@MickCollins comment is persuasively argued as usual, and I am certainly not going to claim that Riga is the best person we could and should have hired at this point.
However Mick's narrative has glossed over one small but important aspect of what we understood to have happened since Fraeye was finally booted out. We understood, from Richard Cawley was it not, that Riga was first lined up before the Ujpest guy. Somebody, authoritative enough for Cawley to take seriously, briefed him on that. Then it did not happen and Riga put out a statement saying he had not heard anything.
I would like to know more about this episode. At the time people surmised that at first Riga had dug his heels in before agreeing (although his reported statement goes against that).
I wonder, Mick, whether you can clarify this episode, and indeed if you know more about why the Ujpest guy did not come. Certainly in Hungary it is believed that he turned it down, although here in the centre of the universe the preferred narrative is that the regime bottled it in the face of the ferocious backlash on Charlton Life.
I understand you may not feel able to write freely but it would be good to get any insights you can provide, so that we understand better how this mad regime works.
I understand that our Katrien said that she would resign if the Hungarian was appointed and that also his son advised him not to take it because of the toxicity that surrounds the club (no doubt amongst other things). I also understand that Riga drove to Roland's house and pimped himself to get the job!!
Well that's a revelation no-one seems to have picked up on. It doesn't surprise me, but that's a definite sign of someone lacking the heart to face the inevitable barrage she would receive.
Wonder how she'd cope with an extended protest campaign...
I've heard something similar re KM and RM, but Riga isn't what was happening Wednesday night either. I also think it shows that the shitstorm heading their way can influence outcomes.
Curiouser & curiouser !
I REALLY wish you'd be less enigmatic, AB !
Not intentional. I simply heard that KM and RM realised that appointing Nobby Vinegar would bring the house down and declined to be buried in the rubble while RD sat in Belgium stroking his cat. KM then announced her "search" for the third time, externally and to the football staff, but the next morning RD imposed Riga, who wasn't seen by the others to be as big a problem.
Just imagine if we had lost 6-0 on Saturday under the Serb!
I've never heard it referred to as that before Airman..................Oh you're likening him to Bloefeld
I believe @Desperate_Pete is just another @PL54 but with a different, more florid style.
The thing with Fraeye is quite simple. Football is no different to any other profession. It is all very well giving young people a chance but if you put them in something way beyond their experience and without you being available and willing to mentor them, they will crash and burn. That is the situation with both him and Meire.
Would he put a young bloke who has previously been a CEO of a tiny single unit electronics manufacture in Poland, in charge of his global micro-electronics business? Would he hell.
It's not rocket science...
Prague, you cannot believe how disappointed I am with you with this post. If you think that I am a wind up merchant for contributing some actual facts to this forum rather than random and erroneous opinions then you are very wrong. My intentions are only to add to the knowledge of the forum but if you or others want to dismiss me then fine. It is a little sad though if one is always questioned about ones motives and identity just because the information does not fit the common narrative. I would like to meet you and have a friendly chat about it if you don't mind. I am a Trust member and have been going to the Valley longer than most on this forum.
I believe Desperate_Pete is credible, and saying it as he sees it. I think that Karel like Katrien has pleasant personal qualities, and an individual narrative. I also think that Karel and Katrien are both not up to the job they both felt they could handle. It may also be a factor that Karel and Katrien look for others to blame, or at least to share the responsibility. However they were both the figureheads and can't expect to have just the good bits of the job, but they have to face the whole job. Desperate_Pete may have information passed to him by Karel that is both credible, and objectively true. The rest of us don't know what that information is, so we judge as we find.
I still think its also true that Karel and Katrien got shafted (repeatedly) by Roland. Neither are up to the job they have been/were assigned, but Roland seems a nightmare to work for - twice now it seems KM has been cleared to announce a managerial search only for Roland to appoint someone over her head the next day.
However experienced you are, it is very hard to middle manage when senior management keeps changing its mind.
The owner does it his way and the fans employees need to accept it.
Which of course is the reality we all face to some degree in whatever jobs we have I.e. The big boss always has the last say whether or not they are judged to be right or wrong.
For me the activities in January are indicative that elements of the way the club is run are potentially starting to change but only if I look from a glass half full perspective, and only if I am willing to accept its got to be one step at a time and over a longer period to demonstrate that the key footballing concerns over player recruitment may be a little different and a commitment of 18 months to a manager may be honoured. On the other hand you might still say too little too late.
I personally am not convinced one way or the other yet but if KM and or RM have threatened to resign then that is a positive surely given the compromise with Riga that seems to have resulted in.
My reservation with the protest now is what you realistically expect RD to do from this point on (as we can't change the past) and assuming he does not yet wish to sell up.
Or is your view that no compromise is desired or acceptable from RD?
The real Problem is Duchatelet was still prepared to hire the Serb with no experience after the debacle of Karel Fraeye, and only after the news was going to break did someone in London get through to him and say this could be a move too far. Was it Murray Or Meire, Jackson or even Fraeye himself who made contact with the bunker in Brussels and talked to RD.
Because someone did. Or Did Duchatelet hear the laughter that was coming from Hungary, Serbia, and Montenegro that was emanating from social media who couldn't see how the Serb could possibly manage a championship team having had his best success with a hockey team.
I still think its also true that Karel and Katrien got shafted (repeatedly) by Roland. Neither are up to the job they have been/were assigned, but Roland seems a nightmare to work for - twice now it seems KM has been cleared to announce a managerial search only for Roland to appoint someone over her head the next day.
However experienced you are, it is very hard to middle manage when senior management keeps changing its mind.
Well, just resign and go and get a job for a better boss elsewhere then.
I still think its also true that Karel and Katrien got shafted (repeatedly) by Roland. Neither are up to the job they have been/were assigned, but Roland seems a nightmare to work for - twice now it seems KM has been cleared to announce a managerial search only for Roland to appoint someone over her head the next day.
However experienced you are, it is very hard to middle manage when senior management keeps changing its mind.
Well, just resign and go and get a job for a better boss elsewhere then.
No one forces her to work for Roland. Yes it's a fantastic opportunity and a way out of the dullard corporate world which most of us would jump at and then cling onto but at what cost? Loss of dignity and self respect?
There's a big difference between toeing the party PR line whilst carrying out orders from above and the blatant lying and manipulative spin that has been delivered fron behind a thinly veiled layer of contempt throughout the latter part of her executive tenure.
She's a fully qualified high profile corporate lawyer who could walk into another job in the city by lunch time. She's chose to stay and chooses to lie, disregard and disrespect Charlton supporters each time and that is where any initial sympathy I may have held for her "predicament" is eroded.
Comments
I think that Karel like Katrien has pleasant personal qualities, and an individual narrative. I also think that Karel and Katrien are both not up to the job they both felt they could handle.
It may also be a factor that Karel and Katrien look for others to blame, or at least to share the responsibility. However they were both the figureheads and can't expect to have just the good bits of the job, but they have to face the whole job.
Desperate_Pete may have information passed to him by Karel that is both credible, and objectively true. The rest of us don't know what that information is, so we judge as we find.
1. Tony Watt starts on Saturday
2. He joins the protests after the game
However experienced you are, it is very hard to middle manage when senior management keeps changing its mind.
fansemployees need to accept it.For me the activities in January are indicative that elements of the way the club is run are potentially starting to change but only if I look from a glass half full perspective, and only if I am willing to accept its got to be one step at a time and over a longer period to demonstrate that the key footballing concerns over player recruitment may be a little different and a commitment of 18 months to a manager may be honoured. On the other hand you might still say too little too late.
I personally am not convinced one way or the other yet but if KM and or RM have threatened to resign then that is a positive surely given the compromise with Riga that seems to have resulted in.
My reservation with the protest now is what you realistically expect RD to do from this point on (as we can't change the past) and assuming he does not yet wish to sell up.
Or is your view that no compromise is desired or acceptable from RD?
himself who made contact with the bunker in Brussels and talked to RD.
Because someone did.
Or Did Duchatelet hear the laughter that was coming from Hungary, Serbia, and Montenegro that was emanating from social media who couldn't see how the Serb could possibly manage a championship team having had his best success with a hockey team.
The Puck should stop at Duchatelet door.
He has already had to work for c*nts so he has that experience.
It's the perfect appointment and realistically the only one that would have worked. Yes the regime is the c*nt I'm talking about .....but also oysten.
Riga...can you be a hero a second time? Can you?
I will give Riga, as a person, the benefit of the doubt.
I might be wrong but I think he has Charlton in his heart more then seeing it purely as a job.
He and the regime is still a package though, with regret, when the regime goes i want him gone too. (If he is still here)
There's a big difference between toeing the party PR line whilst carrying out orders from above and the blatant lying and manipulative spin that has been delivered fron behind a thinly veiled layer of contempt throughout the latter part of her executive tenure.
She's a fully qualified high profile corporate lawyer who could walk into another job in the city by lunch time. She's chose to stay and chooses to lie, disregard and disrespect Charlton supporters each time and that is where any initial sympathy I may have held for her "predicament" is eroded.