would be the ideal club to buy...i've posted on the other board in the past about how i thought we were going to enter into the age of the super clubs and now its starting to look like it s happening but what i've also always maintained is if you're going to spend £450m (the figure being quoted for the anfield outfit) then far better to not do an ambramovich and buy a club with limited development options...buy a club with room to develop the ground, located in a key area and with a massive franchise potential...and, as i see it, only one club fits ticks all three boxes...charlton...
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No, but it's going to be Hobson's choice sooner or later. Charlton have a strict budget and are a club run as a business. The billionaires buying into WHU, Man U, Chelsea, Liverpool, Aston Villa, Pompey (next to go is Newcastle) aren't doing it for sporting reasons but to buy success. That means while we watch the pennies they will happily spend, spend spend in order to get the players, the ground, the managers and whatever else it takes to bring success. The good news is that we can off-load Darren Bent for a million or so more than he's worth and in turn we can maybe pick up some useful talent on the cheap that can't get regular games at MegaCop Utd, on the other hand it's going to become increasingly harder to attain even mid-table status in the EPL and of course wages will go higher.
Personally I want Charlton to stay a club run as a sound business - the success we've had over the last few years is all the more creditable when you know that it's been the consequence of team work and hard graft on and off the park to get where we are, but it's going to be harder to stay here when the playing field is becoming increasingly more uneven.
trouble is, i think that once enough of the super clubs get established all that's going to be left for the clubs in the 'fizzy pop' leagues is crumbs...the sp's will attract all the fans and all the money...a lot of clubs in the shadow of larger neighbours will die out or fade to become clubs bouncing along being the equivalent of between welling or, in a good season, leyton orient...
I think that is a worse case scenario. A more likely scenario is there is further foreign investment in the next two years, football would go through its 2nd boom for the following 3-4, but then the interest will start to tail off again, people would be further priced out the game, the oversea interest would then cut their losses and get out, leaving a number (not all) of clubs in severe financial trouble.
Once established, i dont think the market in billionaires wanting to own one of the super clubs will ever diminish...i reckon its going to develop along the lines of the sports franchise's in the U.S...only the pl is the jewel in the crown because, unlike the U.S. 'football', basketball and hockey franchises, our form of football is a sport that the whole world plays and watches...owning one of the super clubs is a passport to instant international royalty status and there will always be people queueing up for that...
Personally half the attraction to going to games at The Valley (apart form Suze's Mince Pies) is that we are a "proper" football club, with a real sense of community from the fans through to the board and it feels as though everyone is pulling in the same direction. It doesn't feel as though we are just buying 19 x 90mins of entertainment for £xxx per year, as it seems its much more like with the "SuperClubs".
Charlton fans ARE the club and I wouldn't want that to change......
Having said that what happens if we don't follow suit and lots of other clubs around us do go this way? Well dining at the top table is not the be all and end all, but what happens if the success of our super-rich new neighbours means we steadily fall behind and further down the football league?
Personally I would like to think that most of us would still go whatever league we were playing in, but don't lets for a minute forget that Charlton Athletic and football are not the club & games (business) it was 20 years ago.
The stadium, the structure, everything about it is geared up for top flight football now and falling too far down this ladder could be the death of the whole club. Something we fought against for some many years.....
Entertainment? Too bloody right it doesn't!!
Agreed though, I'd rather go to a proper football club and watch rubbish than a 'super-club' with no soul. Charlton have already flirted too close to the 'no soul' side for my liking, last thing I'd want is some billionaire pushing us over the edge.
£470mn.....
I don't know what the numbers were or their relative wealth to the rest of the 1st division owners but they only stopped short when it came to ground development - since they already had thousands locked out for the big games.
So personally I think we can be both - new investors AND keep growing the club! Not sure what the board would want for a 30% or 65% stake but it is a lot less than the £200M + deals happening now. Whether we stay up or not we just need an injection of cash and decent football to keep increasing the fan base. Given the number of clubs being signed up I really don't think we can stay at this level without some financial clout. The only alternative is a massive increase in debt which we all know is a big risk if relegated.
that's the one thing we are all sure of. I'm pretty certain that if we were enjoying another comfortable mid table season, there may of been some form of approach by name, purely due to our location.
As an aside, did you know that Malcolm Glazier still hasn't seen Man U play at Old Trafford ?