The pitch had to be sorted as the drains had collapsed. We literally would not have been playing home games during that first RD season. The reason the u18 & u21 sides are doing ok is because he hasn't interfered. Other issues like employing an airhead, out of depth CEO, disdain of fans, no scouting system, employing friends as managers, the ridiculous transfer policy, having to rush back injured players, throwing in kids too soon and for prolonged amount of games etc etc aren't even touched upon by the OP.
lancashire lad - if you could write that then I assume that you didn't read the Duchatelet interview in CAST New 10 last September, so I attach a pdf of the interview for your information.
To put it bluntly - as you should realise if you read the interview - he is a delusional crackpot with some sort of 'messiah' complex (cue inevitable 'Life of Brian' joke).
To be fair, the guaranteed basic income is IMHO a very good idea; although you don't need to be a messiah or visionary to implement it but, yes, it's being promoted in Switzerland and Finland as well, I believe. And much as I dislike Rat and his obvious disdain for the fans of all his current/former clubs, somewhere along the line I do think his antipathy towards transfer fees/agents fees and the rest could be justified (simply because if the current situation continues most professional football clubs will eventually implode). But in that case he should maybe wait for another clubs like Maidstone to come along, save them from liquidation, and build his network up from there: that way there's nothing to lose.
What needles me (apart from the fact he's an arrogant, self-opiniated c**t) is that he's prepared to systematically destroy succesful existing clubs in order to persue his weird, sorry, unique mantra to massage his own ego. Add to that the fact that he bangs on about relieving poverty, and at the same time he's one of Belgium's top 10 wealthiest people. He does sounds like Alan Turning, who «did everything with a shockingly bad sense of timing». Now that's our Roland alright!
Accept it's not all been a disaster, and you give some examples where things have been done correctly. However ...
Signing below-par network players and then unfit loan players, with questions of who was making the decisions Appointing an in experienced and woefully inadequate CEO and then not doing anything when this became apparent Appointing a succession of utterly inadequate managers Allowing communications with fans to become non existent; condoning lies in media statements Allowing long-serving members of staff to leave (more than would be expected) Not watching the club for 17 months Refusing to accept/tackle on-field collapse and off-field chaos
The stadium improvements are no more than a shop refit. It comes with the territory of "under new management".
Please also remember before we all get too excited as with expenditure on the training ground and new academy all of it is being funded by way of increased debt to Staprix NV for which we are charged 3%. Whether such investment is value for money only time will tell. At the moment the balance sheet for Baton 2010 Ltd reads like a horror story.
There is nothing wrong with a plan to develop your own players.
There is nothing new about a plan to develop your own players. I recall mentioning Sir Matt Busby started it over 60yrs ago.
There is nothing unique about a plan to develop your own players. Every professional club will have its version of an academy or youth or development squad. There will be literally 100's of professional scouts out this weekend looking to find the new "future star" they can bring to their club.
The theory cannot be faulted.
What can be faulted is identifying who you employ to make that selection on your behalf.
What can also be faulted is the guidelines, check and balances you put in place in bringing any young talent to your club - be they technical, physical, mental, social, interactive skills even down to the maturity of the player. If you choose to cast your recruitment net across a huge international market a whole other list of criteria needs to be ticked off.
Crucially the final stage of the development of a young player is they come into a senior squad at the right time, where the squad has the right blend of local industry experience, the right balance of mental, technical, physical playing skills and the right team and leadership skills.
What you cannot do is build your squad around a youth pipeline to the point you are week after week effectively putting out boys against men.
Without the right "finishing school" you are as just as likely to ruin a young players career as build it.
All of these challenges exist for any club.
To date the Duchatelet "matrix" and process has failed.
The really serious mistake is if you make this activity your primary strategy to the virtual exclusion of all others. If it fails you have no plan B, or even the right skill sets or resources to make one up, placing your entire business at risk.
If it is indeed your primary strategy you should be moving heaven and earth to bring your new academy on stream as soon as possible. These scholars will be your future stars/ revenue stream how long can you afford to wait before they are delivering value? For a "master plan" why is it not even nearing completion?
If there are factors which have delayed the immediate pursuit of this strategy then you have to adapt your strategy to cope until such time as your "master plan" can come on stream.
They have singularly failed to do so even in the face of the loss of Liege from the network and the collapse of FFP rules. They have bumbled along in their own little world, rejecting if not ridiculing the advice of everybody else, in the belief the world will see "they were right along" when they deliver their "master plan".
In a competitive market you do not have the time to just wait for the "master plan" to kick in. You have to compete effectively each and every day from day one. Trying to tread water is not an option. If you do you will not only struggle you will put your entire "master plan" at risk.................... and here we are.
They do not have the necessary experience and management skills in the industry to manage the business. Hence 99% of experienced football professionals take one look at what they are doing and unless they really the need the money will walk away shaking their heads.
The concept is wonderful. The implementation has been disastrous and in footballing terms the very definition of naivety - otherwise known as not having a clue.
lancashire lad - if you could write that then I assume that you didn't read the Duchatelet interview in CAST New 10 last September, so I attach a pdf of the interview for your information.
To put it bluntly - as you should realise if you read the interview - he is a delusional crackpot with some sort of 'messiah' complex (cue inevitable 'Life of Brian' joke).
To be fair, the guaranteed basic income is IMHO a very good idea; although you don't need to be a messiah or visionary to implement it but, yes, it's being promoted in Switzerland and Finland as well, I believe. And much as I dislike Rat and his obvious disdain for the fans of all his current/former clubs, somewhere along the line I do think his antipathy towards transfer fees/agents fees and the rest could be justified (simply because if the current situation continues most professional football clubs will eventually implode). But in that case he should maybe wait for another clubs like Maidstone to come along, save them from liquidation, and build his network up from there: that way there's nothing to lose.
What needles me (apart from the fact he's an arrogant, self-opiniated c**t) is that he's prepared to systematically destroy succesful existing clubs in order to persue his weird, sorry, unique mantra to massage his own ego. Add to that the fact that he bangs on about relieving poverty, and at the same time he's one of Belgium's top 10 wealthiest people. He does sounds like Alan Turning, who «did everything with a shockingly bad sense of timing». Now that's our Roland alright!
Perhaps – but he proposes that the ‘the guaranteed basic income’ be funded (in Belgium’s case) by cutting £36 billion from state spending by the state withdrawing from all forms of direct social provisions or subsidy – schools and education in general, health care of all sorts, and any sort of cultural subsidies like sports and the arts – while individuals then purchase these things themselves from private providers from their ‘guaranteed basic income’
Anyway – based on the further quotes from the interview below – I think it’s clear that Duchatelet is a deluded narcissist who’d run David Icke close.
RD: “Like many people, I know that our solar system will no longer exist in five billion years. It is also conceivable that a few people in the meantime now and then will escape. I believe therefore that Turing was a very intelligent man, and that he realised that. He didn't lie awake at night, worrying about being famous. That is totally not important. If someone thinks I’m a fat idiot, I’m sorry for him, but that’s not important to me.”
Q: Only you can see what others can't?
RD: “Me and a few other people. Few people see things clearly. Many people think tomorrow will be just like yesterday. It's normal that they think like that, but in practice it is not like that. I belong to the small group of people who think tomorrow will be different from today."
Q: Philosopher Philippe van Parijs. who also lobbies for free money, once said that you need a coalition of three types of people to bring about change: daredevils. visionaries and opportunists. Which are you?
RD: “I‘m a visionary, of course. Because I'm an engineer. I try to reflect on how the world might look tomorrow"
Roland is right, football finances are mental. He thought he could find another way. He couldn't, his approach/thinking points to an, I am ways right philosophy.
Even in the hands of a highly skilled business operator, backed by the finest football brains, it was always going to be a tough journey to the Roland football Utopia
Katrien said he doesn't do failure, although his political party was very much a flop. So now he's taken political ideas and turned them into ideas of how to be successful under FFP - and got that wrong as well.
Quite happy for the reasoned debate Lancashire Lad. Thanks for your view. Yes. RD HAS made some positive changes. The pitch, the cosmetic changes to the stadium, you might even argue that the changes in the the box office might be considered positive.
The problem I have with the current regime is the dictatorial attitude shown by RD. As has been said already, to persist with this 'experiment' when the flaws have been so clearly exposed is not at all all the actions of a person who understands the situation.
To disregard fans and the club's history is also a fundamental error. The club would probably not have existed without the input from some of the most loyal supporters in the country over the last 30 years or so. To dismiss this is completely disrespectful.
His interference with the coaching and playing staff also displays the 'I know best' attitude he seems to suffer from.
As with most situations there are arguments to be had on both sides. While a respect you for arguing for some of the positives on balance I still think RD is not the person I would like to run our club.
You can achieve success by spending less, but you need continuity. When he came to the club, he had an incredibly popular manager (not without his faults but working with huge financial restrictions) who it would have made sense to back a bit and see how it went. Instead he embarked on a costly path of trying to find something new without a proper understanding of the league and English game. Imposing his football ideas without identifying that the club were on an upward trajectory before the money was pulled and could be put back on that trajectory. That has been his biggest mistake - and he made it again by not appointing Riga that first season.
look you lot I'M NOT FUCKING STUPID I am just putting an alternative point of view, not necessarily one that I necessarily agree with but thought that it needed airing for intelligent discussion - it seems that is not the case
If i am honest with myself, all rants aside, a lot of what you say does make sense. And our fans probably wouldn't care as much about a lot of the silly things if the team was performing. Although i still think KM's comments and the fact they have taken this long to try and "explain" them with that pathetic excuse for a statement is inexcusable.
Yes he has spent money on the pitch, ground, training ground, "sofa" :-) , but the underlying issue is where it counts. Performances on the pitch. Continuously over his reign he thought his approach would work and it keeps failing. Young foreign players to come to a physical league like the championship, set the world alight and be sold on for a profit. Ultimately neither his coaches or a majority of those players have been anywhere near good enough. Those that were have had injury problems.
Maybe we would have looked at this season differently if Bauer, Diarra, Kashi, Ceballos, Jackson, Henderson, Vetokele, Lookman, etc to name a few, hadn't been injured for so long. One of the problems with this season is Luzon told RD he was struggling with the players he had due to the sheer number of unexpected injuries and RD didn't back him. Instead he replaced him with yet another incompetent at this level coach. KF brought through Lookman and Lennon and for that i am grateful but ultimately tactically he was not good enough and made some of the most bizarre sub changes and formations i've ever seen. Had RD backed Luzon or hired a coach that the fans respected once Luzon was removed relations with the fans could have been different. I mean how close were we to getting that Hungarian manager before the fans said "enough is enough" and he was told to go home and hired Riga instead.
The problem with RD is on the pitch, where it counts and where the fans ultimately care the most. I'd be happy (or happier) with him plowing money into the club if he were to listen to the fans and bring in the correct sort of players and coaches to sort this team out and make me proud of the team again. Pride doesn't necessarily mean successful, just show enough effort and commitment to prove you give as much a damn as the fans do. As i have said before my proudest team is the one which got relegated from the Premiership the first time with the likes of Kinsella, Robinson, Brown, etc. They showed true passion and commitment. we don't have that any more, or at least not enough.
RD's arrogant approach that he knows whats best for this league on the pitch is appalling and its been a trait thats been with him at all his clubs past and present. RM comes out and says they have learnt from their mistakes and yet they bring in more dross. I liked Riga's appointment but only because he was the best of a bad bunch, but ultimately we needed someone in the Warnock mold.
On the pitch is where RD is failing and not learning. If that's his advisors faults, scouts fault, backroom staffs fault, then replace them with the correct ones. But he won't because he believes he is right. That is why i want him out.
I guess @MuttleyCAFC that as Chris Powell is a Charlton man through and through, he was never going to be suitable to manage as part of the Duchatalet network - for example, could you see SCP suddenly switching from a Charlton promotion push to managing Standard Liege because that's what the network thought was best use of resources at that time?
{...} The really serious mistake is if you make this activity your primary strategy to the virtual exclusion of all others. If it fails you have no plan B, or even the right skill sets or resources to make one up, placing your entire business at risk.
If it is indeed your primary strategy you should be moving heaven and earth to bring your new academy on stream as soon as possible. These scholars will be your future stars/ revenue stream how long can you afford to wait before they are delivering value? For a "master plan" why is it not even nearing completion? {...}
I agree with everything you've said, but I think they are soon going to find a more fundamental problem with the academy than the bricks and mortar one. That is, where are they going to get the natural talent to develop? A few years ago both the club and our academy had good reputations. We've reaped the benefits of that as the parents of gifted kids were more than happy for them to be developed at Charlton. Now things are different. People who follow football but aren't particularly interested in Charlton know that the club is in disarray. Even people who don't follow football are coming to realise this now. Parents will be very wary of letting the 'Premiership stars of tomorrow' sign for Charlton. The way Duchatelet is heading, the likelihood is that the only kids he'll attract are those that aren't good enough to find alternative options.
maybe, but we were in a FA Cup quarter final against a lower league team. RD could have brought in a two or three players of Powell's choosing which would have kept us up, let him get on with the job for the season and assessed the approach with an open mind. That is what any logical person would do. In that time he would have gained a much better sense of what he was dealing with. He has admitted he underestimated the league - but there were enough people he could have listened too that could have put him right. Instead, from the off, as Chrissy has said, he told him that he had players better than Solly, Stephens and Kermogant!!! On the day of the quarter final, the manager was under pressure to play certain players, the mood was not what it needed to be- it was an incredibly poor judgement call - it made sense to back Powell fully, at least until after that game, but from day one, he came in with his size 10s and his agenda!!!!
We owe Strapix £38m and rising plus interest. He has got it right - but just for himself
Except he'll never see that money again unless, by some miracle, we get promoted to the land of milk and honey, otherwise know as the Premier League. No-one is going to pay what he's spent on us to take us off his hands, and he couldn't liquidate the club and get the money back from the assets, so he's lost a fortune trying his experiment and the sooner he gets out, the lower his future losses will be.
maybe, but we were in a FA Cup quarter final against a lower league team. RD could have brought in a two or three players of Powell's choosing which would have kept us up, let him get on with the job for the season and assessed the approach with an open mind. That is what any logical person would do. In that time he would have gained a much better sense of what he was dealing with. He has admitted he underestimated the league - but there were enough people he could have listened too that could have put him right. Instead, from the off, as Chrissy has said, he told him that he had players better than Solly, Stephens and Kermogant!!! On the day of the quarter final, the manager was under pressure to play certain players, the mood was not what it needed to be- it was an incredibly poor judgement call - it made sense to back Powell fully, at least until after that game, but from day one, he came in with his size 10s and his agenda!!!!
Fully agree that's what should have happened, but with Roland's way of doing things that was never going to be the case. As others have said, he bought the wrong club. Crewe of a few years ago, or when they were a non-Premier League side perhaps Southampton (owners would never have sold though), might be about the only suited to the network selling young talent philosophy.
With all those games in hand, with the support of the board, I think SCP would have had a springboard the next season, instead of Bob Peeters coming in specifically as a give kids a chance coach.
Thanks for the reasoned debate which is why I started this thread.
My view is that he should replace KM now, she has completely failed to understand the ethos that is our club, she has completely mismanaged the recruitment of football coaches as well as upsetting a lot of good club staff and mismanaged her relationship with the fans.
As for RD, there are a number of foreign owners who stay away, if he admits his mistakes, recruits a competent CEO and gives that person the freedom and budget to make us a competitive Championship team then OK. If not please sell up and go.
My apology to all for blowing my top yesterday but sometimes things Charlton just get to me!
Thanks for the reasoned debate which is why I started this thread.
My view is that he should replace KM now, she has completely failed to understand the ethos that is our club, she has completely mismanaged the recruitment of football coaches as well as upsetting a lot of good club staff and mismanaged her relationship with the fans.
As for RD, there are a number of foreign owners who stay away, if he admits his mistakes, recruits a competent CEO and gives that person the freedom and budget to make us a competitive Championship team then OK. If not please sell up and go.
My apology to all for blowing my top yesterday but sometimes things Charlton just get to me!
The problem is you still seem to think that the ‘failure to understand the ethos of the club, the completely mismanaged recruitment of football coaches [and players] as well as upsetting a lot of good club staff and the mismanaged relationship with the fans’. is the fault of someone other than Duchatelet, rather than flowing directly from his 'player farming club network' plan to make football 'pay'.
If he couldn’t allow a competent professional like Mel Baroni to do her job without interfering with his ‘Statement’ rant do you really believe that he could ever ‘ recruit a competent CEO and give that person the freedom and budget to make us a competitive Championship team’?
Thanks for the reasoned debate which is why I started this thread.
My view is that he should replace KM now, she has completely failed to understand the ethos that is our club, she has completely mismanaged the recruitment of football coaches as well as upsetting a lot of good club staff and mismanaged her relationship with the fans.
As for RD, there are a number of foreign owners who stay away, if he admits his mistakes, recruits a competent CEO and gives that person the freedom and budget to make us a competitive Championship team then OK. If not please sell up and go.
My apology to all for blowing my top yesterday but sometimes things Charlton just get to me!
I don't think replacing KM will solve the underlying problem. Katrien is a puppet. She would only be replaced with another puppet.
Most other foreign owners appoint competent people in positions of authority and allow them to carry out their roles. ( even Vincent Tan has changed his stance on some issues at Cardiff)
RD seems to think he knows better than professional managers, coaches, scouts, communications managers, etc etc and,mostly, seems to appoint weak people who he can manipulate. This is why I feel replacing Katrien would not fix the problem.
Thanks for the reasoned debate which is why I started this thread.
My view is that he should replace KM now, she has completely failed to understand the ethos that is our club, she has completely mismanaged the recruitment of football coaches as well as upsetting a lot of good club staff and mismanaged her relationship with the fans.
As for RD, there are a number of foreign owners who stay away, if he admits his mistakes, recruits a competent CEO and gives that person the freedom and budget to make us a competitive Championship team then OK. If not please sell up and go.
My apology to all for blowing my top yesterday but sometimes things Charlton just get to me!
I don't think replacing KM will solve the underlying problem. Katrien is a puppet. She would only be replaced with another puppet.
Most other foreign owners appoint competent people in positions of authority and allow them to carry out their roles. ( even Vincent Tan has changed his stance on some issues at Cardiff)
RD seems to think he knows better than professional managers, coaches, scouts, communications managers, etc etc and,mostly, seems to appoint weak people who he can manipulate. This is why I feel replacing Katrien would not fix the problem.
RD has to go.
PS. I'm not saying ANYTHING is better than Roly. No point replacing one ego maniac with another.
look you lot I'M NOT FUCKING STUPID I am just putting an alternative point of view, not necessarily one that I necessarily agree with but thought that it needed airing for intelligent discussion - it seems that is not the case
But its not really an alternative view? Its suggesting that RD has put his faith in people beneath him, ie KM, who have got it wrong. He is still ultimately responsible. He has not interfered yet in the youth teams (thank god) and the matchday experiences have produced mixed results. The pitch needed relaying and as someone said, would have been factored into the price, although some say Kermorgant's sale financed this anyway so what do we believe? I don't think you are presenting an alternative argument, just a slightly different one. I don't think any attempt that is perceived as defending the Belgians will be well received, as is evident from the abuse the likes of colin receive when they attempt to stir up controversy by sympathising with the Belgian lunatics.
At the end of the day it's the first team that matters. Everything else is judged by how successful that is. The U21s and U18s will eventually suffer if we slide down the divisions as it will be more difficult to attract quality young players. Get the first team right and everything else will fall into place. Get it wrong and everything else will eventually fail.
i.e. Look at the two Statements, with KM's on Sunday she beat around the bush, tried to make it all rosey but ultimately we knew she was lying as surely she wanted to say differently.
Least with RD he came out and said how he felt, none of this pissing around crap and got straight to the point.
Its a shame his Interview from his last visit couldnt have been more bluntly honest like his Statement rather than the usual transparent waffle that we all see through... Reckon people might respect him a bit more if so
Sorry, but Duchatelet is up there with David Icke. He'll be wearing a pink shell suit next.
Duchatelet or David Icke ?
No contest.
David Icke every day of the week.
A football person who was on the books of Coventry, and is a great communicator. A very save pair of hand ( see what i did there ) he would be his own head of comms because of his past service at the BBC.
You may say, he is mad as a box of frogs ?
The royal family and leaders of the world being Lizards ?
After reading Darwin i thought we all came out the sea ?
Thanks for the reasoned debate which is why I started this thread.
My view is that he should replace KM now, she has completely failed to understand the ethos that is our club, she has completely mismanaged the recruitment of football coaches as well as upsetting a lot of good club staff and mismanaged her relationship with the fans.
As for RD, there are a number of foreign owners who stay away, if he admits his mistakes, recruits a competent CEO and gives that person the freedom and budget to make us a competitive Championship team then OK. If not please sell up and go.
My apology to all for blowing my top yesterday but sometimes things Charlton just get to me!
I don't think you have to apologise at all. You put accross the positives under this current ownership. Many took this as a support for them which I know you did not intend (as you have since clearly stated). There have been improvements but the huge areas of failure, coupled with our deep emotional attachment with the club and our general hatred of the regime, outweigh any appreciation and make us look the other way and generally ignore them for comment on here.
I am squarely in the camp of wanting them out, as soon as possible, as they give me no confidence they have the ability, as individuals, to turn the club around.
IMO, I think a big failing has been his reliance of only selecting people he knows personally to fill the important jobs, convinced by them that they have the ability and unhesitatingly buy into his ideas. I also believe he assumes these people will report honestly to him and not mislead him on the success, or otherwise, of their respective areas of responsibility and control within his network. This mis-placed trust coupled with his long-distance management of them appears to have contributed massively to the failure of his tenure whilst at Charlton. As has already been pointed out, similar failings at other clubs under his ownership are seen so it is unlikely he has learned anything from these past experiences and will arrogantly continue to ignore all attempts to point him in the right direction.
It's a pity he chose to plow investment into the training ground before he had ensured the first team had the correct set-up with the right management structure in place before he pursued development of the academy.
This man is no good for Charlton or for his involvement in football ownership anywhere. Please pick up your ball and go away.
Comments
The reason the u18 & u21 sides are doing ok is because he hasn't interfered.
Other issues like employing an airhead, out of depth CEO, disdain of fans, no scouting system, employing friends as managers, the ridiculous transfer policy, having to rush back injured players, throwing in kids too soon and for prolonged amount of games etc etc aren't even touched upon by the OP.
So no. RD has got it far from right.
What needles me (apart from the fact he's an arrogant, self-opiniated c**t) is that he's prepared to systematically destroy succesful existing clubs in order to persue his weird, sorry, unique mantra to massage his own ego. Add to that the fact that he bangs on about relieving poverty, and at the same time he's one of Belgium's top 10 wealthiest people. He does sounds like Alan Turning, who «did everything with a shockingly bad sense of timing». Now that's our Roland alright!
Signing below-par network players and then unfit loan players, with questions of who was making the decisions
Appointing an in experienced and woefully inadequate CEO and then not doing anything when this became apparent
Appointing a succession of utterly inadequate managers
Allowing communications with fans to become non existent; condoning lies in media statements
Allowing long-serving members of staff to leave (more than would be expected)
Not watching the club for 17 months
Refusing to accept/tackle on-field collapse and off-field chaos
Etc etc. Lots more.
For me, this massively outweighs any positives.
Please also remember before we all get too excited as with expenditure on the training ground and new academy all of it is being funded by way of increased debt to Staprix NV for which we are charged 3%. Whether such investment is value for money only time will tell. At the moment the balance sheet for Baton 2010 Ltd reads like a horror story.
There is nothing wrong with a plan to develop your own players.
There is nothing new about a plan to develop your own players. I recall mentioning Sir Matt Busby started it over 60yrs ago.
There is nothing unique about a plan to develop your own players. Every professional club will have its version of an academy or youth or development squad. There will be literally 100's of professional scouts out this weekend looking to find the new "future star" they can bring to their club.
The theory cannot be faulted.
What can be faulted is identifying who you employ to make that selection on your behalf.
What can also be faulted is the guidelines, check and balances you put in place in bringing any young talent to your club - be they technical, physical, mental, social, interactive skills even down to the maturity of the player. If you choose to cast your recruitment net across a huge international market a whole other list of criteria needs to be ticked off.
Crucially the final stage of the development of a young player is they come into a senior squad at the right time, where the squad has the right blend of local industry experience, the right balance of mental, technical, physical playing skills and the right team and leadership skills.
What you cannot do is build your squad around a youth pipeline to the point you are week after week effectively putting out boys against men.
Without the right "finishing school" you are as just as likely to ruin a young players career as build it.
All of these challenges exist for any club.
To date the Duchatelet "matrix" and process has failed.
The really serious mistake is if you make this activity your primary strategy to the virtual exclusion of all others. If it fails you have no plan B, or even the right skill sets or resources to make one up, placing your entire business at risk.
If it is indeed your primary strategy you should be moving heaven and earth to bring your new academy on stream as soon as possible. These scholars will be your future stars/ revenue stream how long can you afford to wait before they are delivering value? For a "master plan" why is it not even nearing completion?
If there are factors which have delayed the immediate pursuit of this strategy then you have to adapt your strategy to cope until such time as your "master plan" can come on stream.
They have singularly failed to do so even in the face of the loss of Liege from the network and the collapse of FFP rules. They have bumbled along in their own little world, rejecting if not ridiculing the advice of everybody else, in the belief the world will see "they were right along" when they deliver their "master plan".
In a competitive market you do not have the time to just wait for the "master plan" to kick in. You have to compete effectively each and every day from day one. Trying to tread water is not an option. If you do you will not only struggle you will put your entire "master plan" at risk.................... and here we are.
They do not have the necessary experience and management skills in the industry to manage the business. Hence 99% of experienced football professionals take one look at what they are doing and unless they really the need the money will walk away shaking their heads.
The concept is wonderful. The implementation has been disastrous and in footballing terms the very definition of naivety - otherwise known as not having a clue.
Anyway – based on the further quotes from the interview below – I think it’s clear that Duchatelet is a deluded narcissist who’d run David Icke close.
RD: “Like many people, I know that our solar system will no longer exist in five billion years. It is also conceivable that a few people in the meantime now and then will escape. I believe therefore that Turing was a very intelligent man, and that he realised that. He didn't lie awake at night, worrying about being famous. That is totally not important. If someone thinks I’m a fat idiot, I’m sorry for him, but that’s not important to me.”
Q: Only you can see what others can't?
RD: “Me and a few other people. Few people see things clearly. Many people think tomorrow will be just like yesterday. It's normal that they think like that, but in practice it is not like that. I belong to the small group of people who think tomorrow will be different from today."
Q: Philosopher Philippe van Parijs. who also lobbies for free money, once said that you need a coalition of three types of people to bring about change: daredevils. visionaries and opportunists. Which are you?
RD: “I‘m a visionary, of course. Because I'm an engineer. I try to reflect on how the world might look tomorrow"
Even in the hands of a highly skilled business operator, backed by the finest football brains, it was always going to be a tough journey to the Roland football Utopia
We got RD, KM and the Belgian puppets.
Roland, mate, you have not got a clue, jog on.
The trouble is that in England there is so much Television money thrown about, teams will just risk it all
Money + that mindset makes someone dangerous.
Katrien said he doesn't do failure, although his political party was very much a flop. So now he's taken political ideas and turned them into ideas of how to be successful under FFP - and got that wrong as well.
The problem I have with the current regime is the dictatorial attitude shown by RD. As has been said already, to persist with this 'experiment' when the flaws have been so clearly exposed is not at all all the actions of a person who understands the situation.
To disregard fans and the club's history is also a fundamental error. The club would probably not have existed without the input from some of the most loyal supporters in the country over the last 30 years or so. To dismiss this is completely disrespectful.
His interference with the coaching and playing staff also displays the 'I know best' attitude he seems to suffer from.
As with most situations there are arguments to be had on both sides. While a respect you for arguing for some of the positives on balance I still think RD is not the person I would like to run our club.
Finally. Up the addicts!
Derek. (Alex Wright)
Yes he has spent money on the pitch, ground, training ground, "sofa" :-) , but the underlying issue is where it counts. Performances on the pitch. Continuously over his reign he thought his approach would work and it keeps failing. Young foreign players to come to a physical league like the championship, set the world alight and be sold on for a profit. Ultimately neither his coaches or a majority of those players have been anywhere near good enough. Those that were have had injury problems.
Maybe we would have looked at this season differently if Bauer, Diarra, Kashi, Ceballos, Jackson, Henderson, Vetokele, Lookman, etc to name a few, hadn't been injured for so long. One of the problems with this season is Luzon told RD he was struggling with the players he had due to the sheer number of unexpected injuries and RD didn't back him. Instead he replaced him with yet another incompetent at this level coach. KF brought through Lookman and Lennon and for that i am grateful but ultimately tactically he was not good enough and made some of the most bizarre sub changes and formations i've ever seen. Had RD backed Luzon or hired a coach that the fans respected once Luzon was removed relations with the fans could have been different. I mean how close were we to getting that Hungarian manager before the fans said "enough is enough" and he was told to go home and hired Riga instead.
The problem with RD is on the pitch, where it counts and where the fans ultimately care the most. I'd be happy (or happier) with him plowing money into the club if he were to listen to the fans and bring in the correct sort of players and coaches to sort this team out and make me proud of the team again. Pride doesn't necessarily mean successful, just show enough effort and commitment to prove you give as much a damn as the fans do. As i have said before my proudest team is the one which got relegated from the Premiership the first time with the likes of Kinsella, Robinson, Brown, etc. They showed true passion and commitment. we don't have that any more, or at least not enough.
RD's arrogant approach that he knows whats best for this league on the pitch is appalling and its been a trait thats been with him at all his clubs past and present. RM comes out and says they have learnt from their mistakes and yet they bring in more dross. I liked Riga's appointment but only because he was the best of a bad bunch, but ultimately we needed someone in the Warnock mold.
On the pitch is where RD is failing and not learning. If that's his advisors faults, scouts fault, backroom staffs fault, then replace them with the correct ones. But he won't because he believes he is right. That is why i want him out.
With all those games in hand, with the support of the board, I think SCP would have had a springboard the next season, instead of Bob Peeters coming in specifically as a give kids a chance coach.
My view is that he should replace KM now, she has completely failed to understand the ethos that is our club, she has completely mismanaged the recruitment of football coaches as well as upsetting a lot of good club staff and mismanaged her relationship with the fans.
As for RD, there are a number of foreign owners who stay away, if he admits his mistakes, recruits a competent CEO and gives that person the freedom and budget to make us a competitive Championship team then OK. If not please sell up and go.
My apology to all for blowing my top yesterday but sometimes things Charlton just get to me!
If he couldn’t allow a competent professional like Mel Baroni to do her job without interfering with his ‘Statement’ rant do you really believe that he could ever ‘ recruit a competent CEO and give that person the freedom and budget to make us a competitive Championship team’?
Most other foreign owners appoint competent people in positions of authority and allow them to carry out their roles. ( even Vincent Tan has changed his stance on some issues at Cardiff)
RD seems to think he knows better than professional managers, coaches, scouts, communications managers, etc etc and,mostly, seems to appoint weak people who he can manipulate. This is why I feel replacing Katrien would not fix the problem.
RD has to go.
i.e. Look at the two Statements, with KM's on Sunday she beat around the bush, tried to make it all rosey but ultimately we knew she was lying as surely she wanted to say differently.
Least with RD he came out and said how he felt, none of this pissing around crap and got straight to the point.
Its a shame his Interview from his last visit couldnt have been more bluntly honest like his Statement rather than the usual transparent waffle that we all see through... Reckon people might respect him a bit more if so
No contest.
David Icke every day of the week.
A football person who was on the books of Coventry,
and is a great communicator.
A very save pair of hand ( see what i did there )
he would be his own head of comms because of his past service at the BBC.
You may say, he is mad as a box of frogs ?
The royal family and leaders of the world being Lizards ?
After reading Darwin i thought we all came out the sea ?
David Icke's red and white Shell suits.
I would even wear one to get rid of Duchatelet.
would'ya
I am squarely in the camp of wanting them out, as soon as possible, as they give me no confidence they have the ability, as individuals, to turn the club around.
IMO, I think a big failing has been his reliance of only selecting people he knows personally to fill the important jobs, convinced by them that they have the ability and unhesitatingly buy into his ideas. I also believe he assumes these people will report honestly to him and not mislead him on the success, or otherwise, of their respective areas of responsibility and control within his network. This mis-placed trust coupled with his long-distance management of them appears to have contributed massively to the failure of his tenure whilst at Charlton. As has already been pointed out, similar failings at other clubs under his ownership are seen so it is unlikely he has learned anything from these past experiences and will arrogantly continue to ignore all attempts to point him in the right direction.
It's a pity he chose to plow investment into the training ground before he had ensured the first team had the correct set-up with the right management structure in place before he pursued development of the academy.
This man is no good for Charlton or for his involvement in football ownership anywhere. Please pick up your ball and go away.