The Charlton 49ers

AFKABartram

As in the string-pulling mystery men who have agreed to bankroll this long-term ‘project’.

Wonder what they feel about the current situation (or how much they really care ) ?

They invested and agreed to a sizeable long-term financial outlay because they had faith in Jimenez’s football knowledge and contact book, and because they trusted Slater to run a football business in a controlled way.

The first two decisions their fledgling board have made currently appear to be two disastrous ones; to instantly sack a manager as a panic reaction to a poor defeat without properly analysing the situation, and to install a rookie football management team with no experience or knowledge of the lower leagues.

As much as Powell and his football staff are under severe pressure to get results, i wonder just how much pressure Jimenez and Slater are to get the next decision right, either to back their man, or add further to the financial burden and change again ?

Henry Irving

My guess is that TJ and MS are not under a lot of immediate pressure from the 49ers.

They(The mystery men) are clearly not in it for their egos otherwise we'd know who they were.

If they have been promised a return over five or 10 years then why would they be worried over events three months in. If they have been promised a return over 2 or 3 years then we have a big problem.

The questions still remain.

1. Who owns the Club?

2. What is the business plan?

3. What is the level of investment and over what timescale?

4. What are the plans for the Valley?

5. What are the plans for the Academy?

6. What is the exit strategy?

Most of us want to be able to at least look forward to a brighter future if not tomorrow then soon but there has not been much in terms of public communication from the Board. Airman Brown hinted that we'd hear soon but when and what level of detail?

Yes, I know some aspects of the answers could be commercially sensitive but if you want people to buy into what you are doing (literally as well as emotionally) then you need to sell that vision a bit better.

Greenie

I think they (Slater and Jimenez) will be under tremendous pressure and I fear that Chris Powell's job is on the line (I know they said they will give him time, they said the same about Parky). They must realise (the money men) that with hindsight, Slater and Jiminez made a rash decision to get rid of Parky, so they will put more pressure on them to put it right.
If we lose the next 3 games I reckon Powell will be gone I really do.

paulsturgess

I don't necessarily agree with everybody's view that the decision to sack Parky was on a whim and "rash". What you have to bear in mind is that Slater and Jiminez had clearly been involved / looking at the club for a period of months prior to taking over (I mean the whole due diligence period was announced about 1month before the deal actually went through), so they will surely have been very familiar with what had been going on up to this period? And lets be honest, whilst it was a damn sight better than what we have seen in the last 8 games, the performances all season even prior to that Swindon game had been very mediocre, and to me as somebody who went to about 3/4 of them, it was patently clear we weren't going up and in spells looked like the very poor side we are showing ourselves to be now. I wasn't in a rush to sack Parky and was unsure when he left given the lack of obvious replacement, but nonetheless I would say the decision was probably still pretty well considered - indeed, Murray himself surely may have advised that he wasn't happy with Parky's performance over the preceding months, but that he couldn't afford to remove him?

If the board agreed with my view that we were sh*t and not going up under Parky, then I don't think it was a rash decision. Maybe a wrong one looking at where we are now, but say we had kept Parky in, struggled towards defeat in the play-offs doing the same as we had done until new year under PP, then we wouldn't necessarily be any better off than we will be in the summer (other than 1 or 2k less STs) with a new manager who they (presumably) believe in, and having finished 15th...

paulsturgess

3/4 = three quarters of them rather than three or four

AFKABartram

[cite]Posted By: paulsturgess[/cite]I don't necessarily agree with everybody's view that the decision to sack Parky was on a whim and "rash". What you have to bear in mind is that Slater and Jiminez had clearly been involved / looking at the club for a period of months prior to taking over (I mean the whole due diligence period was announced about 1month before the deal actually went through), so they will surely have been very familiar with what had been going on up to this period? ...

Apparently they had seen two games before officially taking over, Colchester away and one other. I'm convinced the decision was purely based on the poor Swindon performance. I think they were strongly suprised by the crowd reaction, and either panicked or thought a change was likely to be made at some stage, why not now.

I honestly think now with hindsight we would have continued to tail away like we have (though probably not as extreme, i reckon we would not have won 4 games in a row and certainly would not have got 1pt in 24) and Parky would have been facing the heave ho at some stage.

But it was a huge call to make at that time with the emphasis of putting a stamp on things and making a very public statement that we are not going to stand for mediocrity.

That to me has backfired tremendously and the goalposts have naturally been moved as a result of it.

adamtheaddick

slatter is in a 69 with heather from eastenders on top think thats the kind of pressure he must be under from the owners.

queensland_addick

Wasn't Wise spotted in the crowd many times over a lengthy period before the takeover was announced?
Therefore although Slater/Jiminez only confessed to seeing two games before sacking Parky, they must have examined a lot of feed back from Dennis Wise before then. Possibly they were not impressed and the Swindon game was the deciding factor in sealing Parky's fate.