I'm not having any of this doom and gloom. Whether this goes through or whether it doesn't, whether they are minted or whether they are scratching around for pennies behind the sofa, I don't care. What this means is that sooner or later we'll be waving goodbye to Roly. And with a bit of luck it will be very soon.
At this stage the positives I can see is that this consortium involves people who know something about the English game. They probably know that the only way to get a decent return on their money is for the team to be reasonably successful unlike Roland who has twice, to my knowledge, declared that winning games is not important. It is unlikely that their chief scout will be a pimply Belgian computer geek and best of all we will get rid of the complete disaster that is our current CEO.
I don' t know that if they if they will be a great success if they takeover the club but I do know that they would need to spectacularly incompetent or hideously unlucky to be worse for Charlton than the current incumbents.
I expect the Valley question is not significant and it's just the way it's written. It has bugged me though whether ACV works in both directions, i.e. If ground were retained and the rest sold.
Think people are getting a bit carried away by the 'feeder' club comment. Feeder club for the next generation of Aussie stars is a hell of a lot better than third rate cast offs from Ujpest and Liege.
When I read feeder club in their context, I see it as them feeding us their best young Oz players. Future Harry Kewell or Mark Viduka. Not us feeding our best players to Melbourne Victory or whatever.
They intend to make back their investment by getting us back into the premier league. That can't be a bad thing.
Thing is. It's not going to be "their" investment. The five year blueprint will need backing by other investors. Notoriously hard getting into the PL without huge luck (Palace) or huge investment. I can't see many "investors" out there likely to gamble.
As for the feeder club. What's not to cautiously like. Plenty of talent in Oz. First dibs on the cream could be very good.
When I read feeder club in their context, I see it as them feeding us their best young Oz players. Future Harry Kewell or Mark Viduka. Not us feeding our best players to Melbourne Victory or whatever.
Precisely, they want Aussie players to have English football experience, they are very competitive out there and can see some promising young players coming through, nothing like Roland who just gave us his rejects instead of spending money, if they want first team success I am excited.
They intend to make back their investment by getting us back into the premier league. That can't be a bad thing.
Problem for me is, it isn't as simple as just getting to the Premier League. It takes careful planning, sound judgement, luck, and lots of $$$$$$. If it works then great, but if they blow all their cash and we don't make it, where does that leave us? Maybe back in the Championship but with mounting debts and bills and wages not getting paid? Potentially back where we were when Roland bought us - higher in the Leagues but potentially even more precarious in terms of our long term survival prospects. We certainly wouldn't be the first or last club to come in with a magic 5 year plan only for the pan to fail miserably.
Perhaps beggars can't be choosers, but in a ideal world we would be bought by someone with genuine ambitions to to take the club forward with on pitch success and the ability to invest to make that happen, but also the ability to keep the club afloat with their own money.
Owners who still want to do the feeder club thing, but this time based in Australia knowing that we won't find it so easy to head over there for protests. Clever. I like this lot already
On a cautionary note, why would young Australian talent come to us?
It's not as if it's some undiscovered football country, that nobody else has paid any attention to, I'm sure lots of clubs have scouts down under, and if rival London clubs were also interested, why would a talented youngster sign for us, rather than West Ham or Palace? It's not as if there's a language or cultural barrier to overcome...
By the way this idea of Charlton being used as a feeder club is mostly horse shit - it is not that easy!
Australia is a foreign country - so unless the young player has a U.K. passport (like Harry Kewelll) then they can't just come and play - Mark Viduka would not have been able to play for Charlton at 18.
Brexit makes it even trickier because a young Aussie with - for example - a Greek or Italian passport might have been able to work in the U.K. previously but very likely not post Brexit.
Plus - are Aussie players even that good? Er, no!
You are talking about players who are largely Championship level - you get the odd star like Kewell or Cahill but it's mostly bang average players like Luke Wilshere and Matt McKay.
I can deal with us being shit because we have no cash. We're Charlton. We've been there 100s of times. It's what we do. We form a backs to the wall attitude, us against the world. The fans unite and back the players. The club works as one off the hard work of staff and volunteers and we punch above our weight. I'd much rather that even if it means years of struggle. We're are only going in one direction under this current bunch.
By the way this idea of Charlton being used as a feeder club is mostly horse shit - it is not that easy!
Australia is a foreign country - so unless the young player has a U.K. passport (like Harry Kewelll) then they can't just come and play - Mark Viduka would not have been able to play for Charlton at 18.
Brexit makes it even trickier because a young Aussie with - for example - a Greek or Italian passport might have been able to work in the U.K. previously but very likely not post Brexit.
Plus - are Aussie players even that good? Er, no!
You are talking about players who are largely Championship level - you get the odd star like Kewell or Cahill but it's mostly bang average players like Luke Wilshere and Matt McKay.
Given that we don't have any players currently at Champioship level I'd say the plans a decent one.
Comments
I sincerely hope you're right mate, doesn't look to glossy so far though!
I don' t know that if they if they will be a great success if they takeover the club but I do know that they would need to spectacularly incompetent or hideously unlucky to be worse for Charlton than the current incumbents.
Joanna Taylor as the new CEO?
As for the feeder club. What's not to cautiously like. Plenty of talent in Oz. First dibs on the cream could be very good.
I'm betting this won't eventually fly.
Perhaps beggars can't be choosers, but in a ideal world we would be bought by someone with genuine ambitions to to take the club forward with on pitch success and the ability to invest to make that happen, but also the ability to keep the club afloat with their own money.
Predictions
It's not as if it's some undiscovered football country, that nobody else has paid any attention to, I'm sure lots of clubs have scouts down under, and if rival London clubs were also interested, why would a talented youngster sign for us, rather than West Ham or Palace? It's not as if there's a language or cultural barrier to overcome...
I'd be happy to have owners that have genuine ambition and a will to make things work. Run us like a proper football club and not some mad experiment.
I would have happily taken Red Bull but back on earth I'm just happy that we might get our club back on track and lose the laughing stock tag.
Australia is a foreign country - so unless the young player has a U.K. passport (like Harry Kewelll) then they can't just come and play - Mark Viduka would not have been able to play for Charlton at 18.
Brexit makes it even trickier because a young Aussie with - for example - a Greek or Italian passport might have been able to work in the U.K. previously but very likely not post Brexit.
Plus - are Aussie players even that good? Er, no!
You are talking about players who are largely Championship level - you get the odd star like Kewell or Cahill but it's mostly bang average players like Luke Wilshere and Matt McKay.