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Roland's end game

Too many Roland threads,, but here's a question, possibly a concerning one.

Roland will sell the club....It's just a case of when.....and a case of hopefully sooner rather then later to just get it over with.

What's clear to me, and generally just plain obvious, is that out of all his network clubs, he hates us the most. He just hates us.

He hates the fan base....He hates how much he initially spent on the club, he hates people in connection with the club, like Powell. Etc. He hates the backlash of his failure and frustration that people don't buy into his vision over here.

That's just the truth. For whatever reason.

The concern:

I think Roland will attempt to sell almost every player we have, right just before an official takeover happens. Every player that's worth a few Bob....Will be offloaded, either for a transfer fee....or, transferred to a network club so he can still sell them later.

It may just be at the worst possible time in the season too, for a squad of players to suddenly just rush out the door. Could burn us.

He will asset strip absolutely anything he can prior to selling the club. He may also deliberately sell us to a complete numpty that would be happy getting players off the wage bill before they own it.

I of course don't have direct proof of this intention, it's just evidence of Roland's character.

Question is;

If he wanted to, could he stick the knife in that bad....And in his eyes, have the last laugh?

Is something like this preventable.....even if he intends to do the worst before parting?

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Comments

  • I can imagine him selling people for a good price to pay off some of the debt the club owes to him but he can only do that during the transfer window. There'd be no point in him paying off players' contracts en masse as that would just decrease the value of what he's selling and increase the debt, thus reducing the chance of getting a sale.
  • I think he will cash in on his biggest assets prior to a sale but the value of the club is largely influenced by the value of the squad so he will get less if he's sold more....simples.
  • Doubt any players would opt to stay in the network and no buyer would be happy to buy the club if all the playing assets were gone.
  • Herein lies the BIG question; we just don't know what he plans for the future. All we are doing is trying to second-guess this headcase - good luck with that!
  • Absolutely no doubt that he's already harbouring a sadistic desire/plan to ensure we suffer even more when the inevitable happens. He's a callous and arrogant old man who is used to getting his own way and can't deal with the fact that he is quite simply shockingly useless and utterly inept when it comes to anything 'football'.

    You know what, let the sad old sod do what he wants. At the end of the day we will still be here and so will CAFC. He'll just go back to playing with his wiggly amps and switches, whilst eating his frites dipped in mayo and being careful not to trip over his duck taped shoes.

    As for his bit on the side. She will quite simply disappear back into the obscurity from whence she came whilst dumbly questioning what the hell she's just done with the last few years off her pathetic little existence.
  • Those concerns are valid, he despises us, and likes to show it. Apart from that no-one knows what goes on in his head. The only way the fans could do anything as I see it would be if we get relegated again, he'd find it hard to sell, and maybe the fans could follow Swansea's example and get together to buy a percentage of the club.
  • bobmunro said:

    The value of the club is, like any business, usually based on one or both of two criteria - multiple of profit and/or asset valuation i.e. total assets minus total liabilities. There are other criteria but these are the main ones. I don't think we'll bother with 'strength of relationship with customers' and our 'current reputation' is hardly a strength. So based on the above the business is pretty much worthless as a going concern - only asset value to offset debt is likely as the means of getting some of his money back. That's fixed assets really - player value is secondary.

    When he goes or how he goes is not something that can be anticipated with any degree of accuracy as I genuinely believe we are dealing with a man without a grip on daily reality (putting it politely).

    Also @bobmunro the club has the value of the brand (sic) and crucially the membership of the football league.

    But you are right on both points that the club is almost worthless as a going concern in this division and RD has a very loose grip on reality.
  • edited December 2016
    This has always concerned me.....how vindictive is he by nature?
    Do any of our contacts in Belgium have any examples of vindictiveness in his business dealings, football related issues or simply his character in general.
    Can we get a heads-up somehow from someone with the 'right connections' to find out?
    He also has a couple of sons I believe who had the right hump/words with some of the Belgium20 on one occasion in a bar in St Trudien, as a family there may be some kick back in some way from that episode from them or him I suppose....just a thought.
    This is in no way a dig at B20 by the way......you had to do or say what you had to on the day at the place at the time.
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  • Whilst a fire-sale wouldn't make sense as monies gained will be reflected in the sale price I think RD's mind will be working differently. He will be using mathematical rather than football logic. His 'experts' will have given every player a value and if he can get more than that by selling he will regard the difference as his profit that will not affect the final sale price. So if he values Lookman at 5M but can get 15M then that is 10M for him.
  • Charlton v Whitehawk #sellupbeforeitstoolate
  • Yes, he might and probably will sell anything that he can. But would this actually be a bad thing? We have some decent players (Lookman, Konsa, Bauer, Texeira, Maggenis, Kashi, Pearce), and a few youngsters and journeymen who might pick up a few bucks for him, then those that are out on loan who could presumably be sold too (Vetokele, Watt, Sarr, Ceballos, etc). But are some of these players actually the problem? Would a total (and I mean total) clear out be such a bad thing? If he did the selling in this window, we may well get relegated again, in which case we would want everyone on a decent wage off the books. Any new buyer would be free to start afresh, with appropriate contract lengths and rates. I hope it doesn't come to this, but a new buyer will pretty much start afresh anyway, so I'm not sure it matters if Roland cashes in provided he sells the club...
  • Whatever it is I hope it's painful.
  • I genuinely think we will still be having this discussion in five years.
  • I genuinely think we will still be having this discussion in five years.

    He might be dead by then tbf

    (He says hopefully)
  • He could, perhaps, sell the club yet retain ownership of The Valley and Sparrows Lane, leasing them to a new owner. That would be a sort of 'Roland Out', but it wouldn't be 'Roland Gone'. The current situation cannot sustain. If he doesn't sell, those shiny red seats will be ever-more apparent.
  • He could really turn the knife by selling to someone just as bad or worse (if that's even possible)
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  • I personally do not think RD will be vindictive. We are dealing with an ego of someone who does not "think" he is right but "knows" he is right in everything he does. He appears devoid of compassion and some basic human feelings as is evidenced by the way he has handled the hiring and firing of his many managers.

    As a cold businessman, I feel he will sell once he is happy with the offer.

    Whilst I hugely admire and take great pride in all the protests I fear we may only be a slight irritation in his life as we only account for 1.5% of his unemotional empire.

    Vindictive or not we will only get our Charlton back after he has gone.
  • Everything attached to this mob carries a huge degree of unpredictability, but I've long thought that he won't leave without a fair sell off of assets (we can go on evidence and that is what occurred at Liege in the year or so before his sale), so will be interested to analyze come Feb what was flogged in Jan, and what value is left in what can be flogged in summer.

  • The only players I feel any connection with are Solly and Jackson, both of whom are well past their best. So a complete clear out with a fresh start under new ownership, may not be such a bad thing.
  • Get out of our club
  • Whatever his exit strategy is, he isn't executing it at the moment. All his decisions at the moment seem to be on a whim. He will probably work out a base value for the club without assets. Sell the assets and then rely on emotional attachments, from fans, to get the maximum value for what remains.
  • edited December 2016
    Roland's in football for three reasons: 1) to prove a point with his ludicrous network and, therefore, 2) gain kudos and prestigate as some great visionary, and 3) to make money by developing in and around his grounds.

    In buying Charlton he seems to have ended up with a white elephant. He seriously underestimated the strength of the Championship, and even the gormless Meire seems at long last to realise that the network can't ever work in English football. The chance of developing in or around the Valley (or Sparrows Lane) is slim, if not impossible.

    Whilst he obviously doesn't take kindly to the protests and the negative publicity, particularly when they appear in the Belgian media, I'm pretty sure that, to him, Charlton is just another chain in his empire - like owning 5 or 10 IKEA stores - it just so happens that the Charlton store is financially under-performing compared to the rest of them. I doubt if he's even got half of 1.5% interest in the quality of the football; and even less in the 'stupid' fans.

  • It's interesting to me as well what happens in Jan. Could we see a fire sale of players ahead of putting the club up for sale in the summer. I doubt we'll get promoted. I do believe that if we don't go up then RD will have another big decision to make. Does he dip into his pocket and fund another season at a cost of £7m or whatever it is (albeit charging it to the club as a loan with interest).

    Also, knowing that we're another 2 seasons away from the Prem. will he even stump up funds for new players? I think the end of this season could be a watershed moment for him as he weighs up his age, the fact that he's sitting on a lame duck (his fault) and it's just gonna keep costing him dough

    The only other thing that may stop him is belligerence
  • Roland's end game? That is what we are all wondering!
  • I hope he does sell up @Dave2l, if he does and it's a "fire sale", I agree with you that he'll realize as much as he can from the assets before he goes. I don't think he'd be vindictive about it, unfortunately his personality type might mean the effect will seem to us.

    If it's not a fire sale he will be selling to someone who's done their due diligence and who will expect the assets to be handed over in good order. This one is my Christmas wish :smile:

    I've thought for a while there's also the possibility his long game is to hand-over the network to his son. I believe his son is already involved in the network somehow? RD may be keeping hold of the reins until he deems it OK to hand them over. The excellence of the Academy and the fees realized for some of the youngsters provides a good base for an owner to run things for a long time at a relatively self-sustaining level.
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Roland Out Forever!