The Takeover Thread - Duchatelet Finally Sells (Jan 2020)

PragueAddick said:

@AFKABartram

Final point. Yeah, I've got an "agenda". It is to not just sit at my keyboard moaning about Duchatelet but to work with others to get him out, as soon as possible. If you have a superior alternative plan to smart well thought out activities in Belgium then, trust me I will drop my "agenda" in a heartbeat and get behind it in any practical way.

happyvalley said:

1956, Jimmy Seed is asked to resign ( sacked ) as Charlton .

Stu_of_Kunming said:

PragueAddick said:

@AFKABartram

Final point. Yeah, I've got an "agenda". It is to not just sit at my keyboard moaning about Duchatelet but to work with others to get him out, as soon as possible. If you have a superior alternative plan to smart well thought out activities in Belgium then, trust me I will drop my "agenda" in a heartbeat and get behind it in any practical way.

Don't you think it's rather unnecessary to take such a shitty attitude with the person responsibile for building the biggest Charlton community, possiblly ever?

Off_it said:

HarryLime said:

Stu_of_Kunming said:

PragueAddick said:

@AFKABartram

Final point. Yeah, I've got an "agenda". It is to not just sit at my keyboard moaning about Duchatelet but to work with others to get him out, as soon as possible. If you have a superior alternative plan to smart well thought out activities in Belgium then, trust me I will drop my "agenda" in a heartbeat and get behind it in any practical way.

Don't you think it's rather unnecessary to take such a shitty attitude with the person responsibile for building the biggest Charlton community, possiblly ever?

Come on guys, lets all take a deep breath. We don't want this spilling over onto Makros carpark

10 v 10. AFKA and his Top Boys against Prague and his.

Harry Lime in the middle saying, "come on fellas, we've all had a drink"!

Henry Irving said:

JamesSeed said:

Stu_of_Kunming said:

PragueAddick said:

@AFKABartram

Final point. Yeah, I've got an "agenda". It is to not just sit at my keyboard moaning about Duchatelet but to work with others to get him out, as soon as possible. If you have a superior alternative plan to smart well thought out activities in Belgium then, trust me I will drop my "agenda" in a heartbeat and get behind it in any practical way.

Don't you think it's rather unnecessary to take such a shitty attitude with the person responsibile for building the biggest Charlton community, possiblly ever?

What, Henry?

My vital role in putting Lookout and AFKA together and strongly suggesting they work together to create Charlton Life is often overlooked but I'm not looking for fame or praise.

A promote would be nice though.

Addicktion said:

robinofottershaw said:

Addickted said:

robinofottershaw said:

Hex said:

robinofottersģhaw said:

Agreed. He believes his view is absolutely rationale from the standpoint of a business model and the rest of the world has gone mad. He is probably right but anyone buying a football club should go into it expecting they will likely lose money unless they are in the Premier League.

The problem is, he wants out but appears to expect any potential buyer to pay for the ongoing errors made on his watch in terms of management rotations, poor player acquisitions, handling of outgoing player valuations and as he moved up the learning curve on English football economics. As has been said, he had the option to get out as soon as he realised the EFL had moved the goalposts as regards FFP. However, if he can keep the club on life support by breaking even, despite relegations back to League 1 or even 2, at least it isn’t costing him money.

Whilst I concede having a reasonable level of current operating costs to outline  to potential buyers is good, they will have their view on their appetite for annual losses over the near term. They are however more likely to be interested in a reasonable upfront purchase price and what might be considered reasonable for a Championship club is unlikely to be considered reasonable the further down the leagues the club goes.

Promotion back to the Championship was probably his best chance of extricating himself with a reasonable price to defray some of his investment and it looks like he is closing the window on that.

It may not make any difference in terms of changing his stubbornness but I think in the Fans Forum, CAST communications, interaction with the press etc there has to be continued emphasis on his quotes above and the fact that he has no footballing ambition for the club and that he is living in cloud cuckoo land if he is holding out for a price that covers his aggregate losses for the past 5 years. It would be good if any of the buyers who have walked away would reveal the exact price they had offered.

I don't totally agree with this as it may be considered too commercially sensitive and may not be the real problem as a price seems to get agreed.  However, it would be interesting to know what he uses to increase the price.  Eg does he throw in a percentage of the sale price of any youngsters in the academy ?  

Yes, commercially sensitive, with NDAs still Potentially binding if a deal not finally agreed. 

This is the bit I don't understand.

You approach RD to buy the Club, part of the negoatiations is to agree a NDA.

You pull out of the deal due to the irrational behaviour of the seller, so surely the NDA becomes null and void. The seller cannot prevent you from telling the World about your approach, offer and reasons for withdrawing.

Does Mrs RD have to sign a NDA when they're discussing what to have for dinner tonight?

Your guess is as good as mine. I was really just hypothesising that buyers may have been asked to sign an NDA that is binding regardless of whether or not a deal is concluded. You would think some snippets would leak but not really so far.

Under an NDA there is normally a clause which states the buying party are legally obliged to keep the information they find out private for 2 years (some 1 year but 2 years is standard). 

Source - my job working in mergers & acquisitions. 

Also trust me I've joked to my partners constantly to try get us involved with the sale for the last 11 months (since I started) and they saw our Business Plan before Roland acquired the club and said there was some dodgy debt he'd stay a mile away from

carly burn said:

I've soothed myself with the following dilemma to put a positive slide on things.


Which would you rather. And you can only have one. No Mish mashing

Roland goes. New owners in. Bowyer asked to leave before the ink has dried. They've got their man and have had this on the back burner for years?

Roland stays. Bowyer does to. He gets pretty much what he needs in additional loans and we crack on?

Stu_of_Kunming said:

MuttleyCAFC said:

Off_it said:

HarryLime said:

Stu_of_Kunming said:

PragueAddick said:

@AFKABartram

Final point. Yeah, I've got an "agenda". It is to not just sit at my keyboard moaning about Duchatelet but to work with others to get him out, as soon as possible. If you have a superior alternative plan to smart well thought out activities in Belgium then, trust me I will drop my "agenda" in a heartbeat and get behind it in any practical way.

Don't you think it's rather unnecessary to take such a shitty attitude with the person responsibile for building the biggest Charlton community, possiblly ever?

Come on guys, lets all take a deep breath. We don't want this spilling over onto Makros carpark

10 v 10. AFKA and his Top Boys against Prague and his.

Harry Lime in the middle saying, "come on fellas, we've all had a drink"!

Afka has dome a fantastic job with this site, and it has played a role in many positive things. But surely people should be allowed to disagree with his view respectfully as Prague has done.

I wouldn't call that respectfully.

Alwaysneil said:

I would like to contribute a haiku. The format is in the old style being 5-7-5 syllables.

As summer heat fades
Hope builds for the true season 
Trampled by the cunt

Probably a bit inelegant the last line tbf.

As summer heat fades
hope builds for the true seaaon
build our fire Addicks 

Stu_of_Kunming said:

MuttleyCAFC said:

Stu_of_Kunming said:

MuttleyCAFC said:

Off_it said:

HarryLime said:

Stu_of_Kunming said:

PragueAddick said:

@AFKABartram

Final point. Yeah, I've got an "agenda". It is to not just sit at my keyboard moaning about Duchatelet but to work with others to get him out, as soon as possible. If you have a superior alternative plan to smart well thought out activities in Belgium then, trust me I will drop my "agenda" in a heartbeat and get behind it in any practical way.

Don't you think it's rather unnecessary to take such a shitty attitude with the person responsibile for building the biggest Charlton community, possiblly ever?

Come on guys, lets all take a deep breath. We don't want this spilling over onto Makros carpark

10 v 10. AFKA and his Top Boys against Prague and his.

Harry Lime in the middle saying, "come on fellas, we've all had a drink"!

Afka has dome a fantastic job with this site, and it has played a role in many positive things. But surely people should be allowed to disagree with his view respectfully as Prague has done.

I wouldn't call that respectfully.

What was disrespectful about it? Apart from disagreeing and saying why.

"not just sit at my keyboard moaning about "

"If you have a superior alternative plan to smart well thought out activities in Belgium "

The insinuations there, for a start.

cafc_se7 said:

In fairness, and this in no way whatsoever sticking up for the rat, purely from the playing side of things....Luton won the league and they cashed in on their main men and have only replaced with frees. We are not the only ones and off the pitch we are in by far a worse position to them!

Redrobo said:

Cardinal Sin said:

Redrobo said:

Chunes said:

What does Roland do when he's wrong? He finds someone or something else to blame. 

I wouldn't get too distracted by his claims around the championship's FFP rules being the problem

If that were the case, why weren't we bought when we were in League One?

Why did he let on that it would be easier for us to be bought when were in the Championship?

Why was the narrative that we'd be more attractive in the higher league? If, in fact, it makes us far less attractive? 

This is just the same circle of behaviour we've always seen. He doesn't believe he could possibly be the problem, the real problem must lie somewhere else. 

Unfortunately, this time, he raised a valid point about rules being a bit off, so the distraction is working a bit more than it normally would. But a distraction it still is.

If one accepts that Roland genuinely believed that being in division 1 is economically better than the Championship, why did he increase his asking price when we got promoted?

The logical thing to do would be to get rid asap. Even reduce the price to avoid the extra running costs.

What I cannot reconcile is how someone so obviously stupid got to make so much money.

I think we need to protest some how, but while we wait for anyone to think of something that will be effective, I am going to make a small gesture and get a ball rolling.

I have a season ticket, but I am boycotting the first home game unless we are sold. I will also boycott the first televised home game.

Probably all pointless, but it is what it is.

Therein lies the problem as things stand with 10,000 already having given Duchatelet several million pounds in advance sales this season. I am afraid our next big protest opportunity will only come in the close season of 2020 when the appetite to renew will be considerably smaller after a year of struggle and humbling losses as we are outclassed this season due to our small and weak squad. If we could manage a serious season ticket boycott (we don't necessarily need to stop going altogether) I am convinced Duchatelet would take notice and have to consider cutting his losses and selling-up far more seriously than he has done to date.

I am merely making a protest, it is not about the money for me - I have already spent it!