(My personal interpretation of recent events Charlton)
RD bought CAFC as a Football Club, BUT, I would argue that it was never his intention to run it as one. (Hence never explaining his "plan")
I would suggest that it has always been his intention to make his profits by selling on footballers.
Invest in the Academy to attract the best youth prospects and showcase them in the first team early to attract the highest bidders.
Just look at how many were in the squad for the last match against MK Dons. The January Window approaches. Just observe how many he will force the coach to play in the upcoming weeks. We all know they are not ready but Roly wants his paydays; after all, he's coming up for retirement soon.
I would also guess that the supporters will not see the best of the youngsters in a Charlton team for longer than it takes to accept a good offer. No future then seeing the club build a successful side to compete on the pitch. Look at how quickly we lost our young star last year to Liverpool. Look at how poorly he has supported the strength of the team. Look at the poor quality of the coaches. ( Riga excepted; but strangely not retained).
He has regularly placed "yes men" (cheap, existing employees) in charge of the team who will readily carry out his choice of whom he wants on the field. (CP did not last long). Results are secondary. Get the assets seen and raise their value. Put another dutiful employee in charge as CEO to oversee the plan. Previous experience not necessary.
I am a football fan, a Charlton fan, and I want to see CAFC compete to do all they can to win games and to give the fans value for money. I am not interested in watching a millionaire make money using my club as a smokescreen to achieve his personal goals which have nothing to do with the traditional aspirations of an honest football club.
My fear is I cannot see this owner changing.
We may be witnessing the crude dismantling of our football club right in front of our eyes
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Not this season.
JBG and Cousins value, must of fallen through the floor in the last 10 games.
On the subject of signings so far, has anybody yet got a rational explanation for the LePoint fiasco?
The theory is also flawed because the value of players is higher the higher up they play. To gamble to just about stay up is to make relegation certain. Indeed just as the best form of defence is attack, the best way to avoid relegation is to go for promotion....credibly go for it.
The theory is also flawed because of the recruitment and assessment of players based on some kind of technical analysis stripped bare of any nous, shrewdness and common sense. Players have to be considered as the complete package, not assessed only by how many successful left footed passes they complete in the second half of matches.
In order for players to develop, or even arrive and leave again having benefitted during their stay, there has to be some kind of credible football club for them to participate in. meaningful games, aspirations shared by all, playing at the highest level possible whilst here a genuine target for all. And one that is pursued with some kind of credible strategy and some kind of credible staff to carry it out.
Charlton Athletic being an assembly line might make demonstrable sense on a spread sheet or to Alan Turing, but it does not make common sense to anybody that knows football, let alone Charlton Athletic.
Developing players is good, and has been good for us throughout our history, but without the wrap around of the whole club and all that that implies, developing players alone is doomed to failure.
I think We're missing something.
It is doomed to failure but maybe the visionary is convinced it will succeed and he simply ploughs on.
All clubs know that to survive you have to bring through youngsters and sell them on for profit
Has anyone identified the turning point which led to RD leaving Standard Liege? Was it the offer he received to sell it; the physical confrontation with the fans in his office; the increasing bad publicity caused by the protesting Standard fans or something else?
If we want him to go to preserve our club we would do well to find out.
Can the Standard Liege fans who read this site tell us what they think happened to persuade him to go? They went through the pain we are currently experiencing and they may be able to point the way?
What I don’t understand is why he’d want to prove a point by making a (small) profit. This would only be achievable as a one-off, with the sale of another Gomez for £10m plus. And who is he trying to prove a point to? Why give away people like Morrison? If by miracle he did succeed, who gives a damn?
We really must be some sort of vanity project. He’s worth half a billion or whatever so a small profit once or twice would be like me getting 3 balls on the lottery. Going by the Trust interview he thinks of himself as some sort of maverick, philosopher and visionary, and in that case why would he listen to plebs like us? He particularly despises those who complain online.
Otherwise the only ‘plan’ I see is a peninsula move and in the meantime he’s spending the minimum. He’s turned Sint Truiden’s ground into a 7-day function centre, maybe he’d like a hotel near the O2 for all those gig goers? It’s no more odd-ball than any other ideas.
Or maybe he really is just barking mad.