In light of the last week on here, the theme of takeovers and injecting money has been raised a number of times. Who in all honesty would welcome a far or middle east company turning up with a bag full of cash and buying out Murray and the others who have worked so hard to make us what we are. The pro side would be, open check book for pards baring in mind he hasnt had the greatest sucess in his signings even at the hammers there were a few raised eyebrows with some of his signings. youth and ladies teams given a better chance to progress even further, doris the tea lady getting her job back, cashmiere cardigans for Henry in the club shop not nylon polyester mixes. The down side would be things dont go right they sack the manager (mandric style!) and chaos begins ending up with them pulling the plug and leaving us in dire straights. I trust Murray and the board and if a takeover did happen i know they would only sell to the right people who had charlton as there number one piority. Money is a wonderful thing in football, it can take an avergae mid table team from the kings round and make them one of the top 6 clubs in the world, it can also take a historic legendary team from leeds and push them close to extinsion. So do we tighten the purse strings stick with what we have? Charlton people running the club or do we pimp ourselfs to potentail buyers?? having read thru loads of posts and people ideas on here this week, i think i would rather be happy old charlton in the championship then losing all that we are to some faceless consorteum and facing an uncertain future.
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However, I like the fabric, structure and feel of our club, and would not want that to change. I also would not want to see us in the premiership if it meant my season ticket went up from £400 to £800, which would realistically be possible.
How many of you yearning for the Premiership again would be willing, or indeed able to pay those sort of figures ?
Open Cheque book: Other than Roman I dont see this at any of the other takeovers. Certainly not at Man Utd although they have still spent and been successful or Liverpool. At our level there are complaints that the new Derby owners haven't invested enough and many fans are quick to criticise when Chelsea type spending does not happen at once. Most new owners would have a figure for investment and would stick to that, perhaps far more rigidly than fans on the board (Murray et al) who would be more likely to be swayed by the emotional pull of doing well for the club.
Happy old Charlton in the Championship: I can't see that. People are no longer happy, as a whole, with just being back at The Valley and in the CCC. Expectations have risen and those who thought last season would be fun as we won plenty of games and got promoted got a rude awakening. The genie is out of the bottle and expectations are so so much higher.
I would still prefer someone to come off the terraces and invest a few billion but that is not realistic. We have already done well to get so many rich directors on the board but are only so many times that you can go to the well.
If a non-Charlton investor can be found to work alongside Derek Chappell and Richard Murray that would be ideal IMHO. We'd keep their passion for the club, their wealth of knowledge and their wealth! but also have some more investment.
We could then take.perhaps, a middle road between QPR/Chelsea or Millwall and develop the club as part of the Thames Gateway/Olympics, a community club and crucially with the overseas players from the deals in Ivory Coast and China. We may never be a top four club but it might be possible to hold our place in the top flight as a slightly bigger version of Crewe Alex. We'd still sell players to the big boys but it was ever thus.
I wouldn't be happy with what I grew up with. Charlton never in the top flight, always selling stars (yes, even in the 60's and 70s we did that), ground falling down, old men talking of the good old days of Sam and Eddie and 1947. I want my son to see a different Charlton. If that means giving up a bit of our "we're all Charlton fans" legend then so be it.
It could a case a case of when and not if.
The reality is however, that if someone is going to pump £XXX mil into CAFC then, unless they are an Abramovich or Gaydamak type, then we would see price rises and some of our more traditional support will be replaced with "prawn sarnie" types.
Would I pay £800? Don't know. I could afford it but I'd feel that we were "buying" success rather than "earning" it so it would be more of a moral question, than a financial one.
There is no doubt mind you, that to be successful, or even just to survive, in the PL these days its all about £.
We were lucky that that wasn't so much the case when we were promoted in 2000. Top flight football in this country has changed more over the past 8/9 yrs than it did in the preceding 8/9 yrs when the PL was 1st formed.
We achieved what we did at a time when it was still possible to become a mid-table Prem side through prudent finances and strong management (on and off the pitch). Sadly, it takes much more cash just to move forward at all in current circumstances.
Be interesting to see if the 'credit crunch' does change things at all - I'm sure the difficulties in us not having access to reasonably priced borrowing right now have forced the stringent cutbacks we are seeing - looking on the bright side (for once!), maybe we are showing the foresight to take action when others aren't, and they will rapidly find themselves in difficulty, while we can push on.
http://www.charltonlife.com/forum/comments.php?DiscussionID=2248&page=1
The current board had the chance to establish us as a premiership side but imo missed the boat. As other have pointed out, football has now moved on and if the club is to move forward it will take big investment and ambition.
I don't think that the current board, for all the good work that thay have done, are able to provide either.
For my part if the club is going to be able to punch even above it's weight as we did throughout the time in the premiership, some serious new investment is required.
I guess I'm in the Henry camp here and would prefer see somebody come in with some serious money who can augment what Murray and Chappell have done rather than surplant it. That would enable the club to grow from strength rather than throw everything out and start again.
My brother in law is a QPR supporter and is excited by, but also nervous of, what may happen at Loftus Road. This season so far they have changed the clubs logo which I assume is about sending out a different club/corporate image. The next thing will, I expect, be proposals for a new ground, assuming they get promoted (I can't see them re-building the existing dump). Effectively the club will be split between the old supporter base and a new one created on the back of the money.
There is no doubt in my mind that the current financial "housekeeping" exercise started last year and carried on a pace this year is as much about positioning the club for a takeover/additional investment as it is about merely ensuring the club is soundly based. Every club pretty well from the top 10 ten of the prem, down to the bottom of Division 1 that hasn't already been taken over is potentially up for sale/a takeover target. It's a buyers market and investors have the pick of the bunch. If our debts are under control this means we are financially healthy and that augers well for the future attraction of additional funds.
There are many factors involved (they've pretty much been covered in this thread already), but if the 'right' person/consortium was to come along, I'd welcome it.
I really wonder what the long term agenda is for QPR? Why buy a club in the foothills of Chelsea, where their support base reaches right out through the Rangers area? Historically QPR has been a pretty small club, hence the size of the ground. I wonder if the plan is not to do a Wimbledon and move the franchise out somewhere where there isn't a decent football club, like maybe the Croydon area?..:o) Seriously though, if you were going to buy a club in London without much competition - where better than Charlton, with the huge potential of SE London, the Thames Gateway and Kent?
I think the QPR deal is a property play as much as football with the BBC due to move shortly the ground will become prime real estate (although White City is one of the crappest parts of London).
Would still like to see more money come in but beware Greeks (or any other ethnic group not being racist here) bearing gifts
Cant you imagine it " Arsenals move for Kaka has been hijacked by Charlton , who has said he wants to go to a club with progressive outlook"
sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh well we do sign Kak
Very well, they got into Europe.