He was a crap football club owner but the opioid crisis is a real issue in America and a film educating people on that is a cool thing to have created. For all his failings I did quite like that we were owned by a bloke who made his money off pain management devices for seriously ill people rather than your standard unscrupulous businessmen, dodgy dealers and hedge fund managers like most others
Gets a thumbs up from me…..I never disliked the bloke, he was simply way out of his comfort zone. Would like to see him back at The Valley for a game…….if ever he’s in town. He wasn’t a crook. 😏
Feels like the US opioid epidemic has already been covered fairly extensively by other movies/tv series’.
First off, that's never stopped anyone from making a movie before, but secondly, I don't know that that is true. There was "Dopesick" from Hulu which was fictionalized--I never watched it but heard it was pretty good. There's "Painkillers" on Netflix which I've only seen in their home screen. And then there's "Empire of Pain" which is a book about the Sackler family that came out a couple of years ago.
In short, it's not exactly an overly saturated market. So while I find him annoying (even if he wrote a banger of an anthem), and I have serious questions about how his firm bills Medicare and Medicaid, AND I would like to know if they have/had a working relationship with any of the pharmaceutical companies who pushed Opioid Rxs...yeah good job I suppose.
He was a crap football club owner but the opioid crisis is a real issue in America and a film educating people on that is a cool thing to have created. For all his failings I did quite like that we were owned by a bloke who made his money off pain management devices for seriously ill people rather than your standard unscrupulous businessmen, dodgy dealers and hedge fund managers like most others
Partly agree, i think he made his money out of selling fairly ordinary pain management devices at very inflated prices to medicare and medicaid providers, so essentially ripping off the government and by extension the poor. But at least he didn't get them hooked on drugs while he did it. (Also for legal reasons i'd like to point out they nay have been fantastic products sold at fair prices in which case i completely agree with @garymanilow).
Yeah never disliked him so good luck to him. He's made his money coming from relatively nothing and now he's making films, buying football clubs not a bad life
Fair play. Certainly Thomas has an ego that needs massaging on a regular basis and I think he thought owning a successful football club would give him that but failed to realise it was very difficult to make it successful. Once the adulation of saving the club from crooks stopped and criticism started I think he lost interest. A movie no matter how worthy will be yesterday’s news very quickly and he’ll move on to the next “look at me, love me” project. Hard to dislike the bloke and I wish him well.
Fair play. Certainly Thomas has an ego that needs massaging on a regular basis and I think he thought owning a successful football club would give him that but failed to realise it was very difficult to make it successful. Once the adulation of saving the club from crooks stopped and criticism started I think he lost interest. A movie no matter how worthy will be yesterday’s news very quickly and he’ll move on to the next “look at me, love me” project. Hard to dislike the bloke and I wish him well.
Very odd conclusion to that post which contradicts the rest of it!
I can’t stand him. The most positive thing you can say about him is that he wanted to succeed/ didn’t set out with negative intentions, but I think you could almost argue the same for RD… he was an obscenely arrogant and deluded guy and by some accounts it sounds like actually quite unpleasant, and the way he went out was also not dissimilar to RD, seemed like very little regard for the club and his sole interest being trying to recoup his losses (substantial amount of which were self inflicted).
Hard not to dislike the bloke, I do not wish him well.
Fair play. Certainly Thomas has an ego that needs massaging on a regular basis and I think he thought owning a successful football club would give him that but failed to realise it was very difficult to make it successful. Once the adulation of saving the club from crooks stopped and criticism started I think he lost interest. A movie no matter how worthy will be yesterday’s news very quickly and he’ll move on to the next “look at me, love me” project. Hard to dislike the bloke and I wish him well.
Very odd conclusion to that post which contradicts the rest of it!
I can’t stand him. The most positive thing you can say about him is that he wanted to succeed/ didn’t set out with negative intentions, but I think you could almost argue the same for RD… he was an obscenely arrogant and deluded guy and by some accounts it sounds like actually quite unpleasant, and the way he went out was also not dissimilar to RD, seemed like very little regard for the club and his sole interest being trying to recoup his losses (substantial amount of which were self inflicted).
Hard not to dislike the bloke, I do not wish him well.
Was he good for Charlton ? I’d say yes and no. If he hadn’t shown up when he did then this forum let alone the club might not exist. I think he ended up thinking that owning us was more trouble than he got in return adulation. He stopped spending and turned his attention elsewhere. Crook ? Absolutely 100% not. Egotistical ? Absolutely yes. Bad man ? No. Bad owner ? I’d say not by the standards that preceded him. Well intentioned ? I’d also say yes. I don’t think he deserves hate or even dislike. Reserve your dislike to the people he saved us from I’d suggest.
Fair play. Certainly Thomas has an ego that needs massaging on a regular basis and I think he thought owning a successful football club would give him that but failed to realise it was very difficult to make it successful. Once the adulation of saving the club from crooks stopped and criticism started I think he lost interest. A movie no matter how worthy will be yesterday’s news very quickly and he’ll move on to the next “look at me, love me” project. Hard to dislike the bloke and I wish him well.
Very odd conclusion to that post which contradicts the rest of it!
I can’t stand him. The most positive thing you can say about him is that he wanted to succeed/ didn’t set out with negative intentions, but I think you could almost argue the same for RD… he was an obscenely arrogant and deluded guy and by some accounts it sounds like actually quite unpleasant, and the way he went out was also not dissimilar to RD, seemed like very little regard for the club and his sole interest being trying to recoup his losses (substantial amount of which were self inflicted).
Hard not to dislike the bloke, I do not wish him well.
Was he good for Charlton ? I’d say yes and no. If he hadn’t shown up when he did then this forum let alone the club might not exist. I think he ended up thinking that owning us was more trouble than he got in return adulation. He stopped spending and turned his attention elsewhere. Crook ? Absolutely 100% not. Egotistical ? Absolutely yes. Bad man ? No. Bad owner ? I’d say not by the standards that preceded him. Well intentioned ? I’d also say yes. I don’t think he deserves hate or even dislike. Reserve your dislike to the people he saved us from I’d suggest.
I get all this but I think your views are all based on a comparison Vs the (agreed) worse individuals that preceded him. A burglar might not be as bad as a rapist or a murderer, but he’s still a wrong ‘un. Sandgaard is a wrong ‘un. He didn’t save us out of charity , he happened to be in the market at that time and did it for his own interests and received adulation as a result of our plight rather than because he wanted to intervene to stop a crime against humanity.
Bad man - can’t really comment with proper qualification but his self interest, arrogance and the reported treatment of some club staff suggest it’s a discussion.
Bad owner - absolutely 100% yes. Again, to compare against the standards that preceded him is mental. He was an awful, awful owner there is absolutely no argument that can be made to the contrary. Less awful than Southall et al - yes. Less awful than RD - debatable - Parzysek Vs Schwarz, potato patato. Objectively awful viewing his tenure in isolation from those before him - indisputable.
His biggest mistake was refusing to accept any help from proper football people who could have helped him. He thought his girlfriend and his son could run the club and bring success on their own.
Some of the things he said such as success is easy all you need to do is be smarter than everyone else summed him up. He truly believed he was so clever he could achieve all the things he said. Problem was he wasn't.
He clearly bought us out of his own interest in making money, as would any new owner, they are not in it because they love the club, and the fact is, we were on the road to oblivion before he came in, I think we can all appreciate that bit, can we. Now once in, the reality quickly set in and he really was out of his depth regarding actually running a professional football club, resulting in the lack of any realistic appointments, leaving his misses and son to cock everything up, he was clearly very naive, and a total egotistical person in the end. So, let him do his own thing now, and us move on to what looks like a better alternative ownership....
His biggest mistake was refusing to accept any help from proper football people who could have helped him. He thought his girlfriend and his son could run the club and bring success on their own.
Some of the things he said such as success is easy all you need to do is be smarter than everyone else summed him up. He truly believed he was so clever he could achieve all the things he said. Problem was he wasn't.
Problem with people that get rich from nothing, they think they have the midas touch to all that follows. Rather than using your money to allow your companies to be ran by experts.
Comments
It's an addictive genre.
Would like to see him back at The Valley for a game…….if ever he’s in town.
He wasn’t a crook. 😏
In short, it's not exactly an overly saturated market. So while I find him annoying (even if he wrote a banger of an anthem), and I have serious questions about how his firm bills Medicare and Medicaid, AND I would like to know if they have/had a working relationship with any of the pharmaceutical companies who pushed Opioid Rxs...yeah good job I suppose.
Nice bloke & would have been great if he had succeeded, but he knew less about football than I do about Opioids.
I can’t stand him. The most positive thing you can say about him is that he wanted to succeed/ didn’t set out with negative intentions, but I think you could almost argue the same for RD… he was an obscenely arrogant and deluded guy and by some accounts it sounds like actually quite unpleasant, and the way he went out was also not dissimilar to RD, seemed like very little regard for the club and his sole interest being trying to recoup his losses (substantial amount of which were self inflicted).
As others have said, I think he had the right intentions just executed them badly, culminating in wife interference and Martin’s black box.
For the record, I didn’t mind, Addicks to Victory, not to replace RRR, ultimately backfired spectacularly.
He thought his girlfriend and his son could run the club and bring success on their own.
Some of the things he said such as success is easy all you need to do is be smarter than everyone else summed him up.
He truly believed he was so clever he could achieve all the things he said.
Problem was he wasn't.
Now once in, the reality quickly set in and he really was out of his depth regarding actually running a professional football club, resulting in the lack of any realistic appointments, leaving his misses and son to cock everything up, he was clearly very naive, and a total egotistical person in the end.
So, let him do his own thing now, and us move on to what looks like a better alternative ownership....
Problem with people that get rich from nothing, they think they have the midas touch to all that follows. Rather than using your money to allow your companies to be ran by experts.