Have the wheels fallen off of the valley xpress yet?? I don't know, but apparently,according to Airman, there were only one or two people in the whole world qualified enough to possibly keep it chugging along?
How exactly are we going to measure whether things have got better or not ?
Just off the top of my head, some ideas
1. Is Valley Express still running, without a problem? If not, why not? 2. What marketing initiatives have been carried out to increase the attendance, what ROI have they achieved compared with initiatives under the previous regime 3. What totally new marketing approaches have we seen from the new regime, what's the ROI on them 4. If cost cutting has been initiated, what evidence is there that they have increased long term profitability? 5. Is staff job satisfaction and turnover improving, stable or worsening? 6. Do we have more effective trading relationships with key suppliers? 7. Do we get a good press as a club (compared to the previous regime)?
Now, "we" will not have access to all the results. I've just written these very quickly from the POV of somebody who was running the business.
Well, we clearly aren't going to agree. The way wedefine support is different, that's ok; it's simply a difference of ambition. I want to see the day when at least 10% of the club is owned by the fans. In which case, those of us who share that ambition would be daft not to take a keen interest in what business it is that we seek to buy into.
So are you commanding us to want supporters to own 10% of Charlton before we can be called 'supporters'? Good grief.
What does your still-in-place 'contact' think about the new appointment? Will he or she get behind the new man as he becomes part of the new team to drag us back from the desperate depths the old team were collectively responsible to consigning us to?
Fact of the matter is, the only unquestionable gauge of success at a club is success on the pitch and it was that eventual failure on the pitch that lead to our downfall - although there is no doubt that some good people have done some very good work in bringing in fans and raising community profile etc etc, all that became very insignificant compared to the very real fact that we were lying near the bottom of league 1 with less than a p[ot to piss in. A new broom has come in and we are now mid table championship and looking upwards. Kind of puts things into perspective as to who the most important people at the club are - the manager and the money man - everyvbody else is dispensible. Harsh but true.
"failure on the pitch that lead to our downfall " Devils advocate - can you be sure that it was not our failure behind the scenes that led to our failure on the pitch?
doesn't matter does it? it was a failure lying somewhere between the money man and the manager - or probably more accurately, an inability to pull yet more rabbits out of the hat from both. The rest is all secondary / by products of what happens between those two.
Wow, massive over-reaction from the "move on" camp. You seem very defensive about it almost as if we're not allowed to comment
I welcomed him. He's the most senior full time employee now. Why shouldn't people comment on that? Its a big thing. I genuinelly would like to invite him to a Bromley Addicks meeting. If he comes and people then don't want to hear what he said then fine.
I don't think he can be judged in week one or even year one but the running of the Club is important and has an impact on the pitch. It matter big time.
My view is that he has an impressive CV especially in working with local authorities. I hope this means he will be able to re-start the project for the new training ground buildinh with Greenwich council which appears to have stalled.
I also support but a club not just a team so how that club is run is important to me. If others don't agree then fine but don't tell me not to care or say I may not dare to ask the questions I want answers for.
Well, we clearly aren't going to agree. The way wedefine support is different, that's ok; it's simply a difference of ambition. I want to see the day when at least 10% of the club is owned by the fans. In which case, those of us who share that ambition would be daft not to take a keen interest in what business it is that we seek to buy into.
So are you commanding us to want supporters to own 10% of Charlton before we can be called 'supporters'? Good grief.
What does your still-in-place 'contact' think about the new appointment? Will he or she get behind the new man as he becomes part of the new team to drag us back from the desperate depths the old team were collectively responsible to consigning us to?
Point is Prague, circa 10% of the club was owned by supporters - and those supporters had to relinquish those shares for nothing in order to save the club - can't have it all ways. guess i'm just lucky not to havea ccess toa ll the information that convinces you that everything is so wrong now.
How exactly are we going to measure whether things have got better or not ?
Just off the top of my head, some ideas
1. Is Valley Express still running, without a problem? If not, why not? 2. What marketing initiatives have been carried out to increase the attendance, what ROI have they achieved compared with initiatives under the previous regime 3. What totally new marketing approaches have we seen from the new regime, what's the ROI on them 4. If cost cutting has been initiated, what evidence is there that they have increased long term profitability? 5. Is staff job satisfaction and turnover improving, stable or worsening? 6. Do we have more effective trading relationships with key suppliers? 7. Do we get a good press as a club (compared to the previous regime)?
Now, "we" will not have access to all the results. I've just written these very quickly from the POV of somebody who was running the business.
Have the wheels fallen off of the valley xpress yet?? I don't know, but apparently,according to Airman, there were only one or two people in the whole world qualified enough to possibly keep it chugging along?
This. At the time I thought that post from Airman was a little silly. I mean, come on, I'm sure the new guy will figure out how to run the bus service or whatever - right? Even if it takes a few hiccups to get it running smoothly. And as fine as everything was, there are certainly some areas that could be hugely improved - ticketing for example is archaic at times.
At the end of the day, when this sort of change is made, the blokes on the way out are never exactly going to be positive about it. Their world has been disrupted by outside forces and that's never comfortable. I can't make any sort of judgement on the 'fairness' of this reshuffle, but the owners must have had their reasons - and unless they are completely insane, I'm sure it would be for more than a spiteful whim. They are motivated by the success of the club, just as we are.
The owners have brought us success, comparative stability and the enjoyment back to watching CAFC. They've now hired someone with lots of relavant experience, both in and out of the game, in a bid to improve the commercial and community side of the club. He also has a seemingly intelligent head on his shoulders (an MBA). I'm pretty happy with that, thanks.
How exactly are we going to measure whether things have got better or not ?
Just off the top of my head, some ideas
1. Is Valley Express still running, without a problem? If not, why not? 2. What marketing initiatives have been carried out to increase the attendance, what ROI have they achieved compared with initiatives under the previous regime 3. What totally new marketing approaches have we seen from the new regime, what's the ROI on them 4. If cost cutting has been initiated, what evidence is there that they have increased long term profitability? 5. Is staff job satisfaction and turnover improving, stable or worsening? 6. Do we have more effective trading relationships with key suppliers? 7. Do we get a good press as a club (compared to the previous regime)?
Now, "we" will not have access to all the results. I've just written these very quickly from the POV of somebody who was running the business.
As pointed out earlier, I don't think we will be able to measure points 2-7 as we will not know the figures (expect by hear-say) or be able to measure relationships easily (with the staff, the press or the suppliers).
I agree with Bexley Dan (despite being a devil) - the only unquestionable gauge of success at a club is success on the pitch. And I don't think anyone has any complaints on that score at the present.
How exactly are we going to measure whether things have got better or not ?
Just off the top of my head, some ideas
1. Is Valley Express still running, without a problem? If not, why not? 2. What marketing initiatives have been carried out to increase the attendance, what ROI have they achieved compared with initiatives under the previous regime 3. What totally new marketing approaches have we seen from the new regime, what's the ROI on them 4. If cost cutting has been initiated, what evidence is there that they have increased long term profitability? 5. Is staff job satisfaction and turnover improving, stable or worsening? 6. Do we have more effective trading relationships with key suppliers? 7. Do we get a good press as a club (compared to the previous regime)?
Now, "we" will not have access to all the results. I've just written these very quickly from the POV of somebody who was running the business.
Blimey Prague!!
This is Charlton Athletic. Not Procter & Gamble
And like Procter & Gamble, Charlton are a business that presumably wants to improve its performance. All of the above might be improved, whether or not the staff changes had happened, but Prague's directly answering the question he was asked. If the management structure is deemed necessary to bring about improvement, it's reasonable to ask how that should be measured - and all those are perfectly valid measures.
Of course, none of these may be a priority for today's board, and what we've not done is asked what improvement the board were hoping to achieve through the changed structure. The list above is certainly things we'd be interested in, but to be frank I doubt they'd make the board's list. After all, they probably see getting to the Premiership as short-cutting 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and probably 7 too.
Have the wheels fallen off of the valley xpress yet?? I don't know, but apparently,according to Airman, there were only one or two people in the whole world qualified enough to possibly keep it chugging along?
This. At the time I thought that post from Airman was a little silly. I mean, come on, I'm sure the new guy will figure out how to run the bus service or whatever - right? Even if it takes a few hiccups to get it running smoothly. And as fine as everything was, there are certainly some areas that could be hugely improved - ticketing for example is archaic at times.
At the end of the day, when this sort of change is made, the blokes on the way out are never exactly going to be positive about it. Their world has been disrupted by outside forces and that's never comfortable. I can't make any sort of judgement on the 'fairness' of this reshuffle, but the owners must have had their reasons - and unless they are completely insane, I'm sure it would be for more than a spiteful whim. They are motivated by the success of the club, just as we are.
The owners have brought us success, comparative stability and the enjoyment back to watching CAFC. They've now hired someone with lots of relavant experience, both in and out of the game, in a bid to improve the commercial and community side of the club. He also has a seemingly intelligent head on his shoulders (an MBA). I'm pretty happy with that, thanks.
God, you'd be amazed at some of the idiots sporting a shiny MBA. But this one does seem to have a decent CV.
Airman's on a lose-lose here, whether he points out the risk or not. Yes, the bus companies could probably help to keep things going and there may be one or two people within the club who know a little of the service too, but there's a lot of goodwill in terms of time assumed here. I doubt very much that the service was administrated within a 9-5 day, for example, and experience when something goes wrong is invaluable.
It doesn't take a lot of thought to think of all kinds of scenarios that would challenge anyone who was learning. It's also naive to imagine it couldn't be learned, but it might have been better not to lose all your experience in the same week.
We need to give the new guys time to see how things pan out. It's not as if previous boards and management haven't made mistakes after all, mistakes that have cost us on and off the pitch. But I share the same concerns as others that a lot of experience has been lost with seemingly little plan to replace it. That's what happened when Curbs left after all...
@bexleydan Point is Prague, circa 10% of the club was owned by supporters - and those supporters had to relinquish those shares for nothing in order to save the club - can't have it all ways. guess i'm just lucky not to havea ccess toa ll the information that convinces you that everything is so wrong now.
But I am not 'convinced' either, for the same reason. I don't have access to all the information either. I have decided that 1 Feb is a key date when we will all have a better idea of the state of the finances and behind the scenes stability. Please don't mix up my support for the Trust with that issue. I have wanted a Trust for ages, ever since RM took us private again, and more recently having got to know more about the German model. Their way would be better for Charlton and better for all other clubs too. Don't take my word for it, consider the words of the CEO of Borussia Dortmund or, if you don't fancy having a German tell you where English football has gone wrong, try this vivid article from David Conn in Dortmund . Here is just a sample: "This is our German football culture: to have standing, and cheap tickets, and the clubs controlled by their members," he said. "We want everybody to feel it is their club and that is really important. I was a supporter standing for 20 years, I know what it is to stand there, the feeling, the discussions you have there. In Germany we are a little bit romantic. Where there is a club, the German supporter wants to have the feeling it is his club." Then he took his first dig at ownership elsewhere: "Not the club of Qatar or Abu Dhabi."
How exactly are we going to measure whether things have got better or not ?
Just off the top of my head, some ideas
1. Is Valley Express still running, without a problem? If not, why not? 2. What marketing initiatives have been carried out to increase the attendance, what ROI have they achieved compared with initiatives under the previous regime 3. What totally new marketing approaches have we seen from the new regime, what's the ROI on them 4. If cost cutting has been initiated, what evidence is there that they have increased long term profitability? 5. Is staff job satisfaction and turnover improving, stable or worsening? 6. Do we have more effective trading relationships with key suppliers? 7. Do we get a good press as a club (compared to the previous regime)?
Now, "we" will not have access to all the results. I've just written these very quickly from the POV of somebody who was running the business.
But what has this to do with anything, my understanding is Rick wasn't sacked because any of this was wrong but for something quite different.
How exactly are we going to measure whether things have got better or not ?
Just off the top of my head, some ideas
1. Is Valley Express still running, without a problem? If not, why not? 2. What marketing initiatives have been carried out to increase the attendance, what ROI have they achieved compared with initiatives under the previous regime 3. What totally new marketing approaches have we seen from the new regime, what's the ROI on them 4. If cost cutting has been initiated, what evidence is there that they have increased long term profitability? 5. Is staff job satisfaction and turnover improving, stable or worsening? 6. Do we have more effective trading relationships with key suppliers? 7. Do we get a good press as a club (compared to the previous regime)?
Now, "we" will not have access to all the results. I've just written these very quickly from the POV of somebody who was running the business.
But what has this to do with anything, my understanding is Rick wasn't sacked because any of this was wrong but for something quite different.
Move on.
Somebody else asked me a reasonable question and I did my best to answer that question.
How exactly are we going to measure whether things have got better or not ?
Just off the top of my head, some ideas
1. Is Valley Express still running, without a problem? If not, why not? 2. What marketing initiatives have been carried out to increase the attendance, what ROI have they achieved compared with initiatives under the previous regime 3. What totally new marketing approaches have we seen from the new regime, what's the ROI on them 4. If cost cutting has been initiated, what evidence is there that they have increased long term profitability? 5. Is staff job satisfaction and turnover improving, stable or worsening? 6. Do we have more effective trading relationships with key suppliers? 7. Do we get a good press as a club (compared to the previous regime)?
Now, "we" will not have access to all the results. I've just written these very quickly from the POV of somebody who was running the business.
But what has this to do with anything, my understanding is Rick wasn't sacked because any of this was wrong but for something quite different.
Move on.
Hartleypete,
What understanding do you have of why I was sacked, please? I've been made aware that Michael Slater made claims to supporters on this point in a lounge last Tuesday as a result of which some supporters came to believe something which is highly misleading.
As far as the coaches are concerned, I don't think Dhiran (who has run two home matches so far) would mind me telling you that he has been asking for and receiving advice from Wendy on a daily basis and this has helped limit any issues, just as I assisted Wendy after I was sacked.
Anybody who was at Bexleyheath on Saturday will also know that Wendy was effectively running the away service on the day, including dealing with calls from coach companies about passengers who had been left behind at other pick-ups. The club, meanwhile, was closed.
Brighton will be one of the bigger coach operations of the season and then we have the two holiday home games, with the club closed for much of this period. With the best will in the world the staff at The Valley won't be able provide the level of service that has been offered in previous years, especially out of hours.
Beyond that there is now no one within the club to act as an advocate of the service or with any deep understanding of what works or what doesn't. So while I have always thought it right that the assumptions behind Valley Express should be challenged to ensure they remain robust, there is a big risk there won't know be anyone to speak up for it when they are. There have always been people in senior positions at the club who have never been able to see beyond the fact that it doesn't make a profit of itself.
However, I hope I am wrong and this time next year there is a fully functioning Valley Express service with no significant fare hike and all the current routes in operation. Wendy and I are proud of what we achieved with Valley Express, with 177,000 passengers carried to home matches over the last eight years, and neither of us wants to see it damaged or dismantled.
Of course he was asking for advice the first time he'd ever done it... Isn't it normal that there is a handover?
Nobody is doubting Airman's commitment to Valley Express, and yes I'm sure there were times that he went above the call of duty to answer calls outside of hours. But with all due respect, I'm sure the new team will get the hang of running some busses from Kent to Charlton after a few goes?
Of course he was asking for advice the first time he'd ever done it... Isn't it normal that there is a handover?
Nobody is doubting Airman's commitment to Valley Express, and yes I'm sure there were times that he went above the call of duty to answer calls outside of hours. But with all due respect, I'm sure the new team will get the hang of running some busses from Kent to Charlton after a few goes?
You miss the point, I think, that Wendy has left. There should have been a handover, but the club didn't make adequate arrangements for one and you can't pass on years of experience and local knowledge about 60 pick-ups in a handover note. As for whether it's complex to run anything up to 80 coaches - but more typically 12-25 - on a matchday, all staffed by volunteers of varying backgrounds, I defer to your experience.
Airman certainly does not need me to fight his corner as he is more than capable himself.
However I find it sad, particularly so close to the 20th anniversary of the return to The Valley, that a number of posters persist in making snide comments in his direction and querying his motives.
I think a man of his Charlton pedigree should be treated with rather more respect when he shares his concerns regarding the present regime at our beloved Club.
Any idea how the senior management appointments fits in with the rumours of alleged new investment ?
Personally I don't know. It could be that the appointment was always planned for this time and the timing is a coincidence.
Also as we don't know how the salary of the new guy compares to Kavanagh's we can't say more money is being spent. The job title sounds lower than a CEO so maybe the payment is too. The finance guy was already here but may have got a pay rise. So maybe not a case of splashing the cash at all, maybe actually reducing spend.
If we were on the brink of a takeover it seems odd to appoint to a senior role but it's a private company now not a PLC so PLC rules don't apply. Also he's not the CEO so may not been seen as a major role.
I also don't see it as demotion for Matt Wright, Mick Everett, Paul Ellison or Dave Archer. They are in the same roles albeit with another level about then now. Then again they may well see it differently.
Not going to slag the guy off for not being Kav or Varney much as I liked and respected Steve and Peter. They were very good but they are not the only very good execs in the world and the new man could well be as good if not better. He has relevant, if brief, experience of running a football club and has a fuller CV than PV did, IMHO, when the latter became CEO.
Good luck to him but he better come to Bromley Addicks or the gloves come off ; - )
Any idea how the senior management appointments fits in with the rumours of alleged new investment ?
Personally I don't know. It could be that the appointment was always planned for this time and the timing is a coincidence.
Also as we don't know how the salary of the new guy compares to Kavanagh's we can't say more money is being spent. The job title sounds lower than a CEO so maybe the payment is too. The finance guy was already here but may have got a pay rise. So maybe not a case of splashing the cash at all, maybe actually reducing spend.
If we were on the brink of a takeover it seems odd to appoint to a senior role but it's a private company now not a PLC so PLC rules don't apply. Also he's not the CEO so may not been seen as a major role.
I also don't see it as demotion for Matt Wright, Mick Everett, Paul Ellison or Dave Archer. They are in the same roles albeit with another level about then now. Then again they may well see it differently.
Not going to slag the guy off for not being Kav or Varney much as I liked and respected Steve and Peter. They were very good but they are not the only very good execs in the world and the new man could well be as good if not better. He has relevant, if brief, experience of running a football club and has a fuller CV than PV did, IMHO, when the latter became CEO.
Good luck to him but he better come to Bromley Addicks or the gloves come off ; - )
Airman certainly does not need me to fight his corner as he is more than capable himself.
However I find it sad, particularly so close to the 20th anniversary of the return to The Valley, that a number of posters persist in making snide comments in his direction and querying his motives.
I think a man of his Charlton pedigree should be treated with rather more respect when he shares his concerns regarding the present regime at our beloved Club.
Just my opinion.
Not just yours Len. There is no one on here with any better idea of how our club works and what has gone on over the last few years.
Comments
The past is behind us and i think that we need to move forward
no disrespect intended but things can drag on too long and even more damage can be done
there needs to be a line drawn and people need to be allowed to have their people in place
I don't know, but apparently,according to Airman, there were only one or two people in the whole world qualified enough to possibly keep it chugging along?
1. Is Valley Express still running, without a problem? If not, why not?
2. What marketing initiatives have been carried out to increase the attendance, what ROI have they achieved compared with initiatives under the previous regime
3. What totally new marketing approaches have we seen from the new regime, what's the ROI on them
4. If cost cutting has been initiated, what evidence is there that they have increased long term profitability?
5. Is staff job satisfaction and turnover improving, stable or worsening?
6. Do we have more effective trading relationships with key suppliers?
7. Do we get a good press as a club (compared to the previous regime)?
Now, "we" will not have access to all the results. I've just written these very quickly from the POV of somebody who was running the business.
Good grief.
What does your still-in-place 'contact' think about the new appointment?
Will he or she get behind the new man as he becomes part of the new team to drag us back from the desperate depths the old team were collectively responsible to consigning us to?
I welcomed him. He's the most senior full time employee now. Why shouldn't people comment on that? Its a big thing. I genuinelly would like to invite him to a Bromley Addicks meeting. If he comes and people then don't want to hear what he said then fine.
I don't think he can be judged in week one or even year one but the running of the Club is important and has an impact on the pitch. It matter big time.
My view is that he has an impressive CV especially in working with local authorities. I hope this means he will be able to re-start the project for the new training ground buildinh with Greenwich council which appears to have stalled.
I also support but a club not just a team so how that club is run is important to me. If others don't agree then fine but don't tell me not to care or say I may not dare to ask the questions I want answers for.
Blimey Prague!!
This is Charlton Athletic. Not Procter & Gamble
At the end of the day, when this sort of change is made, the blokes on the way out are never exactly going to be positive about it. Their world has been disrupted by outside forces and that's never comfortable. I can't make any sort of judgement on the 'fairness' of this reshuffle, but the owners must have had their reasons - and unless they are completely insane, I'm sure it would be for more than a spiteful whim. They are motivated by the success of the club, just as we are.
The owners have brought us success, comparative stability and the enjoyment back to watching CAFC. They've now hired someone with lots of relavant experience, both in and out of the game, in a bid to improve the commercial and community side of the club. He also has a seemingly intelligent head on his shoulders (an MBA). I'm pretty happy with that, thanks.
I agree with Bexley Dan (despite being a devil) - the only unquestionable gauge of success at a club is success on the pitch. And I don't think anyone has any complaints on that score at the present.
: - )
Of course, none of these may be a priority for today's board, and what we've not done is asked what improvement the board were hoping to achieve through the changed structure. The list above is certainly things we'd be interested in, but to be frank I doubt they'd make the board's list. After all, they probably see getting to the Premiership as short-cutting 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and probably 7 too.
Airman's on a lose-lose here, whether he points out the risk or not. Yes, the bus companies could probably help to keep things going and there may be one or two people within the club who know a little of the service too, but there's a lot of goodwill in terms of time assumed here. I doubt very much that the service was administrated within a 9-5 day, for example, and experience when something goes wrong is invaluable.
It doesn't take a lot of thought to think of all kinds of scenarios that would challenge anyone who was learning. It's also naive to imagine it couldn't be learned, but it might have been better not to lose all your experience in the same week.
We need to give the new guys time to see how things pan out. It's not as if previous boards and management haven't made mistakes after all, mistakes that have cost us on and off the pitch. But I share the same concerns as others that a lot of experience has been lost with seemingly little plan to replace it. That's what happened when Curbs left after all...
Point is Prague, circa 10% of the club was owned by supporters - and those supporters had to relinquish those shares for nothing in order to save the club - can't have it all ways. guess i'm just lucky not to havea ccess toa ll the information that convinces you that everything is so wrong now.
But I am not 'convinced' either, for the same reason. I don't have access to all the information either. I have decided that 1 Feb is a key date when we will all have a better idea of the state of the finances and behind the scenes stability. Please don't mix up my support for the Trust with that issue. I have wanted a Trust for ages, ever since RM took us private again, and more recently having got to know more about the German model. Their way would be better for Charlton and better for all other clubs too. Don't take my word for it, consider the words of the CEO of Borussia Dortmund or, if you don't fancy having a German tell you where English football has gone wrong, try this vivid article from David Conn in Dortmund . Here is just a sample:
"This is our German football culture: to have standing, and cheap tickets, and the clubs controlled by their members," he said. "We want everybody to feel it is their club and that is really important. I was a supporter standing for 20 years, I know what it is to stand there, the feeling, the discussions you have there. In Germany we are a little bit romantic. Where there is a club, the German supporter wants to have the feeling it is his club." Then he took his first dig at ownership elsewhere: "Not the club of Qatar or Abu Dhabi."
Move on.
Move on.
Important positions that had remained vacant for a long time, have been filled. The same way squad deficiencies we also recently plugged.
The wheels are clearly turning, and that's all that matters for now.
What understanding do you have of why I was sacked, please? I've been made aware that Michael Slater made claims to supporters on this point in a lounge last Tuesday as a result of which some supporters came to believe something which is highly misleading.
As far as the coaches are concerned, I don't think Dhiran (who has run two home matches so far) would mind me telling you that he has been asking for and receiving advice from Wendy on a daily basis and this has helped limit any issues, just as I assisted Wendy after I was sacked.
Anybody who was at Bexleyheath on Saturday will also know that Wendy was effectively running the away service on the day, including dealing with calls from coach companies about passengers who had been left behind at other pick-ups. The club, meanwhile, was closed.
Brighton will be one of the bigger coach operations of the season and then we have the two holiday home games, with the club closed for much of this period. With the best will in the world the staff at The Valley won't be able provide the level of service that has been offered in previous years, especially out of hours.
Beyond that there is now no one within the club to act as an advocate of the service or with any deep understanding of what works or what doesn't. So while I have always thought it right that the assumptions behind Valley Express should be challenged to ensure they remain robust, there is a big risk there won't know be anyone to speak up for it when they are. There have always been people in senior positions at the club who have never been able to see beyond the fact that it doesn't make a profit of itself.
However, I hope I am wrong and this time next year there is a fully functioning Valley Express service with no significant fare hike and all the current routes in operation. Wendy and I are proud of what we achieved with Valley Express, with 177,000 passengers carried to home matches over the last eight years, and neither of us wants to see it damaged or dismantled.
Nobody is doubting Airman's commitment to Valley Express, and yes I'm sure there were times that he went above the call of duty to answer calls outside of hours. But with all due respect, I'm sure the new team will get the hang of running some busses from Kent to Charlton after a few goes?
However I find it sad, particularly so close to the 20th anniversary of the return to The Valley, that a number of posters persist in making snide comments in his direction and querying his motives.
I think a man of his Charlton pedigree should be treated with rather more respect when he shares his concerns regarding the present regime at our beloved Club.
Just my opinion.
Also as we don't know how the salary of the new guy compares to Kavanagh's we can't say more money is being spent. The job title sounds lower than a CEO so maybe the payment is too. The finance guy was already here but may have got a pay rise. So maybe not a case of splashing the cash at all, maybe actually reducing spend.
If we were on the brink of a takeover it seems odd to appoint to a senior role but it's a private company now not a PLC so PLC rules don't apply. Also he's not the CEO so may not been seen as a major role.
I also don't see it as demotion for Matt Wright, Mick Everett, Paul Ellison or Dave Archer. They are in the same roles albeit with another level about then now. Then again they may well see it differently.
Not going to slag the guy off for not being Kav or Varney much as I liked and respected Steve and Peter. They were very good but they are not the only very good execs in the world and the new man could well be as good if not better. He has relevant, if brief, experience of running a football club and has a fuller CV than PV did, IMHO, when the latter became CEO.
Good luck to him but he better come to Bromley Addicks or the gloves come off ; - )