I quite simply don't know what to think anymore. There were times last season when I wanted the team to get smashed to emphasise the incompetence of RD & KM. after appointing Slade I allowed myself to get slightly optimistic and behind the team, really pleased we rescued a point against Bolton as I actually thought we deserved it.
Fast forward a couple of weeks and I felt dead again inside on Saturday, feelings of wanting us to get turned over after the shambolic actions of removing Slade (not that I thought he was particularly good, more angry that we're onto number 8 in just under 3 years).
Strangely I was quite behind the team last night.....
We have players I like, like Magennis, but he alone, isn't enough for me to fully get behind the team, and I also worry if results pick up, momentum behind the protests may suffer.
What all this says is that we're a mess. How can my feelings change on a month to month basis. If the club were going in the right direction, these feelings wouldn't exist
Good luck to him, I think we are a better prospect for a sale as a championship club.
I hope he doesn't talk about the protests negatively because that would really get a decent number of fans backs up when he could just avoid the subject.
It seems he already has done, if reported correctly.
I try as hard as possible to separate team matters from club matters. I always want the team to do well, but when you're given managers like Fraeye and Luzon it's very hard to get behind them because you know they are rubbish appointments, so you are going to fail before you've even begun. With their 'new beginning' and the appointment of Slade there are obviously going to be fans that fall hook line and sinker for all the propaganda that spills from the SMT, but many of us can see that it doesn't really matter who is in charge of the team, it's only ever going to end one way, as Slade just recently found out.
So now we are led to believe Karl Robinson is going to be the new messiah, and whilst many here have already formed a negative opinion of the man, I'm actually quite positive that he could make a difference to the team and feel that he is a better appointment than Slade. But, whilst I want the team to succeed, (mostly because I fear for where the club could be left when Roland and Co. eventually up and leave) there is another part of me that doesn't want the club to succeed, so I completely get the catch 22 situation @AFKABartram is talking about.
I guess the thing that I hold on to is knowing that Duchatelet will not own this club forever, eventually we WILL have new owners, but where would we like to see the team when that happens? We could quite easily slip into League Two which would obviously be a disaster. It's possible Roland might decide enough is enough and bail out, but it's just as likely he'll hang on to try to get us up a couple of divisions and then attempt to cut his losses. Or we could tread water in this division, which will cost Duchatelet a pretty packet to keep funding the operating losses. Whilst he might think the youth team will keep coming up trumps with someone to sell which could offset some of the losses, most of us will be aware that the well that is the academy will often have dry spells.
Clearly there is always the chance that we could get promoted, and this is the outcome the club purport to be striving for. As fans we want to see our team playing as high up the divisions and possible, but I feel that if we do get promoted, the club cannot try to claim it as a success, because we shouldn't have ended up in this league in the first place, and it was mis-management that led to our relegation last year. Playing in the Championship will cost Roland less, but he isn't likely to get to break even like he has suggested, but he might be able to get a half decent fee for the club if he was in a mind to sell.
Whichever way this goes, Duchatelet is going to keep losing money. Surely he must realise this by now? He can't under-invest and hope to stay in the Championship (if we eventually get there) because we will be back in a relegation fight, and he isn't likely to invest enough to get us promoted to the Premier League, and treading water in the Championship isn't likely to raise enough cash to see us break even. Being a Championship club might help us attract some good youth prospects, but it's a long game, it takes years to develop those kids before they are ready to command a decent enough fee to make it all worthwhile and there will never be enough coming through for Roland to stop having to throw money at the club. So as usual we come back to the same question of why the hell he even owns us in the first place.
What I am trying to say is (and sorry for going around the houses to get there), it would be to everyone's benefit if Roland went as soon as possible, and I'd rather be at least a League One outfit when he goes because the damage a second relegation could cause is immense and would take years to reverse. Therefore I will continue to support the team and hope that they do well on the pitch, but I will keep protesting to ensure that Meire and Duchatelet do not get an easy ride and I hope that the constant humiliation will lead to them throwing in the towel.
A large part of the problem over the last year or so is how Meire conducts herself in public. It is an indicator of smugness alongside the combination of incompetence.
No one can warm to that. The CEO shouldnt be a talking point either, but she puts herself out there.
It's got personal.
It's a shame.
The large dislike between the fans and SMT also carries the attachment of the success on the pitch.
You just know that they will take all the grace and responsibility for if when the teams succeeds.....just as much of when they try and deflect blame for when we lose, like blame it on fans protests.
It would be great if we just didn't hear from the current SMT ever again, because they are really embarrassing and I want them to fail.
I cannot wait for the day when its simply just about the football.
A 5-1 win is rare and should be celebrated without any negativeness attached.
We are in league one still.....
The SMT will not be able to resist saying
"I told you we were right to sack Slade......"
The SMT will attempt to take the credit like hungry dogs if Charlton get promoted.
The smugness will be out of control.
The problem is, no one wants the SMT to claim credit they don't deserve.
Once that thought is gone, then all will be well again.
My son is not going to be a great footballer but will do well for his school team I'm sure (6 yeas old) but he is playing with some very talented kids at Welling.
Their parents are saying that they had always thought of Charlton as a good, developmental club. But now under the existing owners they would not contemplate an offer from Charlton into the academy.
For every year the current ownership persists, there is another year's gap when we will struggle to bring through the youth teams as we have before.
Duchatelet has a few years of players left before the youth setup dies.
The problem is that they have well & truly created a "them & us" situation - I even feel that a manager that brings any modicum of success for them will almost be used as a "told you so" to us ...
What they have done & said over the last 3 years cannot be swept under the carpet by a bit of success....I cant really see any scenario where I will forgive & forget under this odious regime.
So I will begrudginly welcome the new manager but he will need to work pretty hard to demonstrate that he is one of us & especially hard that he is not one of them
The problem is that they have well & truly created a "them & us" situation - I even feel that a manager that brings any modicum of success for them will almost be used as a "told you so" to us ...
What they have done & said over the last 3 years cannot be swept under the carpet by a bit of success....I cant really see any scenario where I will forgive & forget under this odious regime.
So I will begrudginly welcome the new manager but he will need to work pretty hard to demonstrate that he is one of us & especially hard that he is not one of them
My position hasn't altered throughout this debacle. All I want is for us to be a proper club again. I'll admit that the chances of that greatly improve if the current ownership buggers off, but if by some miracle I they can get their own house in order (I don't think they will) I don't care if they end up staying, as long as we're run with competence again.
I don't think appointing a crap manager will help us become a proper club again. Appointing the best manager we can may though.
Honestly have no idea if Robinson is the best we can get or expect, but I hope he does well, assuming he is eventually appointed, because if he does well we'll get back out of this Mickey Mouse league and take a step back towards being the old Charlton.
If we knew what RD was thinking it would be a lot easier to have a clear opinion. It's a bit like the line that many applauded or, at least, appreciated last season of "if we go down to L1 and RD goes, I'll take it". What now? If we go down to L2 and RD goes...
What are his plans? To get us back to the Premiership and cash in? To get his money back? To walk away if we dropped any further? Does he even know? Or, care?
Two good results are great but we are a long way from the club that had so much spirit when it came back up from L1 last time. If we do get up, what then? Back to struggling in the Championship with a limp squad?
So much is wrong at the moment and the priority must be a change of ownership; results are secondary for me even though it's hard to admit that. Yes, there is just a chance that the SMT has learnt or will learn its lessons but the noises that come out give nothing to give anyone the faintest hope that the process is underway.
As for Karl Robinson, I have no strong feelings about him. I really haven't followed the fortunes of MK Dons much. Do I want him to succeed? Well, yes, if he is the first manager to show this lot how to run a football club. Whether he has any chance looks less than likely, but you never know.
If RD was to sack KM and appointy someone that could run the club properly I would, probably, be able to accept that - especially as the amount of money he has (and has spent) could get us the success we all want.
However I don't believe that he will ever do that nor do I believe that he even wants what we want.
So I just want to club to suffer as little damage as possible between now and when we have a new owner. I suspect that this means that we need a new owner as soon as possible but we also need a capable manager in-beetween.
The problem is we are interviewing out of work (failed) managers rather than targeting someone to take us forward (like Wilder).
I wouldn't particularly call Robinson a failed manager.
He did well enough based on his resources at MKD, built sides that played attractive football, getting into the playoffs twice plus a promotion within 4 seasons.
Sure MKD struggled last year but he wasn't given the resources to strengthen his promotion winning side to Championship standards. Most managers would have struggled in those circumstances.
And the club did target Wilder - he was ready to accept the Charlton job but didn't get the written assurances that they had promised him. So he walked away.
I am not saying he is not a good manager. But we sacked a guy who had lost one game after decent results where he was missing key players. Slade was crap in my eyes, but he was sacked for not having the tools to get us up. So our two contenders are sacked one club managers who achieved promotion but came straight back down. What is the vision? If he gets us up and yoyo's will he be out? Yes. Has he shown any attributes that lead us to believe he will succeed with us? No. Bring on young players, who apart from Deli Alli? Cup runs? Turned down offers while at MKD? Can't imagine he was in the lower of L1 budgets given their set-up.
Comments
Fast forward a couple of weeks and I felt dead again inside on Saturday, feelings of wanting us to get turned over after the shambolic actions of removing Slade (not that I thought he was particularly good, more angry that we're onto number 8 in just under 3 years).
Strangely I was quite behind the team last night.....
We have players I like, like Magennis, but he alone, isn't enough for me to fully get behind the team, and I also worry if results pick up, momentum behind the protests may suffer.
What all this says is that we're a mess. How can my feelings change on a month to month basis. If the club were going in the right direction, these feelings wouldn't exist
So now we are led to believe Karl Robinson is going to be the new messiah, and whilst many here have already formed a negative opinion of the man, I'm actually quite positive that he could make a difference to the team and feel that he is a better appointment than Slade. But, whilst I want the team to succeed, (mostly because I fear for where the club could be left when Roland and Co. eventually up and leave) there is another part of me that doesn't want the club to succeed, so I completely get the catch 22 situation @AFKABartram is talking about.
I guess the thing that I hold on to is knowing that Duchatelet will not own this club forever, eventually we WILL have new owners, but where would we like to see the team when that happens? We could quite easily slip into League Two which would obviously be a disaster. It's possible Roland might decide enough is enough and bail out, but it's just as likely he'll hang on to try to get us up a couple of divisions and then attempt to cut his losses. Or we could tread water in this division, which will cost Duchatelet a pretty packet to keep funding the operating losses. Whilst he might think the youth team will keep coming up trumps with someone to sell which could offset some of the losses, most of us will be aware that the well that is the academy will often have dry spells.
Clearly there is always the chance that we could get promoted, and this is the outcome the club purport to be striving for. As fans we want to see our team playing as high up the divisions and possible, but I feel that if we do get promoted, the club cannot try to claim it as a success, because we shouldn't have ended up in this league in the first place, and it was mis-management that led to our relegation last year. Playing in the Championship will cost Roland less, but he isn't likely to get to break even like he has suggested, but he might be able to get a half decent fee for the club if he was in a mind to sell.
Whichever way this goes, Duchatelet is going to keep losing money. Surely he must realise this by now? He can't under-invest and hope to stay in the Championship (if we eventually get there) because we will be back in a relegation fight, and he isn't likely to invest enough to get us promoted to the Premier League, and treading water in the Championship isn't likely to raise enough cash to see us break even. Being a Championship club might help us attract some good youth prospects, but it's a long game, it takes years to develop those kids before they are ready to command a decent enough fee to make it all worthwhile and there will never be enough coming through for Roland to stop having to throw money at the club. So as usual we come back to the same question of why the hell he even owns us in the first place.
What I am trying to say is (and sorry for going around the houses to get there), it would be to everyone's benefit if Roland went as soon as possible, and I'd rather be at least a League One outfit when he goes because the damage a second relegation could cause is immense and would take years to reverse. Therefore I will continue to support the team and hope that they do well on the pitch, but I will keep protesting to ensure that Meire and Duchatelet do not get an easy ride and I hope that the constant humiliation will lead to them throwing in the towel.
No one can warm to that. The CEO shouldnt be a talking point either, but she puts herself out there.
It's got personal.
It's a shame.
The large dislike between the fans and SMT also carries the attachment of the success on the pitch.
You just know that they will take all the grace and responsibility for if when the teams succeeds.....just as much of when they try and deflect blame for when we lose, like blame it on fans protests.
It would be great if we just didn't hear from the current SMT ever again, because they are really embarrassing and I want them to fail.
I cannot wait for the day when its simply just about the football.
A 5-1 win is rare and should be celebrated without any negativeness attached.
We are in league one still.....
The SMT will not be able to resist saying
"I told you we were right to sack Slade......"
The SMT will attempt to take the credit like hungry dogs if Charlton get promoted.
The smugness will be out of control.
The problem is, no one wants the SMT to claim credit they don't deserve.
Once that thought is gone, then all will be well again.
The damage already caused is immense.
My son is not going to be a great footballer but will do well for his school team I'm sure (6 yeas old) but he is playing with some very talented kids at Welling.
Their parents are saying that they had always thought of Charlton as a good, developmental club. But now under the existing owners they would not contemplate an offer from Charlton into the academy.
For every year the current ownership persists, there is another year's gap when we will struggle to bring through the youth teams as we have before.
Duchatelet has a few years of players left before the youth setup dies.
What they have done & said over the last 3 years cannot be swept under the carpet by a bit of success....I cant really see any scenario where I will forgive & forget under this odious regime.
So I will begrudginly welcome the new manager but he will need to work pretty hard to demonstrate that he is one of us & especially hard that he is not one of them
I don't think appointing a crap manager will help us become a proper club again. Appointing the best manager we can may though.
Honestly have no idea if Robinson is the best we can get or expect, but I hope he does well, assuming he is eventually appointed, because if he does well we'll get back out of this Mickey Mouse league and take a step back towards being the old Charlton.
What are his plans? To get us back to the Premiership and cash in? To get his money back? To walk away if we dropped any further? Does he even know? Or, care?
Two good results are great but we are a long way from the club that had so much spirit when it came back up from L1 last time. If we do get up, what then? Back to struggling in the Championship with a limp squad?
So much is wrong at the moment and the priority must be a change of ownership; results are secondary for me even though it's hard to admit that. Yes, there is just a chance that the SMT has learnt or will learn its lessons but the noises that come out give nothing to give anyone the faintest hope that the process is underway.
As for Karl Robinson, I have no strong feelings about him. I really haven't followed the fortunes of MK Dons much. Do I want him to succeed? Well, yes, if he is the first manager to show this lot how to run a football club. Whether he has any chance looks less than likely, but you never know.
However I don't believe that he will ever do that nor do I believe that he even wants what we want.
So I just want to club to suffer as little damage as possible between now and when we have a new owner. I suspect that this means that we need a new owner as soon as possible but we also need a capable manager in-beetween.