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Riga really wants to say-and is being pursued by QPR and Fulham (extracts from Belgium interview)

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Comments

  • Hope Roland consults Riga before deciding to sell one of his best performing players in Dervite.

    Dervite is out of contract.

  • Anyone else worried that the delay could be that Duchatelet wants to wait to see how things pan out with Liege ?

    If they fail to qualify for the Champions League, Riga, after impressing here, gets promoted 'back' to Liege ?

    Interesting angle but I thought Luzon signed a two year extension with Liege at the start of their play-offs? Any manager who can get goals out of Sordell and Harriott is good enough to take CAFC into the top half of the league IMHO so the sooner we sign him up the better.

    Duchatelet and Meire need to close some deals to show that they are running the show and not "victims" of being outbid by other clubs.

  • Hope Roland consults Riga before deciding to sell one of his best performing players in Dervite.

    Dervite is a free agent.


  • Tbh I expect Hamer to go as well & maybe even Morrison.
  • I would still love to know who is sourcing our players and deciding who's surplus and whose not. Sure as hell isn't Riga and I'm certain that it can't be Dyer and Matthew.
  • even with that ... i can not see Riga staying, it will be someone from the Belgian league

    I have heard from a source our new manager is waiting for his contract to expire in Belgian
  • Is that Israeli agent guy doing all the picking and choosing who we try to retain etc?
  • even with that ... i can not see Riga staying, it will be someone from the Belgian league

    I have heard from a source our new manager is waiting for his contract to expire in Belgian

    does the english version expire at the same time?
  • mrbligh said:

    even with that ... i can not see Riga staying, it will be someone from the Belgian league

    I have heard from a source our new manager is waiting for his contract to expire in Belgian

    does the english version expire at the same time?
    Clear spell check error there ..

    Good attempt to be funny there
  • the belgian league is crazy, when will it ever finish....

    as everyone probably knows they do a play off system whereby their points totals are halved to make it 'fairer' - (although i don't know how giving Anderlecht a 5 point gap to standard liege, when they finished 10 points behind in 3rd is fair) - which has consequently meant Anderlecht have won more play off games and now sit 1st in the champions league space and Standard are now in 3rd.

    The more interesting point is the people who qualify in the top 6 go into this champions play off, from which 1 qualifies for the champions league, 1 is entered into the qualifying rounds of champions league, 1 gets into the europa league, and 1 (4th) is eligible to try to enter the qualifying round of the europa league, whilst 2 teams miss out on europa league places all together.
    However, bizarrely those from 7-14 get split into two mini playoffs and the winners of each have a play off over two legs for a chance at a europa league place, before then playing off against the team who finished 4th to get this europa league qualifying place. You would rather not scrape through into the top 6 given the standard of opposition you'd have to play (anderlecht, club brugge and standard liege) relative to if you finished slightly lower (Lierse, Mechelen, Beveren). Though it all seems rather drawn out to me.

    As well as this, the relegation play off is definitely the survival of the fittest as it involves two teams playing each other 5 times to see who goes down. This year Mons played OH leuven (who started 3 points above when points were refreshed) and lost twice and drew once meaning they couldn't catch second bottom and therefore they didn't play the final two games and are relegated. However, the second bottom team OH leuven still has to play a play off tournament against the teams places 2-4 in the second tier, playing each of them 2 times to see if they can stay up.

    Such a long drawn out season.
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  • The Belgium team in the group stages will get slaughtered. It is like putting a mid to upper championship team in the Champions league. Belgium may have a great national team but all bar 2 play in other countries. The Belgium league may produce some good players but most of those get moved on.
  • I don't believe the Belgian league is stronger than the Championship. I hope Rd and his advisers learn that.
  • Addick90 said:

    the belgian league is crazy, when will it ever finish....

    as everyone probably knows they do a play off system whereby their points totals are halved to make it 'fairer' - (although i don't know how giving Anderlecht a 5 point gap to standard liege, when they finished 10 points behind in 3rd is fair) - which has consequently meant Anderlecht have won more play off games and now sit 1st in the champions league space and Standard are now in 3rd.

    The more interesting point is the people who qualify in the top 6 go into this champions play off, from which 1 qualifies for the champions league, 1 is entered into the qualifying rounds of champions league, 1 gets into the europa league, and 1 (4th) is eligible to try to enter the qualifying round of the europa league, whilst 2 teams miss out on europa league places all together.
    However, bizarrely those from 7-14 get split into two mini playoffs and the winners of each have a play off over two legs for a chance at a europa league place, before then playing off against the team who finished 4th to get this europa league qualifying place. You would rather not scrape through into the top 6 given the standard of opposition you'd have to play (anderlecht, club brugge and standard liege) relative to if you finished slightly lower (Lierse, Mechelen, Beveren). Though it all seems rather drawn out to me.

    As well as this, the relegation play off is definitely the survival of the fittest as it involves two teams playing each other 5 times to see who goes down. This year Mons played OH leuven (who started 3 points above when points were refreshed) and lost twice and drew once meaning they couldn't catch second bottom and therefore they didn't play the final two games and are relegated. However, the second bottom team OH leuven still has to play a play off tournament against the teams places 2-4 in the second tier, playing each of them 2 times to see if they can stay up.

    Such a long drawn out season.

    Didn't know all of that. Very interesting and, as you say, a bit bizarre really.
  • I would still love to know who is sourcing our players and deciding who's surplus and whose not. Sure as hell isn't Riga and I'm certain that it can't be Dyer and Matthew.

    Indeed. I have a strong suspicion that Duchatelet himself is very hands on. I don't really see that as a positive. Hope I'm wrong on both counts.
  • I would still love to know who is sourcing our players and deciding who's surplus and whose not. Sure as hell isn't Riga and I'm certain that it can't be Dyer and Matthew.

    Indeed. I have a strong suspicion that Duchatelet himself is very hands on. I don't really see that as a positive. Hope I'm wrong on both counts.
    The notion that RD was hands on had occurred to me also but I just can't get my head round the thought that a self confessed non football person who is obviously business savvy would be daft enough to think that that's a good idea. I too hope that's not the case.

  • Please RD - show us some - even a little - evidence that it isn't the case....please!
  • Addick90 said:

    the belgian league is crazy, when will it ever finish....

    as everyone probably knows they do a play off system whereby their points totals are halved to make it 'fairer' - (although i don't know how giving Anderlecht a 5 point gap to standard liege, when they finished 10 points behind in 3rd is fair) - which has consequently meant Anderlecht have won more play off games and now sit 1st in the champions league space and Standard are now in 3rd.

    The more interesting point is the people who qualify in the top 6 go into this champions play off, from which 1 qualifies for the champions league, 1 is entered into the qualifying rounds of champions league, 1 gets into the europa league, and 1 (4th) is eligible to try to enter the qualifying round of the europa league, whilst 2 teams miss out on europa league places all together.
    However, bizarrely those from 7-14 get split into two mini playoffs and the winners of each have a play off over two legs for a chance at a europa league place, before then playing off against the team who finished 4th to get this europa league qualifying place. You would rather not scrape through into the top 6 given the standard of opposition you'd have to play (anderlecht, club brugge and standard liege) relative to if you finished slightly lower (Lierse, Mechelen, Beveren). Though it all seems rather drawn out to me.

    As well as this, the relegation play off is definitely the survival of the fittest as it involves two teams playing each other 5 times to see who goes down. This year Mons played OH leuven (who started 3 points above when points were refreshed) and lost twice and drew once meaning they couldn't catch second bottom and therefore they didn't play the final two games and are relegated. However, the second bottom team OH leuven still has to play a play off tournament against the teams places 2-4 in the second tier, playing each of them 2 times to see if they can stay up.

    Such a long drawn out season.

    You explain clearly a ridiculously convoluted procedure: the mini play-offs for those finishing 7th to 14th, then still further games just for a Europa League place seems particularly fatuous. And two relegation candidates playing each other five times! What's the point of it all? More gate receipts and TV revenue, I suppose. But I can't help thinking that it diminishes much of the crucial importance and do-or-die drama of the end of the regular, normal season.

  • edited May 2014

    I would still love to know who is sourcing our players and deciding who's surplus and whose not. Sure as hell isn't Riga and I'm certain that it can't be Dyer and Matthew.

    Indeed. I have a strong suspicion that Duchatelet himself is very hands on. I don't really see that as a positive. Hope I'm wrong on both counts.
    The notion that RD was hands on had occurred to me also but I just can't get my head round the thought that a self confessed non football person who is obviously business savvy would be daft enough to think that that's a good idea. I too hope that's not the case.

    I think there's a slight danger of these "he's not a football person" tales clouding some simpler solutions.

    Clearly, Duchatelet isn't what we could call a passion-inspired supporter, but he is - by all accounts - a highly intelligent man, and I suspect that he's actually got a (perhaps very) good grasp on the particularities of football as a game. Obviously that's not enough to be a manager or player, since he'd be severely lacking a necessary intuition, but for a strategic director who's bringing in and moving around assets so as to maximize value, I wonder if he's far more qualified than we've twigged.

    This would also seem to line up relatively nicely with select quotes I've read, particularly the Belgian journalist who said that he "often made unpopular decisions, that turn out to be right". Really, he strikes me as a man who has no understanding of the emotional or tribal side of football, but is competent - and perhaps skilled - in terms of identifying and valuing assets (whether players or actual hardware), which could go some way to explaining his early actions at SL.

    The big challenge - so far as my thinking on it will take me - is how a strategy like that, in which he is very hands on, will work within a network; with only one club he's insulated from a lot of the conflict that the emotional side of the game could throw up against it, but the network would threaten to erode much of this.

    Henry Irving's comment on Duchatelet seems apt, with the minor caveat that while he'll be good for us in the long run in some predictable (and highly important) ways, the question marks over the approach remain significant, and troublesome,

    I wonder if Riga has proved his value as a manager to Duchatelet, or if he sees him as better suited in another role. Interesting about QPR and Fulham though; certainly didn't see that coming.
  • I wonder if the mad, convoluted play-off system in Belgium (halve your points total, divide in to mini-leagues, then take away the number you first thought of) explains Roland's love of maths and statistics.
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  • Is Riga being pursued by QPR and Fulham in the same way as he was by Mourinho?

    I personally think he's earnt the right to be given a chance if he wants it. But it's obvious RD doesn't go by that barometer and we really have no idea what his plans are so it's just another thing we're going to have to wait and see. Despite being one of the wary ones on here, he deserves the full summer before being fully judged and hopefully we'll know a lot more as they profess. Is frustrating though, but then following Charlton usually is.
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Roland Out Forever!