I remain optimistic for Charlton under RD's ownership. He has a plan, or a strategy at least, but it is a long-term plan. It involves youth development & moving players around the network to where they can have the maximum input & achieve the best results. Yes, that may eventually mean some of our players moving to Liege, but it does NOT mean us becoming a feeder club for them. That notion is just ridiculous & hysterical.
Chris Powell clearly did not buy into this plan, evidenced by his refusal to play any of the players sent to him in January. It is obvious to me that if CP didn't want to be a part of RD's plan, then he had no future at Charlton. RD was looking for CP to buy into the concept of moving players around the network & evidently saw that he was going to have big issues with Chris demanding an opt out. This could never be acceptable to RD, but it is totally different to saying that RD picks the team. He was just looking to see that the players provided would be properly considered for inclusion in the team & wouldn't be deliberately ignored because CP didn't personally choose them.
Obviously RD does not want to be relegated this year, but he has cleverly ensured the financial impact of relegation is minimised by agreeing a discount with TJ/RS if it occurs. I believe we have to give RD 2 or 3 years to see whether his plan is going to work. The mere fact of relegation this year will not prove anything. Time has to be allowed for the plan to be enabled & to deliver results. Sadly RD obviously saw CP as an obstruction to his plan & therefore he had to go.
It's so difficult to know what to believe, what with so many people playing to their own self-serving agenda.
There was enough lies, bended truth and question avoiding at the 5 year VIP Q&A for me to believe most of what Airman is saying. Murray still works for us but seems to be a lot less serious about it, his work is done, he's passed us on and is now joking about, he didn't care for fans losing money over the 5 year season ticket, previously he would have, perhaps.
Duchatelet obviously has a view that scientific methods can be used in football far more than in the traditionalist British view of the game. Is that cutting edge, fringe, wacky, or ridiculous.
Riga seems a match made in heaven for RD. CogiTraining which will seem funny to some of our players has obviously been accepted by AC Milan and the fact Mourhinho has utilised Riga is not to be sniffed at.
Let's just wait and see before condemning RD's approach. Relegation might seem to be a disaster but not if in the long run the club comes back stronger.
Let's not forget and without playing the blame game that last Saturday evening Charlton went bottom of the championship. Something needed to change.
Relegation I think would be a set back for RD but not one that puts the club in danger. Before he took over I don't think that anyone would say the same.
I am sad for Chris a Powell because I loved the bloke but I think he just has been in the wrong place at the wrong time. No way did he fit in with this new regime and it's way of doing things.
I am a Charlton supporter and I am fully behind the new man. I hope my trust is not misplaced.
It's too early to assess how RD's strategy plays out. I understand the misgivings and am not especially keen in terms of gut instinct, but we should avoid quick & simplistic judgements - this is unknown territory.
The assumed model has been feeder/pyramid, and to some extent how we felt depended on whether we believed we (potentially) sat at the top of it. This is a touch hypocritical (I hold my hands up here), in that while hating the notion of being a cog in the wheel, we seem more relaxed if everyone ultimately is feeding us.
But the model might be more like a brand portfolio, where resources & ideas are shared and shuffled around, and growth/success potential is theoretically achievable anywhere. Now, under that scenario, some brands are undoubtedly more important than others - Arcadia Group will place more importance behind Topshop than Dorothy Perkins. So RD's "my 5 children are equally important" cuts no ice with me, but we shouldn't assume there is a fixed pecking order.
The other big unknown is that players are less and less pieces of meat that you can just ship around - they hold many of the cards. Does RD think he can tell Poyet or Cousins they are off to Liege because he says so - or even persuade a football-savvy guy like Poyet to commit going forward? Sure, people like Danny Green might have no option if they want a new contract, but that's not what we're worrying about. So RD will need to sell the vision to the players, not just us.
I'm also intrigued by the UEFA competition rules. We were 2 wins from a likely UEFA Cup place (i.e. beat Sheff U, Hull, and then meet Arsenal in the final). What does RD do if SL find themselves in that tournament (not out of the question they'd drop into in via the CL).
Frankly, if we were in 17th place now, playing slightly better football and with CP on board & motivated, I'd have been Ok with it all. We're pissed off with RD because of his desire to micromanage and push CP around, not the network vision. They don't necessarily go hand-in-hand. If RD said to CP, "OK you are in the network, here are 5 players on offer, who do you fancy?", it would be fine & dandy. But clearly that's not how it panned out.
I'm not happy with what is going on but I'm prepared to give it time to see how thing's pan out. At least there is a plan whether we like it or not and who knows maybe the plan will succeed. CP was always a dead man walking as soon as RD took over and all these 'negotiations' were a smokescreen until the day RD outed him. I don't get all this about our players being shipped out to Leige. If they are under contract to us then they can say bog off and sit here on that contract even if they don't ever play. I'm pretty sure they could also reject any loan move as once again they are contracted to us and you can't force them to accept a loan move anywhere. It could go all tit's up but conversely it could all pan out nicely. CP has been well and truely shafted over the last 18 months and if he were at any other Club over than one he loved he'd have walked ages ago. He'll get a crack at a decent job in the summer and everyone moves on.
I'll reserve judgement until the end of the season i think. I've always maintained that RD hasn't spent millions buying us to run us into the ground. People point to the likes of Yann and Stephens leaving but they'd have left under the old regime anyway as we couldn't have afforded to offer them any terms anyway and we'd have had to play kids in league one next seasons as we'd have had no money and probably gone into administration. At least we now have some hope, some potentially decent players in the likes of AA, Reza and Polish Pete and we signed up Wiggins to a longer term deal. We also know we made offers to the likes of Wickham and Leon Best and were rumoured to have bid over a million for Max Gradel so we know RD is prepared to spend some money.
If you put aside the fact that Powell is a club legend and a top bloke then we are left with a side bottom of the table, playing terrible football, no away wins since November, 1 home win since boxing day the lowest scorers in the entire country and a side who just completely caved in to a lower league side in a cup quarter final. I believe if we had another manager not so closely connected to the clubs history then we'd have been demanding his sacking a long time ago. But because it's Powell and he's a great bloke then it's a disgrace. We were going down under him, of that i have no doubt. At least this gives us some hope. The guy has top connections within the game and i don't believe you'd be working for Milan or invited to train Real Madrid if you didn't know what you were doing.
RD knows what he's doing, he's obviously seen all this before with Liege last season getting rid of a popular manager and employing an unknown. It worked then and we have to hope it works now. What i do think though, is that Jose Riga can't do any worse than Powell and i believe we have to get behind him and the team.
So in answer to your question AFKA, no i'm not exactly happy with how things have gone so far, no one is happy with being bottom, but i believe we have to wait before judging this new regime.
If you put aside the fact that Powell is a club legend and a top bloke then we are left with a side bottom of the table, playing terrible football, no away wins since November, 1 home win since boxing day the lowest scorers in the entire country and a side who just completely caved in to a lower league side in a cup quarter final. I believe if we had another manager not so closely connected to the clubs history then we'd have been demanding his sacking a long time ago. But because it's Powell and he's a great bloke then it's a disgrace. We were going down under him, of that i have no doubt. At least this gives us some hope.
He's got a plan that worked at Liege and he's using the same plan here that worked so well for him.
I just don't think he understands how hard the football league and English football is to achieve. The teams who compete in the championship and the budget they have make it the hardest league in the world to get out of.
Afka. Do you think you have a blinkered view when it comes to Powell? Not having a dig at you by any means.
Despite what others would have you believe, I'm not really sure what blinkered view I have had to be honest mate.
I said on the 1st February: "Sacked. Just get on with it. Clearly not gonna walk and clearly not part of the long term plan so put everyone out of their misery, bring in Johnny Foreigner and let's see this bright new world that so many claim Powell is holding us back from."
The game was up by that point, delaying the inevitable has just made the whole process much more frazzled than it needed to be / should have been.
I've never (knowingly) professed that Powell is a brilliant manager. I think the amount of praise / blame put on managers is ridiculously overstated. The majority of people in the game are potentially good managers and a lot of it is determined around budget and personality. In that respect, I put him in that category. He was a very good fit for us, and I'm convinced if supported on promotion to Championship or since, we could have been in for an over achieving period.
The fact he wasn't just not supported, but had to manage with his hands effectively behind his back is a testament to him, his team and the core of our squad. Don't underestimate what a huge achievement last season's strong finish was. This season proved too much, the uncertainty and lack of squad revival painfully impacted, it was desperate for the takeover and the supporting impetus that was likely to bring, but when it arrived it proved even worse from a managerial point of view.
He should have been dismissed two months ago, and he should have walked in the intervening period. It is very easy to sit behind a keyboard and tell people to quit their job though.
As for SCP, lets revisit in a few years time to see how he has got on.
I agree. Maybe blinkered is a bit strong.But if we were all 'middle of the road' with Powell then I doubt there would be this kind of resentment to him being shown the door.
Cogni training is nothing more than a rehashed brand of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy that gained popularity in the 1970's. It is effective, and even more so when correctly focussed. I am sure that it can be used to challenge and adapt the way that individuals conceive and play a game of football. We had someone who did it by instinct and that persons name was Chrissy Powell, but I'm sure that adding a fancy new name to an old practice will doubtless encourage some supporters in a belief that life is about to improve for CAFC.
I can't say I'm 'happy' with the way things have gone since the takeover but, equally, I can't say I'm dissatisfied either. Why?
I want CAFC back in the Prem and I recognise that in this day and age, short of a Man City style takeover, it's probably going to take a different approach for us to get there. RD's approach is certainly different and it may work in the longer term. It may also fail badly but I'm prepared to give it the benefit of the doubt for the time being. I also believe he must have the Prem as a key goal - he's spent £14mill and any schoolboy SWOT analysis will have the riches of the Prem as a massive opportunity for CAFC. The odd player may go to Liege but I don't buy the whole feeder club argument.
What does it take to get angry/concerned? Not imminent relegation to L1. Failure to renew what are perceived as 'dead wood' contracts wouldn't unduly worry me either. However failure to provide the necessary finance to get back up and not being promoted back to the Championship within 2 years would make me twitch. I guess this season I'm resigned to que sera sera - I would look more to summer transfers and what happens early next season before I would even begin to 'judge' RD's approach.
Am I worried about future identity? I'd like nothing more than football to return to how it was when I fell in love with it in the late 60s - really promising young players all went to their local pro club, clubs were able to compete financially more equally (if you won Div 2 you had a good chance of doing well in Div 1 the following year), players were more loyal, and your team would always being playing at the same run down inner city ground no matter how bad the toilets smelt.
But it's different now and won't go back to how it used to be. Owners of clubs like ours have to choose between chasing success (getting to the Prem) using financial and other techniques or staying at a low level (L1 and below). The idea of one club, same ground forever has also changed. Foreign ownership is rife and, with that, different cultures. The days of the local big business owner taking over and keeping things the same but with a bit more money are fast becoming extinct unless you want to stay in lower divisions.
So yes, I hanker after the era of A,B,C.... half time scores and the Football League Review in the middle of the programme but it's gone. CP gave us a bit of 'our Charlton' - some old school in a modern world . I love him as much as anyone but he's gone too.
I , therefore, have three choices - continue getting frustrated that my club isn't like it used to be, stop going altogether or buckle up for the ride. I'm choosing the latter, yes with some fingers crossed but knowing that previous formulas won't work today.
I do not blame anyone for being upset and angry that we haven't managed to secure players likely to keep us up or that CP hasn't been given a fair crack - but I choose to see these things as part of the long term process rather than symptoms of owner incompetence.
It's very early in the ride so I find it impossible to know whether this is a new dawn or 'the beginning of the end'. Naïve or not, I'm going with it for the moment.
It is quite staggering to think we are the same club whose supporters rallied to form the Valley Party and agitated to get what we wanted and what was right and proper for our club against the wishes of selfish owners and politicians. I really do wonder if the same happened tomorrow whether we would polarise opinion and divide like we seem to do over every issue that has affected our club since Curbishley's departure. It's when you reflect on that, that you appreciate how much more passionate fans at some other clubs really are compared to us. Some people really will excuse anything. Maybe they just don't as much as others?
RD has a plan whether you like it or not, he want to try it and see it through. CP didn't buy into it so there is no compromise, CP was going to get the chop.Only time.will tell if this plan will work.I find it hard to believe somebody would buy a club with the sole.aim to see it relegated.
I didn't want Powell to go. I wanted to see him manage us for a long time and take us back to the Prem.
Not much to add for me, I'm going to give the new manager and RD a chance and see what happens. I don't agree with the suggestion that he just sees us as a feeder club for Liege and doesn't care what league we're in. While it's an experiment I think he wants to make money from this network and he won't do that if his clubs drop down the divisions.
I think it may be too late for Riga to turn things around this season, but things can change very quickly. Powell was written off by some after his first half a season, I said let's see how he does with his own players and he completely transformed the squad and had two very good full seasons.
Things changed a lot in a matter of months back then and it could happen again. When has it ever turned out exactly as expected? I'm concerned but won't write it off as having no chance of working for us.
I was skeptical about the new ownership, but I gave things time to settle and I then appraised matters. I could see a bust-up coming and when it did there was likely to be one outcome. And so goes, in my opinion, one of the best things about CAFC. With Chris Powell's departure, I see little reason for Mr D's 'vision' to engage me further. I want my club to have independence, autonomy and its own identity. The 'project' might be financially sustainable, but our identity is compromised as a result.
I very much like the idea of a season ticket boycott and I'd like to see demos at every home game regarding the direction and strategy of the club. I will have to think about whether I wish to continue my support for the club, or to walk away.
If we stay up or not our best players move on a free, and we will start the new season with untried players just does not look good, as bad as i can remember. But will still go next year its still my club.
RD has a plan whether you like it or not, he want to try it and see it through. CP didn't buy into it so there is no compromise, CP was going to get the chop.Only time.will tell if this plan will work.I find it hard to believe somebody would buy a club with the sole.aim to see it relegated.
Couldn't put it better.
I'm hoping RD's interference was designed simply to hasten CP's departure, not part of his ambition to be a hobby football manager. Should be clearer when we see who is in goal tomorrow. Will worry if Hamer is dropped in favour of the clown.
Duchatelet obviously has a view that scientific methods can be used in football far more than in the traditionalist British view of the game. Is that cutting edge, fringe, wacky, or ridiculous.
Riga seems a match made in heaven for RD. CogiTraining which will seem funny to some of our players has obviously been accepted by AC Milan and the fact Mourhinho has utilised Riga is not to be sniffed at.
Let's just wait and see before condemning RD's approach. Relegation might seem to be a disaster but not if in the long run the club comes back stronger.
Let's not forget and without playing the blame game that last Saturday evening Charlton went bottom of the championship. Something needed to change.
Relegation I think would be a set back for RD but not one that puts the club in danger. Before he took over I don't think that anyone would say the same.
I am sad for Chris a Powell because I loved the bloke but I think he just has been in the wrong place at the wrong time. No way did he fit in with this new regime and it's way of doing things.
I am a Charlton supporter and I am fully behind the new man. I hope my trust is not misplaced.
100% with you my friend
I'm a little excited to be honest. Feel sorry for Riga as tomorrow is going to be a bit soon to have much impact.
I love Powell - always have and always will - but do feel we were getting stale. Dyer and Martin were a big disappointment if you ask me. Nothing especially innovative seemed to be on display so maybe that's the way forward now.
I'll support whoever is in charge and Duchatelet too. If we sell a few players along the way to keep things moving in the right direction then so be it. We know Roland is working towards cat 1 status for the training ground - he's here to make us his top dog and make himself some money by getting good, young players on the field and getting us promoted.
Whether it works remains to be seen.
I'm afraid the game now is about adapting to change. We needed to change something so that's why we are where we are. The players now need to earn a new contract by pressing the new guy.
As for Riga - he's got a decent cv and some innovative thinking. I hope the players respond profe
Duchatelet obviously has a view that scientific methods can be used in football far more than in the traditionalist British view of the game. Is that cutting edge, fringe, wacky, or ridiculous.
Riga seems a match made in heaven for RD. CogiTraining which will seem funny to some of our players has obviously been accepted by AC Milan and the fact Mourhinho has utilised Riga is not to be sniffed at.
Let's just wait and see before condemning RD's approach. Relegation might seem to be a disaster but not if in the long run the club comes back stronger.
Let's not forget and without playing the blame game that last Saturday evening Charlton went bottom of the championship. Something needed to change.
Relegation I think would be a set back for RD but not one that puts the club in danger. Before he took over I don't think that anyone would say the same.
I am sad for Chris a Powell because I loved the bloke but I think he just has been in the wrong place at the wrong time. No way did he fit in with this new regime and it's way of doing things.
I am a Charlton supporter and I am fully behind the new man. I hope my trust is not misplaced.
100% with you my friend
I'm a little excited to be honest. Feel sorry for Riga as tomorrow is going to be a bit soon to have much impact.
I love Powell - always have and always will - but do feel we were getting stale. Dyer and Martin were a big disappointment if you ask me. Nothing especially innovative seemed to be on display so maybe that's the way forward now.
I'll support whoever is in charge and Duchatelet too. If we sell a few players along the way to keep things moving in the right direction then so be it. We know Roland is working towards cat 1 status for the training ground - he's here to make us his top dog and make himself some money by getting good, young players on the field and getting us promoted.
Whether it works remains to be seen.
I'm afraid the game now is about adapting to change. We needed to change something so that's why we are where we are. The players now need to earn a new contract by pressing the new guy.
As for Riga - he's got a decent cv and some innovative thinking. I hope the players respond profe
I was fully behind Jiminez and Slater and was often accused of burying my head in the sand. However I am totally against Duchatalet and his vision. I don't want Charlton to be part of any network I want Charlton to be Charlton have have Charlton players. Even if we were to become the top of the food chain and take other teams best players and loan them our shit players I still wouldn't be into it.
The final straw for me will be if this new manager doesn't pick the best players he has available and only picks network players / who he is told to pick. Football is a sport 1st, business 2nd and never a franchise and I don't care what year it is that will always be my opinion.
Comments
Chris Powell clearly did not buy into this plan, evidenced by his refusal to play any of the players sent to him in January. It is obvious to me that if CP didn't want to be a part of RD's plan, then he had no future at Charlton. RD was looking for CP to buy into the concept of moving players around the network & evidently saw that he was going to have big issues with Chris demanding an opt out. This could never be acceptable to RD, but it is totally different to saying that RD picks the team. He was just looking to see that the players provided would be properly considered for inclusion in the team & wouldn't be deliberately ignored because CP didn't personally choose them.
Obviously RD does not want to be relegated this year, but he has cleverly ensured the financial impact of relegation is minimised by agreeing a discount with TJ/RS if it occurs. I believe we have to give RD 2 or 3 years to see whether his plan is going to work. The mere fact of relegation this year will not prove anything. Time has to be allowed for the plan to be enabled & to deliver results. Sadly RD obviously saw CP as an obstruction to his plan & therefore he had to go.
Riga seems a match made in heaven for RD. CogiTraining which will seem funny to some of our players has obviously been accepted by AC Milan and the fact Mourhinho has utilised Riga is not to be sniffed at.
Let's just wait and see before condemning RD's approach. Relegation might seem to be a disaster but not if in the long run the club comes back stronger.
Let's not forget and without playing the blame game that last Saturday evening Charlton went bottom of the championship. Something needed to change.
Relegation I think would be a set back for RD but not one that puts the club in danger. Before he took over I don't think that anyone would say the same.
I am sad for Chris a Powell because I loved the bloke but I think he just has been in the wrong place at the wrong time. No way did he fit in with this new regime and it's way of doing things.
I am a Charlton supporter and I am fully behind the new man. I hope my trust is not misplaced.
The assumed model has been feeder/pyramid, and to some extent how we felt depended on whether we believed we (potentially) sat at the top of it. This is a touch hypocritical (I hold my hands up here), in that while hating the notion of being a cog in the wheel, we seem more relaxed if everyone ultimately is feeding us.
But the model might be more like a brand portfolio, where resources & ideas are shared and shuffled around, and growth/success potential is theoretically achievable anywhere. Now, under that scenario, some brands are undoubtedly more important than others - Arcadia Group will place more importance behind Topshop than Dorothy Perkins. So RD's "my 5 children are equally important" cuts no ice with me, but we shouldn't assume there is a fixed pecking order.
The other big unknown is that players are less and less pieces of meat that you can just ship around - they hold many of the cards. Does RD think he can tell Poyet or Cousins they are off to Liege because he says so - or even persuade a football-savvy guy like Poyet to commit going forward? Sure, people like Danny Green might have no option if they want a new contract, but that's not what we're worrying about. So RD will need to sell the vision to the players, not just us.
I'm also intrigued by the UEFA competition rules. We were 2 wins from a likely UEFA Cup place (i.e. beat Sheff U, Hull, and then meet Arsenal in the final). What does RD do if SL find themselves in that tournament (not out of the question they'd drop into in via the CL).
Frankly, if we were in 17th place now, playing slightly better football and with CP on board & motivated, I'd have been Ok with it all. We're pissed off with RD because of his desire to micromanage and push CP around, not the network vision. They don't necessarily go hand-in-hand. If RD said to CP, "OK you are in the network, here are 5 players on offer, who do you fancy?", it would be fine & dandy. But clearly that's not how it panned out.
If you put aside the fact that Powell is a club legend and a top bloke then we are left with a side bottom of the table, playing terrible football, no away wins since November, 1 home win since boxing day the lowest scorers in the entire country and a side who just completely caved in to a lower league side in a cup quarter final. I believe if we had another manager not so closely connected to the clubs history then we'd have been demanding his sacking a long time ago. But because it's Powell and he's a great bloke then it's a disgrace. We were going down under him, of that i have no doubt. At least this gives us some hope. The guy has top connections within the game and i don't believe you'd be working for Milan or invited to train Real Madrid if you didn't know what you were doing.
RD knows what he's doing, he's obviously seen all this before with Liege last season getting rid of a popular manager and employing an unknown. It worked then and we have to hope it works now. What i do think though, is that Jose Riga can't do any worse than Powell and i believe we have to get behind him and the team.
So in answer to your question AFKA, no i'm not exactly happy with how things have gone so far, no one is happy with being bottom, but i believe we have to wait before judging this new regime.
I just don't think he understands how hard the football league and English football is to achieve. The teams who compete in the championship and the budget they have make it the hardest league in the world to get out of.
Maybe blinkered is a bit strong.But if we were all 'middle of the road' with Powell then I doubt there would be this kind of resentment to him being shown the door.
I can't say I'm 'happy' with the way things have gone since the takeover but, equally, I can't say I'm dissatisfied either. Why?
I want CAFC back in the Prem and I recognise that in this day and age, short of a Man City style takeover, it's probably going to take a different approach for us to get there. RD's approach is certainly different and it may work in the longer term. It may also fail badly but I'm prepared to give it the benefit of the doubt for the time being. I also believe he must have the Prem as a key goal - he's spent £14mill and any schoolboy SWOT analysis will have the riches of the Prem as a massive opportunity for CAFC. The odd player may go to Liege but I don't buy the whole feeder club argument.
What does it take to get angry/concerned? Not imminent relegation to L1. Failure to renew what are perceived as 'dead wood' contracts wouldn't unduly worry me either. However failure to provide the necessary finance to get back up and not being promoted back to the Championship within 2 years would make me twitch. I guess this season I'm resigned to que sera sera - I would look more to summer transfers and what happens early next season before I would even begin to 'judge' RD's approach.
Am I worried about future identity? I'd like nothing more than football to return to how it was when I fell in love with it in the late 60s - really promising young players all went to their local pro club, clubs were able to compete financially more equally (if you won Div 2 you had a good chance of doing well in Div 1 the following year), players were more loyal, and your team would always being playing at the same run down inner city ground no matter how bad the toilets smelt.
But it's different now and won't go back to how it used to be. Owners of clubs like ours have to choose between chasing success (getting to the Prem) using financial and other techniques or staying at a low level (L1 and below). The idea of one club, same ground forever has also changed. Foreign ownership is rife and, with that, different cultures. The days of the local big business owner taking over and keeping things the same but with a bit more money are fast becoming extinct unless you want to stay in lower divisions.
So yes, I hanker after the era of A,B,C.... half time scores and the Football League Review in the middle of the programme but it's gone. CP gave us a bit of 'our Charlton' - some old school in a modern world . I love him as much as anyone but he's gone too.
I , therefore, have three choices - continue getting frustrated that my club isn't like it used to be, stop going altogether or buckle up for the ride. I'm choosing the latter, yes with some fingers crossed but knowing that previous formulas won't work today.
I do not blame anyone for being upset and angry that we haven't managed to secure players likely to keep us up or that CP hasn't been given a fair crack - but I choose to see these things as part of the long term process rather than symptoms of owner incompetence.
It's very early in the ride so I find it impossible to know whether this is a new dawn or 'the beginning of the end'. Naïve or not, I'm going with it for the moment.
Not much to add for me, I'm going to give the new manager and RD a chance and see what happens. I don't agree with the suggestion that he just sees us as a feeder club for Liege and doesn't care what league we're in. While it's an experiment I think he wants to make money from this network and he won't do that if his clubs drop down the divisions.
I think it may be too late for Riga to turn things around this season, but things can change very quickly. Powell was written off by some after his first half a season, I said let's see how he does with his own players and he completely transformed the squad and had two very good full seasons.
Things changed a lot in a matter of months back then and it could happen again. When has it ever turned out exactly as expected? I'm concerned but won't write it off as having no chance of working for us.
With Chris Powell's departure, I see little reason for Mr D's 'vision' to engage me further. I want my club to have independence, autonomy and its own identity. The 'project' might be financially sustainable, but our identity is compromised as a result.
I very much like the idea of a season ticket boycott and I'd like to see demos at every home game regarding the direction and strategy of the club.
I will have to think about whether I wish to continue my support for the club, or to walk away.
just does not look good, as bad as i can remember.
But will still go next year its still my club.
Couldn't put it better.
I'm hoping RD's interference was designed simply to hasten CP's departure, not part of his ambition to be a hobby football manager. Should be clearer when we see who is in goal tomorrow. Will worry if Hamer is dropped in favour of the clown.
I'm a little excited to be honest. Feel sorry for Riga as tomorrow is going to be a bit soon to have much impact.
I love Powell - always have and always will - but do feel we were getting stale. Dyer and Martin were a big disappointment if you ask me. Nothing especially innovative seemed to be on display so maybe that's the way forward now.
I'll support whoever is in charge and Duchatelet too. If we sell a few players along the way to keep things moving in the right direction then so be it. We know Roland is working towards cat 1 status for the training ground - he's here to make us his top dog and make himself some money by getting good, young players on the field and getting us promoted.
Whether it works remains to be seen.
I'm afraid the game now is about adapting to change. We needed to change something so that's why we are where we are. The players now need to earn a new contract by pressing the new guy.
As for Riga - he's got a decent cv and some innovative thinking. I hope the players respond profe
It's never been easy being an Addick!
The final straw for me will be if this new manager doesn't pick the best players he has available and only picks network players / who he is told to pick. Football is a sport 1st, business 2nd and never a franchise and I don't care what year it is that will always be my opinion.
Genuine question.
Check out at 46 seconds in, and 2.48 to see what club we are expected to be.
And Hallo to CAF ..... as a Business
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