*******Bowyer SIGNED 3 YEAR DEAL (page 27 onwards )******

Didn’t Bowyer recently describe a conversation he had with Southall re ESI’s plans as “weird”? I think Katrien style he tried to clarify later that he didn’t mean odd, but it is interesting that these quotes emerge hot on the heels of that. 

Well,that hasn't taken long before the "it's all going tits up" stories/rumours started to appear.

Never a dull moment at CAFC!

ValleyGary said:

Airman Brown said:

ValleyGary said:

The Prince-e-Paul said:

I get the feeling Lee was happy to leave his own contract to after the window, simply to free up his and the clubs very busy schedule, but as the player negotiations have begun, it has become apparent that players are apprehensive or even totally put off signing. 

This. A lot can happen/change in a week.

Except that isn't what has happened. Bear in mind that if it was Lee could have gone to MS and said, "you know what, I've changed my mind. Let's do the deal now and it will be a nice surprise for the fans". Instead of which he has given the story to the local paper, knowing there is media stuff this afternoon, so that Southall has to respond to it publicly and if no deal is reached at the weekend the new administration will come under further pressure from fans to explain why not.

He is effectively saying to Southall: "Don't think you can take the piss."

Southall: We’ve met on a few occasions. We've had… we've had some good time together so I could kind of portray to him what our longterm ambitions are. That's important for him as well. You know he wants to know that the new ownership coming in are going in the right direction, have got got the right vision. I've spoken with his agent. And what we decided, for now, obviously being in January, is to focus on the playing side of things and try and tie that up after the window. I'm comfortable with that. And like I say I think the main thing for me is ensuring that the club stays in the Championship. And then obviously we can take each day as it comes from there.

So you're saying what Southall said in bold is a lie? Or since MS gave this interview, Bowyer has gone to Southall to get things done and he's been told no?

You could take the statement above in bold to be ESI telling LB's agent the score, it does not mean the agent or LB accepted it.

The steepest part of MS' learning curve will be to handle the extraordinarily public nature of the business. Every word, every syllable, goes under the microscope. He made one interview but its avid audience will be viewing it from several quite distinct perspectives. The fans numerically have the edge, but players and their agents, the coaching staff, the club's admin and the football industry at large will be dissecting our change in fortune, as indeed will one important individual - HE. He will be VERY interested in how MS shapes up in these early formative days. All in all that is quite a tough and mixed crowd to please, and it will be impossible to satisfy everyone all the time.

(I saw our man's passage through Xbars.  He was stunned, absolutely gobsmacked, to get a fervent reception the like of which has not been seen since Palm Sunday. Clearly he loved it, and describing it in the interview he visibly relaxed. I counted 121 you-knows on the tape but in the part about his reception there was not a single one.)

Since our hamstrung pre-season, the takeover frustrations, the crumbling of the roster and the relentless pressures of life in a higher division this club has been running flat out just to stand still. The new owners have a daunting task in reconciling expectations with reality, all to be done under the floodlights' glare. And they will not want the world to believe that the car-park potholes have suddenly turned into oil wells. MS is not without experience but he has a lot to learn and he must learn it fast. Every Addick will surely wish him well.

charltonbob said:

SoundAsa£ said:

carly burn said:

It is intriguing. As it stands:
ESI withdrew Lyle's offer. One of his requests was confirmation Bowyer was staying. ESI are not interested in tieing up Bowyer until after the window. They agreed it with his agent. But Bowyer wants his future sorted now.
Someone's not telling the truth.

It was Bow who wasn’t interested in tying up a deal until after the January window, ostensibly because he wanted to see how much he was backed in the transfer window.....perfectly understandable.
However, it’s become clear that thought process was going to cause problems with potential targets.....once again perfectly understandable.
Can’t understand people suggesting there’s some kind of a rift......some people aren’t happy without letting their doom and gloom attitudes from the last 5 years carry over to this new era.

Did LB actually say this because I don't remember reading it anywhere except in a post on here.

No he hasn't said it.

Redhenry said:

grumpyaddick said:

Main football priorities for ESI

1. Secure the services of Lee Bowyer
2. Secure the services of Lyle Taylor
3. Provide adequate finance to allow Gallen to sign sufficient manpower in Jan window to stay up.

I know it's only day seven but I would like to have seen some progress on this.  More important than making sugary PR videos and kissing babies. 

I'm worried about the lack of money being offered to targets and Lyle. 

But is that just ESI knowing that the targets prices are now being inflated as a result of the takeover and they dont want to be mugged off?

MarkyE83 said:

If Bowyer is expecting a contract by the end of the month I would of thought a draft would have been provided by now. Maybe Bowyer is ensuring something is in a place so that negotiations can be concluded by the end of the month or before. Negotiating with players and being able to say “there is a contract, just working out the details” is a lot better than “haven’t seen anything yet”.

Lets hope the narrative has changed after Saturday when hopefully Charlton and Lee’s agent are agreeing details and not just starting.

don't forget he agreed his last contract in a phone call ….

At least its shows a bit of passion from Lee, he gets his point out there, ' don't take me for granted' i'm looking for stability as well as the players, its a starting shot , we don't need a side show going on around the West Brom game, c'mon Lee gurd the loins of the Charlton players for Saturday, make them play out of their skins for you, give West Brom, a right good slap round the face, and upset the odds, show the 'new' owners they need you!

Airman if you are right then he needs to understand the nature of who he is dealing with.

I am going to upset a lot of people but if I were HE Tahnoon Nimer I am not going to be playing these games. I do not do my business in the press. I have a simple message here I am not here to be the "cash cow" for all and sundry.

If an employee, any employee put that in the press deliberately no matter how good he is, he is out the door.

Who do you think such statement serves? ESI? The club? The stakeholder?

I am not sure running to the press serves the long term employment of the manager anywhere.

Mr Bowyer there is no "I" in team

At one level it reminds me of umpteen conversations with the matronly dragons dwelling in the bowels of every corporate bookkeeping department whingeing apoplectically they may have change their bank account reconciliation processes. Believe you me they were a difficult sell.

However Mr Bowyer and Mr Taylor and anybody else for that matter need to recognise no matter their contribution they are employees of the club and the nature of the landscape has changed. There are new rules and a new dynamic to the business and everybody needs to respect their responsibility to a new collective.

Each deserve great credit for their work to this point but the club will continue long after they have departed, so no matter our current situation if you do not want to work with me, I could take the short term pain and blow the whole thing up and start again.

Mr Bowyer and Mr Taylor I am paying you to do your job if you have a problem with it then have the discipline to adhere to your contract with my business. The bottom line is I decide when and where I offer new contracts.

Fortunately Mr Bowyers comments reads like a phone conversation quoted out of context but we have been here before. I accept there is always journalistic licence but would Richard Cawley have used that headline when the substance of the comments argues Southall and Bowyers agent will sit down this weekend.

In concept getting a deal done is straightforward.

However in my comments on Southall's introductory interviews I referenced the timeline for buying the club at this time was problematic.

It was problematic for Staprix NV in January 2014.

The timeline presents a baptism of fire.

In essence we already have a phased purchased of the club with the training ground purchase kicked down the road because appropriate due diligence could not be done in time.

Buying an operational business is like launching a new product or implementing a new system before the project is finished. Once you "go operational" before you are ready then everybody is running around putting sticking plasters on the bits which were not tested or overlooked before you launched.

I would be very interested in the triggers which set the November 27 effective date and who pulled the trigger.

Understand buying a football is not like any other company. You need a specific licence to trade. It is a whole new level of validation, scrutiny and an operational distraction. Just as it was not a rubber stamp job for the EFL it was not a rubber stamp job for ESI.

Everybody but everybody has to recognise ESI operationally has existed for just one week.

Does this indicate another missed step by ESI? Yes it does but as I have stated the club has existed in a malfunctioning corporate desert and everybody needs time to adjust.

My bottom line everybody "Must do better". 

anyone who's been Bowyer watching since his new career will know he speaks his mind, and he's been extremely patient as well as a very talented promising manager..

I’m scared now. 

Airman Brown said:

ValleyGary said:

Airman Brown said:

ValleyGary said:

The Prince-e-Paul said:

I get the feeling Lee was happy to leave his own contract to after the window, simply to free up his and the clubs very busy schedule, but as the player negotiations have begun, it has become apparent that players are apprehensive or even totally put off signing. 

This. A lot can happen/change in a week.

Except that isn't what has happened. Bear in mind that if it was Lee could have gone to MS and said, "you know what, I've changed my mind. Let's do the deal now and it will be a nice surprise for the fans". Instead of which he has given the story to the local paper, knowing there is media stuff this afternoon, so that Southall has to respond to it publicly and if no deal is reached at the weekend the new administration will come under further pressure from fans to explain why not.

He is effectively saying to Southall: "Don't think you can take the piss."

Southall: We’ve met on a few occasions. We've had… we've had some good time together so I could kind of portray to him what our longterm ambitions are. That's important for him as well. You know he wants to know that the new ownership coming in are going in the right direction, have got got the right vision. I've spoken with his agent. And what we decided, for now, obviously being in January, is to focus on the playing side of things and try and tie that up after the window. I'm comfortable with that. And like I say I think the main thing for me is ensuring that the club stays in the Championship. And then obviously we can take each day as it comes from there.

So you're saying what Southall said in bold is a lie? Or since MS gave this interview, Bowyer has gone to Southall to get things done and he's been told no?

I'm saying that the Bowyer didn't like Southall's version and wasn't prepared to let it stand publicly. Hence he has responded publicly, understanding the context and the questions it raises.

This will be about money - for Bowyer and for the transfer window. I have no way of knowing whether their offer to Bowyer is fair or not, but as Redhenry has intimated it appears the position on the squad hasn't changed materially from RD's ownership - hence the talk of the squad being good enough without the injuries.

Agree. There were other options:

1. LB could have left the dialogue with Southall private, i.e. I know we agreed to wait until February to sort out my contract, but it is an open issue when talking with potential new signings, so how about we get it done and out of the way this week? or

2. It could have been left for Southall to say to the press that, despite what he had said earlier in the week, they had now mutually agreed to advance LB's contract talks for those same reasons.

The fact LB has chosen to make it public implies they weren't necessarily on the same page re timing contract talks. Doesn't feel like the most positive start to their working relationship when issues like this are played out in public.