I wonder what he thinks of all the current going on's at Charlton. There were some suggestions that under the reign of TJ & MS he should walk as a show of support for those such as PV and SK and that he couldn't have been happy at the way the Club was being run, at some of the dubious business practices being used, at various decisions being made and the loss of so many valued, experienced staff.
Now he must surely be pained at the way CP is being undermined left right and centre. He no longer has any financial involvement at the Club. It doesn't look as if RD is listening to anything he might be saying so why would he be hanging around in such circumstances. I am not trying to be controversial here or start another inflammatory debate but am just curious as to the extent of his involvement and what he can actually achieve that benefits him being there.
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perhaps he feels a responsibility for the mistakes of the past and wants to try and right the wrongs and then go out on a high,
perhaps he wants to add some stability in this time of change
or perhaps he's on an earn out :0)
Is RM just there to keep hold of the cupboard keys?
Stop living in the past, people!
One thing for sure, he loves CAFC as much as the most ardent fan.
However, I don't think he's ever going to publically come out and address anyone's concerns (including his). I just feel doubtful that any of his advice would be taken on board by RD, and given some of his decisions taken over the last 8 or 9 years I'm not sure I'd want it to be, anyway.
Edited to keep Airman happy, i hope
1. a traditional story sometimes popularly regarded as historical but not authenticated (nope, that's Robin Hood)
2. an extremely famous or notorious person, especially in a particular field (I don't think that's quite what you mean either)
3. an inscription, especially on a coin or medal (made at the Murray mint, perhaps?)
As for his 'mismanagement', may I ask whether you had any interest in CAFC in 1991?
(edit) I now see that you've only been a fan since 2006. In which case you won't have lived through most of the Murray years, which brought success on a scale unprecedented for us older fans. So give him a break, eh?
It's 2014 now!!, which means AA has been a fan during the last eight years - *that* is precisely why he is talking about RM's mismanagement. Is he not allowed to make a (correct) judgment based on that? Or does he just ignore all the bad decisions in lieu of the history books?
IMO it would make the situation worse, not better.
The club (i.e. new owners) came out and said that they will be bringing wages down to an affordable level, so as to secure the long term viability of the club. They were/are in an awkward position with regard to the running down of contracts for key players; Yann and Dale were obviously part of that inherited problem. If the club made them an offer of an extension to their contracts (which I hear they did but have no way of knowing), then what more could they have done?
It is hugely disappointing to lose these players at any time, now we are fighting survival it is more so but, it is a gamble which ever way it is managed now. Paying more money than the club can afford on wages (I'm making an assumption here but, it seems a logical one) on one hand or replacing them with unknown quantities, when it is possible we will be relegated on the other. Both are gambles, I'd rather that gamble takes place with RM in situe.
The new owners obviously do not see our situation as an excuse to throw good business sense (or at least their version of it) out of the window, others might argue it has worsened our position, we will only know at the end of the season. Perhaps they all trust CP to get us out of it.
1994 - raising funds from fans and bringing around 2,000 of them in (for over 15 years) as part owners of the Club that persuaded 3 of his fellow directors aswell as RM to convert their debt to equity in the Club and take the Club out of the bracket of financial basket-case.
Thereafter - regularly issuing personal guarantees to enable the Club to obtain working capital from its bank.
1997 - floating CA PLC on AIM and raising significant capital from dumb City institutions that in the long term enabled the completion of the East Stand and in the short term financed the purchase of SuperClive, crucial to the glorious conclusion to the 1997-98 season.
1998-99 - astutely preserving the financial benefits of promotion to lay the foundations for the Championship winning side of 1999-2000.
Along with Curbs, keeping the Club in the Prem for 8 consecutive seasons and, after that went tits-up, doing his damndest to repair the damage, including in 2010 taking on the burden solely of (and succeeding in) keeping the Club out of administration.
Whatever one's views of RM's contribution to and/or blame for these two decades of huge ups and downs on the pitch, the fact is that every time you go to The Valley, you're sitting in the stadium that Murray and Curbs built and that is 100% owned by the Club. For that alone, bearing in mind the circumstances we were in when RM originally joined the CAFC Board, I shall always be immensely grateful.
Anyway, I think the subject of RM is where people hold very strong views one way or another, and debate isn't really likely to change any one's mind.
Aside from this from an outside perspective (and with no knowledge of financial intricacies) it seems to me that things just didnt work out for us and this was not primarily down to RMs decisions. The appointment of Pardew at the time seemed the perfect one and was widely praised. He made a decent effort at keeping us up. We were then relegated in what seemed to be reasonable financial state. Removed higher earners, sold £20m plus worth of players, kept crowds up, and reinvested in the squad. The players we reinvested in were down to Pardew, who was responsible for football side of things, and seemed to have earned that trust. He also had the full backing of the supporters at that time. The players he signed seemed on paper to be sensible - Varney, Mccarthy, Zheng Zhi, even Mouatakil and McLeod. The fact they didnt work out is Pardew's fault not RMs. He made an error in appointing Parkinson which may have compounded our relegation but by that point it appeared that we were already in financial problems and damage to the footballing side had been done by Pards.
We then made a decent first of promotion at the first attempt, and then he sold up with us in the play offs at the second time around.
There are very few if any certainties in football. Richard Murray has on the whole done a superb job for Charlton Athletic and even now we are unquestionably in much better condition than when he became involved. Things haven't worked out in the last 7.5 years and that is partly due to some misjudgements from Murray but in my view they were not inexplicable errors - these things happen in football its a difficult and unforgiving sport especially in this ludicrous age when there are fine lines between huge financial disparities etc.
Oh right, thanks.