I only learnt this in the pub last night, but Standard are in the 3rd round UCL next week, a very tasty draw against Ajax, and possibly setting up a visit to Prague against Slavia.
I had not realised that last season they finished runners-up. They must have had a really good run in the complicated play off round, since they scraped in in 6th place.
If you recall, the old scroat emptied their bank account and stripped their assets before selling to Bruno Venanzi, a businessman without the readies to meet his asking price. In the first season after that, they sank to the bottom of the league, a league they had never dropped out of since its inception in 1921. At the time i wrote to Jacques Seron the Standard Socios chair, whom I have got to know, to commiserate. His reply was telling: "short term it is tough, but we are optimistic. We have got our club back, and this is what is important."
I am crossing fingers that they can get past Ajax (the bookies say they won't) while Slavia see off Dynamo Kiev. I owe Jacques a very good dinner, you see. He is the most passionate chartered accountant you could ever meet. In Liege he said to me several times "You have to get rid of the Rat. Get him out of your club, before he destroys it".
Well, Standard got him out. As we look in despair at our club today, remember how low they too sank; bottom of the league, fans around the country taunting them as fans do. And now they are back. Let's take heart from their story stick together and make one last push.
Roland Out Today!
50
Comments
A relatively simple job to get them back to where they were. Look at Rangers.
A monumental, I'd say nigh on impossible job to get a little fish like Charlton back to where it once was.
But don’t think that many fans would be disappointed if we are not in the prem in a few years. But an owner who gives a shit and just being competitive will do me. It’s not impossible but a tough ask to get to the Prem obviously, but it’s not actually that difficult to go to the Champ and have a squad.
You could buy us, invest without going mental and make us a competitive champ side but we need major investment to be top half Champ. Don’t think the Aussies have the cash for that but we’re relying on being a well run club which is a start
it may be difficult to get our heads round this, I accept, but let me run this past you again. 3 months after Venanzi bought out the Rat, they found themselves bottom of a league they have never been relegated from. For the fans, that is hard to take, especially as some of the other fans think Standard have a "big club" mentality. And btw, Venanzi the owner, is small beer in money terms. Muir dwarfs him.
Second. You assume that mega bucks brings automatic success, while lack of them resigns you to failure. This is not borne out by the facts. Look at Brentford. Look at Fulham (last night in the pub my Czech friend asked me what i think about Fulham being in the FAPL, since he perceives Charlton to be 'bigger' than Fulham). Most of all, look at Bournemouth. Mega bucks? I dont think so. As an owner, let's try appointing a manager with the club in his blood, letting him and his fellow professionals get on with their job, buying rather than selling Yann Kermorgant, keeping a low profile as an owner while raising a glass to yourself for another season of FAPL.
Roland Out Today.
Standard, on the other hand. I was only shown around the empty stadium, which was nevertheless illuminated by the grow lights on a proper pitch. The compact stands, so close to the pitch, rising steeply to accommodate 29,000 in less space than the Valley. Behind it the steel mills, silent now but still brooding over the club they nurtured. A club you do not want your team to have to visit on a cold Tuesday in November. A club with a soul.
Fuck it, i have fallen in love with Standard. :-)
ST retains its status in the top league simply because its a poor league in terms of quality and there is little pressure from the much smaller clubs in the league below. However, Cercle Bruges may prove that comment wrong this year as they are financed by Monaco, afetr being promoted last season (and drew at ST first game of season).
Standard Liege have asked their former player and Belgian international Marouane Fellaini to invest money and help ensure the survival of the club as they face being relegated to the amateur ranks, local media reported on Wednesday.
https://au.eurosport.com/football/belgian-club-standard-liege-seek-financial-help-from-marouane-fellaini-reports_sto7737347/story.shtml