Actually found the reaction to this quite reassuring.
No one is ever beyond criticism and there’s definitely things that have occurred or decisions made that are worthy of challenge or disagreement, but actual protests should only ever be a last resort imo. I’d have hoped we could have learnt a lot through the Roland era in that respect.
For. Fuck's. Sake. The protests were a really great thing started off and maintained by some very committed, and in many cases very brave people. The problem is though this seems to have had a left over effect on quite a lot of other people where they now feel obliged to have a massive tantrum every time they don't like what's going on upstairs at the club. Might be Charlton PTSD from the Roland and ESI years but why the hell would you start protesting against the owner because he's not yet hired a manager to replace the one he removed? In May. When there are no games. People keep talking about there not being ambition and no money being spent and Sandgaard being skint but what they actually mean is 'he's not doing what I want him to'. I'm not particularly happy with how things are going either. I have concerns about the recruitment process, I'm interested in a slightly worried way to see what Martin's role actually is and Sandgaard's hard-headedness isn't ideal. He's also a pretty standard owner in many ways in that he's throwing away his money with no hope of return because he has an agenda. For some (rarely) that's love of the club and normally happens at a much lower level, for others it's to try and humanise a human rights abusing government, for some it's a mistaken idea they can make money, at a high level it's to leverage debt against the club and take out dividends as directors, on very rare occasions it's to insulate onself against reprisals from a European dictator, and in many, many cases it's ego, the chance to succeed at something and have thousands cheering you for it. Sandgaard isn't alone in wanting to do things his way. He's also quite mad; who else who buy a third division club at the worst possible time to get involved in football and throw millions and millions of their own money away? Unfortunately you do get the rough with the smooth when it comes to owners. He does do good things though; he changes things when it becomes clear they're wrong, he engages well with the fans and he does actually want Charlton to succeed both on and off the pitch. The protests happened against Roland because he was actively against the fans, trying to prove his stupid point pretty much to spite us by the end. They didn't happen because we weren't very good at football or we sacked the manager or we didn't seem to have the best on-pitch strategy. People would do well to remember that.
Also, if you honestly think that a manager won't come to a club because they don't have full say over transfers then you are an idiot. At every level managers join clubs with insane owners knowing full well that at some point they're going to fail and get sacked, as they will at every club. At Watford the ownership buy the players they want and then happily sack the manager after 3 months if they feel like it. Roy Hodgson still came out of retirement to manage them. Bowyer signed a new contract under ESI despite knowing it was all a scam. The Allams at Hull, SISU at Coventry, the Oystons at Blackpool, the Glazers, Mike Ashley, those clubs have never had an issue attracting managers. We even had ok managers under Roland some of the time. I want Charlton to be good at football, I acknowledge that they might not be. I'm not going to start protesting and disrupting matches because they released Conor Washington or we used some data to sign a centre back.
Great post - this should be reposted across social media.
I don't think Roland should be referenced as some kind of yardstick when it comes to Sandgaard or indeed any owner. No one is beyond criticism although I think that protesting isn't needed just now but the poster was asking in what scenario it might be. Seems fair enough. Clearly Thomas has done some good things. However, the silly, overblown comments don't help and every now and again they appear. He doesn't learn. He hasn't sought the advice of those closely connected to the club and with more experience of it and football in general. He often says he will but it's lip service. The same in respect of mistakes, Thomas knows best! The ticket fiasco is another example. It was so badly handled, pointed out to him, he apologised and then the same mistakes were repeated. I am concerned at his misplaced self-belief allied to his failure to learn from mistakes. " Football is easy!". The cost of season tickets is ridiculously expensive. £625 to watch mid-table League One football? He should have addressed that. Thomas now has a series of failed appointments and time will tell if those still with us will prove to be a success. One of my biggest concerns is Martin's appointment. Even if Junior had experienced and had a relevant and decent CV appointing family to these positions is unwise. It can't be easy for those working with him. Again, Thomas is blown away by Martin's new recruitment process which seemingly those in the game for years have failed to produced but he only needed a couple of months. I think Martin has a bigger hand in recruitment than is healthy and has no pedigree for it either. Time will tell on all the above but I'm not happy that we'll see a good outcome. I hope I'm wrong.
One thing that needs to be considered is the fact that the protests against Roland were largely necessary because it was seemingly the only way to try and force action/change. He wouldn’t attend games, listen to supporters, or frankly show any indication that he had any care for the club at all.
How anyone could ever put Sandgaard in that bracket is beyond me.
I'm beginning to think that Sandgaard goes on here, reads threads like this and says 'fuck you, I'm signing John Marquis then, see how you like that'. This is your fault.
I'd love if he was that petty, so long as he sells us to the right buyers when he leaves.
Comments
Is the geyser wearing the crash helmet a Palace fan?
No one is ever beyond criticism and there’s definitely things that have occurred or decisions made that are worthy of challenge or disagreement, but actual protests should only ever be a last resort imo. I’d have hoped we could have learnt a lot through the Roland era in that respect.
That’s sorted.
Move on.
No one is beyond criticism although I think that protesting isn't needed just now but the poster was asking in what scenario it might be. Seems fair enough.
Clearly Thomas has done some good things. However, the silly, overblown comments don't help and every now and again they appear. He doesn't learn.
He hasn't sought the advice of those closely connected to the club and with more experience of it and football in general. He often says he will but it's lip service.
The same in respect of mistakes, Thomas knows best! The ticket fiasco is another example. It was so badly handled, pointed out to him, he apologised and then the same mistakes were repeated.
I am concerned at his misplaced self-belief allied to his failure to learn from mistakes. " Football is easy!".
The cost of season tickets is ridiculously expensive. £625 to watch mid-table League One football? He should have addressed that.
Thomas now has a series of failed appointments and time will tell if those still with us will prove to be a success.
One of my biggest concerns is Martin's appointment. Even if Junior had experienced and had a relevant and decent CV appointing family to these positions is unwise. It can't be easy for those working with him.
Again, Thomas is blown away by Martin's new recruitment process which seemingly those in the game for years have failed to produced but he only needed a couple of months.
I think Martin has a bigger hand in recruitment than is healthy and has no pedigree for it either.
Time will tell on all the above but I'm not happy that we'll see a good outcome. I hope I'm wrong.
How anyone could ever put Sandgaard in that bracket is beyond me.