Attention: Please take a moment to consider our terms and conditions before posting.

RD sells Charlton, but retains the Academy - could this happen?

ChizzChizz
in General Charlton
A horrible thought came to me today. What if RD's plan is, as follows:

1. Charlton get relegated
2. Buyers approach him
3. He agrees to sell the club only
4. He retains the ground, training ground and ... this is the bit I am most concerned about...
5. ...he retains the Academy, leasing players to Charlton, and selling any (at a personal profit to himself) when the Premier League comes knocking.

He can then wash his hands of Charlton Athletic, but retain a first class Academy set up, funded by leasing players to Charlton, cream off the profits, and not take any responsibility for the continuing decline of Charlton Athletic.

Terrifying. But could this happen? Indeed has it been the plan all along?
«1

Comments

  • 25May9825May98
    Don't give him any ideas.

    He can't think for himself.
  • mascot88mascot88
    edited March 2016
    We go to plan C and find an assassin on the "dark Web" :)

    Edit, best put a :) on that one
  • MackleMackle
    mascot88 said:

    We go to plan C and find an assassin on the "dark Web" :)

    Edit, best put a :) on that one

    I am usually a mild mannered man, but I would love to urinate in his face, like in that scene from the Mighty Boosh ("that was a bad experience for you boy, cockney urine all over your face") and say to him "I bet you never saw that in your vision you fraudulent chancing c**t!!"

    http://youtu.be/lNIT_CWUXcg
  • Atletico AddickAtletico Addick
    It could well happen. If he sells us he will keep us on a leash in some form.
  • rikofoldrikofold
    edited March 2016
    I think rules on third party ownership of players means this would be a non-starter.

    He retained ownership of the ground somewhere else iirc but no buyer in their right mind would separate the club and its grounds.
  • Dave2lDave2l
    The scary part is that he's spent alot of money on the academy. He wouldn't just give that up.

  • cafcfancafcfan
    I've so far failed to find out what happens to a club's academy status if you drop out of the league.

    Let's say RD gets his Cat 1. That means the yoof teams would play in Development League, Division 2 rather than the current leagues.

    But can we maintain that status if the first team drops out of the Football League?
  • CatAddickCatAddick
    Dave2l said:

    The scary part is that he's spent alot of money on the academy. He wouldn't just give that up.

    I think you'll find he's said he will fund it (not actually spent it all yet) and if it's in the form of a loan, I don't think you need to worry about him being out of pocket
  • sammy391sammy391
    Chizz said:

    A horrible thought came to me today. What if RD's plan is, as follows:

    1. Charlton get relegated
    2. Buyers approach him
    3. He agrees to sell the club only
    4. He retains the ground, training ground and ... this is the bit I am most concerned about...
    5. ...he retains the Academy, leasing players to Charlton, and selling any (at a personal profit to himself) when the Premier League comes knocking.

    He can then wash his hands of Charlton Athletic, but retain a first class Academy set up, funded by leasing players to Charlton, cream off the profits, and not take any responsibility for the continuing decline of Charlton Athletic.

    Terrifying. But could this happen? Indeed has it been the plan all along?

    I think he would only be able to hold onto the physical -land building etc ... So if Whoever buys the club decided to tell Roland to stuff it and keep the training ground , he's stuck with a few buildings and a few pitches! Perhaps he would then be inined to start something similar to the Nike academy and base it at the training ground which would be right up his alley...

    In regards to The Valley , there's still debt on it I think? So perhaps who over the debt is owed could broker/get involved in a deal where their "£7m" is part of the deal otherwise RD can't do anything until he pays it off ( possible that creditors could turn down payment?)
  • GranpaGranpa
    I am not sure how I feel about this prospect. At the moment he has us by the balls despite the valiant efforts of CARD, and we are stuck with him. If he sold the Club excluding the Academy, could we tell him to get stuffed for his £40 million, go into administration and start again ? I'm sure that if he just had the Academy, he would fill it with dozy useless Belgians and yes men, and ruin it over a few years. I for one would now be happier to start again in League 2 even, do a Portsmouth in fact, and keep the Club British. I am too old to wait for RD to drop dead.
  • Sponsored links:


  • charltonbobcharltonbob
    I don't see how he could possibly do that but the possibility of him retaining ownership of The Valley / training ground & leasing it back to us is a real threat.
  • Arry AddickArry Addick
    Can't see that scenario being attractive to any potential buyer.
  • ChizzChizz
    charltonbob said:

    I don't see how he could possibly do that but the possibility of him retaining ownership of The Valley / training ground & leasing it back to us is a real threat.

    I could just about cope with that though. If the club were in "proper" ownership and he no longer had any say in how the club was run.

    But, much more scary would be if he retained the academy and leased the best players to the club. He could do that on a totally dispassionate, entrepreneurial basis. He could set a price for any of the academy players and, once they'd proven themselves at Charlton, sell them on to richer clubs, retaining the selling fee. And the worst players (ie the ones that couldn't be sold) stay at Charlton. Nightmare.
  • cafcfan1990cafcfan1990
    I echo the above, don't think it would happen even if he wanted to. Would be a great possibility for him, but not for any potential buyer so don't think a sale would happen under those terms.
  • MuttleyCAFCMuttleyCAFC
    Absolutely no chance of a buyer agreeing to that.
  • Dansk_RedDansk_Red
    The guy who bought Orient agreed to it, Barry Hearn still owns the ground.
  • Atletico AddickAtletico Addick
    MuttleyCAFC said:

    Absolutely no chance of a buyer agreeing to that.

    They will if he sells it to someone he wants to sell it to ala Standard Liege, settles the fans but keeps him in some form of control that he relishes.
  • ForeverAddicktedForeverAddickted
    Who owns Shithurst Park?

    Palarse dont own that do they because they dont bother with their debts
  • Essex_AlEssex_Al
    You really shouldn't dream so much!

    What a load of nonsense!
  • Missed ItMissed It
    This is my biggest fear of what Duchatelet could do. Sell the Valley and the training ground to various other network companies and continue to leech cash out of Charlton as the football team have to pay rent to him for evermore, whether he owns the team or not. He can build his poxy flats in the south stand, try and turn the west stand and car park into some sort of shopping centre and generally pursue whatever crackpot scheme he has for a unique (meaning weird?) matchday fan experience.

    We will never be rid of this vampire.
  • Sponsored links:


  • ValiantphilValiantphil
    He owns the lot mate, every blade of grass and smelly shin-pad.
    He can do what he wants, sell what he want, shut down whatever he wants.

    We are just onlookers, and he has no intention of communicating his plans to us.
    If anything, he thinks we are weird to even ask about anything to do with the club.
  • mogodonmogodon
    Cannot see anyone agreeing to buy a club on these terms unless he wiped out the debt ... which would make it one hell of an expensive training ground.
  • johnny73johnny73
    Did think about this the other day but however you work it the numbers do not add up. Duchatelet would make a huge loss on his investment.
  • ChizzChizz
    johnny73 said:

    Did think about this the other day but however you work it the numbers do not add up. Duchatelet would make a huge loss on his investment.

    Would he?

    Even if he gave away the club for nothing - say to a consortium of fans - he'd retain the tangible assets (the ground and training ground), he'd be able to charge (lease) players to the club, receive a capital sum on every sale and he'd have no on-going running costs for the playing staff, which is a major expense.

    Sell three players a year at 3m each, that's 9m a year. That would represent a massive return on his investment.
  • Airman BrownAirman Brown
    edited March 2016
    Valiantphil said:

    He owns the lot mate, every blade of grass and smelly shin-pad.
    He can do what he wants, sell what he want, shut down whatever he wants.

    We are just onlookers, and he has no intention of communicating his plans to us.
    If anything, he thinks we are weird to even ask about anything to do with the club.

    Fortunately he doesn't have carte blanche because of planning laws, but even if he did there is no value in an overall change of use because of the location and costs involved. It's just not true that he can do whatever he likes, any more than you or I can turn a house we may own into a shop or a factory because it suits us.
  • WestCountryAddickWestCountryAddick
    edited March 2016
    Chizz said:

    A horrible thought came to me today. What if RD's plan is, as follows:

    1. Charlton get relegated
    2. Buyers approach him
    3. He agrees to sell the club only
    4. He retains the ground, training ground and ... this is the bit I am most concerned about...
    5. ...he retains the Academy, leasing players to Charlton, and selling any (at a personal profit to himself) when the Premier League comes knocking.

    He can then wash his hands of Charlton Athletic, but retain a first class Academy set up, funded by leasing players to Charlton, cream off the profits, and not take any responsibility for the continuing decline of Charlton Athletic.

    Terrifying. But could this happen? Indeed has it been the plan all along?

    But this wouldn't make sense to any prospective owner, I doubt anybody would buy the club on this basis. Besides the only way this could work (from Roland's POV) is if the Club was tied into a contract that forced them to use RD's players and facilities, and again, I doubt anyone would buy the club on that basis either.
  • thai malaysia addickthai malaysia addick
    There's a million and one scenarios (less really, of course) so I find these sorts of threads a bit unhelpful. We can only react to what is wrong. That's already been well documented, of course - unsuitable managers, bad player buying decisions as well as the many gaffs. Let's stick to what we know or at least strongly suppose rather than just using our imaginations .
  • The_PresidentThe_President
    As far as i understand it, he owns STVV ground (bought it off the local council for a pittance on the promise he would develop the surroundings) and leases it back to them.
  • TT
    As mentioned up the chain it would be against 3rd party ownership rules for him to do this.
Sign In or Register to comment.

Roland Out Forever!