Supporters group meeting with Matt Southall - Friday 24th January

PragueAddick said:

seth plum said:

Cullen wants to make it at West Ham.
Well if he changes his mind he will be very welcome here.

Let's see how he feels if we start to move up the table, and they get relegated. 

Given that a lot of their better players would almost certainly not want to play in the championship and they'd have to get rid of some of their higher earners, i'd think it almost a given that Cullen would stay at West ham if they were relegated. 

Our best hope of keeping him is for them to stay up and after next pre-season they tell him he's not at the level they require.

Cafc43v3r said:

PragueAddick said:

seth plum said:

Cullen wants to make it at West Ham.
Well if he changes his mind he will be very welcome here.

Let's see how he feels if we start to move up the table, and they get relegated. 

That will make it more likely he stays there, won't it?

The only chance we have of getting him is if he isn't part of thier plans next season.  If they are in the championship he probably will be. 

I'm not sure that is the case (although it can be). 

It may be wishful thinking on my part, but to me that club now has the sense of decline about it. All the dosh splashed on players as a result of the stadium deal has gone to waste, a large number of their fans hate the stadium; and despite being the most disorganised fan-base of all the London clubs, they are now doing just that. Gullivan and Brady have few friends. Bear in mind too, that they only extended his existing contract. Hardly a ringing commitment to him.

Suppose they do indeed go down, and meanwhile Bow steers us to, say, 12th position, with a vibrant fanbase constantly showing Josh their appreciation as they did on Wednesday, and we can match his wages. What would you choose in his shoes?

(wrong thread though, sorry)

I have been critical of ESi and I'm still concerned about the ownership of the various bits that makes up CAFC. However I do feel happier with the current situation having read the CAST report (thank you) and having been involved in employment negotiations for many years I understand that we need to give it the week to see which players come in/ go out.

So thank you MS for being as open as you can and good luck this week

PragueAddick said:

Cafc43v3r said:

PragueAddick said:

seth plum said:

Cullen wants to make it at West Ham.
Well if he changes his mind he will be very welcome here.

Let's see how he feels if we start to move up the table, and they get relegated. 

That will make it more likely he stays there, won't it?

The only chance we have of getting him is if he isn't part of thier plans next season.  If they are in the championship he probably will be. 

I'm not sure that is the case (although it can be). 

It may be wishful thinking on my part, but to me that club now has the sense of decline about it. All the dosh splashed on players as a result of the stadium deal has gone to waste, a large number of their fans hate the stadium; and despite being the most disorganised fan-base of all the London clubs, they are now doing just that. Gullivan and Brady have few friends. Bear in mind too, that they only extended his existing contract. Hardly a ringing commitment to him.

Suppose they do indeed go down, and meanwhile Bow steers us to, say, 12th position, with a vibrant fanbase constantly showing Josh their appreciation as they did on Wednesday, and we can match his wages. What would you choose in his shoes?

(wrong thread though, sorry)

I would sign for Charlton, but it hasn't been my dream to pull on the claret and blue for the last ten plus years.  If West Ham had bought him at 18/19 and farmed him out it might be diffrent. 

Not sure how organised or not, the fans are has much to do with it. 

Scoham said:

Covered End said:

killerandflash said:

castrust said:

Our notes from the meeting:

https://www.castrust.org

"Brighton, Burnley, Brentford and Sheffield United are role models."

4 well run clubs, but that would suggest that our aims are more the Curbishley/Murray years than anything more flashy (which is fine with me)

I don't think the more flashy option is realistically possible, without contravening FFP, even if we wanted and were able to.

Yes I know we may be close to break even this year, but we can still "only" lose £13M per season and £45M over 3 seasons going forward (if I'm correct).

So we can't spend an extra £10M in transfer fees and £5M in wages every year.
Any supporters that desire this, need to be realistic.

£39m.

It’ll be interesting to see if we end up with a sponsor from the Middle East, that would be one way to increase what we can spend.

Longer term I can see us doing it through player sales. A good Championship season can make a player worth £10-20m.

I don’t want our better players to be sold, but I’d much rather we were the club selling them for £10m in the Championship than the one selling them for £1m in League 1.

Quite, which is why we keep hearing MS talking about sponsorship.

castrust said:

Our notes from the meeting:

https://www.castrust.org

Top work in producing that so quickly. Thanks. 

RodneyCharltonTrotta said:

TellyTubby said:

Pitches don't have French Drains, they would only go beside a pitch. It's a trench with a land drain at the bottom that is back filled with pea gravel. It can help reduce the water table and as there is no soil/turf on the top, it takes surface run off away quickly to the land drain and away. 

Ideal for use close to buildings with no damp proof course. Maybe we are saving money on construction costs 😉

The idea was some bloke in America called French.

It's Friday night and I've just spent 20 minutes reading about drains on wikipedia on the back of this post.

FML.

Proper Charlton

I know there’s been plenty of lively & interesting chat about french drains, but the thing I found interesting about the CAST minutes is that 5 or so of our younger players will be offered new contracts, which I do find really encouraging, the more saleable assets we have the better.

SoundAsa£ said:

I would have asked if there is a project in hand to hook up the underground soil heating at The Valley to the long awaited boiler?
Actually I can’t remember if there is a boiler somewhere in situ or one needs to be bought?

No boiler was ever installed. It is a requirement of the PL that undersoil heating is operational, but with "global warming" it may not ever be used.  

cabbles said: I think that if you take the time to consider that we are being backed by the private sec to one of the ruling families of the UAE, this is big boy s*** for want of a better term.  

This is where I’m confused , the private secretary of someone super duper wealthy , does that mean our man is wealthy as in more money than sense in order to burn money slowly on this project .
No idea how it works out there but would a secretary of a rich person be loaded enough or is he trying to raise the capital through his contacts or prolly a bit of both .
What I’m saying is is he loaded or not ! 

Cafc43v3r said:

PragueAddick said:

Cafc43v3r said:

PragueAddick said:

seth plum said:

Cullen wants to make it at West Ham.
Well if he changes his mind he will be very welcome here.

Let's see how he feels if we start to move up the table, and they get relegated. 

That will make it more likely he stays there, won't it?

The only chance we have of getting him is if he isn't part of thier plans next season.  If they are in the championship he probably will be. 

I'm not sure that is the case (although it can be). 

It may be wishful thinking on my part, but to me that club now has the sense of decline about it. All the dosh splashed on players as a result of the stadium deal has gone to waste, a large number of their fans hate the stadium; and despite being the most disorganised fan-base of all the London clubs, they are now doing just that. Gullivan and Brady have few friends. Bear in mind too, that they only extended his existing contract. Hardly a ringing commitment to him.

Suppose they do indeed go down, and meanwhile Bow steers us to, say, 12th position, with a vibrant fanbase constantly showing Josh their appreciation as they did on Wednesday, and we can match his wages. What would you choose in his shoes?

(wrong thread though, sorry)

I would sign for Charlton, but it hasn't been my dream to pull on the claret and blue for the last ten plus years.  If West Ham had bought him at 18/19 and farmed him out it might be diffrent. 

Not sure how organised or not, the fans are has much to do with it. 

Best to take a look at the Cullen thread, some interesting comments there, although the majority do feel West Ham less likely to sell if they are relegated. 

The point about the fans is the atmosphere. It is likely to turn toxic and he players will not enjoy playing at home. The question is only whether they will organise and target their invective, or lapse into Spanner behaviour and fight with each other (which is already happening). 

MS said that Cullen loves it at Charlton but he's a West Ham fan and wants to play for them.

Something we'll look at in the summer MS said.

SoundAsa£ said:

Not quite sure from your post exactly who you are asking is wealthy.....Matt Southall or Sheik Nimmer.....or even the real No1 honcho (the head of the family), His Excellency Sheik etc etc etc?

Nimer works for a Sheikh, but is not one himself.