Katrien was in good form, helped no doubt by the fact that the team are doing well now. It was no Love in (don't go there) But respect was shown, which helped her open up.
Insight into Roland or Olland (Flemish) is that he asked Katrien what was the best train ticket to buy to get to the valley ! ( yes,same thought came into my mind)
To hear that she loves her job and have fallen in love with Charlton must help when she tries to communicate with the owner.
She has met a lot of the CEO,s of other championship clubs and feels that they send a member of their staff not always themselves to supporters meetings.
I hope this is true that Guy Luzon is now loving his job and wouldn't go back to Standard for 3 times the wages he's earning at CAFC !
Katrien's take on Sexgate was funny when she said she might get sacked by RD because it was more explicit than she thought but because it went viral it worked.
"We have made mistakes but we need to MOVE ON" I knew she reads CL !
Great to chat to Fanny and Mr F, and a positive evening even thou Roland Duchatelet won't be pushing the boat out any time soon,
Katrien was in good form, helped no doubt by the fact that the team are doing well now. It was no Love in (don't go there) But respect was shown, which helped her open up.
I asked a question about the objectives of "a challenging Championship team" and "Breaking Even" and what was the time frame. I don't feel that the answer was very clear, except that "Break-Even" appears to be more of an aspiration than an objective and there was no specific timeframe.
The club is looking to retain the existing squad, but Eagles and Johnson will have to work to get a new contract, she is looking to bring in 2-3 players over the summer and bring in revenue from player sales, who are not involved in the first team squad. Like me the immediate response from one was that won't amount to much money, but its was then pointed out Polish Pete, Rezza and George (?).
She has a budget target each season for player sales, the budget for player purchases are flexible and next season a decision will be made based on possibility of promotion of what investment in players will be made in January.
Under Bob the players got to feel they were the "worst players in the world" and Bob could not turn the loss of confidence around. Pointed out that we are now winning in a better way than we were at the begining of the season.
Roland decides the transfer price, KM said she negotiates the best price. It did not appear that there is a specific transfer price policy.
She calls Roland to his face but calls him The Owner to "us" because we can't pronounce his name - its a sort of gutteral pronunciation.
Morning Kap. Those are the questions that most interest me so thanks for giving it a go.
Re the bit in bold above, does that refer to transfers within the network? Did you understand it to mean that, say, RD sets a price for, say, Tony Watt, and Katrien will try to push him down a bit (of course the quote price for TWWW is currently looking like a bargain, but I'm just trying to understand the system)
He decides (she explained) the transfer fees between network clubs. I suspect it is done for various FFP and Tax reasons. However, she did explain at Ashford that her budgeting does not include 'extra' signings that the Owner wants to make. Thus Vetokele was not within our budget yet he signed him anyway.
I have no idea but I am inclined to believe that inter network transfer fees are not included in the club's budgets, so they are irrelevant, except for the purposes of FFP and Tax calculations in the different member states.
Without looking like an apologist for the network model Tony Watt has, in my view, put the network in credit for us. The players we signed last January didn't all work out, but we stayed up - which was the only realistic goal last season (ignoring the FA Cup, which we never expected to win anyway). Bulot and Buyerns have given good accounts of themselves, all be it not in every game they've played, and Tony Watt has been the best signing of the lot of them. In fact, apart from Tudadean, who I'm still not sure about, I don't think we have signed any players that haven't worked out at all this season.
I can't, personally, see any alternative to RD deciding the transfer fees between the network clubs. He, no doubt, decides which players will be allowed to move and on that basis, once he's made that decision KM and her equivalent have no negotiating power.
I wasn't there but can't see what the problem is. Someone from from the Trust board said they would attend in a listening capacity. they were then asked not to interject as the organisers didn't want THEIR evening sidetracked by questions about the Trust and issues around it. How is that censorship?
Looks to me as if the Trust with recent actions have just served to alienate KM further. Good work.
Sadly I think this is 100% accurate. Despite the fact that she started the answer to the question by saying that she has nothing against the Trust she went on to give a very good, and reasonable, explanation as to why she does - or could have.
I get the feeling that she cares much, much more about what the fans think that RD does. I don't think (and this is just my view) she would have any complaints from him if she were to announce that she did't want any interaction with the fans at all any more. I don't think she will do this, but the most emotional I thought she got all evening was when she talked about the fact that the Trust made demands and threats of and to her, personally.
It was suggested later on that with a few wins behind us this might be the atmosphere for her to contact the Trust to try to resolve any issues. She kind of nodded to this but I wasn't convinced that she will be making that call anytime soon.
"need to stop the obsession with Standard" Separate entity. Some sharing ie same wifi and pitch company for us and SL but own clubs.
Ground
Working on West stand this year then plan is to look at East the summer after. will look at a shelter for the back of the East. Will look at more bars etc in East but will be costly.
Fans bar. - we look at walk way from East to Fans bar
Renovating toilets. Q Can we have hot water "would be a huge investment"
Trust
"Want to improve communication on the business side. Press team very good on the football but need to do more on the business side
Asked about the Supporters Trust and not meeting with them
KM "no problem with them but feel blackmailed. Met with them in the summer for 1 and half hours, did an interview with them"
"We have met but have difficultly when they "instigate meetings against the club. Now they want to met me again". "I can't met with fans groups individually as would be doing 3 or 4 meeting a week".
"You don't demand meeting with the owner, its a problem of them respecting me, it's denigrating asking for meetings with the owner. which other clubs in this league do that?"
Delort
We did sit down with him in the summer. BP said that IV and AD would tear up the division. Had an agreement with him but not his club and then Wigan offered more money. Asked if he could be loaned here to us later in season but BP said "no, don't want him"
Players
Agents fill her email inbox and she doesn't answer call from numbers she doesn't recognised now.
Phil Chapple sets up meetings and does a lot but she is involved as players are biggest budget.
Joint effort with Phil. Fun but agents can be annoying. Ollie Muldoon's was ringing 10 times a day. Some ring at midnight on a Sunday.
Q Poyet back on loan? Not possible under BP BP didn't want him back as didn't want to play for us. Looked at it under GL
DP liked Riga but thinks his agent didn't want him to stay. Made offer and increased it but his agent didn't sit down with us to discuss.
No prize money based on final position in Championship unlike Prem. KM thinks this is wrong and has proposed change to FL
Budgeted for 62 points this season in terms of player bonuses. Would like to finish top ten which would be good after the upheaval this season.
Academy
Big part of plan RD over today to speak to and look around.
Very delicate time, crunch time. new planning permission and have to be careful in comms because of residents worries about metropolitian open land being developed and not setting a precedent for developers. Have to be delicate until first peg in ground. Planning stage very soon.
hard lesson learnt on Poyet. KAG and Gomez on 3 +1 deals which are longest possible. But young players ambitous. Plan is to keep them longer and get more value if we do sell but at older age and not under financial pressure.
Scouting
Year on realise the mistakes of early on. GL has said that Champ = top 5/6 in belgium and KM tells owner that. Assess if players will adapt to English football ie JBG. Looking for more Eng experience or adaptability. have learnt that.
Internal Fees
the owner decides and tries to be fair to both clubs
Internal deals
Easy with network clubs. Ask and get a straight and quick answer. With others not ie asked Spurs about Velkovic for next year and it was "we don't know, he might train with us pre-season, come back in august"
With Freddie and Yoni looking at now. Can plan ahead now we are safe.
I think that is it other than the traditional last two questions
Q Will you come back next year? A Yes, I'd love to
Q Where will we be in five years time A (after much prompting from KillerJerryLee "I HOPE, in the premiership"
"Want to improve communication on the business side. Press team very good on the football but need to do more on the business side
Asked about the Supporters Trust and not meeting with them
KM "no problem with them but feel blackmailed. Met with them in the summer for 1 and half hours, did an interview with them"
"We have met but have difficultly when they "instigate meetings against the club. Now they want to met me again". "I can't met with fans groups individually as would be doing 3 or 4 meeting a week".
"You don't demand meeting with the owner, its a problem of them respecting me, it's denigrating asking for meetings with the owner. which other clubs in this league do that?"
And thanks to Soap Box Sam, Kings Hill and the Kap for their input also.
Living as I do over the border in Cornwall, it's impossible to get to these meetings. It's really appreciated when people take the trouble to post their notes.
Initial thought is that she could have been better informed about the open meeting yes 'instigated' by the Trust, but not organised as an anti owner meeting. She has got that wrong, but if that is her perception then there is nothing to be done about that. I don't know if there was any discussion regarding attendances, but from the reports here mentioning respect and disrespect, I get the impression that because it is Roland's money, there remains a bit of a notion that fans ought to be not only realistic, but grateful and deferential. I was not at the meeting but I would have been tempted to press Katrien on the concept of 'my way or the highway' position which threads back to the Evening Standard article. It is nice to hear about Katriens affection for the club, and for those who encounter Katrien they, for the most part, develop an affection for her which is no surprise because on a personal level she is very charming indeed.
You got to laugh, the Trust get the blame for organising a meeting against the club. I dont think anyone who wanted to go / went to that meeting solely went as the Trust were "organising" it. She's wrong there.
And thanks to Soap Box Sam, Kings Hill and the Kap for their input also.
Living as I do over the border in Cornwall, it's impossible to get to these meetings. It's really appreciated when people take the trouble to post their notes.
You're welcome.
BA try to be inclusive both in allowing people from outside the borough to come along and giving out what information we can.
And personally I think it encourages more people to come along next time, not fewer.
My own view is that KM enjoyed the night. Not because she got a "soft ride" but because people asked sensible questions, she was challenged but she was listened to.
I think she also got something out of it in terms of what some fans think, what their issues and concerns are.
No1 in south london questioned her on articulating the ambition of the club to which she first re-acted by saying that she didn't want to set unrealistic expectations. But I think she as a result of the discussion she did ponder on the difference between making grand promises that can't be delivered (which no one wants) and setting an ambitious goal without that being a hard target against which she'll be measured. It's a fine line in any case.
And I think that after recent events it maybe gave her a more positive view of us fans.
And she had her photo taken with fans
And she put some money in for the upbeats
And she left to get the 10.33 train back to Victoria so she must be an Addick
Really good to see some of the 'concerns' put to bed by KM. Having read the above, from my point of view I think RD and KM have learned valuable lessons about our club/supporters and the Championship. Equally refreshing is that they are brave enough to admit they made mistakes. Hats off to them.
I think the tarmac on Henrys 'bumpy ride' has been smoothed out......for now.......!
I asked a question about the objectives of "a challenging Championship team" and "Breaking Even" and what was the time frame. I don't feel that the answer was very clear, except that "Break-Even" appears to be more of an aspiration than an objective and there was no specific timeframe.
The club is looking to retain the existing squad, but Eagles and Johnson will have to work to get a new contract, she is looking to bring in 2-3 players over the summer and bring in revenue from player sales, who are not involved in the first team squad. Like me the immediate response from one was that won't amount to much money, but its was then pointed out Polish Pete, Rezza and George (?).
She has a budget target each season for player sales, the budget for player purchases are flexible and next season a decision will be made based on possibility of promotion of what investment in players will be made in January.
Under Bob the players got to feel they were the "worst players in the world" and Bob could not turn the loss of confidence around. Pointed out that we are now winning in a better way than we were at the begining of the season.
Roland decides the transfer price, KM said she negotiates the best price. It did not appear that there is a specific transfer price policy.
She calls Roland to his face but calls him The Owner to "us" because we can't pronounce his name - its a sort of gutteral pronunciation.
Morning Kap. Those are the questions that most interest me so thanks for giving it a go.
Re the bit in bold above, does that refer to transfers within the network? Did you understand it to mean that, say, RD sets a price for, say, Tony Watt, and Katrien will try to push him down a bit (of course the quote price for TWWW is currently looking like a bargain, but I'm just trying to understand the system)
Sorry @prague had to go to Lidl!!! I did ask those with both you and I in mind.
That is my understanding, both yes it refers to within the network, and she negotiates with Roland. You just jogged my memory, the ownership of St T was raised and KM stated that the ground was owned by his partner but the club was owned by someone else - whom she referred to as "he" not sure what else she said on that.
I asked a question about the objectives of "a challenging Championship team" and "Breaking Even" and what was the time frame. I don't feel that the answer was very clear, except that "Break-Even" appears to be more of an aspiration than an objective and there was no specific timeframe.
The club is looking to retain the existing squad, but Eagles and Johnson will have to work to get a new contract, she is looking to bring in 2-3 players over the summer and bring in revenue from player sales, who are not involved in the first team squad. Like me the immediate response from one was that won't amount to much money, but its was then pointed out Polish Pete, Rezza and George (?).
She has a budget target each season for player sales, the budget for player purchases are flexible and next season a decision will be made based on possibility of promotion of what investment in players will be made in January.
Under Bob the players got to feel they were the "worst players in the world" and Bob could not turn the loss of confidence around. Pointed out that we are now winning in a better way than we were at the begining of the season.
Roland decides the transfer price, KM said she negotiates the best price. It did not appear that there is a specific transfer price policy.
She calls Roland to his face but calls him The Owner to "us" because we can't pronounce his name - its a sort of gutteral pronunciation.
Morning Kap. Those are the questions that most interest me so thanks for giving it a go.
Re the bit in bold above, does that refer to transfers within the network? Did you understand it to mean that, say, RD sets a price for, say, Tony Watt, and Katrien will try to push him down a bit (of course the quote price for TWWW is currently looking like a bargain, but I'm just trying to understand the system)
Sorry @prague had to go to Lidl!!! I did ask those with both you and I in mind.
That is my understanding, both yes it refers to within the network, and she negotiates with Roland. You just jogged my memory, the ownership of St T was raised and KM stated that the ground was owned by his partner but the club was owned by someone else - whom she referred to as "he" not sure what else she said on that.
Thanks Kap. Re the network transfers, that sounds close to how I imagined it in that well received :-) thread I started the other day. I wonder how the actual fee figures are calculated.
Good heads up re STVV, that indicates how he might fight the coming pressure from the Belgian FA if and when STVV get promoted.
I asked a question about the objectives of "a challenging Championship team" and "Breaking Even" and what was the time frame. I don't feel that the answer was very clear, except that "Break-Even" appears to be more of an aspiration than an objective and there was no specific timeframe.
The club is looking to retain the existing squad, but Eagles and Johnson will have to work to get a new contract, she is looking to bring in 2-3 players over the summer and bring in revenue from player sales, who are not involved in the first team squad. Like me the immediate response from one was that won't amount to much money, but its was then pointed out Polish Pete, Rezza and George (?).
She has a budget target each season for player sales, the budget for player purchases are flexible and next season a decision will be made based on possibility of promotion of what investment in players will be made in January.
Under Bob the players got to feel they were the "worst players in the world" and Bob could not turn the loss of confidence around. Pointed out that we are now winning in a better way than we were at the begining of the season.
Roland decides the transfer price, KM said she negotiates the best price. It did not appear that there is a specific transfer price policy.
She calls Roland to his face but calls him The Owner to "us" because we can't pronounce his name - its a sort of gutteral pronunciation.
Morning Kap. Those are the questions that most interest me so thanks for giving it a go.
Re the bit in bold above, does that refer to transfers within the network? Did you understand it to mean that, say, RD sets a price for, say, Tony Watt, and Katrien will try to push him down a bit (of course the quote price for TWWW is currently looking like a bargain, but I'm just trying to understand the system)
Sorry @prague had to go to Lidl!!! I did ask those with both you and I in mind.
That is my understanding, both yes it refers to within the network, and she negotiates with Roland. You just jogged my memory, the ownership of St T was raised and KM stated that the ground was owned by his partner but the club was owned by someone else - whom she referred to as "he" not sure what else she said on that.
Thanks Kap. Re the network transfers, that sounds close to how I imagined it in that well received :-) thread I started the other day. I wonder how the actual fee figures are calculated.
Good heads up re STVV, that indicates how he might fight the coming pressure from the Belgian FA if and when STVV get promoted.
Someone asked if the Leaguie would challenge unrealsitic fees (presumably fees must be declared to the Football league) but she said they did not challenge. So we could say that a player worth £10 million was bought for a £1.
Not sure if it was said above Rooolaaaand (:-) ) was over to talk to architects and others associated with the Sparrows development yesterday and there is work going to be done on the pitches at Sparrows.
Interesting point on the bonuses, as from that it would insinuate that play offs were never a target for this season
I'm not sure that would be the case. Surely you have to set an achievable level as players want a bonus. If you set it as say 90 points they'd be up in arms about not getting a bonus.
Comments
Katrien was in good form, helped no doubt by the fact that the team are doing well now.
It was no Love in (don't go there) But respect was shown, which helped her open up.
Insight into Roland or Olland (Flemish) is that he asked Katrien what was the best train ticket to buy to get to the valley ! ( yes,same thought came into my mind)
To hear that she loves her job and have fallen in love with Charlton must help when she tries to communicate with the owner.
She has met a lot of the CEO,s of other championship clubs and feels that they send a member of their staff not always themselves to supporters meetings.
I hope this is true that Guy Luzon is now loving his job and wouldn't go back to Standard for 3 times the wages he's earning at CAFC !
Katrien's take on Sexgate was funny when she said she might get sacked by RD because it was more explicit than she thought but because it went viral it worked.
"We have made mistakes but we need to MOVE ON" I knew she reads CL !
Great to chat to Fanny and Mr F, and a positive evening even thou Roland Duchatelet won't be pushing the boat out any time soon,
Now where did Roland put his senior Railcard.
Pornopromofor next season pitch hire.
I have no idea but I am inclined to believe that inter network transfer fees are not included in the club's budgets, so they are irrelevant, except for the purposes of FFP and Tax calculations in the different member states.
Without looking like an apologist for the network model Tony Watt has, in my view, put the network in credit for us. The players we signed last January didn't all work out, but we stayed up - which was the only realistic goal last season (ignoring the FA Cup, which we never expected to win anyway). Bulot and Buyerns have given good accounts of themselves, all be it not in every game they've played, and Tony Watt has been the best signing of the lot of them. In fact, apart from Tudadean, who I'm still not sure about, I don't think we have signed any players that haven't worked out at all this season.
I can't, personally, see any alternative to RD deciding the transfer fees between the network clubs. He, no doubt, decides which players will be allowed to move and on that basis, once he's made that decision KM and her equivalent have no negotiating power.
I get the feeling that she cares much, much more about what the fans think that RD does. I don't think (and this is just my view) she would have any complaints from him if she were to announce that she did't want any interaction with the fans at all any more. I don't think she will do this, but the most emotional I thought she got all evening was when she talked about the fact that the Trust made demands and threats of and to her, personally.
It was suggested later on that with a few wins behind us this might be the atmosphere for her to contact the Trust to try to resolve any issues. She kind of nodded to this but I wasn't convinced that she will be making that call anytime soon.
"need to stop the obsession with Standard" Separate entity. Some sharing ie same wifi and pitch company for us and SL but own clubs.
Ground
Working on West stand this year then plan is to look at East the summer after. will look at a shelter for the back of the East. Will look at more bars etc in East but will be costly.
Fans bar. - we look at walk way from East to Fans bar
Renovating toilets. Q Can we have hot water "would be a huge investment"
Trust
"Want to improve communication on the business side. Press team very good on the football but need to do more on the business side
Asked about the Supporters Trust and not meeting with them
KM "no problem with them but feel blackmailed. Met with them in the summer for 1 and half hours, did an interview with them"
"We have met but have difficultly when they "instigate meetings against the club. Now they want to met me again". "I can't met with fans groups individually as would be doing 3 or 4 meeting a week".
"You don't demand meeting with the owner, its a problem of them respecting me, it's denigrating asking for meetings with the owner. which other clubs in this league do that?"
Delort
We did sit down with him in the summer. BP said that IV and AD would tear up the division. Had an agreement with him but not his club and then Wigan offered more money. Asked if he could be loaned here to us later in season but BP said "no, don't want him"
Players
Agents fill her email inbox and she doesn't answer call from numbers she doesn't recognised now.
Phil Chapple sets up meetings and does a lot but she is involved as players are biggest budget.
Joint effort with Phil. Fun but agents can be annoying. Ollie Muldoon's was ringing 10 times a day. Some ring at midnight on a Sunday.
Q Poyet back on loan? Not possible under BP BP didn't want him back as didn't want to play for us. Looked at it under GL
DP liked Riga but thinks his agent didn't want him to stay. Made offer and increased it but his agent didn't sit down with us to discuss.
No prize money based on final position in Championship unlike Prem. KM thinks this is wrong and has proposed change to FL
Budgeted for 62 points this season in terms of player bonuses. Would like to finish top ten which would be good after the upheaval this season.
Academy
Big part of plan RD over today to speak to and look around.
Very delicate time, crunch time. new planning permission and have to be careful in comms because of residents worries about metropolitian open land being developed and not setting a precedent for developers. Have to be delicate until first peg in ground. Planning stage very soon.
hard lesson learnt on Poyet. KAG and Gomez on 3 +1 deals which are longest possible. But young players ambitous. Plan is to keep them longer and get more value if we do sell but at older age and not under financial pressure.
Scouting
Year on realise the mistakes of early on. GL has said that Champ = top 5/6 in belgium and KM tells owner that. Assess if players will adapt to English football ie JBG. Looking for more Eng experience or adaptability. have learnt that.
Internal Fees
the owner decides and tries to be fair to both clubs
Internal deals
Easy with network clubs. Ask and get a straight and quick answer. With others not ie asked Spurs about Velkovic for next year and it was "we don't know, he might train with us pre-season, come back in august"
With Freddie and Yoni looking at now. Can plan ahead now we are safe.
I think that is it other than the traditional last two questions
Q Will you come back next year? A Yes, I'd love to
Q Where will we be in five years time A (after much prompting from KillerJerryLee "I HOPE, in the premiership"
Not everything, but quite a lot covered that the Trust seem to want answers to - and not sure it's realistic to expect much more to be honest.
And thanks to Soap Box Sam, Kings Hill and the Kap for their input also.
Living as I do over the border in Cornwall, it's impossible to get to these meetings.
It's really appreciated when people take the trouble to post their notes.
Sounds like a very good evening. Congrats.
I don't know if there was any discussion regarding attendances, but from the reports here mentioning respect and disrespect, I get the impression that because it is Roland's money, there remains a bit of a notion that fans ought to be not only realistic, but grateful and deferential. I was not at the meeting but I would have been tempted to press Katrien on the concept of 'my way or the highway' position which threads back to the Evening Standard article.
It is nice to hear about Katriens affection for the club, and for those who encounter Katrien they, for the most part, develop an affection for her which is no surprise because on a personal level she is very charming indeed.
BA try to be inclusive both in allowing people from outside the borough to come along and giving out what information we can.
And personally I think it encourages more people to come along next time, not fewer.
My own view is that KM enjoyed the night. Not because she got a "soft ride" but because people asked sensible questions, she was challenged but she was listened to.
I think she also got something out of it in terms of what some fans think, what their issues and concerns are.
No1 in south london questioned her on articulating the ambition of the club to which she first re-acted by saying that she didn't want to set unrealistic expectations. But I think she as a result of the discussion she did ponder on the difference between making grand promises that can't be delivered (which no one wants) and setting an ambitious goal without that being a hard target against which she'll be measured. It's a fine line in any case.
And I think that after recent events it maybe gave her a more positive view of us fans.
And she had her photo taken with fans
And she put some money in for the upbeats
And she left to get the 10.33 train back to Victoria so she must be an Addick
Really good to see some of the 'concerns' put to bed by KM.
Having read the above, from my point of view I think RD and KM have learned valuable lessons about our club/supporters and the Championship. Equally refreshing is that they are brave enough to admit they made mistakes. Hats off to them.
I think the tarmac on Henrys 'bumpy ride' has been smoothed out......for now.......!
COYR's
That is my understanding, both yes it refers to within the network, and she negotiates with Roland. You just jogged my memory, the ownership of St T was raised and KM stated that the ground was owned by his partner but the club was owned by someone else - whom she referred to as "he" not sure what else she said on that.
Good heads up re STVV, that indicates how he might fight the coming pressure from the Belgian FA if and when STVV get promoted.
Just shows approach is everything.
Not sure if it was said above Rooolaaaand (:-) ) was over to talk to architects and others associated with the Sparrows development yesterday and there is work going to be done on the pitches at Sparrows.
Sounds like a good meeting, shame I couldn't make it.
I heard it as that was were the bonuses started. I assume that if we'd hit the play-offs that there would have been bigger bonuses.