Why is it so fashionable to slag off the previous owners whilst forgetting that they oversaw probably the most successful season since about 2005? Yes I was pissed off last summer when there was no investment and 48 hours before the Bournemouth game we only had one senior striker but they were desperate to sell so were never going to invest big time. I'm with many of the above posters in being cautiously negative about RD but I think he needs to be given til the end of the summer before his intentions can be truly assessed. I watched the Leyton Orient play off match in the week and felt more than a pang of envy at the unification they have and how everyone is pulling in the right direction, against the odds given their financial position. Would love to see them get in the championship. I wonder when we will next see such joyous scenes at this disjointed, seemingly currently fractured club of ours? Although I would like them to stay I think Hamer, Morrison and Dervite are all dispensable IF they are replaced with quality and not the dog shit we were treated to in January. I would be upset if Poyet went but I wouldn't blame him if he did. He is too good for us. I don't think we will have heard of most of our future signings but I had never heard of the vast majority of our recent signings so who knows. As others have said, the appointment of a new manager has to be the priority so he can decide who he wants and set up a plan to get them. Lets see what the next couple of months bring.
What worries me is the RD network's record of player dealings - in and outs - since he took over. The only decent signing was AA and he was at our training ground before the ink on the contract had dried. This tells me that Powell was shown a list of available players and he was the only one he wanted off the bat. Powell knew what he was doing in this respect - up to now - and it may change - I haven't seen evidence the faceless, namless network people do. All I need is some evidence and I'll change my mind, but RD has been at the helm long enough in my opinion, for me to voice my concerns.
Well i for one felt quite joyus when the goals went in against Watford and all the folks around me seemed quite joyus too and i would even go as far to say we were fecking ecstatic. Agree with Gary, we need to keep Riga. Envious of Leyton Orient thats made my day! Ha!
I am yet to enjoy Roland Duchatelet ownership at Charlton. So far it is a big pain in the neck/ass. I am still looking for definite signs of totally positive contract / player outcomes on the pitch.
I know, I know, the next 2 to 3 months will tell for sure (that is for the happy clappy Duchatelistas) but apart from the deafening club silence, the end of season dealings / noises are mirroring the January window. The world cup can't start soon enough.
Be fair AFKA I for one replied to what I found a goading post about the "positive about RD brigade. " My comments were based upon what I have seen so far from RD and what has happened in the last four months. It does offend my sense of fair play and justice that RD has been demonised without any of the wildest criticisms being justified and the many positives overlooked.
I am a natural optimist (and a Charlton Fan!?) and after a truly miserable season found at least some of what happened later in the season uplifting. I finished the season feeling a little euphoric about us staying up because I genuinely didn't think that we would. There are some great youngsters coming through and, what I think are some key investments.
There is a way to go and we have seen false dawns before ( so I do understand the caution) but hardly has the last cheer faded from the Valley and people are sharpening there knives and all before we know who are Managers is or who is in or out.
We are In For a massive 12 months ahead, that's for sure.
Part of me feels like those that are being ultra positive are doing so purely to agonise those that are over-worried.
While those two small camps are hanging their towels on their deck chairs at 6am, can't help feel the majority of us are waiting patiently for clearer signs of what the weather is going to be like, but terrified that while it might not completely piss down, it's equally not likely to be a Sunny day.
I am not ( yet ) enjoying Roland Duchatelet ownership at Charlton. So far it is a big pain in the neck/ass. I am still looking for definite signs of totally positive contract / player commitment on the pitch. Apart from the deafening club silence, the end of season dealings / noises are mirroring the January window.
I know, I know, the next 2 to 3 months will tell for sure (that is for the happy clappy Duchatelistas).
The world cup can't start soon enough.
RD made a mistake with the in comings in January, but Katrien has admitted they under estimated the championship. I can forgive that, even rich people make mistakes.
He got it right with Rigas appointment. We survived. We are building a new training complex, the pitch is having money spent on it.
I think peoples emotional attachment to the players/manager that's left is seriously clouding their judgement.
I am not ( yet ) enjoying Roland Duchatelet ownership at Charlton. So far it is a big pain in the neck/ass. I am still looking for definite signs of totally positive contract / player commitment on the pitch. Apart from the deafening club silence, the end of season dealings / noises are mirroring the January window.
I know, I know, the next 2 to 3 months will tell for sure (that is for the happy clappy Duchatelistas).
The world cup can't start soon enough.
RD made a mistake with the in comings in January, but Katrien has admitted they under estimated the championship. I can forgive that, even rich people make mistakes.
He got it right with Rigas appointment. We survived. We are building a new training complex, the pitch is having money spent on it.
I think peoples emotional attachment to the players/manager that's left is seriously clouding their judgement.
At this moment it is all down to blind faith, that cannot be proved one way or the other. The pitch and training ground news are welcome. Riga is great (not confirmed as head coach) but have yet to see anything substantive on the player / contract front. I hope you happy smiley Duchatelistas can turn around and say I told you so. I would be OK with that.
I am not ( yet ) enjoying Roland Duchatelet ownership at Charlton. So far it is a big pain in the neck/ass. I am still looking for definite signs of totally positive contract / player commitment on the pitch. Apart from the deafening club silence, the end of season dealings / noises are mirroring the January window.
I know, I know, the next 2 to 3 months will tell for sure (that is for the happy clappy Duchatelistas).
The world cup can't start soon enough.
RD made a mistake with the in comings in January, but Katrien has admitted they under estimated the championship. I can forgive that, even rich people make mistakes.
He got it right with Rigas appointment. We survived. We are building a new training complex, the pitch is having money spent on it.
I think peoples emotional attachment to the players/manager that's left is seriously clouding their judgement.
It is not the emotional attachment players it is letting all our good players go without seeing any decent players arrive. (Early days etc etc etc / pitch - training ground etc etc).
Its ok. I am just expressing an opinion. I am happy to leave all the Duchatelistas in a happy cloud of anticipation of good things to arrive. Hope you're right, I am sceptically waiting and seeing. Its alright you don't need to convince me. Its all just opinions and time will tell.
Roland's tenure so far doesn't have the feel of a 'quick buck' operation we saw so clearly with our last landlords. Investment in the pitch and the academy clearly shows someone who is willing to consider the future of the club beyond their own bank balance. Signs are good IMO
It's because we care. It's because to so many people this dear old football club means so much. There's impatience on these pages because there is so much uncertainty - remember the feverish days leading up to the takeover. It's as if we would rather know the worst than not know at all.
To digress for a moment - it was great at the O's the other night, a real football night, but this is the closest they've been to the second tier for over 30 years. Football must be the cruellest of games to give its followers so much grief, so much boredom and such infrequent pleasure. Aside from the manic pitch invasion, the best moment for me was when the whole place started rocking in the second half - it was just like our POSF at home to Ipswich. At Orient it was still too tense and the moment passed until close to the end when they scored again, whereas of course we were two up overall in the first half and could start to relax - what a brilliant night that was back then, and what an honour and a privilege to share the O's great occasion on Tuesday.
But football has changed so much. No wonder there is so much impatience when it's devil-take-the-hindmost and the game lives on a knife's edge, at the whim of its benefactors and the depth of their pockets. As far as our present situation is concerned I am much less worried about how CAFC will be incorporated into the RD model than I am about whether RD's unorthodox approach will actually succeed in these merciless and mercenary times.
Looking out across The Valley on this beautiful sunlit morning brings a lump to the throat. There is such pride in our club. But looking a bit further I see Upton Park to the right and dead in front the Olympic stadium - what that chilling scenario portends is a shining example of where it has all gone wrong.
Ah well, when was it ever easy ? What's important is that although we don't all see eye-to-eye on everything basically we all want success for our club and we're all in this thing together for the long haul. We are many, we are one.
I am not ( yet ) enjoying Roland Duchatelet ownership at Charlton. So far it is a big pain in the neck/ass. I am still looking for definite signs of totally positive contract / player commitment on the pitch. Apart from the deafening club silence, the end of season dealings / noises are mirroring the January window.
I know, I know, the next 2 to 3 months will tell for sure (that is for the happy clappy Duchatelistas).
The world cup can't start soon enough.
RD made a mistake with the in comings in January, but Katrien has admitted they under estimated the championship. I can forgive that, even rich people make mistakes.
He got it right with Rigas appointment. We survived. We are building a new training complex, the pitch is having money spent on it.
I think peoples emotional attachment to the players/manager that's left is seriously clouding their judgement.
Can I just make it clear that I have no 'emotional attachment' to Michael Morrison. I do however believe that he is a player who would have held down a regular place in the Leicester or Burnley sides, and he is young, not much older than Chris Solly. If I am right in my assessment, then he will not be cheap to replace, let alone to find someone who is actually an improvement.
Furthermore if Hamer goes, and the other first choice centre back, that is the spine gone. (The spine is already broken at the top end). It is difficult to quickly rebuild a team when that happens. It might be more cost effective to pay Morrison and Hamer competitive salaries than to seek better replacement on the open market. Maybe the network has the answer, but we have already seen that Thuram is not the answer.
I don't see any reason why I should not worry about this scenario, or express it on this forum. That is what a forum is for.
There is no sense of panic. Dont confuse concern or apprehension with panic. I have no issues with those who show confidence in RD. I understand their point and admire their patience. My worry, and it is nothing more emotive or hyperbolic than that, is that we may lose quality young players that are settled at the club, who have clear ability and a desire to stay. To me that is a fair concern. Solly, Cousins, Wilson, Wiggins, Jackson are all staying. Surely if we kept those out of contract we would have the makings of a very decent side. A few additions would create a decent squad. I hope that is RDs thinking. If so great. If not then he has a hell of a job ahead of him.
Last summer we had a close season of the overly positive telling the overly worried not to panic as -
* other teams hadn't made any signings yet (until they had)
* that we had loads of time to bring new players in as it was only May, June, July, August
* comparing when the signings came in during Powell's first close season to now so there's nothing to worry about, we did business late anyway...
* sticking up for TJ/MS saying that without them putting £1m a month in we'd be in administration so we should be grateful
* politicising the debate whenever there was something involving loss of life in the real world pointing out that people should wind their necks in about football because it "puts things in perspective" (which of course it does, but doesn't mean that debate on trivial things suddenly become irrelevant to discuss!)
* saying that Haynes, Fuller, etc were injury prone and we could do better
Funny enough variations on all of the above have been posted already over the last week or so (repeatedly)....
Well seeing as how last summer turned out, and seeing that even though I know and agree it's early days and it's not really time to panic yet I am far from convinced or satisfied or optimistic that this will turn out well. It may well do, and obviously I hope it does, but I'm afraid peddling out the same arguments from last summer aren't going to put my mind or I suspect many others at rest.
And of course last summer we had a manager in place. This year we have an empty seat right now.
Not time to panic, and the jury is still out for me on RD, but I don't think repeating the arguments above are going to wash. Call it healthy scepticism after last years disaster of a close season....
Prague, i disagree that Morrison would get in either Leicester or Burnley's side. He is an average Championship defender and in my opinion replaceable. I also think Hamer and Dervite are also average and replaceable. Poyet is the type of player we should look to be keeping, but if he goes thats not RD's fault.
With a whole summer and now first hand experience of Championship football, i think the people at the top of Charlton now realise the calibre of player we need to attract. Whether it comes from inside the network or out of it remains to be seen, but its early days.
and vff, being called a Duchatelistas is a bit creepy.
Network players might well help our situation but will not alone solve our player acquisition needs. There is scant evidence that RD has the nous to secure those players. His last foray into the transfer market with his wallet resulted in the arrival of the enigma Piotr for a reported €800.000 ? I feel certain that all of us would think that amount of money could have been spent better in our then circumstances. The signing of Polish Pete is right up there in the history of strange Charlton purchases.
I am not ( yet ) enjoying Roland Duchatelet ownership at Charlton. So far it is a big pain in the neck/ass. I am still looking for definite signs of totally positive contract / player commitment on the pitch. Apart from the deafening club silence, the end of season dealings / noises are mirroring the January window.
I know, I know, the next 2 to 3 months will tell for sure (that is for the happy clappy Duchatelistas).
The world cup can't start soon enough.
RD made a mistake with the in comings in January, but Katrien has admitted they under estimated the championship. I can forgive that, even rich people make mistakes.
He got it right with Rigas appointment. We survived. We are building a new training complex, the pitch is having money spent on it.
I think peoples emotional attachment to the players/manager that's left is seriously clouding their judgement.
Can I just make it clear that I have no 'emotional attachment' to Michael Morrison. I do however believe that he is a player who would have held down a regular place in the Leicester or Burnley sides, and he is young, not much older than Chris Solly. If I am right in my assessment, then he will not be cheap to replace, let alone to find someone who is actually an improvement.
Furthermore if Hamer goes, and the other first choice centre back, that is the spine gone. (The spine is already broken at the top end). It is difficult to quickly rebuild a team when that happens. It might be more cost effective to pay Morrison and Hamer competitive salaries than to seek better replacement on the open market. Maybe the network has the answer, but we have already seen that Thuram is not the answer.
I don't see any reason why I should not worry about this scenario, or express it on this forum. That is what a forum is for.
Hear here!
Speculation on football forum shocker.
@PragueAddick - If the individual vertabrae are broken and the discs have slipped, papa better buy us a brand new BACKline.
Its going to get worse before it gets better on the playing side. Probably about mid June will be the nadir so if you are pessimistic, concentrate on the WC for the sake of your health.
For those wanting reassurance in the form of players, this is the time, for example, that a Munto Finance type owner would get us a Sol Campbell. There are 4/5 examples of the last 5 years of new owners using short term deals to cover up the fact that their model is chance and smokescreen. Big name players appease the fans. RD has shown he wont do that. I doubt we will get anyone that the majority will feel reassured by way of a marquee signing. I dont doubt we will kick off the season with a squad with potential and relegation isnt going to be the issue next season.
Its already getting a lot better on the non - playing part of the club. To @drewman - players come and go but players and supporters alike need;
A club not in danger of administration under the owners' business model
A stadium
A club that pays its bills and acts in a respectful way to the rest of football.
And a pitch is quite important as well I guess.
So I think TJ &MS should continue to be criticised
Its hard to think long term in football but we are going to have to. How many seasons have we seen recently where the most underwhelming signing turned out to be the best?
The problem that exists, as I see it, is that the people I/C do not understand English football. But Riga does. The situation for me remains finely balanced so put me down as a definite 'maybe' .But I'm not sure what I'm undecided about.
"I don't value players by age....I analyse many other things before age. Age can be an asset for the club. For me, a much bigger asset is someone who has played 125 games in three years compared to someone who has played 25, if he is 20 years old. That's my opinion.
Mikel Arteta on Arsenal's policy of only offering one-year deals to players 30+.
I am not ( yet ) enjoying Roland Duchatelet ownership at Charlton. So far it is a big pain in the neck/ass. I am still looking for definite signs of totally positive contract / player commitment on the pitch. Apart from the deafening club silence, the end of season dealings / noises are mirroring the January window.
I know, I know, the next 2 to 3 months will tell for sure (that is for the happy clappy Duchatelistas).
The world cup can't start soon enough.
RD made a mistake with the in comings in January, but Katrien has admitted they under estimated the championship. I can forgive that, even rich people make mistakes.
He got it right with Rigas appointment. We survived. We are building a new training complex, the pitch is having money spent on it.
I think peoples emotional attachment to the players/manager that's left is seriously clouding their judgement.
Can I just make it clear that I have no 'emotional attachment' to Michael Morrison. I do however believe that he is a player who would have held down a regular place in the Leicester or Burnley sides, and he is young, not much older than Chris Solly. If I am right in my assessment, then he will not be cheap to replace, let alone to find someone who is actually an improvement.
Furthermore if Hamer goes, and the other first choice centre back, that is the spine gone. (The spine is already broken at the top end). It is difficult to quickly rebuild a team when that happens. It might be more cost effective to pay Morrison and Hamer competitive salaries than to seek better replacement on the open market. Maybe the network has the answer, but we have already seen that Thuram is not the answer.
I don't see any reason why I should not worry about this scenario, or express it on this forum. That is what a forum is for.
I think Thuram is the answer.
Albeit to the question, name the Sunday League goalkeeper who played in the Championship last year.
Roland's tenure so far doesn't have the feel of a 'quick buck' operation we saw so clearly with our last landlords. Investment in the pitch and the academy clearly shows someone who is willing to consider the future of the club beyond their own bank balance. Signs are good IMO
Those two investments are speculating to accumulate, he HAS to invest in the pitch and investing in the academy is to produce goods to sell on - hence his break even or make a profit stance on owning a football club. It's all about what WE see as football FANS of Charlton Athletic, I don't visit the academy every day, I support our first team foremost.
Prague, i disagree that Morrison would get in either Leicester or Burnley's side. He is an average Championship defender and in my opinion replaceable. I also think Hamer and Dervite are also average and replaceable. Poyet is the type of player we should look to be keeping, but if he goes thats not RD's fault.
Sure I agree with you re Poyet. Re Morrison I respect your view. You have I guess seen him live more times than I have. In the end , the proof will be where he goes, for how much (wage wise) and whether he is bought as a likely first team regular. Personally I think it is unwise to let the market decide. That is what we did with YK, and it is now admitted that we got that wrong.
Comments
FFS after all that's happened this week it's only football!
Some really do need to shift their prioritys!
Riga is the one I want to keep.
Agree with Gary, we need to keep Riga.
Envious of Leyton Orient thats made my day! Ha!
I know, I know, the next 2 to 3 months will tell for sure (that is for the happy clappy Duchatelistas) but apart from the deafening club silence, the end of season dealings / noises are mirroring the January window. The world cup can't start soon enough.
I am a natural optimist (and a Charlton Fan!?) and after a truly miserable season found at least some of what happened later in the season uplifting. I finished the season feeling a little euphoric about us staying up because I genuinely didn't think that we would. There are some great youngsters coming through and, what I think are some key investments.
There is a way to go and we have seen false dawns before ( so I do understand the caution) but hardly has the last cheer faded from the Valley and people are sharpening there knives and all before we know who are Managers is or who is in or out.
He got it right with Rigas appointment. We survived. We are building a new training complex, the pitch is having money spent on it.
I think peoples emotional attachment to the players/manager that's left is seriously clouding their judgement.
Its ok. I am just expressing an opinion. I am happy to leave all the Duchatelistas in a happy cloud of anticipation of good things to arrive. Hope you're right, I am sceptically waiting and seeing. Its alright you don't need to convince me. Its all just opinions and time will tell.
Investment in the pitch and the academy clearly shows someone who is willing to consider the future of the club beyond their own bank balance.
Signs are good IMO
It's because we care. It's because to so many people this dear old football club means so much. There's impatience on these pages because there is so much uncertainty - remember the feverish days leading up to the takeover. It's as if we would rather know the worst than not know at all.
To digress for a moment - it was great at the O's the other night, a real football night, but this is the closest they've been to the second tier for over 30 years. Football must be the cruellest of games to give its followers so much grief, so much boredom and such infrequent pleasure. Aside from the manic pitch invasion, the best moment for me was when the whole place started rocking in the second half - it was just like our POSF at home to Ipswich. At Orient it was still too tense and the moment passed until close to the end when they scored again, whereas of course we were two up overall in the first half and could start to relax - what a brilliant night that was back then, and what an honour and a privilege to share the O's great occasion on Tuesday.
But football has changed so much. No wonder there is so much impatience when it's devil-take-the-hindmost and the game lives on a knife's edge, at the whim of its benefactors and the depth of their pockets. As far as our present situation is concerned I am much less worried about how CAFC will be incorporated into the RD model than I am about whether RD's unorthodox approach will actually succeed in these merciless and mercenary times.
Looking out across The Valley on this beautiful sunlit morning brings a lump to the throat. There is such pride in our club. But looking a bit further I see Upton Park to the right and dead in front the Olympic stadium - what that chilling scenario portends is a shining example of where it has all gone wrong.
Ah well, when was it ever easy ? What's important is that although we don't all see eye-to-eye on everything basically we all want success for our club and we're all in this thing together for the long haul. We are many, we are one.
T shirt opportunity anyone ?
Furthermore if Hamer goes, and the other first choice centre back, that is the spine gone. (The spine is already broken at the top end). It is difficult to quickly rebuild a team when that happens. It might be more cost effective to pay Morrison and Hamer competitive salaries than to seek better replacement on the open market. Maybe the network has the answer, but we have already seen that Thuram is not the answer.
I don't see any reason why I should not worry about this scenario, or express it on this forum. That is what a forum is for.
To me that is a fair concern. Solly, Cousins, Wilson, Wiggins, Jackson are all staying. Surely if we kept those out of contract we would have the makings of a very decent side. A few additions would create a decent squad. I hope that is RDs thinking. If so great. If not then he has a hell of a job ahead of him.
* other teams hadn't made any signings yet (until they had)
* that we had loads of time to bring new players in as it was only
May,June,July, August* comparing when the signings came in during Powell's first close season to now so there's nothing to worry about, we did business late anyway...
* sticking up for TJ/MS saying that without them putting £1m a month in we'd be in administration so we should be grateful
* politicising the debate whenever there was something involving loss of life in the real world pointing out that people should wind their necks in about football because it "puts things in perspective" (which of course it does, but doesn't mean that debate on trivial things suddenly become irrelevant to discuss!)
* saying that Haynes, Fuller, etc were injury prone and we could do better
Funny enough variations on all of the above have been posted already over the last week or so (repeatedly)....
Well seeing as how last summer turned out, and seeing that even though I know and agree it's early days and it's not really time to panic yet I am far from convinced or satisfied or optimistic that this will turn out well. It may well do, and obviously I hope it does, but I'm afraid peddling out the same arguments from last summer aren't going to put my mind or I suspect many others at rest.
And of course last summer we had a manager in place. This year we have an empty seat right now.
Not time to panic, and the jury is still out for me on RD, but I don't think repeating the arguments above are going to wash. Call it healthy scepticism after last years disaster of a close season....
With a whole summer and now first hand experience of Championship football, i think the people at the top of Charlton now realise the calibre of player we need to attract. Whether it comes from inside the network or out of it remains to be seen, but its early days.
and vff, being called a Duchatelistas is a bit creepy.
Speculation on football forum shocker.
@PragueAddick - If the individual vertabrae are broken and the discs have slipped, papa better buy us a brand new BACKline.
Its going to get worse before it gets better on the playing side. Probably about mid June will be the nadir so if you are pessimistic, concentrate on the WC for the sake of your health.
For those wanting reassurance in the form of players, this is the time, for example, that a Munto Finance type owner would get us a Sol Campbell. There are 4/5 examples of the last 5 years of new owners using short term deals to cover up the fact that their model is chance and smokescreen. Big name players appease the fans. RD has shown he wont do that. I doubt we will get anyone that the majority will feel reassured by way of a marquee signing. I dont doubt we will kick off the season with a squad with potential and relegation isnt going to be the issue next season.
Its already getting a lot better on the non - playing part of the club. To @drewman - players come and go but players and supporters alike need;
A club not in danger of administration under the owners' business model
A stadium
A club that pays its bills and acts in a respectful way to the rest of football.
And a pitch is quite important as well I guess.
So I think TJ &MS should continue to be criticised
Its hard to think long term in football but we are going to have to. How many seasons have we seen recently where the most underwhelming signing turned out to be the best?
COYR
"I don't value players by age....I analyse many other things before age. Age can be an asset for the club. For me, a much bigger asset is someone who has played 125 games in three years compared to someone who has played 25, if he is 20 years old. That's my opinion.
Mikel Arteta on Arsenal's policy of only offering one-year deals to players 30+.
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/may/15/arsenal-mikel-arteta-arsene-wenger-contracts
Albeit to the question, name the Sunday League goalkeeper who played in the Championship last year.