Roland's overriding concern is to protect HIS money investment in the club. Totally understandable.
His knowledge of football is extremely limited (and extremely worrying for a club owner). He places an inordinate importance on "player stats" and reveals to me a naive and inadequate understanding of the essential requirements when buying and selling players. He saves money by employing cheap, unqualified employees who are able to convince him they know all about football and recognise tight budgeting is the major prioity for his strategy to work.
He is content then to allow his "yes men" to run the football side of HIS overall investment portfolio whilst he concentrates on the more important things in his life. It suits him to have an arms-length involvement so, satisfied he has the right people in place, he tends to believe everything his trusted employees tell him (which must be "everything is fine"). More than happy to hear this he carries on with his life (and replaces his head in the sand).
Only after serious national and international publicity does he wake up to the self inflicted crisis which is Charlton Athletic. Only then do we see him at The Valley to take part in a series of hurried press interviews to save some face. The content of his interviews shows an alarming insight into his inadequate understanding of even the basic requirements of running a Championship football club and his failure to offer any posiitve and immediate remedies to halt the rapid decline of the club.
A man like this will need to make a serious U turn in the way he runs the club...... or just get out.
(Nice photos,...........do you feel as bad as you look?)
The interviews - well, not really interviews, more like statements in the guise of interviews, as is the case with most such offerings from the central command at The Valley - are clearly designed to try to win over the middle group who are unhappy but not yet protesting. He knows he has lost the hardcore.
It's interesting it's taken him so long to come out and defend Squirrel Face. And the fact it was a flying visit with a newspaper where he was guaranteed to get as much room as he demanded suggests he was asked by Meire/Murray to break cover and say something to back the regime. He claims he is committed. But not enough to actually turn up and take the fire he is expecting his puppets to take.
What he said was something I would have expected to read on the club website. I would not be surprised if he insisted the questions were submitted in advance. And what was the point of him coming over on a day trip? Just for the photo of him looking like the grim reaper against a Valley backdrop?
For me the most revealing comments from the owner are:
‘....it is more difficult for them to detect what the reasons are than me, they don’t know all the information that I have about what is going wrong - what led to this kind of situation....’ and ‘....they (the fans) are not in a position to understand everything....’ and ‘We got into trouble mainly because we had so many injuries and the squad size was not sufficient to cope with that high number in the first place. There were other reasons as well’
For which I'd read that there were more issues with Luzon than we knew about. My guess would be that Luzon was stubborn and insisted that he would dig the club out of the hole it was sliding into without help from third parties and without recalling players from loan to plug gaps (Harriott, Lennon for example). And that because Luzon had some prior success with Israel U21 and Standard Liege RD felt uncertain about dumping him earlier.
Re: a takeover plan from a mystery backer: ‘Such enquiries from middlemen we get every couple of weeks’
Disparaging put down of the Varney approach. But, there again, we don't know who the potential buyers might be or how much money they would have or what their timescale might have been, or anything actually. Better the devil you know?
‘Charlton can regain the importance in London of one of the nicest clubs in the country’
Poor thing to say. I don't particularly want Charlton to be a 'nice' club. I'd prefer it if we were, but survival in the Championship and a tilt at the Premiership a la Watford/Swansea/Southampton/Leicester would be much better than just being a nice (little) club - like Barnet or Ebbsfleet. Hope he was trying to say something else and it got lost in translation.
For me the most revealing comments from the owner are:
‘....it is more difficult for them to detect what the reasons are than me, they don’t know all the information that I have about what is going wrong - what led to this kind of situation....’ and ‘....they (the fans) are not in a position to understand everything....’ and ‘We got into trouble mainly because we had so many injuries and the squad size was not sufficient to cope with that high number in the first place. There were other reasons as well’
For which I'd read that there were more issues with Luzon than we knew about. My guess would be that Luzon was stubborn and insisted that he would dig the club out of the hole it was sliding into without help from third parties and without recalling players from loan to plug gaps (Harriott, Lennon for example). And that because Luzon had some prior success with Israel U21 and Standard Liege RD felt uncertain about dumping him earlier.
Re: a takeover plan from a mystery backer: ‘Such enquiries from middlemen we get every couple of weeks’
Disparaging put down of the Varney approach. But, there again, we don't know who the potential buyers might be or how much money they would have or what their timescale might have been, or anything actually. Better the devil you know?
‘Charlton can regain the importance in London of one of the nicest clubs in the country’
Poor thing to say. I don't particularly want Charlton to be a 'nice' club. I'd prefer it if we were, but survival in the Championship and a tilt at the Premiership a la Watford/Swansea/Southampton/Leicester would be much better than just being a nice (little) club - like Barnet or Ebbsfleet. Hope he was trying to say something else and it got lost in translation.
Sadly, I don't agree.
I'd read the talk of "reasons" as Duchatelet trying to make it seem as if the difficulties this season were not directly related to having a paper thin squad, Luzon may have been stubborn, but it's equally likely to have been that (as he had intimated in the summer) he wanted to make more signings.
For the rest, I would suggest that he chose the words used carefully, he wants to make fans think there was no substance to the Varney approach, and being one of the nicest clubs in the country chimes exactly with Meire's unique proposition, expounded at the Web Summit.
I'd expect any boss to back his appointment to the public, although he may or may not be ripping her a new A****** in private (Steady Mr Mehmet). I honestly believe the close season will be a deciding factor in any decision, 5000 or less S/T must make it unworkable and could push him over the edge. Its all very well giving away 3000 free tickets but you couldn't do it week in week out. Only time will tell..............
I know its been discussed before but ST sales are what ? £300 per head probably, possibly less on average for those that are aggrieved enough to boycott / cancel. A loss of 5,000 ST sales costs him £1.5m - petty cash for him.
The additional value of that 5,000 being in the ground is slim as they are either on the "Protest and don't eat" wagon or not attending anyway.
Comes across as an old guy out of touch with reality and whats going on here , please sell up Roland you haven't got a clue, write off this season we're screwed , i'm not quite sure what he was hoping to achieve?
The first season when Jose came he was really only an interim because that’s the idea we had at the beginning. He was then willing to stay, which was something not really expected but, okay, it was very interesting. “We seriously considered that possibility too. One of the things which triggered us to take Bob Peeters was that he had an experience of the Championship as a player. He was a young coach and also somebody not afraid at all to play with young players - that was a movement in that direction already. “Okay it didn’t finally work out. Guy Luzon was a coach who had a track record of working with young players in Israel before - he was very successful with them at Standard Liege also - and that was the reason we took Guy. “Karel Fraeye has been the academy manager of Gent, who became champions last season in Belgium. He also very good knowledge of working with young players and was willing to do so. He brought in players that other coaches would never have done, I think, and successfully.”
I don't get this at all!! All the above used academy players, they got injured, lost form and confidence, and we had no experienced players to help....his methodology is flawed.....and has been shown not to work by 5 managers coaches. Yet that is his business plan.....good god man you call yourself a businessman? do me a favour!!
As my old gran would have said " He talks as his belly guides him ".
Comes across as an old guy out of touch with reality and whats going on here , please sell up Roland you haven't got a clue, write off this season we're screwed , i'm not quite sure what he was hoping to achieve?
Do we have enough evidence to get him sectioned ?
We could photoshop a pair of pants on his head and a couple of pencils up his nose. Just to get the ball rolling. It couldn't hurt.
I know its been discussed before but ST sales are what ? £300 per head probably, possibly less on average for those that are aggrieved enough to boycott / cancel. A loss of 5,000 ST sales costs him £1.5m - petty cash for him.
The additional value of that 5,000 being in the ground is slim as they are either on the "Protest and don't eat" wagon or not attending anyway.
1.5mil petty cash for him?
Why did he sell Joe Gomez rather pre-maturely to a big club for roughly that price. An English promising defender in Joe Gomez would surely see his price tag heavily increase over the years...Unless RD likes shooting himself in the foot and being a mug....or scared to attempt to hold on to good players for some reason. They dont belong here, where too shit for them.
I know its been discussed before but ST sales are what ? £300 per head probably, possibly less on average for those that are aggrieved enough to boycott / cancel. A loss of 5,000 ST sales costs him £1.5m - petty cash for him.
The additional value of that 5,000 being in the ground is slim as they are either on the "Protest and don't eat" wagon or not attending anyway.
It may be petty cash, but the club would have to borrow the money (from him) to pay for salaries etc when it has very little income during the summer months, that is why the club would want the £50k Valley Gold money paid over in June, which we are told will not happen..
I know its been discussed before but ST sales are what ? £300 per head probably, possibly less on average for those that are aggrieved enough to boycott / cancel. A loss of 5,000 ST sales costs him £1.5m - petty cash for him.
The additional value of that 5,000 being in the ground is slim as they are either on the "Protest and don't eat" wagon or not attending anyway.
I know its been discussed before but ST sales are what ? £300 per head probably, possibly less on average for those that are aggrieved enough to boycott / cancel. A loss of 5,000 ST sales costs him £1.5m - petty cash for him.
The additional value of that 5,000 being in the ground is slim as they are either on the "Protest and don't eat" wagon or not attending anyway.
You're right, it is petty cash for him in terms of his personal wealth, but you have to look at it in context to the club. He wants to stop bankrolling the club so it breaks even. If he is £1.5m down before the season even kicks off, it will hurt his plan.
A club the size of Charlton with next to no season ticket holders is a disgrace and flies in the face of Roland's 'bringing a community together' notion.
I know its been discussed before but ST sales are what ? £300 per head probably, possibly less on average for those that are aggrieved enough to boycott / cancel. A loss of 5,000 ST sales costs him £1.5m - petty cash for him.
The additional value of that 5,000 being in the ground is slim as they are either on the "Protest and don't eat" wagon or not attending anyway.
Comes across as an old guy out of touch with reality and whats going on here , please sell up Roland you haven't got a clue, write off this season we're screwed , i'm not quite sure what he was hoping to achieve?
Do we have enough evidence to get him sectioned ?
We could photoshop a pair of pants on his head and a couple of pencils up his nose. Just to get the ball rolling. It couldn't hurt.
He's rich enough that even if he did that it would be laughed off as eccentricity. Madness only happens to poor people.
I know its been discussed before but ST sales are what ? £300 per head probably, possibly less on average for those that are aggrieved enough to boycott / cancel. A loss of 5,000 ST sales costs him £1.5m - petty cash for him.
The additional value of that 5,000 being in the ground is slim as they are either on the "Protest and don't eat" wagon or not attending anyway.
I know its been discussed before but ST sales are what ? £300 per head probably, possibly less on average for those that are aggrieved enough to boycott / cancel. A loss of 5,000 ST sales costs him £1.5m - petty cash for him.
The additional value of that 5,000 being in the ground is slim as they are either on the "Protest and don't eat" wagon or not attending anyway.
Comments
Roland's overriding concern is to protect HIS money investment in the club. Totally understandable.
His knowledge of football is extremely limited (and extremely worrying for a club owner). He places an inordinate importance on "player stats" and reveals to me a naive and inadequate understanding of the essential requirements when buying and selling players. He saves money by employing cheap, unqualified employees who are able to convince him they know all about football and recognise tight budgeting is the major prioity for his strategy to work.
He is content then to allow his "yes men" to run the football side of HIS overall investment portfolio whilst he concentrates on the more important things in his life. It suits him to have an arms-length involvement so, satisfied he has the right people in place, he tends to believe everything his trusted employees tell him (which must be "everything is fine"). More than happy to hear this he carries on with his life (and replaces his head in the sand).
Only after serious national and international publicity does he wake up to the self inflicted crisis which is Charlton Athletic. Only then do we see him at The Valley to take part in a series of hurried press interviews to save some face. The content of his interviews shows an alarming insight into his inadequate understanding of even the basic requirements of running a Championship football club and his failure to offer any posiitve and immediate remedies to halt the rapid decline of the club.
A man like this will need to make a serious U turn in the way he runs the club...... or just get out.
(Nice photos,...........do you feel as bad as you look?)
It's interesting it's taken him so long to come out and defend Squirrel Face. And the fact it was a flying visit with a newspaper where he was guaranteed to get as much room as he demanded suggests he was asked by Meire/Murray to break cover and say something to back the regime. He claims he is committed. But not enough to actually turn up and take the fire he is expecting his puppets to take.
‘....it is more difficult for them to detect what the reasons are than me, they don’t know all the information that I have about what is going wrong - what led to this kind of situation....’ and ‘....they (the fans) are not in a position to understand everything....’ and ‘We got into trouble mainly because we had so many injuries and the squad size was not sufficient to cope with that high number in the first place. There were other reasons as well’
For which I'd read that there were more issues with Luzon than we knew about. My guess would be that Luzon was stubborn and insisted that he would dig the club out of the hole it was sliding into without help from third parties and without recalling players from loan to plug gaps (Harriott, Lennon for example). And that because Luzon had some prior success with Israel U21 and Standard Liege RD felt uncertain about dumping him earlier.
Re: a takeover plan from a mystery backer: ‘Such enquiries from middlemen we get every couple of weeks’
Disparaging put down of the Varney approach. But, there again, we don't know who the potential buyers might be or how much money they would have or what their timescale might have been, or anything actually. Better the devil you know?
‘Charlton can regain the importance in London of one of the nicest clubs in the country’
Poor thing to say. I don't particularly want Charlton to be a 'nice' club. I'd prefer it if we were, but survival in the Championship and a tilt at the Premiership a la Watford/Swansea/Southampton/Leicester would be much better than just being a nice (little) club - like Barnet or Ebbsfleet. Hope he was trying to say something else and it got lost in translation.
I'd read the talk of "reasons" as Duchatelet trying to make it seem as if the difficulties this season were not directly related to having a paper thin squad, Luzon may have been stubborn, but it's equally likely to have been that (as he had intimated in the summer) he wanted to make more signings.
For the rest, I would suggest that he chose the words used carefully, he wants to make fans think there was no substance to the Varney approach, and being one of the nicest clubs in the country chimes exactly with Meire's unique proposition, expounded at the Web Summit.
Sorry.
The additional value of that 5,000 being in the ground is slim as they are either on the "Protest and don't eat" wagon or not attending anyway.
Why did he sell Joe Gomez rather pre-maturely to a big club for roughly that price. An English promising defender in Joe Gomez would surely see his price tag heavily increase over the years...Unless RD likes shooting himself in the foot and being a mug....or scared to attempt to hold on to good players for some reason. They dont belong here, where too shit for them.
Muppet.
A club the size of Charlton with next to no season ticket holders is a disgrace and flies in the face of Roland's 'bringing a community together' notion.