the end of the transfer window it’s a shame others aren’t and people can’t just get behind the club for once.
A clear-out is only as good as what replaces it, presumably. I wonder what evidence you have that people didn’t get behind the club last season (buying about 10,000 season tickets for instance)?
I’d say it’s more so this season but then that comes down to whether people think it’s good to get rid of Jackson and Washington for example.
I do you don’t, I think some Charlton fans have just got ridiculous opinions on what they want from a Charlton owner I remember when Roland was here and fans just wanted an owner who cared and come to games and invested a bit of money and that’s what Sandgaard is doing.
Not sure that's entirely true. Whilst yes a criticism of RD was his lack of attendance/interest much of it was how he ran things. For instance I wouldn't be happy to have an owner who cared and came to games but took us down to the national league! On the flip side had RD of been a major success on the field and took us to mid table premiership in 5 years I suspect a lot of the shenanigans would have been forgiven/forgotten.
Sadly towards the end of his reign he'd started to get a lot fo things right (on the footballing side) but it was the limited budget/attempt to run even that ultimately lead to a degree of failure.
TS may well be more active/present, but doesn't mean he's making a better or worse job of club ownership than RD. Ultimately for most people it's about the football, for some (and appreciate it's not necessarily a majority of fans) it's about that and the more rounded view of the club as a whole.
For me, TS is finding his feet in football, he may well prove to be a success, but currently I find that unlikely and in the meantime the experiment if you like is negatively effecting a lot of people (staff, footballing and non footballing).
The latest 'issues' if you like as to what this topic is about, remember effects peoples lives. It's never nice to lose your job, but even more so when it's probably little fault of your own but the fault of incompetence at a higher level.
The way I see it, we're now in the Duchatelet/Sandgaard era which has distant echoes of the Gliksten/Hulyer one. I presume most know how that ended.
Changing owner might buy you short term success on the pitch, with no guarantee that it will, but it doesn't break RD's stranglehold on the Club.
You'd need to ask someone else on here how deluded Gliksten was, but his modern day counterpart certainly is and therein lies the bigger problem.
So I think many, whether they like Thomas or not, don't necessarily yearn for someone else, unless they have a viable option 'oven ready' rather than half baked (eg Kirchner, Derby). I think they want him to stop messing about and sort it aaarht!
Those transfers are coming. You’re mad if you think that’s all we’re bringing in. Those are just the ones we’ve able get done early and having three new faces has us ahead of most of the competition at this stage.
Anyway, this isn’t the transfers thread but somehow it’s become the place for anyone who fancies a moan about anything to congregate for the day. We’ll see if that’s still the case tomorrow.
I think the point is that no one can be sure we are building a successful side, so to assert that what is happening at The Valley is likely to be outweighed by football developments is at best premature.
Objectively, we’ve signed three out of contract League Two players; allowed one of our best players to leave by not offering him a contract; dismissed an unproven manager with deep connections to the club and appointed another with similarly limited experience who most fans had never heard of; and we have one fewer first-team coaches than last year, leaving aside Jason Euell’s ability and history.
Meanwhile, the club’s long serving and trusted first-team analyst has been let go and replaced by someone who was an intern in L2 last season and the long serving and respected club secretary has been nudged aside to be replaced by someone from quite junior non-league.
I have no idea of the actual merits of those coming in or who else might be recruited, but overall it seems fair to assume that cost cutting is a factor in the above, as it will be in the abrupt sacking of the supporter liaison officer.
The football changes may turn out well. I hope so. But any assumption that they will is currently just wishful thinking.
Of course it’s wishful thinking the same as every season and every team but fans wanted change and a clear out and that’s what we’ve got/getting I’m personally excited for the season and where we’ll be at the end of the transfer window it’s a shame others aren’t and people can’t just get behind the club for once.
A clear-out is only as good as what replaces it, presumably. I wonder what evidence you have that people didn’t get behind the club last season (buying about 10,000 season tickets for instance)?
I’d say it’s more so this season but then that comes down to whether people think it’s good to get rid of Jackson and Washington for example.
I do you don’t, I think some Charlton fans have just got ridiculous opinions on what they want from a Charlton owner I remember when Roland was here and fans just wanted an owner who cared and come to games and invested a bit of money and that’s what Sandgaard is doing.
I don't think it's ridiculous to be concerned by whats happening behind the scenes though.
The turnover amongst senior management is bordering on the absurd. And now we are seeing "normal" employees also paying the price.
I don't think anyone would question that Sandgaard has the desire to succeed. What is in question right now is his ability. Yes he's a successful businessman but that doesn't always translate to success in football and if it does go wrong we are in deep deep trouble.
The early appointments of Roddy and especially Mumford suggests Sandgaard got the scale of this venture completely wrong. Whether he was given bad advice or was seeing something that really wasn't there we'll never know. The worry for me from what I've read or heard is his continued stubbornness. Will his ego allow him to realign his expectations,scale down and make a success of things or will he bumble along for a continued period and in the coming months chuck it in leaving us in a worse state than when he first turned up?
We've been told enough times of "inside" rumours of unrest and strange goings on at the club Many senior management have been hired and fired (or walked out) We've let 14 players leave by hook or by crook We've signed 3 freebies We're on to manager number 4 Staff have been let go in what appears cost cutting measures
@Airman Brown spelt out actually all what has been going on
Can we still turn it all around? Yes.
Will the Owner, who has admitted he is a stubborn man, bite the bullet and hire a proper footballing CEO.
I doubt it.
I was slightly more positive with the signings last week but I'm still in the needing to be convinced phase of my Charlton supporting life.
Let’s just go back to the Matt southall and co days shall we?
No let's not. Why does it have to be so binary.
I've given two examples of normal chairmen who run their clubs sensibly and successfully above in Berylson and Parish.
It doesn't have to be a choice between scum like ESI and the other circuses that have got their hands on our club over the past decade and what would pass as normal owners.
Agree it doesn’t have to be so binary, but it’s also not a choice. If TS sells we have no control over who replaces him as owner. Without being about to sell the stadium and training ground we’re not going to be as attractive as we could have been under RD (and he’s not going to sell them while they’re valued at £50m+).
It feels like we’re getting closer to the point where as a fan base we want to roll the dice again in the hope that we get the right owner. A bad start to the season could push many somewhere in the middle closer to supporting that.
What we as a fan base seem to be after is a wealthy ambitious owner who cares about success on the pitch, identifies and appoints the right football people and doesn’t get too involved, they can then sit back and watch the wins roll in. I struggle to see that happening, with the losses clubs make you need someone willing to risk millions, and with that wealth they’ll likely have an equally big ego. You have to don’t you to think you can make a profit in football? It’s no surprise when new owners come in trying to do things differently rather than throw huge amounts of money at it or let others run the club for them.
Wigan appear to have got lucky but who knows how long that’ll last. Other big clubs at this level have had takeovers, spent more and are still in L1. Will we eventually get that right owner ourselves? The last decade or so doesn’t suggest we will.
The sad reality seems to be there are likely more ESI's or utter clown's out there nowdays than Berylson's or Parish's. They do exist of course but we never seem to attract straight forward ones and seem to be in a perma circus of off the field shennanigans and distractions or on the field mediocrity at a level that many other clubs don't seem to endure with as much regulatory i.e. Millwall / Palace from our immediate local.
Although without doing an audit of the 92 it may be just that we know (or seem to want to know) every in and out of Charlton and therefore see all warts n'all that fans of other clubs will not be aware of and the same sort of malarky could be going on at the majority of other clubs but we're oblivious to it as we have no interest.
Just want us to get a competitive side to compete for promotion and the off the field stuff soap operas not to be an issue for one season. Surely that's not too much to hope for even in today's football circus.
Talking of unrealistic expectations on the sales and marketing side, I've often thought Charlton TV cannot be sustainable either. Wonder if that'll be scaled back this season too.
They’re putting the price up, so they’d better not be scaling back the service as well, for us overseas based Addicks!
We've been told enough times of "inside" rumours of unrest and strange goings on at the club Many senior management have been hired and fired (or walked out) We've let 14 players leave by hook or by crook We've signed 3 freebies We're on to manager number 4 Staff have been let go in what appears cost cutting measures
@Airman Brown spelt out actually all what has been going on
Can we still turn it all around? Yes.
Will the Owner, who has admitted he is a stubborn man, bite the bullet and hire a proper footballing CEO.
I doubt it.
I was slightly more positive with the signings last week but I'm still in the needing to be convinced phase of my Charlton supporting life.
Spoke to an ex player other day who said the manager is good but we should be worried about the man upstairs who he likened to David Brent
The early appointments of Roddy and especially Mumford suggests Sandgaard got the scale of this venture completely wrong. Whether he was given bad advice or was seeing something that really wasn't there we'll never know. The worry for me from what I've read or heard is his continued stubbornness. Will his ego allow him to realign his expectations,scale down and make a success of things or will he bumble along for a continued period and in the coming months chuck it in leaving us in a worse state than when he first turned up?
He has dialed down the rhetoric of late, which I take as a sign that he has a better appreciation of the challenge he's taken on and has realigned his expectations to a degree.
I don't dismiss the prospect of him chucking it in, because a number of factors might make him think again, funding, future prospects and potentially fan disquiet if things don't improve, but his renowned ego might make him even more determined to transform our fortunes for the better, so I think it unlikely he will anytime soon.
It's anyone's guess how this season is going to pan out as we' seem to have entered another pocket of turbulent air. All we can do is strap on our seat belts and get set for another bumpy ride, but it might be a fun one and I do hope it is for all our sakes.
We've been told enough times of "inside" rumours of unrest and strange goings on at the club Many senior management have been hired and fired (or walked out) We've let 14 players leave by hook or by crook We've signed 3 freebies We're on to manager number 4 Staff have been let go in what appears cost cutting measures
@Airman Brown spelt out actually all what has been going on
Can we still turn it all around? Yes.
Will the Owner, who has admitted he is a stubborn man, bite the bullet and hire a proper footballing CEO.
I doubt it.
I was slightly more positive with the signings last week but I'm still in the needing to be convinced phase of my Charlton supporting life.
Spoke to an ex player other day who said the manager is good but we should be worried about the man upstairs who he likened to David Brent
Sandgaard making the whole squad sit and listen to his song was peak Brent to be fair
Let’s just go back to the Matt southall and co days shall we?
No let's not. Why does it have to be so binary.
I've given two examples of normal chairmen who run their clubs sensibly and successfully above in Berylson and Parish.
It doesn't have to be a choice between scum like ESI and the other circuses that have got their hands on our club over the past decade and what would pass as normal owners.
Agree it doesn’t have to be so binary, but it’s also not a choice. If TS sells we have no control over who replaces him as owner. Without being about to sell the stadium and training ground we’re not going to be as attractive as we could have been under RD (and he’s not going to sell them while they’re valued at £50m+).
It feels like we’re getting closer to the point where as a fan base we want to roll the dice again in the hope that we get the right owner. A bad start to the season could push many somewhere in the middle closer to supporting that.
What we as a fan base seem to be after is a wealthy ambitious owner who cares about success on the pitch, identifies and appoints the right football people and doesn’t get too involved, they can then sit back and watch the wins roll in. I struggle to see that happening, with the losses clubs make you need someone willing to risk millions, and with that wealth they’ll likely have an equally big ego. You have to don’t you to think you can make a profit in football? It’s no surprise when new owners come in trying to do things differently rather than throw huge amounts of money at it or let others run the club for them.
Wigan appear to have got lucky but who knows how long that’ll last. Other big clubs at this level have had takeovers, spent more and are still in L1. Will we eventually get that right owner ourselves? The last decade or so doesn’t suggest we will.
The sad reality seems to be there are likely more ESI's or utter clown's out there nowdays than Berylson's or Parish's. They do exist of course but we never seem to attract straight forward ones and seem to be in a perma circus of off the field shennanigans and distractions or on the field mediocrity at a level that many other clubs don't seem to endure with as much regulatory i.e. Millwall / Palace from our immediate local.
Although without doing an audit of the 92 it may be just that we know (or seem to want to know) every in and out of Charlton and therefore see all warts n'all that fans of other clubs will not be aware of and the same sort of malarky could be going on at the majority of other clubs but we're oblivious to it as we have no interest.
Just want us to get a competitive side to compete for promotion and the off the field stuff soap operas not to be an issue for one season. Surely that's not too much to hope for even in today's football circus.
Nail on head for me. Plus football’s changed. The money is obscene now. Inflation aside, I’m guessing we spend more money comparatively speaking, on the dross that has made up our League One teams of late, versus what were paying the likes of Kinsella, Robinson & Mendonca in the Championship.
It’s taking the thread off tangent a bit, but I swear I read on here that the likes of Pearce and JFC have been on 5k a week at some point during their time here. For me, and for what we get for that, mainly two solid League One players, that’s shocking. Isn’t Fraser on something like 7k a week. This is the reason football has pushed out your local businessman/women and backers like we had up until Jiminez came in. They just can’t afford it.
TS isn’t super rich, but he’s the sort of owner that we need financially, just to get by now. Parrish and Berylson are good examples because they have the wealth, but seem to be exceptions to the rule in that they have the long term, sustainability of the club’s interest. Since Murray and Varney parted ways, no one has had the long term interests of the club in mind, other than us.
Average footballers earn too much money for good, moderately wealthy businessmen and women to get involved and an analogy I liken things to are the amount of money it takes to get a spaceship to leave the earth’s atmosphere. The views and the lure of getting there can be very rewarding, like the Prem, but it’s incredibly costly, things go wrong and you need someone with deep pockets. We and many others are simply at the mercy of the ESIs, the RDs and TS’ of this world.
Those transfers are coming. You’re mad if you think that’s all we’re bringing in. Those are just the ones we’ve able get done early and having three new faces has us ahead of most of the competition at this stage.
Anyway, this isn’t the transfers thread but somehow it’s become the place for anyone who fancies a moan about anything to congregate for the day. We’ll see if that’s still the case tomorrow.
I think the point is that no one can be sure we are building a successful side, so to assert that what is happening at The Valley is likely to be outweighed by football developments is at best premature.
Objectively, we’ve signed three out of contract League Two players; allowed one of our best players to leave by not offering him a contract; dismissed an unproven manager with deep connections to the club and appointed another with similarly limited experience who most fans had never heard of; and we have one fewer first-team coaches than last year, leaving aside Jason Euell’s ability and history.
Meanwhile, the club’s long serving and trusted first-team analyst has been let go and replaced by someone who was an intern in L2 last season and the long serving and respected club secretary has been nudged aside to be replaced by someone from quite junior non-league.
I have no idea of the actual merits of those coming in or who else might be recruited, but overall it seems fair to assume that cost cutting is a factor in the above, as it will be in the abrupt sacking of the supporter liaison officer.
The football changes may turn out well. I hope so. But any assumption that they will is currently just wishful thinking.
Of course it’s wishful thinking the same as every season and every team but fans wanted change and a clear out and that’s what we’ve got/getting I’m personally excited for the season and where we’ll be at the end of the transfer window it’s a shame others aren’t and people can’t just get behind the club for once.
A clear-out is only as good as what replaces it, presumably.
We've been told enough times of "inside" rumours of unrest and strange goings on at the club Many senior management have been hired and fired (or walked out) We've let 14 players leave by hook or by crook We've signed 3 freebies We're on to manager number 4 Staff have been let go in what appears cost cutting measures
@Airman Brown spelt out actually all what has been going on
Can we still turn it all around? Yes.
Will the Owner, who has admitted he is a stubborn man, bite the bullet and hire a proper footballing CEO.
I doubt it.
I was slightly more positive with the signings last week but I'm still in the needing to be convinced phase of my Charlton supporting life.
Spoke to an ex player other day who said the manager is good but we should be worried about the man upstairs who he likened to David Brent
Wouldn't have expected the ex player to have an overlap with the new Manager?
Comments
"Leo joined atai in 2021 and is part of the investment team in London where he works on sourcing and due diligence of investment opportunities and venture portfolio management. Leo has a particular interest in enabling technologies for the treatment of mental health disorders.
Prior to joining atai, Leo practiced as an M&A lawyer for seven years, including at Freshfields, Simpson Thacher, and Skadden Arps, where he worked on large-cap transactions in technology, healthcare, and sport, notably advising on Blackstone’s acquisition of a majority stake in MagicLab, Apax Funds’ acquisition of Baltic Classifieds Group and Sandgaard Capital’s investment into Charlton Athletic, where he sits on the board."
That's what I emailed the Queen about Prince Andrew !
Interesting reading this morning and Henry is officially a clever clogs.
Objectively, we’ve signed three out of contract League Two players; allowed one of our best players to leave by not offering him a contract; dismissed an unproven manager with deep connections to the club and appointed another with similarly limited experience who most fans had never heard of; and we have one fewer first-team coaches than last year, leaving aside Jason Euell’s ability and history.
Meanwhile, the club’s long serving and trusted first-team analyst has been let go and replaced by someone who was an intern in L2 last season and the long serving and respected club secretary has been nudged aside to be replaced by someone from quite junior non-league.
I have no idea of the actual merits of those coming in or who else might be recruited, but overall it seems fair to assume that cost cutting is a factor in the above, as it will be in the abrupt sacking of the supporter liaison officer.
The football changes may turn out well. I hope so. But any assumption that they will is currently just wishful thinking.
Replacements that have come in so far, are certainly on a fraction of those that have left.. Time will tell if they are up to same standard.
Quite a few of us are frustrated with the way things have gone the last few years.
We need a brilliant start to the season, if not I can see after 10 games a section of fans on Garner and Thomas's back.
over who replaces him as owner. Without being about to sell the stadium and training ground we’re not going to be as attractive as we could have been under RD (and he’s not going to sell them while they’re valued at £50m+).
It feels like we’re getting closer to the point where as a fan base we want to roll the dice again in the hope that we get the right owner. A bad start to the season could push many somewhere in the middle closer to supporting that.
What we as a fan base seem to be after is a wealthy ambitious owner who cares about success on the pitch, identifies and appoints the right football people and doesn’t get too involved, they can then sit back and watch the wins roll in. I struggle to see that happening, with the losses clubs make you need someone willing to risk millions, and with that wealth they’ll likely have an equally big ego. You have to don’t you to think you can make a profit in football? It’s no surprise when new owners come in trying to do things differently rather than throw huge amounts of money at it or let others run the club for them.
Wigan appear to have got lucky but who knows how long that’ll last. Other big clubs at this level have had takeovers, spent more and are still in L1. Will we eventually get that right owner ourselves? The last decade or so doesn’t suggest we will.
I do you don’t, I think some Charlton fans have just got ridiculous opinions on what they want from a Charlton owner I remember when Roland was here and fans just wanted an owner who cared and come to games and invested a bit of money and that’s what Sandgaard is doing.
We are never going to get a perfect owner and Sandgaard easily gets over the low bar set by his predecessors back to 2010, but equally that doesn’t mean he should get the unqualified adulation he appears to crave either. In fact I think he is given more credit because of what has gone before, not less.
Sadly towards the end of his reign he'd started to get a lot fo things right (on the footballing side) but it was the limited budget/attempt to run even that ultimately lead to a degree of failure.
TS may well be more active/present, but doesn't mean he's making a better or worse job of club ownership than RD. Ultimately for most people it's about the football, for some (and appreciate it's not necessarily a majority of fans) it's about that and the more rounded view of the club as a whole.
For me, TS is finding his feet in football, he may well prove to be a success, but currently I find that unlikely and in the meantime the experiment if you like is negatively effecting a lot of people (staff, footballing and non footballing).
The latest 'issues' if you like as to what this topic is about, remember effects peoples lives. It's never nice to lose your job, but even more so when it's probably little fault of your own but the fault of incompetence at a higher level.
Changing owner might buy you short term success on the pitch, with no guarantee that it will, but it doesn't break RD's stranglehold on the Club.
You'd need to ask someone else on here how deluded Gliksten was, but his modern day counterpart certainly is and therein lies the bigger problem.
So I think many, whether they like Thomas or not, don't necessarily yearn for someone else, unless they have a viable option 'oven ready' rather than half baked (eg Kirchner, Derby). I think they want him to stop messing about and sort it aaarht!
The turnover amongst senior management is bordering on the absurd. And now we are seeing "normal" employees also paying the price.
I don't think anyone would question that Sandgaard has the desire to succeed. What is in question right now is his ability. Yes he's a successful businessman but that doesn't always translate to success in football and if it does go wrong we are in deep deep trouble.
Whether he was given bad advice or was seeing something that really wasn't there we'll never know.
The worry for me from what I've read or heard is his continued stubbornness.
Will his ego allow him to realign his expectations,scale down and make a success of things or will he bumble along for a continued period and in the coming months chuck it in leaving us in a worse state than when he first turned up?
Many senior management have been hired and fired (or walked out)
We've let 14 players leave by hook or by crook
We've signed 3 freebies
We're on to manager number 4
Staff have been let go in what appears cost cutting measures
@Airman Brown spelt out actually all what has been going on
Can we still turn it all around? Yes.
Will the Owner, who has admitted he is a stubborn man, bite the bullet and hire a proper footballing CEO.
I doubt it.
I was slightly more positive with the signings last week but I'm still in the needing to be convinced phase of my Charlton supporting life.
The sad reality seems to be there are likely more ESI's or utter clown's out there nowdays than Berylson's or Parish's. They do exist of course but we never seem to attract straight forward ones and seem to be in a perma circus of off the field shennanigans and distractions or on the field mediocrity at a level that many other clubs don't seem to endure with as much regulatory i.e. Millwall / Palace from our immediate local.
Although without doing an audit of the 92 it may be just that we know (or seem to want to know) every in and out of Charlton and therefore see all warts n'all that fans of other clubs will not be aware of and the same sort of malarky could be going on at the majority of other clubs but we're oblivious to it as we have no interest.
Just want us to get a competitive side to compete for promotion and the off the field stuff soap operas not to be an issue for one season. Surely that's not too much to hope for even in today's football circus.
I don't dismiss the prospect of him chucking it in, because a number of factors might make him think again, funding, future prospects and potentially fan disquiet if things don't improve, but his renowned ego might make him even more determined to transform our fortunes for the better, so I think it unlikely he will anytime soon.
It's anyone's guess how this season is going to pan out as we' seem to have entered another pocket of turbulent air. All we can do is strap on our seat belts and get set for another bumpy ride, but it might be a fun one and I do hope it is for all our sakes.
It’s taking the thread off tangent a bit, but I swear I read on here that the likes of Pearce and JFC have been on 5k a week at some point during their time here. For me, and for what we get for that, mainly two solid League One players, that’s shocking. Isn’t Fraser on something like 7k a week. This is the reason football has pushed out your local businessman/women and backers like we had up until Jiminez came in. They just can’t afford it.
TS isn’t super rich, but he’s the sort of owner that we need financially, just to get by now. Parrish and Berylson are good examples because they have the wealth, but seem to be exceptions to the rule in that they have the long term, sustainability of the club’s interest. Since Murray and Varney parted ways, no one has had the long term interests of the club in mind, other than us.