If you take a step back and forget all the bad decisions of the past 18 months and just look at the fact his son is head of recruitment and his mrs appears to be some sort of ops director, that in itself is a massive red flag.
But let’s not forget - even when those appointments were made, a good 50pc of the fanbase (this forum included) genuinely couldn’t see through it.
Point being - if he was pulling the wool over people’s eyes, it clearly worked!
I think everyone on here wanted Sandgaard to succeed and it should not be ignored that he stepped in and saved the club. Also, the alarm bells were slowly being rung with some of his outlandish comments but none of us, really started to look closer until the sacking of JJ and stories breaking with regards to Sandgaard's treatment of Washington. The failure to invest in the summer and the subsequent dismissal of members of staff and suddenly the trickle of mistrust became a flood and at the same time Sandgaard's twitter statements dried up. Nobody needs to be embarrassed or ashamed as to how long it took them to realise how and what Sandgaard is about, because if there is one thing that Sandgaard is good at, its bullshit.
But let’s not forget - even when those appointments were made, a good 50pc of the fanbase (this forum included) genuinely couldn’t see through it.
Point being - if he was pulling the wool over people’s eyes, it clearly worked!
I think everyone on here wanted Sandgaard to succeed and it should not be ignored that he stepped in and saved the club. Also, the alarm bells were slowly being rung with some of his outlandish comments but none of us, really started to look closer until the sacking of JJ and stories breaking with regards to Sandgaard's treatment of Washington. The failure to invest in the summer and the subsequent dismissal of members of staff and suddenly the trickle of mistrust became a flood and at the same time Sandgaard's twitter statements dried up. Nobody needs to be embarrassed or ashamed as to how long it took them to realise how and what Sandgaard is about, because if there is one thing that Sandgaard is good at, its bullshit.
With respect, many of us including the quoted poster were looking closer well, well before JJ's cowardly dismissal and the Washington departure.
Just got sick of being shouted down and told he was the messiah so piped down. It was concerning the talk of Europe and pl on day one but put that down to a bit of stateside hutzpah and took it as tongue in cheek and refreshing after the dour Belgian football by balance sheet ownership.
But the penny dropped big time for me and many others the day he paraded round the valley prior to his first home game v sheff Wednesday with his guitar. And then the song and then pretty much every failed implementation/ supposed strategy therein.
Nobody needs to feel ashamed and there's no need for told you so sniping against each other but there were many of us who had his number from pretty much day one as disappointing as that realisation was.
But let’s not forget - even when those appointments were made, a good 50pc of the fanbase (this forum included) genuinely couldn’t see through it.
Point being - if he was pulling the wool over people’s eyes, it clearly worked!
I think everyone on here wanted Sandgaard to succeed and it should not be ignored that he stepped in and saved the club. Also, the alarm bells were slowly being rung with some of his outlandish comments but none of us, really started to look closer until the sacking of JJ and stories breaking with regards to Sandgaard's treatment of Washington. The failure to invest in the summer and the subsequent dismissal of members of staff and suddenly the trickle of mistrust became a flood and at the same time Sandgaard's twitter statements dried up. Nobody needs to be embarrassed or ashamed as to how long it took them to realise how and what Sandgaard is about, because if there is one thing that Sandgaard is good at, its bullshit.
With respect, many of us including the quoted poster were looking closer well, well before JJ's cowardly dismissal and the Washington departure.
Just got sick of being shouted down and told he was the messiah so piped down. It was concerning the talk of Europe and pl on day one but put that down to a bit of stateside hutzpah and took it as tongue in cheek and refreshing after the dour Belgian football by balance sheet ownership.
But the penny dropped big time for me and many others the day he paraded round the valley prior to his first home game v sheff Wednesday with his guitar. And then the song and then pretty much every failed implementation/ supposed strategy therein.
Nobody needs to feel ashamed and there's no need for told you so sniping against each other but there were many of us who had his number from pretty much day one as disappointing as that realisation was.
I think that the belief in Sandgaard was driven by the desire to see an end to the footballing hell that Charlton have been in since RD turned up and in fairness to you and everyone else it's an achievement that we can only achieve by sticking together and not letting these owners destroy what has and always will be there, great support and love of this club.
But let’s not forget - even when those appointments were made, a good 50pc of the fanbase (this forum included) genuinely couldn’t see through it.
Point being - if he was pulling the wool over people’s eyes, it clearly worked!
I think everyone on here wanted Sandgaard to succeed and it should not be ignored that he stepped in and saved the club. Also, the alarm bells were slowly being rung with some of his outlandish comments but none of us, really started to look closer until the sacking of JJ and stories breaking with regards to Sandgaard's treatment of Washington. The failure to invest in the summer and the subsequent dismissal of members of staff and suddenly the trickle of mistrust became a flood and at the same time Sandgaard's twitter statements dried up. Nobody needs to be embarrassed or ashamed as to how long it took them to realise how and what Sandgaard is about, because if there is one thing that Sandgaard is good at, its bullshit.
With respect, many of us including the quoted poster were looking closer well, well before JJ's cowardly dismissal and the Washington departure.
Just got sick of being shouted down and told he was the messiah so piped down. It was concerning the talk of Europe and pl on day one but put that down to a bit of stateside hutzpah and took it as tongue in cheek and refreshing after the dour Belgian football by balance sheet ownership.
But the penny dropped big time for me and many others the day he paraded round the valley prior to his first home game v sheff Wednesday with his guitar. And then the song and then pretty much every failed implementation/ supposed strategy therein.
Nobody needs to feel ashamed and there's no need for told you so sniping against each other but there were many of us who had his number from pretty much day one as disappointing as that realisation was.
I think that the belief in Sandgaard was driven by the desire to see an end to the footballing hell that Charlton have been in since RD turned up and in fairness to you and everyone else it's an achievement that we can only achieve by sticking together and not letting these owners destroy what has and always will be there, great support and love of this club.
It's completely understandable. We all want and need to believe things will get better....and they will eventually whether it's the next mob or one down the line.
In this for life. Whenever I feel too grim about our "joyless club" I'll remind myself of days like this which were completely out of the blue and amidst a generally grim time. It can all turn on a sixpence and makes all the nonsense and seemingly endless despair worthwhile...
I'll admit to falling for the early statements, the turning up at a friendly against Palace just because I wanted to believe we'd finally found someone after Roland and ESI MK 1&2 that felt like they got it? I didn't initially love the Adkins appointment but I kind of saw where it was coming from with NAs record at this level. Since Adkins went it's just felt completely chaotic and without any kind of plan , an owner wanting a particular footballing style rung alarm bells for me along with no day to day CEO on the ground.
I just find it hard after years of absolutely rubbish ownership not to hope that the next one will be the good one that changes everything. Just another false dawn.
Well he’s clearly bitten off more than he can chew and Sandgaard has to cut his losses and run now . he probably looks at the 3 players he paid money for (there’s prolly more but these jumped out at me ) Kirk £500k utter shit Stockley £500k now utter shit Chucks £300k utter crock
he has spent dough badly on players , well yes him and Martin are part of the shoddy recruitment process but Gallen has been dining out on Cullen , Bielik and Gallagher for too long too much shit keeps arriving here and has led to the spiral of shitness everyone out , you’re all shit aaaaaaaaaaaah
posted on wrong thread, as I was surfing the latest… anyhow:
Making it up as he goes along. Flawed recruitment at the heart of most of our current and recently historical pain. It would appear blood and heart is overpowering sight and mind. Nothing changes until the ownership once again churns, as so many have already said. Such a shame as there was a prospectively positive outlook for a very very short while (undermined by misguided recruitment and corporate governance).
Our issue as fans is that apathy has set into the not so die hards, so our regular combined reactive fighting spirit appears diminished, while an ever decreasing minority believe there remains a glimmer of hope. I am clear in my own mind, there is no hope, the track record is now clear for all to see and the rhetoric is the work of pure fantasy.
We have to avoid us reaching the plug hole and whichever member groups exist out there it is surely time to come together to discuss this situation? Our medium term risk profile as a club is now crimson red from how I see it. I am not calling for pitch forks and all, but some combined thinking and evaluation of objectives to ensure the long term future of OUR club is surely becoming more pressing? What’s more one thing we have always possessed is brain power and nous, no matter what little part I played in the Back to the Valley campaign all those years ago (just out of shorts), I saw first hand how sharp and experienced the minds behind that winning campaign were. Those at least combined with the next generation, now all grown up, but experienced and skilled can surely help conjure a plan, whatever that may be?
We now have Zoom, Teams, Google Meets… No matter if you are in Oz, Prague, London or Glasgow, your bright minds and clear voices can be heard.
We must consider how we protect our future, however poor the experience is for now…
Regarding Gallens recruitment, maybe he’s just humouring Thomas now, he can’t be getting anything to work with so has just thought “you’re only willing to pay for bottom of the barrel then that’s what I’ll get you” I’m sure he could find some amazing players if the money was there for them. Buck stops at guitar wanker, everything else is fallout from that surely?
Sandgaard announced his arrival with a photoshoot with sunglasses and a guitar.
Not what many of us wanted to see. Was clear as day he was clearly an idiot and the Sheff Wed game just confirmed it.
We can thankful for new owners but the bum licking was sickening. I hope to god our fan base actually learns this time and waits until the new owners actually do something before we have yet more embarrassment.
Read all that to him and just ask him what he thinks. Then, just as he starts to answer, scream “It doesn’t matter what you think…” as you yank back the mic å la the Rock.
I just hope this is Rock Bottom
Charlton Athletic have an uncanny knack of discovering new lows to torment us with. Stockport County away, on live tv on a freezing December Wednesday evening, with a rookie manager, depleted and demoralised squad looks to me like the perfect opportunity to plumb further than even our impressive depths.
But let’s not forget - even when those appointments were made, a good 50pc of the fanbase (this forum included) genuinely couldn’t see through it.
Point being - if he was pulling the wool over people’s eyes, it clearly worked!
I think everyone on here wanted Sandgaard to succeed and it should not be ignored that he stepped in and saved the club. Also, the alarm bells were slowly being rung with some of his outlandish comments but none of us, really started to look closer until the sacking of JJ and stories breaking with regards to Sandgaard's treatment of Washington. The failure to invest in the summer and the subsequent dismissal of members of staff and suddenly the trickle of mistrust became a flood and at the same time Sandgaard's twitter statements dried up. Nobody needs to be embarrassed or ashamed as to how long it took them to realise how and what Sandgaard is about, because if there is one thing that Sandgaard is good at, its bullshit.
With respect, many of us including the quoted poster were looking closer well, well before JJ's cowardly dismissal and the Washington departure.
Just got sick of being shouted down and told he was the messiah so piped down. It was concerning the talk of Europe and pl on day one but put that down to a bit of stateside hutzpah and took it as tongue in cheek and refreshing after the dour Belgian football by balance sheet ownership.
But the penny dropped big time for me and many others the day he paraded round the valley prior to his first home game v sheff Wednesday with his guitar. And then the song and then pretty much every failed implementation/ supposed strategy therein.
Nobody needs to feel ashamed and there's no need for told you so sniping against each other but there were many of us who had his number from pretty much day one as disappointing as that realisation was.
Was full of hope when he came in and felt the guitar stuff at first was just a bit of silliness maybe needed after Roland, esi and lockdown. Felt he would be a success and had a serious and logical side to him as well.
On the whole in his first season I thought he was putting some decent pieces in place on paper and trusted his decisions. Although they transpired to not be in the right role for the club (Mumford and Roddy). I always thought that the appointment of a CEO would come eventually and it seemed for once on the pitch the football and results itself was the focus. I could equally see the logic as to why Adkins seemed a good appointment, although he wasn't my first choice. Whether Bowyer sussed out Sandgaard who knows?
However I remember the Bromley Addicks zoom meeting with Sandgaard just after Adkins came in I think? I didn't get a good impression, a lot of clichés and style over substance. But maybe he was still learning I thought about the club and we have to give him time.
First serious red flag first came for me with that transfer window in 2021 and the Red Red Robin replacement, to which I'm sure he was told no to but continued anyway. Showed a sign to me someone who likes the sound of his own voice too much and hadn't attempted to do just the tiniest bit of research to understand the clubs history.
This has been the same since he got here. He's made no attempt to understand the culture or history of club. Dumping tickets in non charlton areas when he should have been appealing to our areas and potential Charlton areas, with some footfall imo such as Lewisham and Bromley. Creating his own version of history by saying the club has failed to appeal outside of Greenwich. This when a bit of research in 5 minutes could tell you that was rubbish, considering we have fans in Bexley and Kent in big numbers. Saying the club has always been run badly to distract from his own failures.
I really lost it with him after his treatment of Jackson and is sacking, and then complaining about his style of play, when it is not up to him but the manager on how we play and what does he have the knowledge about football to tell or speak for fans how we want to see Charlton play. The vast majority just want to win games no matter how we do it. Jackson is one of us and Sandgaard never will be.
The appointment of family members is just another example of the man's incompetence and insecurity to never listen to those who tell him 'maybe this is wrong' and 'I don't agree with that'. Not yes men and women.
Treatment of Olly, keeping that bully Keohane and his stupid mrs seemingly engaging in same levels of it whilst most likely working here illegally is just other examples that were and are too much to ignore.
The end of this window was when I finally moved into wanting him out and there is no coming back. We just have to hope he sells and his crap song is consigned to history forever and never played or heard again.
Garners recent comments show how frustrated he is, and quite rightly so. His team selection against Cheltenham said it all - Squad not big enough or good enough and with TS sitting in the stand watching Garner did the equivalent of smacking him around the head with a kipper. Whether or not Garner survives much longer is another question but who in their right mind would want to replace him ? Unless TS has some other relatives he can bring over.........................
Getting rid of Garner solves nothing and will cost Sandgaard money that he doesn’t want to spend. There’s no Lee Bowyer or Johnnie Jackson sitting behind the scenes as a cheap option. If Sandgaard wants out we’ll see nothing spent unless it’s absolutely essential.
I never liked the bloke and as others have said there were red flags. But I'm grateful that he turned up to help steer Southall from the club and the club is in much more secure position than with Southall at the helm, which was weird and completely unstable.
However, the recruitment has gone to sh*t. We haven't had a great window in ages. In regards to that, I really don't think people realise how well Garner did. This is not a top league one squad. If we had as good a season as possible I reckon a playoff push would have been the best we could have achieved.
The churn of players under RD was high and obviously caused frustration, but handing out lengthy contracts at this level doesn't make sense. Wages are the biggest consideration and the ability to be flexible when an opportunity at a quality player presents itself is important. Chucking money at Stockley (who flattered to decieve on loan) and an ever injured Aneke were worrying (amongst many others). To lumber the club with those commitments and then suddenly embark on project break-even is counter intuitive.
The best way to break even is to invest in quality undeveloped or under-the-radar players and then shift them on or get promoted with them, but to do this requires high level recruitment. Something that isn't in place at The Valley. The fact that half the signings came from players that Garner would know pretty well shows the state of the recruitment.
I have digressed, but basically, TS doesn't know what he's doing.
Sandgaard announced his arrival with a photoshoot with sunglasses and a guitar.
Not what many of us wanted to see. Was clear as day he was clearly an idiot and the Sheff Wed game just confirmed it.
We can thankful for new owners but the bum licking was sickening. I hope to god our fan base actually learns this time and waits until the new owners actually do something before we have yet more embarrassment.
Very much doubt it.
The majority defended Murray for years while he started the process of dismantling everything good about the club.
It took *ages* for the penny to drop (and even for protests to start) re Duchâtelet. People who could see what was happening from early on (Meire/Powell/Driesen/Yann) were told to shut up, 'you just want something to moan about'.
Southall/Nimer - "WE'RE FUCKING RIIIICH!!!"/"His excellency" - enough said!!! People putting their head above the parapet were abused/shouted down.
And then some utter twat turns up in Shades pitchside with a fucking guitar talking about how he wants a 'high press', is aiming for the Champions League and how much his son knows about football and has a really hard shot, and a large percentage of our fans are desperate for selfies with this 'saviour'.
I realise that we all want the best for our club and there's obviously cognitive dissonance and denial going on, but reminding ourselves of the above scenarios objectively, the line between those and being a complete and utter mug does seem rather thin!
Sandgaard announced his arrival with a photoshoot with sunglasses and a guitar.
Not what many of us wanted to see. Was clear as day he was clearly an idiot and the Sheff Wed game just confirmed it.
We can thankful for new owners but the bum licking was sickening. I hope to god our fan base actually learns this time and waits until the new owners actually do something before we have yet more embarrassment.
I don't remember much "bum licking" of Sandgaard. Plenty were happy he had saved the club from ESI and rightly so at the time. Then in the first few months he spent some money on players, recruited a manager with promotions on his CV and made a couple of decent sounding senior hires. There was little to be upset about.
I couldn't give a fig if the next owner does a photoshoot with sunglasses, a guitar or whatever. I am not going to judge someone by that. It is equally daft to judge too early whether negatively or positively.
End of the day very few people really care that TS is a bit eccentric, pig headed, or that he is like David Brent. They care that the football is dreadful, going backwards and the staff are miss treated.
Fix those things, get us promoted and a new owner can turn up in a full kit with shinpads and try the half way line cross bar challenge in a pair of trainers whilst playing busy bee on a recorder for all I care.
Sandgaard announced his arrival with a photoshoot with sunglasses and a guitar.
Not what many of us wanted to see. Was clear as day he was clearly an idiot and the Sheff Wed game just confirmed it.
We can thankful for new owners but the bum licking was sickening. I hope to god our fan base actually learns this time and waits until the new owners actually do something before we have yet more embarrassment.
I’m old enough to remember grown men giving Matt Southall a standing ovation.
I never liked the bloke and as others have said there were red flags. But I'm grateful that he turned up to help steer Southall from the club and the club is in much more secure position than with Southall at the helm, which was weird and completely unstable.
However, the recruitment has gone to sh*t. We haven't had a great window in ages. In regards to that, I really don't think people realise how well Garner did. This is not a top league one squad. If we had as good a season as possible I reckon a playoff push would have been the best we could have achieved.
The churn of players under RD was high and obviously caused frustration, but handing out lengthy contracts at this level doesn't make sense. Wages are the biggest consideration and the ability to be flexible when an opportunity at a quality player presents itself is important. Chucking money at Stockley (who flattered to decieve on loan) and an ever injured Aneke were worrying (amongst many others). To lumber the club with those commitments and then suddenly embark on project break-even is counter intuitive.
The best way to break even is to invest in quality undeveloped or under-the-radar players and then shift them on or get promoted with them, but to do this requires high level recruitment. Something that isn't in place at The Valley. The fact that half the signings came from players that Garner would know pretty well shows the state of the recruitment.
I have digressed, but basically, TS doesn't know what he's doing.
It is plain to see in hindsight that TS bought us as some sort of vanity project. He seriously underestimated how much it would cost him. He spent in his 1st season and without doubt invested expecting to "blow the league away" it did t happen and everyone knows it's not how much you spend but what you spend it on that counts. He got a serious nose bleed from the losses and gained nothing in terms of progression. He has decided not to double down and go again and tbh who can blame him, he ain't that rich and would be seriously mental to spunk what he does have away. His decision making re cost cutting methods, putting family into key roles, not getting an experienced CEO, infact everything that anyone could have told him if he had asked has cost him dearly. I'm hoping there is an owner in the wings otherwise we are on a down wood spiral that isnt stopping anytime soon
It is plain to see in hindsight that TS bought us as some sort of vanity project. He seriously underestimated how much it would cost him. He spent in his 1st season and without doubt invested expecting to "blow the league away" it did t happen and everyone knows it's not how much you spend but what you spend it on that counts. He got a serious nose bleed from the losses and gained nothing in terms of progression. He has decided not to double down and go again and tbh who can blame him, he ain't that rich and would be seriously mental to spunk what he does have away. His decision making re cost cutting methods, putting family into key roles, not getting an experienced CEO, infact everything that anyone could have told him if he had asked has cost him dearly. I'm hoping there is an owner in the wings otherwise we are on a down wood spiral that isnt stopping anytime soon
100 per cent agree. And admins, no need to bother with a transfer rumours thread for the coming window.
Sandgaard announced his arrival with a photoshoot with sunglasses and a guitar.
Not what many of us wanted to see. Was clear as day he was clearly an idiot and the Sheff Wed game just confirmed it.
We can thankful for new owners but the bum licking was sickening. I hope to god our fan base actually learns this time and waits until the new owners actually do something before we have yet more embarrassment.
I’m old enough to remember grown men giving Matt Southall a standing ovation.
Sandgaard
spent £XX million on a ‘product' thatis serving the needs of his own elite echo chamber – but alienating the rest of
us.
It
is safe to say that most of us have a different day-to-day life than Thomas
Sandgaard, the Zynex Inc. founder who spends his days running a company that
sounds as if it is something operating within a science fiction movie (think
Blade Runner and the Tyrell Corporation) and seemingly buying and doing
whatever takes his interest at any given moment. His net worth hovers around
the £400 million mark – a level which perhaps changes how you see the world.
So,
when Sandgaard acquired Charlton Athletic (or a least acquiring the club,
whilst its bricks and mortar assets - the ground and training ground - remained
in the hands of arch overlord Roland Duchatelet) many understandably believed
he was well-equipped to consider what changes might be needed to improve the
fortunes of the declining club.
However, the past year in particular has
seen a high-speed train-wreck of terrible, clearly ill-considered decisions.
Even among his most dedicated supporters, there is now a clear and dawning realization
that he may have spent a considerable sum on a 'product' he fundamentally doesn’t
understand.
One will often hear the ‘defence’ of ‘….it’s his club he can do what he likes
with it’. Well, yes and no. More of a custodian than an owner, given that
the club has been around a lot longer than Sandgaard and will be around long
after he has gone - unless he does happen to be the one to drive it to the
wall. As is the case with many successful businessmen, they assume that their
business acumen and success in one area is a transferrable skill and if things start to go
awry they will revert to type by becoming intimately involved in decision
making processes at virtually every level even if is wildly inappropriate.
The scene was set for this
‘intervention’ though from the very beginning with Sandgaard’s refusal to appoint a ’boots
on the ground’ CEO. Of course, the one
area where TS could not exert total control was on the pitch so he has turned his
attention, disastrously in my opinion, to petty messing around with the name of
the Women’s team, drafting in family members to fulfill club roles irrespective
of any qualifications so to do, axing existing competent staff either legally or illegally and
resorting to that classic fallback of the failed entrepreneur -outsourcing/franchising
those elements of the ‘business’ which are considered not to be performing well
in-house – usually hospitality but in Sandgaard’s case also extending to the
Club Shop.
The shop (you can no longer in all honesty call it a club shop) makes no apology for a no-holds-barred impersonal grab at a
captive audience with grossly overpriced replica shirts and little else it
seems. The idea that Paul Ellis could once have had a little corner in the club
shop where he sold programmes brought back from the previous away games, as was once the
case, now seems so alien and as far away as when Di Canio popped in that Panenka
penalty against Arsenal.
How far can we fall with Sandgaard, like Duchatelet
and Meire before him, totally oblivious to the special requirements and
responsibilities of being the curator (primarily and not the owner solely) of a football club, its fan
base AND its wider community?
Sandgaard
spent £XX million on a ‘product' thatis serving the needs of his own elite echo chamber – but alienating the rest of
us.
It
is safe to say that most of us have a different day-to-day life than Thomas
Sandgaard, the Zynex Inc. founder who spends his days running a company that
sounds as if it is something operating within a science fiction movie (think
Blade Runner and the Tyrell Corporation) and seemingly buying and doing
whatever takes his interest at any given moment. His net worth hovers around
the £400 million mark – a level which perhaps changes how you see the world.
So,
when Sandgaard acquired Charlton Athletic (or a least acquiring the club,
whilst its bricks and mortar assets - the ground and training ground - remained
in the hands of arch overlord Roland Duchatelet) many understandably believed
he was well-equipped to consider what changes might be needed to improve the
fortunes of the declining club.
However, the past year in particular has
seen a high-speed train-wreck of terrible, clearly ill-considered decisions.
Even among his most dedicated supporters, there is now a clear and dawning realization
that he may have spent a considerable sum on a 'product' he fundamentally doesn’t
understand.
One will often hear the ‘defence’ of ‘….it’s his club he can do what he likes
with it’. Well, yes and no. More of a custodian than an owner, given that
the club has been around a lot longer than Sandgaard and will be around long
after he has gone - unless he does happen to be the one to drive it to the
wall. As is the case with many successful businessmen, they assume that their
business acumen and success in one area is a transferrable skill and if things start to go
awry they will revert to type by becoming intimately involved in decision
making processes at virtually every level even if is wildly inappropriate.
The scene was set for this
‘intervention’ though from the very beginning with Sandgaard’s refusal to appoint a ’boots
on the ground’ CEO. Of course, the one
area where TS could not exert total control was on the pitch so he has turned his
attention, disastrously in my opinion, to petty messing around with the name of
the Women’s team, drafting in family members to fulfill club roles irrespective
of any qualifications so to do, axing existing competent staff either legally or illegally and
resorting to that classic fallback of the failed entrepreneur -outsourcing/franchising
those elements of the ‘business’ which are considered not to be performing well
in-house – usually hospitality but in Sandgaard’s case also extending to the
Club Shop.
The shop (you can no longer in all honesty call it a club shop) makes no apology for a no-holds-barred impersonal grab at a
captive audience with grossly overpriced replica shirts and little else it
seems. The idea that Paul Ellis could once have had a little corner in the club
shop where he sold programmes brought back from the previous away games, as was once the
case, now seems so alien and as far away as when Di Canio popped in that Panenka
penalty against Arsenal.
How far can we fall with Sandgaard, like Duchatelet
and Meire before him, totally oblivious to the special requirements and
responsibilities of being the curator (primarily and not the owner solely) of a football club, its fan
base AND its wider community?
Comments
Point being - if he was pulling the wool over people’s eyes, it clearly worked!
With respect, many of us including the quoted poster were looking closer well, well before JJ's cowardly dismissal and the Washington departure.
Just got sick of being shouted down and told he was the messiah so piped down. It was concerning the talk of Europe and pl on day one but put that down to a bit of stateside hutzpah and took it as tongue in cheek and refreshing after the dour Belgian football by balance sheet ownership.
But the penny dropped big time for me and many others the day he paraded round the valley prior to his first home game v sheff Wednesday with his guitar. And then the song and then pretty much every failed implementation/ supposed strategy therein.
Nobody needs to feel ashamed and there's no need for told you so sniping against each other but there were many of us who had his number from pretty much day one as disappointing as that realisation was.
It's completely understandable. We all want and need to believe things will get better....and they will eventually whether it's the next mob or one down the line.
In this for life. Whenever I feel too grim about our "joyless club" I'll remind myself of days like this which were completely out of the blue and amidst a generally grim time. It can all turn on a sixpence and makes all the nonsense and seemingly endless despair worthwhile...
I just find it hard after years of absolutely rubbish ownership not to hope that the next one will be the good one that changes everything. Just another false dawn.
he probably looks at the 3 players he paid money for (there’s prolly more but these jumped out at me )
Kirk £500k utter shit
Stockley £500k now utter shit
Chucks £300k utter crock
he has spent dough badly on players , well yes him and Martin are part of the shoddy recruitment process but Gallen has been dining out on Cullen , Bielik and Gallagher for too long
too much shit keeps arriving here and has led to the spiral of shitness
everyone out , you’re all shit aaaaaaaaaaaah
Making it up as he goes along. Flawed recruitment at the heart of most of our current and recently historical pain. It would appear blood and heart is overpowering sight and mind. Nothing changes until the ownership once again churns, as so many have already said. Such a shame as there was a prospectively positive outlook for a very very short while (undermined by misguided recruitment and corporate governance).
We now have Zoom, Teams, Google Meets… No matter if you are in Oz, Prague, London or Glasgow, your bright minds and clear voices can be heard.
We must consider how we protect our future, however poor the experience is for now…
Buck stops at guitar wanker, everything else is fallout from that surely?
Not what many of us wanted to see. Was clear as day he was clearly an idiot and the Sheff Wed game just confirmed it.
We can thankful for new owners but the bum licking was sickening. I hope to god our fan base actually learns this time and waits until the new owners actually do something before we have yet more embarrassment.
On the whole in his first season I thought he was putting some decent pieces in place on paper and trusted his decisions. Although they transpired to not be in the right role for the club (Mumford and Roddy). I always thought that the appointment of a CEO would come eventually and it seemed for once on the pitch the football and results itself was the focus. I could equally see the logic as to why Adkins seemed a good appointment, although he wasn't my first choice. Whether Bowyer sussed out Sandgaard who knows?
However I remember the Bromley Addicks zoom meeting with Sandgaard just after Adkins came in I think? I didn't get a good impression, a lot of clichés and style over substance. But maybe he was still learning I thought about the club and we have to give him time.
First serious red flag first came for me with that transfer window in 2021 and the Red Red Robin replacement, to which I'm sure he was told no to but continued anyway. Showed a sign to me someone who likes the sound of his own voice too much and hadn't attempted to do just the tiniest bit of research to understand the clubs history.
This has been the same since he got here. He's made no attempt to understand the culture or history of club. Dumping tickets in non charlton areas when he should have been appealing to our areas and potential Charlton areas, with some footfall imo such as Lewisham and Bromley. Creating his own version of history by saying the club has failed to appeal outside of Greenwich. This when a bit of research in 5 minutes could tell you that was rubbish, considering we have fans in Bexley and Kent in big numbers. Saying the club has always been run badly to distract from his own failures.
I really lost it with him after his treatment of Jackson and is sacking, and then complaining about his style of play, when it is not up to him but the manager on how we play and what does he have the knowledge about football to tell or speak for fans how we want to see Charlton play. The vast majority just want to win games no matter how we do it. Jackson is one of us and Sandgaard never will be.
The appointment of family members is just another example of the man's incompetence and insecurity to never listen to those who tell him 'maybe this is wrong' and 'I don't agree with that'. Not yes men and women.
Treatment of Olly, keeping that bully Keohane and his stupid mrs seemingly engaging in same levels of it whilst most likely working here illegally is just other examples that were and are too much to ignore.
The end of this window was when I finally moved into wanting him out and there is no coming back. We just have to hope he sells and his crap song is consigned to history forever and never played or heard again.
However, the recruitment has gone to sh*t. We haven't had a great window in ages. In regards to that, I really don't think people realise how well Garner did. This is not a top league one squad. If we had as good a season as possible I reckon a playoff push would have been the best we could have achieved.
The churn of players under RD was high and obviously caused frustration, but handing out lengthy contracts at this level doesn't make sense. Wages are the biggest consideration and the ability to be flexible when an opportunity at a quality player presents itself is important. Chucking money at Stockley (who flattered to decieve on loan) and an ever injured Aneke were worrying (amongst many others). To lumber the club with those commitments and then suddenly embark on project break-even is counter intuitive.
The best way to break even is to invest in quality undeveloped or under-the-radar players and then shift them on or get promoted with them, but to do this requires high level recruitment. Something that isn't in place at The Valley. The fact that half the signings came from players that Garner would know pretty well shows the state of the recruitment.
I have digressed, but basically, TS doesn't know what he's doing.
The majority defended Murray for years while he started the process of dismantling everything good about the club.
It took *ages* for the penny to drop (and even for protests to start) re Duchâtelet. People who could see what was happening from early on (Meire/Powell/Driesen/Yann) were told to shut up, 'you just want something to moan about'.
Southall/Nimer - "WE'RE FUCKING RIIIICH!!!"/"His excellency" - enough said!!! People putting their head above the parapet were abused/shouted down.
And then some utter twat turns up in Shades pitchside with a fucking guitar talking about how he wants a 'high press', is aiming for the Champions League and how much his son knows about football and has a really hard shot, and a large percentage of our fans are desperate for selfies with this 'saviour'.
I realise that we all want the best for our club and there's obviously cognitive dissonance and denial going on, but reminding ourselves of the above scenarios objectively, the line between those and being a complete and utter mug does seem rather thin!
I couldn't give a fig if the next owner does a photoshoot with sunglasses, a guitar or whatever. I am not going to judge someone by that. It is equally daft to judge too early whether negatively or positively.
End of the day very few people really care that TS is a bit eccentric, pig headed, or that he is like David Brent. They care that the football is dreadful, going backwards and the staff are miss treated.
Fix those things, get us promoted and a new owner can turn up in a full kit with shinpads and try the half way line cross bar challenge in a pair of trainers whilst playing busy bee on a recorder for all I care.
Sandgaard spent £XX million on a ‘product' that is serving the needs of his own elite echo chamber – but alienating the rest of us.
It is safe to say that most of us have a different day-to-day life than Thomas Sandgaard, the Zynex Inc. founder who spends his days running a company that sounds as if it is something operating within a science fiction movie (think Blade Runner and the Tyrell Corporation) and seemingly buying and doing whatever takes his interest at any given moment. His net worth hovers around the £400 million mark – a level which perhaps changes how you see the world.
So, when Sandgaard acquired Charlton Athletic (or a least acquiring the club, whilst its bricks and mortar assets - the ground and training ground - remained in the hands of arch overlord Roland Duchatelet) many understandably believed he was well-equipped to consider what changes might be needed to improve the fortunes of the declining club.
However, the past year in particular has seen a high-speed train-wreck of terrible, clearly ill-considered decisions. Even among his most dedicated supporters, there is now a clear and dawning realization that he may have spent a considerable sum on a 'product' he fundamentally doesn’t understand.
One will often hear the ‘defence’ of ‘….it’s his club he can do what he likes with it’. Well, yes and no. More of a custodian than an owner, given that the club has been around a lot longer than Sandgaard and will be around long after he has gone - unless he does happen to be the one to drive it to the wall. As is the case with many successful businessmen, they assume that their business acumen and success in one area is a transferrable skill and if things start to go awry they will revert to type by becoming intimately involved in decision making processes at virtually every level even if is wildly inappropriate.
The scene was set for this ‘intervention’ though from the very beginning with Sandgaard’s refusal to appoint a ’boots on the ground’ CEO. Of course, the one area where TS could not exert total control was on the pitch so he has turned his attention, disastrously in my opinion, to petty messing around with the name of the Women’s team, drafting in family members to fulfill club roles irrespective of any qualifications so to do, axing existing competent staff either legally or illegally and resorting to that classic fallback of the failed entrepreneur -outsourcing/franchising those elements of the ‘business’ which are considered not to be performing well in-house – usually hospitality but in Sandgaard’s case also extending to the Club Shop.
The shop (you can no longer in all honesty call it a club shop) makes no apology for a no-holds-barred impersonal grab at a captive audience with grossly overpriced replica shirts and little else it seems. The idea that Paul Ellis could once have had a little corner in the club shop where he sold programmes brought back from the previous away games, as was once the case, now seems so alien and as far away as when Di Canio popped in that Panenka penalty against Arsenal.
How far can we fall with Sandgaard, like Duchatelet and Meire before him, totally oblivious to the special requirements and responsibilities of being the curator (primarily and not the owner solely) of a football club, its fan base AND its wider community?