So I was thinking, and it seems like a main reason for selling players in January was to:
1. Get a little money in the club accounts
and
2. Reduce the wage bill
We all know the club potentially could have gone into administration, and the finances have been fecked for quite a few years. Sanctions are also going to begin being imposed on clubs breaking the Football League Financial Fair Play rules starting next season.
It makes sense.
Roland sells high earners, replaces them with Standard Liege loan signings, who are likely being paid by Rolands profitable club (Standard). Charlton reduces its wage bill and in turn gets to a point where we at least won't get sanctioned in future seasons for bad finances. Reza was signed for an "undisclosed fee", which was likely either a free transfer or something incredibly nominal like one thousand pounds. This is where Rolands network truly shines. Since he owns a number of clubs and his son owns one as well they can move players around essentially for free. It also isn't in violation of any Financial Fair play rules. It's quite ingenious really.
I think a major reason for reducing the wage bill and getting some money in the club was because if we go down there are even more strict Financial Fair play rules in League One than in the Championship. In League One we are only allowed to spend 60% of the clubs annual turnover on player wages. If we breach that threshold then we become subject to a transfer embargo.
By using Rolands network though, we can essentially game the system, 100% legally, and have players from SL for essentially free.
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We can't have it both ways, if we make our bed we have to lay in it.
I suppose from a pure business point of view the club at the top of the pyramid will be the one that can earn RD the biggest revenues, and that has to be either SL in the European Championship or CAFC in the Premiership, assuming that he thinks that CAFC can achieve promotion in a reasonable time frame, which is it?
A not be taken over and sell the players with any value in jan just to get through the remaining months and hope powell could keep us up
B hope that RD and his vision will work and fully embrace it until it starts to show its flawed
C question why others who allegedly were interested never took it further than interest
Perhaps if you have the time and inclination, AmericanAddick, you can delve into the murky past of CAFC finances. Definitely worth a PhD thesis!
Right now it's SL in the Champions League. It's going to take a hell of a lot of investment to get Charlton into the Premier League
But would it? The Premier clubs would view someone like Reza as quite a cheap gamble at the moment - even if he was on their radars. If he scores a hat full for us he would be worth 5mil plus. That would go a long way in this league, but I do not think we would spent the way we would normally have hoped.
Standard have better strikers than him. Will they sell big in the summer and move a fully match fit and more experienced player to fill that gap and repeat the process. I think that may well happen to him or Peter.
The system depends on getting the best youngsters in. What helps is that you are offering a well planned development programme that if you have the skills and work hard, you will get the opportunity to get to the top quicker.
If it were your son, which would you consider the best opportunity? Not many chances at say Chelsea to break into the 1st team, or would it be in Rolands clubs?
Poyet knew that his son was better off at a club that would give him the chance early. He has that chance even earlier now!
If this is the way it is going, then it is fine by me. We know that we are a selling club anyway. At least this way we should be financially secure. It wll also be in Rolands interest to get us class 1 status and to move us as high up the leagues as possible as it makes the players worth more.
The only way is up chaps. There is a song in there somewhere!
Standard have better strikers than him. Will they sell big in the summer and move a fully match fit and more experienced player to fill that gap and repeat the process. I think that may well happen to him or Peter.
The system depends on getting the best youngsters in. What helps is that you are offering a well planned development programme that if you have the skills and work hard, you will get the opportunity to get to the top quicker.
If it were your son, which would you consider the best opportunity? Not many chances at say Chelsea to break into the 1st team, or would it be in Rolands clubs?
Poyet knew that his son was better off at a club that would give him the chance early. He has that chance even earlier now!
If this is the way it is going, then it is fine by me. We know that we are a selling club anyway. At least this way we should be financially secure. It wll also be in Rolands interest to get us class 1 status and to move us as high up the leagues as possible as it makes the players worth more.
The only way is up chaps. There is a song in there somewhere!
I'd love to believe that these hypothetical possibilities could happen. But in reality and in my opinion Charlton are a million miles from the Premier League and I don't think a few youngsters from the continent on free transfers while we flog our best players to divisional rivals is going to get us there.
But strange things happen in football players come good some go bad?
Look at our superstar in the making harriott!!!
We're in a league in which several teams are aiming for promotion. No amount of money really guarantees promotion.
So without the money from the Premier League the next best way to bring money in is by selling players for big money. That can be a mixture of players from our academy, players from other clubs in the network (such as Nego) and young players with potential (such as PP).
I'm sure RD is then hoping the squad could take us up, or selling a player for a big profit could fund a promotion push the following season.
The concern is can a manager make a strong enough team from these players, build team spirit etc. Add a few more in the summer and you could have a lot of players with little experience of English football.
Personally I'm not worried that our better players will be transferred to Standard Liege. As well as RD not wanting to weaken us, the player would still have to agree to make the move.
Fact remains we are still only able to guess what RD has planned, how the farm system works and for whose benefit?
Personally I feel that RD will be good for Charlton long term but I think it will be long term (3 or 4 seasons) and the period till then will be less than comfortable.
I think it's quite likely that one of Ezekiel or Batshuayi will be sold by Liege sooner rather than later. And i can't help but think that RD has bought Polish Pete for us with the intention of getting him used to a higher level of football before moving him on the Liege
Assuming we stay up we will see over the summer what the next stage looks like in terms of players leaving and joining. To me the aim has to be top six - we will see how many players come in from outside the group to accelerate progress.
Will top players suddenly move on? What is the gap between CAFC now and the top six? Is break even (with player sales) the objective or perhaps it is a lot more ambitious - by that I mean maximize revenue and develop the playing side as quickly as possible.