If the team gets promoted - and not one Charlton fan wants any other outcome - we will only be where we should be. It would be nothing more than a start though - it has always been in the owner's gift to stop the protest, and that has been to quite simply run the club properly with some ambition and common sense.
The volume of the protests will correlate with the performance of the team. If I was Roland I would be bringing in a few more in terms of insurance to ensure it does improve as another season like last season and it is not going to be great for anybody.
This is exactly what I don't get. Promotion will be celebrated as success for the regime, yet all they'd be doing is getting us back to the level they found us at. Let's not forget we finished just three points outside the playoffs the season before Duchatelet and Meire turned up. Three points behind Leicester City nonetheless.
Six of the eight teams that finished above us that season are or have since been in the Premier League since. That's without counting Burnley, who finished two places and four points below us.
2012 / 2013 final Championship table, the last full season before Roland Duchatelet and Katrien Meire took control of Charlton Athletic:
1.Cardiff City 2.Hull City 3. Watford 4.Brighton 5.Crystal Palace 6.Leicester City 7.Bolton Wanderers 8. Nottingham Forest 9. Charlton Athletic 10. Derby County 11. Burnley
Four of those are current Premier League teams and one of them, Leicester City has won the Premier League. Another, Crystal Palace has undergone a partial takeover.
Roland could have easily made his money back by now.
All Duchatelet and Meire had to do was keep moderately progressing Charlton and the worst we'd be is a mid-table Chamionship side. Instead, they ripped the squad apart for a quick buck and created a farm for their failed network of sub-standard, minor European league footballers and finished mid-table in League One last season, 28 places and one division below our last final finishing position before they arrived.
2016 / 2017 final Championship table, the last full season with Roland Duchatelet and Katrien Meire took control of Charlton Athletic:
1.Sheffield United 2.Bolton Wanderers 3.Scunthorpe United 4.Fleetwood Town 5.Bradford City 6.Millwall 7.Southend United 8.Oxford United 9.Rochdale 10.Bristol Rovers 11.Peterborough 12.MK Dons 13.Charlton Athletic
Stop looking to the past, everything has changed, the BBC on their table has us placed 7th, and we are still unbeaten, and on the same points as the leaders. BRAVO!
Has Roland gone? Is Katrien still at The Valley? Is the squad still under strength? Despite fans saying not a penny more, are some of the main faces within the group still attending every home game, buying ST's?
Haha yes of course the squad is still under strength, open your eyes.
Yes you're right many fans (including myself) said not a penny more & there won't be from me to the belgians in any shape or form. 4500 didn't renew their season tickets last year. Some no doubt because of relegation, the majority because of the cancer that owns our once great club. Have they renewed ? well from the last count I saw there is about the same STs sold as last year so no they haven't. Will I renew ? Yes .............once we have an owner whose main purpose of owning Charlton Athletic Football Club is to win games then I will be back to continue my 52 year support. Why shouldn't some of the "main faces" attend & buy season tickets. Neither CARD or any other protest group have suggested that we should boycott games or not buy season tickets but still we get the same old bullshit from those with their heads up their arses.
Only a tiny statement but I shall be wearing my CARD shirt on Saturday, and probably at every game this season until they're gone. If they go. I have no dilemma supporting the team at the same time.
P. S. Is the training ground finished? Is there a target finishing date?
It'll be like a lot of Greek building projects, it will drag on & on & on & on & on & doubtful it will ever be completely finished. They may dig a new trench occasionally to make it look like something is actually happening.
I'm looking forward to our new season Bob and the early signs appear to be positive in terms of a British management team and squad. Just saying .......
Just out of pure curiosity, what specifically, has changed any minds?
I'll be honest and I'll repeat myself, I don't like nor trust the ownership or any of its minions and haven't done from day 1. I said a while ago 'nobody is beyond redemption' and as true as I'd like that to be I don't see anything that this mob of vermin have done to redeem themselves. Other than build more unsustainable debt against the club.
We've already had a familiar taste of incompetence by them announcing less than a week before a game that the club won't be running coaches to an away game. Granted it's a tin pot cup game that nobody of sane mind would have attended but the point remains
Also, someone mentioned the training ground. Has that got an estimated start or finish date yet? Or has anyone managed to connect a boiler to the unsersoil heating system?
Even before shit like that, they have plundered the club and nobody needs me to itemise how they have done that but what they have achieved is to piss off and alienate the hardcore support to the point we have a humiliatingly empty stadium every week
Just out of pure curiosity, what specifically, has changed any minds?
I'll be honest and I'll repeat myself, I don't like nor trust the ownership or any of its minions and haven't done from day 1. I said a while ago 'nobody is beyond redemption' and as true as I'd like that to be I don't see anything that this mob of vermin have done to redeem themselves. Other than build more unsustainable debt against the club.
We've already had a familiar taste of incompetence by them announcing less than a week before a game that the club won't be running coaches to an away game. Granted it's a tin pot cup game that nobody of sane mind would have attended but the point remains
Also, someone mentioned the training ground. Has that got an estimated start or finish date yet? Or has anyone managed to connect a boiler to the unsersoil heating system?
Even before shit like that, they have plundered the club and nobody needs me to itemise how they have done that but what they have achieved is to piss off and alienate the hardcore support to the point we have a humiliatingly empty stadium every week
Well said, Carter.
A seemingly increasing number of supporters seem to have stuck their fingers in their ears whilst humming " We are the champions, of the world! " whenever the words "unsustainable debt" are mentioned.
And don't get me started on the loss of the hardcore support.....a crime that that even the Krays would be proud of !
As for building bridges with the fans/customers, we await with bated breath to learn which supporter group/s will be the chosen bedfellows of Katrien & Tone this season.....
I may be wrong but I understand that a sum in the region of £1m per month is transferred to keep the club running.
The issue is whether anyone else is willing and prepared to take on this commitment.
"Someone else" may well look at AFC Wimbledon's budget of £4m per year and conclude that one of this regime's problems is that it does not spend money effectively.
I may be wrong but I understand that a sum in the region of £1m per month is transferred to keep the club running.
The issue is whether anyone else is willing and prepared to take on this commitment.
Yes, you are wrong. The reason that a million pounds per month, if that is the right figure, is required per month to keep the club going is due to the ineptitude of Roland and his minions. If only a very small amount of that £50m plus that is now sitting as a debt in the club's books had been spent in the right way then we would undoubtedly be in the Premier League. No amount of rose-tinted glasses will allow me to forget that.
I may be wrong but I understand that a sum in the region of £1m per month is transferred to keep the club running.
The issue is whether anyone else is willing and prepared to take on this commitment.
Frankly that's a lie peddled by the club that isn't backed up in the accounts. Well at best it's a twisting of the truth. A football clubs revenue comes at certain times of year - transfer windows or season ticket sales and sponsorship in the summer - the rest in between is pretty minimal. So for the months where there is no major incoming money then it may cost almost a million a month to run (I suspect last year's figure was a lot lower) bit over the year this will be significantly offset by revenue.
They are quoting gross spending and completely ignoring all incomings.
It's likely that the net transfer income last season exceeded the operating loss. Probably offset the cap ex too and RD's £2m interest as well. In which case the actual figure averaged over the year put in was a big fat zero.
The previous year £1m a month would have been pretty accurate, given the loss was £13m or thereabouts (including RD interest of £1.5m).
I'm sure CARD will organise something at some point. But then it'll be followed up with people using the tickets they've bought to then go in to the ground and thus lining Roland's pockets.
What has changed? We do not appear to be run as a network club any more. Apart from KM the Belgian connection has gone. None of the incoming players appear to have been scouted by Wonder Boy. Instead of C O'L we have Jacko and Bowyer. Stating these objective facts does not blind me to the car-crash of the Belgian stewardship, and I'd love to see a takeover, but I can't agree that nothing has changed.
Success on the pitch, and dare we hope, promotion, will make us more attractive to a prospective buyer. Can't imagine why anyone would buy the club otherwise. Hopefully the reason RD has allowed KR to "get on with it" the way he has.
What has changed? We do not appear to be run as a network club any more. Apart from KM the Belgian connection has gone. None of the incoming players appear to have been scouted by Wonder Boy. Instead of C O'L we have Jacko and Bowyer. Stating these objective facts does not blind me to the car-crash of the Belgian stewardship, and I'd love to see a takeover, but I can't agree that nothing has changed.
How much do you think 'we' got for ceballos and tex?
If the team gets promoted - and not one Charlton fan wants any other outcome - we will only be where we should be. It would be nothing more than a start though - it has always been in the owner's gift to stop the protest, and that has been to quite simply run the club properly with some ambition and common sense.
The volume of the protests will correlate with the performance of the team. If I was Roland I would be bringing in a few more in terms of insurance to ensure it does improve as another season like last season and it is not going to be great for anybody.
This is exactly what I don't get. Promotion will be celebrated as success for the regime, yet all they'd be doing is getting us back to the level they found us at. Let's not forget we finished just three points outside the playoffs the season before Duchatelet and Meire turned up. Three points behind Leicester City nonetheless.
Six of the eight teams that finished above us that season are or have since been in the Premier League since. That's without counting Burnley, who finished two places and four points below us.
2012 / 2013 final Championship table, the last full season before Roland Duchatelet and Katrien Meire took control of Charlton Athletic:
1.Cardiff City 2.Hull City 3. Watford 4.Brighton 5.Crystal Palace 6.Leicester City 7.Bolton Wanderers 8. Nottingham Forest 9. Charlton Athletic 10. Derby County 11. Burnley
Four of those are current Premier League teams and one of them, Leicester City has won the Premier League. Another, Crystal Palace has undergone a partial takeover.
Roland could have easily made his money back by now.
All Duchatelet and Meire had to do was keep moderately progressing Charlton and the worst we'd be is a mid-table Chamionship side. Instead, they ripped the squad apart for a quick buck and created a farm for their failed network of sub-standard, minor European league footballers and finished mid-table in League One last season, 28 places and one division below our last final finishing position before they arrived.
2016 / 2017 final Championship table, the last full season with Roland Duchatelet and Katrien Meire took control of Charlton Athletic:
1.Sheffield United 2.Bolton Wanderers 3.Scunthorpe United 4.Fleetwood Town 5.Bradford City 6.Millwall 7.Southend United 8.Oxford United 9.Rochdale 10.Bristol Rovers 11.Peterborough 12.MK Dons 13.Charlton Athletic
Wait we were in the Championship last season? Suddenly I am not so disheartened by our finish...
For me, personally, I'm just suffering anger and resentment fatigue.
I have huge respect and gratitude to those that have been fighting to get our club back but the impression I get is that members of CARD are also suffering fatigue.
Maybe it won't do too much harm if we give the players and Robinson a few weeks to see what sort of season we are going to have before reconvening what ever the next course of action is going to be.
Success on the pitch and wanting new owners are not mutually exclusive and I don't believe that anyone wants the club to fail. I'm hopeful that the football might just be enjoyable to watch this season and I don't want to keep going to The Valley angry and bitter so I'm going to try to enjoy it again.
What has changed? We do not appear to be run as a network club any more. Apart from KM the Belgian connection has gone. None of the incoming players appear to have been scouted by Wonder Boy. Instead of C O'L we have Jacko and Bowyer. Stating these objective facts does not blind me to the car-crash of the Belgian stewardship, and I'd love to see a takeover, but I can't agree that nothing has changed.
This is where I'm at, the ultimate win is for a new owner and whatever that will bring.
Perhaps CARD should focus some energy on claiming the small wins, might unite the fan base somewhat.
I am more optimistic about this season than I have been for a few years. Some lessons have been learnt. However under no circumstances can I ever forgive what they have done to our club over the last few years. Even if we were to win the league I would still support CARD.
What has changed? We do not appear to be run as a network club any more. Apart from KM the Belgian connection has gone. None of the incoming players appear to have been scouted by Wonder Boy. Instead of C O'L we have Jacko and Bowyer. Stating these objective facts does not blind me to the car-crash of the Belgian stewardship, and I'd love to see a takeover, but I can't agree that nothing has changed.
How much do you think 'we' got for ceballos and tex?
What has changed? We do not appear to be run as a network club any more. Apart from KM the Belgian connection has gone. None of the incoming players appear to have been scouted by Wonder Boy. Instead of C O'L we have Jacko and Bowyer. Stating these objective facts does not blind me to the car-crash of the Belgian stewardship, and I'd love to see a takeover, but I can't agree that nothing has changed.
How much do you think 'we' got for ceballos and tex?
Both network players. I won't miss them, they are examples of the poor recruitment policy based on Wonder Boy's scouting ability. We all know the many other examples. However our new signings perform, I'd wager they were not scouted by Driesen.
Great point well made Red Robin. Last season was another major disappointment. It would take a promotion to begin to reverse some of the Belgian damage but I can't see it. They won't support it financially. Why would Duche shell out to increase his year-on-year operating loss in the Championship?
Has Roland gone? Is Katrien still at The Valley? Is the squad still under strength? Despite fans saying not a penny more, are some of the main faces within the group still attending every home game, buying ST's?
What has changed? We do not appear to be run as a network club any more. Apart from KM the Belgian connection has gone. None of the incoming players appear to have been scouted by Wonder Boy. Instead of C O'L we have Jacko and Bowyer. Stating these objective facts does not blind me to the car-crash of the Belgian stewardship, and I'd love to see a takeover, but I can't agree that nothing has changed.
How much do you think 'we' got for ceballos and tex?
What has changed? We do not appear to be run as a network club any more. Apart from KM the Belgian connection has gone. None of the incoming players appear to have been scouted by Wonder Boy. Instead of C O'L we have Jacko and Bowyer. Stating these objective facts does not blind me to the car-crash of the Belgian stewardship, and I'd love to see a takeover, but I can't agree that nothing has changed.
How much do you think 'we' got for ceballos and tex?
If it is 'I want what I paid plus what I've spent' then the price is unaffected by promotion but is more likely to be met.
If it is 'I want a good price for what it's worth today given where we are in the leagues and our player contracts' then promotion would increase the price ask.
Comments
BRAVO!
Bravo Katrien.
Yes you're right many fans (including myself) said not a penny more & there won't be from me to the belgians in any shape or form. 4500 didn't renew their season tickets last year. Some no doubt because of relegation, the majority because of the cancer that owns our once great club. Have they renewed ? well from the last count I saw there is about the same STs sold as last year so no they haven't. Will I renew ? Yes .............once we have an owner whose main purpose of owning Charlton Athletic Football Club is to win games then I will be back to continue my 52 year support.
Why shouldn't some of the "main faces" attend & buy season tickets. Neither CARD or any other protest group have suggested that we should boycott games or not buy season tickets but still we get the same old bullshit from those with their heads up their arses.
I'll be honest and I'll repeat myself, I don't like nor trust the ownership or any of its minions and haven't done from day 1. I said a while ago 'nobody is beyond redemption' and as true as I'd like that to be I don't see anything that this mob of vermin have done to redeem themselves. Other than build more unsustainable debt against the club.
We've already had a familiar taste of incompetence by them announcing less than a week before a game that the club won't be running coaches to an away game. Granted it's a tin pot cup game that nobody of sane mind would have attended but the point remains
Also, someone mentioned the training ground. Has that got an estimated start or finish date yet? Or has anyone managed to connect a boiler to the unsersoil heating system?
Even before shit like that, they have plundered the club and nobody needs me to itemise how they have done that but what they have achieved is to piss off and alienate the hardcore support to the point we have a humiliatingly empty stadium every week
The issue is whether anyone else is willing and prepared to take on this commitment.
A seemingly increasing number of supporters seem to have stuck their fingers in their ears whilst humming " We are the champions, of the world! " whenever the words "unsustainable debt" are mentioned.
And don't get me started on the loss of the hardcore support.....a crime that that even the Krays would be proud of !
As for building bridges with the fans/customers, we await with bated breath to learn which supporter group/s will be the chosen bedfellows of Katrien & Tone this season.....
Forgive & forget ?
Don't think so.
No amount of rose-tinted glasses will allow me to forget that.
They are quoting gross spending and completely ignoring all incomings.
Come on Roly, you're being outdone by a couple of wide boys. Give the Scouse Saviour a few more bob, before the season starts.
The previous year £1m a month would have been pretty accurate, given the loss was £13m or thereabouts (including RD interest of £1.5m).
I have huge respect and gratitude to those that have been fighting to get our club back but the impression I get is that members of CARD are also suffering fatigue.
Maybe it won't do too much harm if we give the players and Robinson a few weeks to see what sort of season we are going to have before reconvening what ever the next course of action is going to be.
Success on the pitch and wanting new owners are not mutually exclusive and I don't believe that anyone wants the club to fail. I'm hopeful that the football might just be enjoyable to watch this season and I don't want to keep going to The Valley angry and bitter so I'm going to try to enjoy it again.
Perhaps CARD should focus some energy on claiming the small wins, might unite the fan base somewhat.
I genuinely don't think it matters which division we're in re: a takeover.
If it is 'I want what I paid plus what I've spent' then the price is unaffected by promotion but is more likely to be met.
If it is 'I want a good price for what it's worth today given where we are in the leagues and our player contracts' then promotion would increase the price ask.