Latest "Peter Varney Diaries" on Rich. C's Substack (Douchebag and Sandgaard)

The main thing that comes through is just the amazing pettiness of the very rich. Murray, Roland and Sandgaard all ignoring advice or missing out on opportunities to not pour their money down the drain because of some perceived slight in the past or being told they might not have everything figured out. Of course this comes from one perspective so Varney saying how great an owner Barclay would have been has to be taken with a pinch of salt and he does keep coming back to defend that £25,000 payment which started to feel a bit odd as the article went on, but it's so frustrating seeing all the time that has passed and the misery we've endured as fans and how much of it could have been avoided if not for various clashing egos.

Diebythesword said:

As much as I’m a big fan of varney (my opinion is the current owners could do a lot worse than getting him involved in the club) he does also gloss over the fact that he brought in the cash x Jimenez x slater trio when he tuts about how good Barclay would’ve been. The rest of it, sandgaard’s pettiness etc sounds quite on brand for them. But agreed, a must read - cawley’s substack is absurdly good value. 

I’ll always wonder who that “significantly rich" individual varney was trying to introduce duchatelet to was. 

I'd heard from people within the game but not linked to us what an idiot Sandgaard was to deal with and what PV has said there doesn't surprise me in the slightest. 

Haven't the Barclays family had some interesting financial things going on in recent years? 

PragueAddick said:

A must-read if you are interested in what really went on - although at times I had to stop and think about what I was reading, to work out the implications, some of which are sobering. We thought we had it bad…it was close to being much worse, more than once.

But you have to subscribe. It's well worth it.

https://www.southlondonsportcharltonathleticedition.com/p/the-peter-varney-diaries-roland-duchatelet

I wouldn't assume Peter's recollections are infallibly accurate.

That Sandgaard was perceived as an idiot doesn't surprise at all!

SOTF said:

Nothing will convince me otherwise that Peter Varney is one of the good guys in our history.

That said - I found that the story had a lot of unanswered questions and felt a very one sided read when it came to Richard Murray.

Sadly the “post Curbs” version of Murray, which is the one covered here, is very different to the man who worked so well with Curbs & Peter in our better days.  If nothing else, the way he cosied up to Duchatelet & Meire in spite of everything that was happening, shows you that. The ego trip after rejecting Curbs’ offer to see out his contract, instead hiring an idiot primarily because he thought he was getting one over Simon Jordan pushed us into the disasters of the next two decades.

SOTF said:

TelMc32 said:

SOTF said:

Nothing will convince me otherwise that Peter Varney is one of the good guys in our history.

That said - I found that the story had a lot of unanswered questions and felt a very one sided read when it came to Richard Murray.

Sadly the “post Curbs” version of Murray, which is the one covered here, is very different to the man who worked so well with Curbs & Peter in our better days.  If nothing else, the way he cosied up to Duchatelet & Meire in spite of everything that was happening, shows you that. The ego trip after rejecting Curbs’ offer to see out his contract, instead hiring an idiot primarily because he thought he was getting one over Simon Jordan pushed us into the disasters of the next two decades.

I don’t disagree with any of that, but focussing on the gaps in the article:

- Why did Richard Murray believe that PV had stolen money from the club?
- Why did the £7m rescue package fall through?
- The article says that PV was asked by Murray secure finance as the club faced liquidation. Given PV himself says he was paid by Tony Jimenez £25k - at what point did he stop working for Murray and instead work for the buyer? Did Murray know PV was going to be paid by the buyer when the proposal was brought to him? Were there other options at the time?

There’s no judgement of PV here, and I suspect the risk of legal issues mean those details can’t be shared, but it felt like a very glossy version of the past.

I agree it was one sided. It always will be when you interview one person.  

But the £7m rescue package didn't fall through did it, he says he rescued it and it happened.

When he bought Jiminez to the club he had a remarkably short time to get a deal done or we went into Administration.  We were not really in a position to be choosy.

As for the £25K your questions are fair although £25K for 3 months work and the job he did seems very little compared to what I suspect others make for such deals.

Weegie Addick said:

The £7M rescue package remains as the loans from the ex directors, repayable on promotion to the PL. They’ve missed out on a lot of interest in the intervening years. 

Yep lost a considerable amount of money on it. Especially since most of that wouldn’t have sat in cash.