The worst...no. The most inept? Yes by a country mile. With the marvellous exception of the premiership years (most of them anyway), the ownership record is not good. My old man died in 1995 and has missed the highs and very lows but probably wouldn't be that surprised by the latest bunch of misfits. His pet hate was the younger Glikstien (who, it was rumoured, had at one point toyed with us moving to Milton Keynes long before the franchise). The fantastic potential of success on the field and huge potential fan base built before and after the Second World War was frittered away through the late fifties and sixties, leaving a slowly rotting husk of a ground and teams which sometimes entertained but often struggled in the old second division. Even in the recent glory years, we were condemned to being seen as a 'small club' punching above its weight. Now we are a plaything of a distant owner who is putting money in - but in the wrong places. The most depressing thought for me is that if this joker sells on, history tells us the odds are stacked on another bunch of idiots taking over.
Could have been Josh Harris who has just bought 70% of Palace with another person for £100m, £50m of which will go on players. But that is right, according to Murray, he was not right for us
When did Murray say that?
I understood that Harris never made any bid. Just as he didnt bid at a couple of other clubs he was linked to. And these Yanks never spend big, so Ill believe those figures when they are reality
If you are right, I owe Murray an apology, I know I read at the time, somewhere, that he wasn't suitable for the club. True or not, who knows with these rumours
No. Was never "officially" revealed who our last owner was and he just pulled the plug leaving us in the lurch and so can go fuck himself for that whoever it was.
Think that anonymity meant he escaped criticism . Just another non- football prick in it to make a quick buck out of a club and leaving before realising he wouldn't.... probably based on fabrications he'd been told.
Can't say this lot are worse than that really. That might change if they end up dragging us down the leagues slowly or just cutting the funding overnight when he gets bored of his weird little experiment and realises it's not working which is a big concern.
No. Was never "officially" revealed who our last owner was and he just pulled the plug leaving us in the lurch and so can go fuck himself for that whoever it was.
Think that anonymity meant he escaped criticism . Just another non- football prick in it to make a quick buck out of a club and leaving before realising he wouldn't.... probably based on fabrications he'd been told.
Can't say this lot are worse than that really. That might change if they end up dragging us down the leagues slowly or just cutting the funding overnight when he gets bored of his weird little experiment and realises it's not working which is a big concern.
This is what will happen.
RD will not make a graceful exit.
My thoughts also.
I am guessing it will be along the lines of his exit from Standard Liege, asset strip the playing staff and cash in on any player who can generate a decent fee, leave us with the bare bones and sell the club on to the next millionaire who is willing to flush their money down the drain chasing the football dream!
People forget Gliksten who pulled the valley from under our feet because of massive full out with Hulyer
The Glikstens overall brought football success The Valley. 76000. Firmani. FA Cup. League runners up. Bartram. Leary. Hales. Campbell. Curtis etc etc.
Ie a FOOTBALL OBJECTIVE just like all the others except this leech.
Eg Hulyer went for the football stars not a break even and personal gain. He gave us Simonsen, a Chief on the Board etc. FOOTBALL OBJECTIVE
Eg Frier and Sunley had FOOTBALL AIMS. They brought Lennie, Humphrey ,top division football etc (even though I didn't go to Sellout)
It was nice having the worlds best footballer at Charlton for a few games. Shame Hulyer couldn't work out how to pay him for his services.
All well and good watching top flight football but you are going to watch it from some other dump because the owners were more interested in letting the ground go to ruin and then sell on.
I went to S******** and Upton Park and even though we were doing well on the pitch we were sleeping on someone else's sofa all the time. And that was horrible.
Could have been Josh Harris who has just bought 70% of Palace with another person for £100m, £50m of which will go on players. But that is right, according to Murray, he was not right for us
When did Murray say that?
I understood that Harris never made any bid. Just as he didnt bid at a couple of other clubs he was linked to. And these Yanks never spend big, so Ill believe those figures when they are reality
If you are right, I owe Murray an apology, I know I read at the time, somewhere, that he wasn't suitable for the club. True or not, who knows with these rumours
Well, I don't remember him saying it anywhere, but maybe he did. I got the Harris info from more than one source, though. I also have now read that Harris and his mate have only proposed to buy 36% and it still hasn't gone through yet.
Difficult to say but he certainly has no empathy with the fans, couldn't give a monkeys about our history and seems hell bent on doing things his way and his way only. However, he must have realised by now that things are not working and the club is on a downward spiral, supporters unhappy and leaving in their droves. Surely as a successful businessman he must realise that this is not the way to run a business, so, the question remains....... what exactly are his aims with CAFC??
Interesting thread here. It is a given that all owners have power and control -it is how they use their power and to what end, that defines them. The Glikstein family certainly had control in the 40s,50s,& 60's. Following the success of the post war years the main complaint about Glikstein senior and junior was that they allowed to let the valley go into a general state of decline. They did however as has already been said pay proper attention to matters on the field . Following the decision by the then manager Frank Hill to transfer Stuart Leary I somewhat foolishly organised a protest at the rear of the west stand.(familiar) After all of the usual chanting the few of us assembled were then joined by a much more noisy group who were giving vent to their hatred of Glikstein and anyone else who happened to be Jewish. I learned my lesson there and then about protests - no power or control whatsoever here, and I left shamefaced.
Thankfully we now live in more enlightened times - the present owners nationality attracts attention but so far thank goodness not his ethnicity. I cannot think that his nationality tells us anything about his overall motives or his beliefs about how a football club should be managed. If he believes however, that by being remote , unapproachable , and being the cause of such general frustration he is not a person of these times and he will go down in history as being the worst by a long way. He is treating us like serfs . If the 50s, 60s and 70's were the unenlightened years of racism - in the enlightened years of now it should be a given that we are treated always with respect. We should not settle for anything less.
He may or may not prove to be the worst owner we've had. One thing for sure he's the most dispiriting owner I've known, I go back to Gliksten. He's appointed the most incompetent CEO we've ever had and is sticking by her. The fact that they appear determined to carry on in the same way, without seeing anything wrong with the way they're running the club, that's what's killing it for me. Judging by Diarra's interview the team is losing heart, and this time a change of head coach, probably in January, one Belgian for another, will add to that feeling.
The reality is that less people want to come to the ground since 1998. As a business owner the only thing that matters is your customers. On that basis he is the worst owner in the past 17 years at least.
The reality is that less people want to come to the ground since 1998. As a business owner the only thing that matters is your customers. On that basis he is the worst owner in the past 17 years at least.
I suppose it is only a rumour, but I just heard that KF said he wanted to see a blanket of red when the players came out, so RD thought , if I piss the fans off, there will be plenty of empty red seats. Job done
If RD is the worst ever Charlton have been lucky. Before moving here and supporting the local team I grew up in Coventry. Try Geoffrey Robinson and later Sisu Capital for owners who want to nick every asset the club had while giving not one drop of respect to the fans or the quality of the football.
Original Glickstens never developed The Valley and pocketed the dough. Big lost opportunity. Michael Glicksten ran the club down so that we became a joke. Hulmer was over ambitious and we nearly went bust. Frier rescued us but took us to Sellout. If Lennie hadn't performed miracles we would probably have disappeared. Jiminez and Slater were front men without a bean and we might have faced admin but for RD. Duchatelet treats us like a distant project. We will be lucky to avoid relegation but will avoid administration. Trouble is we are now a soulless club with West Ham about to pinch our potential support, so we could end up a bit like Leyton Orient. I think all the above owners are equally inept.
The fundamental reason being that Roland does not give a toss about the playing side.
The others did but for varying reasons were inept. Michael Gliksten was 23, younger than Chris Solly is now to put in perspective, when he became chairman on the death of his father Stanley in 1962. With the benefit of hindsight it was inevitable at such a young age that he would make a few cock ups along the way. The operative word being cock up not deliberate policy.
Hulyer was a fan and a fantasist living the dream who got out of his depth. Yes he damn near destroyed the Club but his motives were good. He just tried to bring instant success by spending money he didn't have without thinking through the full consequences. Again he was under thirty. Younger than Johnnie Jackson and Alou Diarra.
Fryer was the nearest to Duchatelet in that he didn't give a f*** about the Club's heritage - hence trying to develop The Valley and shifting us to Croydon - but even he cared about the football side on the pitch to a point and supported Lennie Lawrence's astute player recruitment policy.
Alwen laid the foundations of our return and Murray and Simons saw it through and appointed the great Alan Curbishley along the way and importantly gave him time to build up the playing side and achieve what was monumental playing success in Charlton terms.
Slater and Jiminez started well but lost their banker. Again they wanted to progress the playing side.
We are back to where I came in. Duchatelet and his henchperson Meire care nothing for the heritage of our great club on or off the pitch and view anyone that does so with contempt especially if they are getting on in years.
Therefore he is the worst owner of my time without a shadow of a doubt in my opinion.
Agree with Len. I have seen it all since 1961, but never the apparent disregard for the club and supporters. KD and RD appear to relish taking the club their way, which is down. We have always appointed managers that gave us the expectation they could succeed. Since CP all are inexperienced that we know are not up to the job- why does RD not know this. The gimmicks of KM are embarrassing, but then she appears to know no better. As others have said other owners took over with the intention( sometimes misguided) that they were going to advance the club to great things. Luck does play a big part but when Roger Alwen walked through the gates at the newly opened Valley we were all behind him. It then got better and better for us. If RD was an owner that funded the club and let others that knew how to do it( certainly not KM) run the club with a proper experienced manager we may have a chance.
If the Perception by lots of the Fans/supporters/customers/critics are that Roland is the worst owner; then he is the worst owner. Because they are so bad at PR, they have lost the hearts and minds of the CAFC public. Katrien's trust with the majority of fans is so poor now that if she said good morning, you would check your watch to make sure. Lord Lucan has been spotted more times at the valley than Duchatelet. This is the most dispirited the fan base has been since we were mid table in League 1 and we'd just lost to the daggers.
We could implode soon and lose generations of fans, never too return, some will buy a ticket at the Olympic Stadium to watch Prem football as a neutral. I couldn't do that myself, but the idea of turning us into a small family club in London is shocking, because before they came we were a medium size family club in London !
If RD is the worst ever Charlton have been lucky. Before moving here and supporting the local team I grew up in Coventry. Try Geoffrey Robinson and later Sisu Capital for owners who want to nick every asset the club had while giving not one drop of respect to the fans or the quality of the football.
I dont really think it matter whether he's the worst owner or not on whatever scale you're using.
What we do know is that he's not a good owner and shes not a good CEO. Frankly they're both right up there in taking us into what feel like the darkest times for a long while.
It isn’t the darkness of the times we are now that worries me most, but the darkness of the times yet to come. I haven’t heard anything to re-assure me. One of the most inept Powerpoint presentations I have seen and a feeble Q&A may have been an attempt to communicate, but it only worried me all the more. Incompetence and arrogance are a recipe for disaster and this regime has big helpings of both.
I dont really think it matter whether he's the worst owner or not on whatever scale you're using.
What we do know is that he's not a good owner and shes not a good CEO. Frankly they're both right up there in taking us into what feel like the darkest times for a long while.
I think by whatever measure you chose to adopt RD is definitely not the worst.
His plan / vision or whatever you want to call it is unorthodox and most definitely won't work but he has invested in the infrastructure of the club and showed that he is willing to spend more money on players than anyone in our history apart from Murray when we had a few quid in the PL.
He doesn't get football so the glaring errors that he makes which stick out to us just pass him by.
In my supporting years we've had the Gliksteins who almost criminally allowed the Valley to run down to the point if it being an unsafe dump. It's not even as if money was spent on the team.
Hulyer was not wealthy enough to last albeit I think he had good intentions.
Fryer will never be forgiven for his betrayal of the club.
Murray still remains our best ever but as we all know in the end he too just wasn't rich enough.
The spivs were chancers although if the "Cash" backer had stayed on board I think we would be playing in the PL by now or at least challanging.
RD saved us from possible oblivion and we remain fireproof from administration. No idea where we will end up with him but I believe the club will survive to be sold on at some point. Three years ago I was seriously worried that it wouldn't.
Comments
RD will not make a graceful exit.
I am guessing it will be along the lines of his exit from Standard Liege, asset strip the playing staff and cash in on any player who can generate a decent fee, leave us with the bare bones and sell the club on to the next millionaire who is willing to flush their money down the drain chasing the football dream!
Starting with Lookman in January.
All well and good watching top flight football but you are going to watch it from some other dump because the owners were more interested in letting the ground go to ruin and then sell on.
I went to S******** and Upton Park and even though we were doing well on the pitch we were sleeping on someone else's sofa all the time. And that was horrible.
Thankfully we now live in more enlightened times - the present owners nationality attracts attention but so far thank goodness not his ethnicity. I cannot think that his nationality tells us anything about his overall motives or his beliefs about how a football club should be managed. If he believes however, that by being remote , unapproachable , and being the cause of such general frustration he is not a person of these times and he will go down in history as being the worst by a long way. He is treating us like serfs . If the 50s, 60s and 70's were the unenlightened years of racism - in the enlightened years of now it should be a given that we are treated always with respect. We should not settle for anything less.
2014 16.134
2013 18.499
2012 17.402
2011 15.582
2010 17.606
2009 20.894
2008 23.159
2007 26.195
2006 26.196
2005 26.403
2004 26.293
2003 26.256
2002 24.165
2001 20.023
2000 19.558
1999 19.816
1998 13.275
1997 11.081
Av attendances http://www.european-football-statistics.co.uk
Roland is surely the worst ever!!!
The Glikstein's reign is not so straightforward
Michael Glicksten ran the club down so that we became a joke.
Hulmer was over ambitious and we nearly went bust.
Frier rescued us but took us to Sellout. If Lennie hadn't performed miracles we would probably have disappeared.
Jiminez and Slater were front men without a bean and we might have faced admin but for RD.
Duchatelet treats us like a distant project. We will be lucky to avoid relegation but will avoid administration. Trouble is we are now a soulless club with West Ham about to pinch our potential support, so we could end up a bit like Leyton Orient.
I think all the above owners are equally inept.
The fundamental reason being that Roland does not give a toss about the playing side.
The others did but for varying reasons were inept. Michael Gliksten was 23, younger than Chris Solly is now to put in perspective, when he became chairman on the death of his father Stanley in 1962. With the benefit of hindsight it was inevitable at such a young age that he would make a few cock ups along the way. The operative word being cock up not deliberate policy.
Hulyer was a fan and a fantasist living the dream who got out of his depth. Yes he damn near destroyed the Club but his motives were good. He just tried to bring instant success by spending money he didn't have without thinking through the full consequences. Again he was under thirty. Younger than Johnnie Jackson and Alou Diarra.
Fryer was the nearest to Duchatelet in that he didn't give a f*** about the Club's heritage - hence trying to develop The Valley and shifting us to Croydon - but even he cared about the football side on the pitch to a point and supported Lennie Lawrence's astute player recruitment policy.
Alwen laid the foundations of our return and Murray and Simons saw it through and appointed the great Alan Curbishley along the way and importantly gave him time to build up the playing side and achieve what was monumental playing success in Charlton terms.
Slater and Jiminez started well but lost their banker. Again they wanted to progress the playing side.
We are back to where I came in. Duchatelet and his henchperson Meire care nothing for the heritage of our great club on or off the pitch and view anyone that does so with contempt especially if they are getting on in years.
Therefore he is the worst owner of my time without a shadow of a doubt in my opinion.
KD and RD appear to relish taking the club their way, which is down.
We have always appointed managers that gave us the expectation they could succeed. Since CP all are inexperienced that we know are not up to the job- why does RD not know this.
The gimmicks of KM are embarrassing, but then she appears to know no better.
As others have said other owners took over with the intention( sometimes misguided) that they were going to advance the club to great things.
Luck does play a big part but when Roger Alwen walked through the gates at the newly opened Valley we were all behind him. It then got better and better for us.
If RD was an owner that funded the club and let others that knew how to do it( certainly not KM) run the club with a proper experienced manager we may have a chance.
are that Roland is the worst owner; then he is the worst owner.
Because they are so bad at PR, they have lost the hearts and minds of the CAFC public.
Katrien's trust with the majority of fans is so poor now that if she said good morning, you would check your watch to make sure.
Lord Lucan has been spotted more times at the valley than Duchatelet.
This is the most dispirited the fan base has been since we were mid table in League 1 and we'd just lost to the daggers.
We could implode soon and lose generations of fans, never too return,
some will buy a ticket at the Olympic Stadium to watch Prem football as a neutral.
I couldn't do that myself, but the idea of turning us into a small family club in London is shocking, because before they came we were a medium size family club in London !
What we do know is that he's not a good owner and shes not a good CEO. Frankly they're both right up there in taking us into what feel like the darkest times for a long while.
His plan / vision or whatever you want to call it is unorthodox and most definitely won't work but he has invested in the infrastructure of the club and showed that he is willing to spend more money on players than anyone in our history apart from Murray when we had a few quid in the PL.
He doesn't get football so the glaring errors that he makes which stick out to us just pass him by.
In my supporting years we've had the Gliksteins who almost criminally allowed the Valley to run down to the point if it being an unsafe dump. It's not even as if money was spent on the team.
Hulyer was not wealthy enough to last albeit I think he had good intentions.
Fryer will never be forgiven for his betrayal of the club.
Murray still remains our best ever but as we all know in the end he too just wasn't rich enough.
The spivs were chancers although if the "Cash" backer had stayed on board I think we would be playing in the PL by now or at least challanging.
RD saved us from possible oblivion and we remain fireproof from administration. No idea where we will end up with him but I believe the club will survive to be sold on at some point. Three years ago I was seriously worried that it wouldn't.
No way is RD the worst.