KM Speaks Out - Riga, Departures, Next Season
Following Tuesday’s appointment of Bob Peeters, Charlton Director Katrien Meire has extended her thanks to former Head Coach José Riga. Riga took the reins following the departure of Chris Powell in March and guided the Addicks to Championship safety with seven wins and three draws from his 16 games in charge. And with the Belgian’s short-term deal having come to an end, Meire insisted that the appointment of Peeters was not an easy decision for the board to make.
“When José arrived he had other commitments and it was not easy for him to make himself available, but he succeeded to find an arrangement and showed great commitment in his work at Charlton. He faced an extremely difficult job in keeping our club in the Championship, having to do so with a number of our young academy players and, for that, he deserves a lot of praise. He helped us out and took on the temporary assignment because of the good relationship that he shares with Charlton’s owner, Roland Duchâtelet, and we were very grateful for him doing so. There were not any discussions at that time about the role beyond the final game of the season, but José grew to love the job and the fans and as a board we were very happy with him just as the fans were. When the assignment was finished he was interested in continuing at Charlton.
He was a very serious candidate to get the job because he was so successful but, in the meantime, we looked at other alternatives. We looked at all aspects and, with a number of strong candidates, we had a difficult decision to make to choose between them, of course, all decisions come with an element of risk, but we balanced all the pros and cons and, finally, we came to a conclusion that we would go forward with Bob Peeters. It was a very difficult choice and it does not mean that we are not extremely grateful for José’s work at Charlton, just as we were grateful for the work of Chris Powell before him. After weighing up all the information an informed decision was made which, we think, will turn out to be the best thing for the club.”
Following the recent departures of Ben Hamer and Dorian Dervite, along with a number of other out-of-contract players, the board have acknowledged that the playing squad will need to go through a rebuilding phase over the coming weeks and months. However, while there will likely be a period of transition as the new-look squad takes time to gel, the aim remains to put together as strong a group as possible to be competitive in the Championship.
“The situation when we took over at Charlton was not easy,” said Meire, who joined the club following Duchâtelet’s takeover in January. We have already seen some other departures since the end of the season, but fans should be assured that we are working very hard to recruit new players to create a strong team. Last year was a great achievement that we survived in the manner we did. Next season will be a new one with many new players and a new Head Coach. There will be a lot of unknowns going into the new season but we are very ambitious and will do our best to have the best possible team to take us forward.”
Comments
-
"There will be a lot of unknowns going into the new season" interesting to see what she meant by that. Think we know the answer.2
-
i don't usual like to read into little conspiracies like that, but those choice of words struck me as a bit odd. Good to hear some communication from the club though!Cafckinsella said:"There will be a lot of unknowns going into the new season" interesting to see what she meant by that. Think we know the answer.
0 -
A little defensive from KM that was...I just think it a shame that this wasn't published closer to the Bob Peeters announcement.0
-
No word on current players who are out contract then. Just new players. Interesting. Fair play to her for coming out when it should be Roland.0
-
"There will be a lot of unknowns going into the new season"
Or to be more precise, the team sheet goes up and Addicks throughout The Valley say with one voice "Who the hell is that?"
To be fair, that's a very tongue-in-cheek comment. More seriously, I think it's an honest appraisal of how things are likely to be this coming season. I don't think Roland's "master plan" will take the summer break to bear fruition.
This season is going to be a very bumpy ride, methinks. Better buckle up.2 -
There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know.
A plank. Donald Rumsfeld
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/d/donaldrums148142.html#4oEC0o75ozeFs1P7.9914 -
huh?2
-
Makes me think that she is not as convinced about our academy players as we areWSS said:http://www.cafc.co.uk/news/article/20140529-board-thanks-former-head-coach-jose-riga-1582668.aspx
“He faced an extremely difficult job in keeping our club in the Championship, having to do so with a number of our young academy players
0 -
That reads like propaganda of the highest order. Sorry but I can't see a shred of evidence that BP is a much better candidate than JR. Nonetheless I'll support Bob and be happy to be proved wrong. As for recruitment, it would be nice to know who is identifying transfer targets for us.7
-
"However, while there will likely be a period of transition as the new-look squad takes time to gel"
I look forward to seeing this new look squad, as at the moment it's our current one with a huge trim!! Unbelievable how many signings we are going to need.. get to work team Roly poly!0 -
Sponsored links:
-
Katrien, football supporters are not thick although I fully appreciate that it would be preferable for RD's propaganda if that were the case. I do not believe anything that you have written but I also understand that you are required to write this nonsense. Riga was clearly the better candidate and I think you know that as well. Whatever RD's plans are, please would you be good enough to explain to him that many of us would consider it more courteous to tell us the truth.7
-
Hmm. A statement with essentially no news. Other than perhaps we as fans are not the only ones who have 'unknowns'.
Im really hoping this all works out and RD is done being the puppet master. A few non Belgian or network signings would certainly help appease my anxiety. Fingers crossed we'll be in a far more stable position in a month.
Ive got a feeling my sense of humor will need to be on a par with Big Bob to get through this next 4 weeks.0 -
but for a piece of comms offering reassurance to the supporters it was a bit odd. But, you may well be right and I'll take Katrien at her word.JessieAddick said:That sentence ('a lot of unknowns') did seem a bit odd at first but then I realised maybe she was just being honest - they don't really know if the players they are going to bring in will do well/be good enough.
0 -
Strange comments. No mention of Bob whatsoever and why he was the best man for the job3
-
Seems to me she has just spent a week reading the posts on here and responded to them.
7 -
Thanks Prague. I didn't know thatPragueAddick said:There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know.
A plank. Donald Rumsfeld
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/d/donaldrums148142.html#4oEC0o75ozeFs1P7.99
3 -
But she's the mouth-peice for Rolly............The Red Robin said:No word on current players who are out contract then. Just new players. Interesting. Fair play to her for coming out when it should be Roland.
Is that you RD?mrbligh said:huh?
Personally, I just read it as "We considered Jose for the job, but he didn't do as he was told, naughty boy and ultimately, Bob was a cheaper option".................11 -
He think the statement is pretty much what I would have written if I didn't want to say much to my customers - oops, sorry, fans.0
-
Not much to the statement, but the fact is it's a response addressing some of the issues we've all had in the past few weeks. For that I'm grateful. I'd like more from them but it beats the wall of silence from the nasty pair we had before5
-
Finally found someone for a quote have they.2
-
Sponsored links:
-
What ! Read it again.BigRedEvil said:Strange comments. No mention of Bob whatsoever and why he was the best man for the job
1 -
There is no doubt in my mind that KM reads this board and Facebook.
This statement is a direct response to the people kicking up a fuss about why JR never got the job in my opinion.
If thats the case then she can't be knocked for that and she's actually taking a pro-active attitude to try and give away as much info to the fans as she probably allowed.
Im sure there will be more about BP in due course.12 -
surely that's reactive? 12
-
There will be a lot of unknowns going into the new season but we are very ambitious and will do our best to have the best possible team to take us forward.”
Prefer if she has said we will push to get into the premiership1 -
Ah.....the old "time to gel" excuse.
Hard to work out exactly what this phrase means, but for me a decent squad with decent coaching needs only a couple of hundred hours on the training ground and less than a dozen matches.
Fast forward to November 2014 when maybe KM says:
"The transfer market did not turn out exactly as we expected, seeing as most of the players we were interested in, were also being tracked by other clubs. This meant that we had to draft in players from other clubs in our network and these players have taken time to gel"
When our L1 title winning squad was assembled, many deals were completed in May / early June so that everyone had a decent pre-season. Players that have left us (Hamer/Green/Dervite) have already found clubs and have started "to gel" with their new teams already.
Waiting too long to get players is what left us with Spongefoot and Sodall last season - get a move on Charlton!9 -
KM, rolands's very own spin doctor.2
-
Basically, they are aware people wanted Jose to stay... but he ain't going to. I don't think RD has any obligation to describe exactly why he made each and every decision, they acknowledged JR's popularity but we now have categorical denial that JR was ever made promises about his position at the end of the season - could have, should have, possibly, but wasn't.
Not sure that any chairman would go into more detail than that about why a coach was chosen - unless Murray released a statement a few years back saying 'Yeah, we appointed Dowie to annoy Palace, hahaha' and I missed it.6 -
Those three have not even met their team mates yet never mind gelled with them. Please chill. It's still may !!!!!!Valiantphil said:Ah.....the old "time to gel" excuse.
Hard to work out exactly what this phrase means, but for me a decent squad with decent coaching needs only a couple of hundred hours on the training ground and less than a dozen matches.
Fast forward to November 2014 when maybe KM says:
"The transfer market did not turn out exactly as we expected, seeing as most of the players we were interested in, were also being tracked by other clubs. This meant that we had to draft in players from other clubs in our network and these players have taken time to gel"
When our L1 title winning squad was assembled, many deals were completed in May / early June so that everyone had a decent pre-season. Players that have left us (Hamer/Green/Dervite) have already found clubs and have started "to gel" with their new teams already.
Waiting too long to get players is what left us with Spongefoot and Sodall last season - get a move on Charlton!
4 -
You are fighting a losing battle on this one mate.ShootersHillGuru said:
Those three have not even met their team mates yet never mind gelled with them. Please chill. It's still may !!!!!!Valiantphil said:Ah.....the old "time to gel" excuse.
Hard to work out exactly what this phrase means, but for me a decent squad with decent coaching needs only a couple of hundred hours on the training ground and less than a dozen matches.
Fast forward to November 2014 when maybe KM says:
"The transfer market did not turn out exactly as we expected, seeing as most of the players we were interested in, were also being tracked by other clubs. This meant that we had to draft in players from other clubs in our network and these players have taken time to gel"
When our L1 title winning squad was assembled, many deals were completed in May / early June so that everyone had a decent pre-season. Players that have left us (Hamer/Green/Dervite) have already found clubs and have started "to gel" with their new teams already.
Waiting too long to get players is what left us with Spongefoot and Sodall last season - get a move on Charlton!
Honestly, the club are better off saying f*ck all.5 -
Must be tough having to do Roland's dirty washing for him. So Jose Riga went out of his way to help us out, because of his good relationship with RD. Really! is this how you treat a friend who has gone out of their way to help you out?
Sorry Katrien, you're a nice young lady, but we are not stupid.
It sounds very much like we are being prepared for another relegation struggle, when we could have been looking forward to a possible playoff spot under Riga.6
