Sandgaard ownership discussion 2022-3 onwards (Meeting with CAST p138)

KettsJohn said:

Certainly TS 5 year strategy of getting to the premier league seems to have altered. No money spent on players. Of course we have received money for Burstow and Pope sell on fee. Seems to have been focusing on savings in terms of staffing at the club. All a little concerning bearing in mind how he was very confident of driving us up the league's. The narrative has certainly changed. I really hope he knows what he is doing.

He doesn't. 

I find myself really disappointed in our transfer business again, because we seemingly left everything too late and ended up with egg on our faces by not getting the cover (at the very least) for a couple of key positions. Even semi-knowledgeable Charlton fans could see the gaps we had in the squad if it is to be believed we (incl. TS) truly held the objectives of getting promoted this year. Fully appreciate that the market for players can be volatile and risky, but the can-kicking approach to drag things out to the very last minute and then end up with nothing is not without targeted blame for our owner and his recruitment team. We won't know the full story, but the fact we've ended up with nothing means that we've let a lot of people down - the fans, the manager and the other players.

TS has a lot of banked credit for me for saving the club. I shall be eternally grateful for that and that carries a plenty of weight. The feast and famine approach to squad investment is frustratingly inconsistent - he backed NA heavily, but has now entirely dialled that back for BG. The lack of learning from the past about getting players in and signed early truly grates on me. You obviously can't control what players' agents are going to ask for. However, we should be moving heaven and earth to ensure the squad has everything it needs, be it first-team or squad players. I fear that the constant desire to spend as little as possible and extract the most value in re-sellable player assets has made that team lose focus on the bigger picture. I am not able to post-mortem what went wrong, but I sincerely hope they are able to ensure this doesn't happen again. The window as a whole meant that we did cut some chaff and generally fill all the holes, but we did seriously drop the ball at the end once again.

When TS made his statement earlier in the week, he said we were looking to "strengthen" up front and get "cover" at the back. A lot of us got quite excited by this - that means we'll pay a fee for someone up front and get a loan/small fee for the cover at the back, right? I got caught up in this too. However, on reflection of re-reading the statement, he said:

We have also been recruiting as part of the overall strategy for the club. We will have a period of probably two seasons where we are getting to the point of being financially break-even, or cash flow neutral.

This element is the most concerning, as what unfolded yesterday could be the planned norm for the next 3+ transfer windows. Given the widespread and reasonable unhappiness amongst many Charlton fans yesterday about the lack of transfer dealings, it won't take much for the boo boys to come out. A couple of blunt performances and/or injuries in the areas we want cover will likely mean dropped points.

If there was a manager to back, I feel it is Ben Garner. He's got us playing good football and I like his passion. This squad may well be able to get into playoffs, but it's infinitely more risky without the cover. Treating the squad as a collection of assets, rather than a vehicle for promotion is a dangerous game. The players are human - many of them have a vested interest in the success of the club and even the most dedicated player could have their confidence dented by the lack of bringing people in. I can't imagine Dobson or Clare being too happy about giving big performances every single week and then we don't bring in the players we can all see we need. Similarly, the manager must be frustrated. If they all don't see the point in giving everything because TS didn't invest, we're left with another potentially mediocre season once again.

I will happily be wrong about all of this if results continue on the pitch. If we keep playing well and players stay fit, we've got nothing to worry about. However, history dictates we will get those injuries and it is naïve to roll the dice and think we'll probably be fine. If Stockley gets injured, the replacement is a young (but exciting) lad with a handful of games under his belt or a square peg that needs to be molded quickly into a round one. I think the square pegs for the cover at the back are a little more plentiful and appropriate in comparison to the ones for Stockley, but it's still throwing a lot of young kids to the L1 wolves earlier than they probably should be.

Thankfully, we have a manager that might be able to pull this off, but his job did not need to be made any harder than it already is. Still got the faith in him and the bulk of the squad, but we're going to have to hope that we keep up our early pace and work our socks off.