There was another bid which fell over at DD stage late in December. I was informed about this in private conversation with another Lifer over a period of several weeks. Looking at what Angeldust wrote, it would appear to be this bid that he was referring to. However the Lifer never suggested that Varney was involved, even after I went back and asked him. Angeldust's words encouraged speculation that it was Varney and that's the only source of such rumours as far as I'm aware.
I believe Airman is referring to something else which never got as far as a formal bid.
If you are selling your house in financial distress there is a point where you just go with the firm offer you have on the table, even if some new viewer has turned up in a huge Merc
I'm struggling to keep up now @PragueAddick are you saying we had three active/potential sales ongoing (RD, Harris and the third unamed party that's not connected to Peter Varney) plus another group that never got as far as a formal bid or due diligence?
That is my understanding, and the only one of the four for which I don't see firm evidence is the one I mentioned as falling at DD in December. (simply because I was only told this by another Lifer, but I believe him and his story fits with Angeldust's). In addition there were, apparently, calls with bids which the directors considered to be frivolous, ("I'll give you a quid") from a couple of 'names' from the football world.
There was another bid which fell over at DD stage late in December. I was informed about this in private conversation with another Lifer over a period of several weeks. Looking at what Angeldust wrote, it would appear to be this bid that he was referring to. However the Lifer never suggested that Varney was involved, even after I went back and asked him. Angeldust's words encouraged speculation that it was Varney and that's the only source of such rumours as far as I'm aware.
I believe Airman is referring to something else which never got as far as a formal bid.
If you are selling your house in financial distress there is a point where you just go with the firm offer you have on the table, even if some new viewer has turned up in a huge Merc
I'm struggling to keep up now @PragueAddick are you saying we had three active/potential sales ongoing (RD, Harris and the third unamed party that's not connected to Peter Varney) plus another group that never got as far as a formal bid or due diligence?
That is my understanding, and the only one of the four for which I don't see firm evidence is the one I mentioned as falling at DD in December. (simply because I was only told this by another Lifer, but I believe him and his story fits with Angeldust's). In addition there were, apparently, calls with bids which the directors considered to be frivolous, ("I'll give you a quid") from a couple of 'names' from the football world.
Blimey, all a bit feast or famine at the end then. I suppose we should be encouraged that several groups saw enough value in the club to invest in DD. I also wonder if any will be back in again once the finances are (hopefully) in better order and more straightforward.
I have been in touch with Peter Varney today and he has asked me to post as follows, which hopefully will put this thread to bed:
"Contrary to reports I was not involved in any rival bid or rival consortium to Roland Duchatelet. I genuinely wish him every success with the club."
Angeldust hinted very strongly that PV was involved with the alternative bid. It did seem a bit unVarney like to hold off the bid as Angeldust suggested to make TJ squirm.
I understand that Peter Varney was part of the process that brought TJ in but that was with the knowledge of KC money in the background and a proper plan to get back to the premiership. It is likely difficult for anyone to truly account for TJs business practise and evident ability to stuff business relationships with those around him that helped to scupper the plan.
I consider Peter Varney to be an astute and decent man who has always had the well being of Charlton at heart. After 3 years of TJ and MS, the idea of someone trustworthy and of good character as opposed to the unknown quantity of Duchelet was appealing. I was happy at the potential prospect of Peter Varney involved in Charlton again. As the Mulder X files poster says, I want to believe.
It was very decent of Peter Varney to knock on the head any rumours via AB. Thanks to AB for relaying the information. I hope that one day Peter Varney can be involved in Charlton in the future.
Lets hope that Roland Duchelet brings a positive future for Charlton.
Am feeling a bit more encouraged about Duchalet after seeing Chris Powell's comments on Charlton Player on the takeover, seems there is are plans and a vision. It will be great to hear what they are and see some more positive moves.
How can the Football league "block" a bid whose identity is unknown?
M. Slater: We would like permission to sell CAFC to unknown people. Even though they are unknown we are quite sure they have got the money to pay us off.
Football League: Well we dont know who they are, because you haven't told us, but we are blocking them anyway.
There was a fair bit from Michael Slater in the SLP. Back page article states that there was a top secret bid that fell at the last minute.
I hope you can see it, Prague.
Will try to save as image as well if there is difficulty opening the PDF.
There is another article on review of Michael Slater's time at Charlton. Highlighting the positive as you would expect. I did agree that Paul Hart running the youth set up was a great move. Will get on with that next after a beer.
I also find it interesting that Slater cares enough about his perception by fans to put the record straight about a couple of things. I wonder what else will be revealed in the months to come?
The SLP is pretty good on Charlton this week and worth buying. Also got a good piece from Joe Hall, Valley blogger asking for decent communication from the new owners and goal keeper, Ben Alnwick saying that he doesn't want to be the back up.
There's a full page on Michael Slater's view of the takeover and time at the club. It bit fuller and better than TJ's Huffington Post blog. They both try to emphasise the positive, naturally enough,
Michael Slater thinks that Duchalet will make Charlton stronger due to his business expertise and success in football. RD was apparently very easy to do business with and approached Charlton beginning of December. Not sure of Duchalet's vision but thinks he will be good for the club. MS thinks Charlton in better position, bank debt down from 7 million to 4 million for eg. Charlton were headed for administration and league 2 before takeover. Thought that the team without Kermogant was good enough to go up but thought KMG was a great for the team. They had to make some tough choices but thats business and Charlton had to be transformed to survive financially. Championship tough due to parachute payments from relegated clubs.
The highs and lows of Michael Slater at Charlton Athletic
Best moment; Winning the League One title in 2012
Worst Moment: Charlton 2 Notts County 4 - half time 0-4 down.
Greatest Regret: Not focusing on commercial operation sooner
Best Bit of Business: Paul Hart as head of academy
Greatest Regret: Not focusing on commercial operation sooner
Another dig at Varney/Kavanagh then. Yet commercial revenues fell in 2012/13 - after promotion - with the main exception away ticket income and seem to be falling now. Some focus.
Wouldn't worry he's gone now, thank Gawd, taken TJ with him and will hopefully never sully our doorstep again. If we ever play Man City/Chelsea at The Valley refuse them access to the Directors Box and ban them from the away end too.
The paradox has always been that a regime that was wilfully bad at communication was nonetheless sensitive to what is thought and said about it, as is now being demonstrated.
It's good that the people who dragged us out of League 1, installed the best manager we could ever hope for, signed a whole bunch of players we could only dream of 6 months before they arrived and cut the wage bill by removing much of the dead wood that took us down to the depths of league 1, should avoid going public against those that have continually slagged them off, even whilst taking their shilling.
Airman; Who cares about communication? If our revenue is crap because the commercial operation lags behind the likes of Palace and we can't compete due to financial fair play we've got big problems. Somebody should take responsibility for this. At least Slater and Jiminez admit they made a mistake not dealing with the problem sooner. Perhaps rather than criticise the people who poured millions into the club you should reflect on your part in the shortcomings in the commercail department
thinking out loud here. I wonder if the group of investors who wanted anonymity included Kevin Cash. Maybe he wanted to buy out TJ completely but when the FL vetoed it decided it was all or nothing and so withdrew his funding completely.
thinking out loud here. I wonder if the group of investors who wanted anonymity included Kevin Cash. Maybe he wanted to buy out TJ completely but when the FL vetoed it decided it was all or nothing and so withdrew his funding completely.
Seems unlikely, it was him that wanted his money back!
This other bid that Slater refers to, would seem -from the timeline described - to be the bid which angeldust referred to and which most people inferred from angeldust's words, involved Varney. But Peter Varney has explicitly denied this.
Airman; Who cares about communication? If our revenue is crap because the commercial operation lags behind the likes of Palace and we can't compete due to financial fair play we've got big problems. Somebody should take responsibility for this. At least Slater and Jiminez admit they made a mistake not dealing with the problem sooner. Perhaps rather than criticise the people who poured millions into the club you should reflect on your part in the shortcomings in the commercail department
As far as I am aware neither Steve Bradshaw nor Ben Kemsell have been brought in to replace Airman Brown, which suggests Airman's part in the 'shortcomings' are pretty negligible. People are saying good things about Ben Kemsell. He sounds like an asset to CAFC. But it ought to have been possible to bring in someone like Ben without that entailing the rancorous demolition of an entire team which has worked long and hard for many years for CAFC.
Greatest Regret: Not focusing on commercial operation sooner That looks like a dig at you Airman
I was never responsible for the club's commercial operation, so if it was aimed at me it missed. But I doubt if Slater even knows what I did. He had no involvement in the initiatives we put together.
I had a very narrow responsibility, which I devised, for developing support and increasing attendances. I am very proud of the work we did over 18 years to drive attendances and ticket revenue and it will stand up to any objective examination.
After the disaster of relegation to League One under the ludicrous tenure of Steve Waggott as chief exec, the club's position was retrieved by Peter Varney and Steve Kavanagh, who left in the summer of 2012 because of the way these people were behaving, not as a result of any commercial judgement made by them.
However, it doesn't matter what you believe about the personalities because the numbers tell the story. Falling commercial revenue, fewer season ticket holders, smaller crowds. That's how Slater addressed the commercial operation. Well done.
and cut the wage bill by removing much of the dead wood that took us down to the depths of league 1
I'm intrigued, by the way, by this assertion. Which of the "deadwood" do you think took us down to League One - the head of comms, Matt Wright; the head of c&b, Paul Ellison; Dave Archer, then running the commercial centre; Prettee Jayasundera, finance manager; Andy Judd, IT manager; John McDonald, maintenance manager; Peter Varney, who'd left in 2008; Gary Haines, part of Matt's comms team; Wendy Perfect, club development manager; Helen Reed, HR manager?
You think all or any of them "took us down to the depths of League One"? What a load of bollocks.
Comments
Thanks for the clarification.
I understand that Peter Varney was part of the process that brought TJ in but that was with the knowledge of KC money in the background and a proper plan to get back to the premiership. It is likely difficult for anyone to truly account for TJs business practise and evident ability to stuff business relationships with those around him that helped to scupper the plan.
I consider Peter Varney to be an astute and decent man who has always had the well being of Charlton at heart. After 3 years of TJ and MS, the idea of someone trustworthy and of good character as opposed to the unknown quantity of Duchelet was appealing. I was happy at the potential prospect of Peter Varney involved in Charlton again. As the Mulder X files poster says, I want to believe.
It was very decent of Peter Varney to knock on the head any rumours via AB. Thanks to AB for relaying the information. I hope that one day Peter Varney can be involved in Charlton in the future.
Lets hope that Roland Duchelet brings a positive future for Charlton.
Chris Powell is a classy guy. Good positive comments.
Richard Cawley @RichCawleySLP 1m
Not Joshua Harris. Slater says consortium who did not want to reveal identity and FLg blocked it.
M. Slater: We would like permission to sell CAFC to unknown people. Even though they are unknown we are quite sure they have got the money to pay us off.
Football League: Well we dont know who they are, because you haven't told us, but we are blocking them anyway.
Looking forward to clarification.....
Don't know if that is the same TO being referred.
I hope you can see it, Prague.
Will try to save as image as well if there is difficulty opening the PDF.
There is another article on review of Michael Slater's time at Charlton. Highlighting the positive as you would expect. I did agree that Paul Hart running the youth set up was a great move. Will get on with that next after a beer.
I also find it interesting that Slater cares enough about his perception by fans to put the record straight about a couple of things. I wonder what else will be revealed in the months to come?
There's a full page on Michael Slater's view of the takeover and time at the club. It bit fuller and better than TJ's Huffington Post blog. They both try to emphasise the positive, naturally enough,
Michael Slater thinks that Duchalet will make Charlton stronger due to his business expertise and success in football. RD was apparently very easy to do business with and approached Charlton beginning of December. Not sure of Duchalet's vision but thinks he will be good for the club. MS thinks Charlton in better position, bank debt down from 7 million to 4 million for eg. Charlton were headed for administration and league 2 before takeover. Thought that the team without Kermogant was good enough to go up but thought KMG was a great for the team. They had to make some tough choices but thats business and Charlton had to be transformed to survive financially. Championship tough due to parachute payments from relegated clubs.
The highs and lows of Michael Slater at Charlton Athletic
Best moment; Winning the League One title in 2012
Worst Moment: Charlton 2 Notts County 4 - half time 0-4 down.
Greatest Regret: Not focusing on commercial operation sooner
Best Bit of Business: Paul Hart as head of academy
That looks like a dig at you Airman
And he hasn't gone yet.
It's good that the people who dragged us out of League 1, installed the best manager we could ever hope for, signed a whole bunch of players we could only dream of 6 months before they arrived and cut the wage bill by removing much of the dead wood that took us down to the depths of league 1, should avoid going public against those that have continually slagged them off, even whilst taking their shilling.
This other bid that Slater refers to, would seem -from the timeline described - to be the bid which angeldust referred to and which most people inferred from angeldust's words, involved Varney. But Peter Varney has explicitly denied this.
Hmm, dig him out if you want, but make it realistic. I don't think Airman has ever worked in a commercial dept.....
I had a very narrow responsibility, which I devised, for developing support and increasing attendances. I am very proud of the work we did over 18 years to drive attendances and ticket revenue and it will stand up to any objective examination.
After the disaster of relegation to League One under the ludicrous tenure of Steve Waggott as chief exec, the club's position was retrieved by Peter Varney and Steve Kavanagh, who left in the summer of 2012 because of the way these people were behaving, not as a result of any commercial judgement made by them.
However, it doesn't matter what you believe about the personalities because the numbers tell the story. Falling commercial revenue, fewer season ticket holders, smaller crowds. That's how Slater addressed the commercial operation. Well done.
You think all or any of them "took us down to the depths of League One"? What a load of bollocks.