Thomas has once again not learnt from his mistakes. He has continued to make statements that all football fans regardless of what team you support take with a pinch of salt. The we are " Premiership in five years, then Europe" "Going to smash the League" " We have learned from our mistakes last season in recruiting players" "We are 95% done on a striker" really has to stop, however being a headstrong person I don't think this will happen.
With all due respect we have gone backwards and not forwards during his ownership, and the five year plan, smashing the league, learning from last years mistakes and 95% of signing a player are statements that were not fulfilled. Do any other chairman make such claims, and surely it would be better to make such bold statements after delivering.
Although there was hope when he took over the club, in which lets face it was not in a good place, the trust and patience are slowing wearing thin.
With the transfer money that the club have received recently, we have not invested a penny into the team.
Its all well and good stating that we have brought in seven players, however we have lost 15 from loans and out of contracts. Forest although they have signed 21 players, this was due to them numerous players in the summer and had to be replaced.
We have players that will not make a third of a season in Innis, Chucks, CBT to name but three, with hot heads such as Claire and Stockley who are more than capable than being sent off and the number of yellow cards that players get then leading to a suspension further depletes the squad.
The club has no doubt saved money on the wages that are being paid out due to the departure of these players, and I wouldn't be surprised to the likes of Claire, Dobson CBT sold in January as their contracts will run out next summer.
The inflation in ticketing is also a strange one. In his five year plan was we now meant to be in the championship therefore we are now paying season ticket prices/ matchday prices, with the additional cost of buying tickets on the day, driving away fans who want to make a last minute decision on going to a game.
Ben Garner was clearly the one who highlighted three players that the club should go after, in which were not wage breakers. He has a system of play, and needs the players to do so and maybe this morning he could be thinking I should have stayed at Swindon.
Sadly for TS the fans have now lost faith in the owner and history suggests that he will continue to carry on spouting his mouth off, I feel that things in the future may get a bit rocky.
If TS wants to get fans back onside, he needs to bring a CEO who knows how to run a club, keep quiet, the funds generated need to be reinvested and not just be used to cover the running of the club as the well will soon dry up, and get fans through the door.
Thomas has once again not learnt from his mistakes. He has continued to make statements that all football fans regardless of what team you support take with a pinch of salt. The we are " Premiership in five years, then Europe" "Going to smash the League" " We have learned from our mistakes last season in recruiting players" "We are 95% done on a striker" really has to stop, however being a headstrong person I don't think this will happen.
With all due respect we have gone backwards and not forwards during his ownership, and the five year plan, smashing the league, learning from last years mistakes and 95% of signing a player are statements that were not fulfilled. Do any other chairman make such claims, and surely it would be better to make such bold statements after delivering.
Although there was hope when he took over the club, in which lets face it was not in a good place, the trust and patience are slowing wearing thin.
With the transfer money that the club have received recently, we have not invested a penny into the team.
Its all well and good stating that we have brought in seven players, however we have lost 15 from loans and out of contracts. Forest although they have signed 21 players, this was due to them numerous players in the summer and had to be replaced.
We have players that will not make a third of a season in Innis, Chucks, CBT to name but three, with hot heads such as Claire and Stockley who are more than capable than being sent off and the number of yellow cards that players get then leading to a suspension further depletes the squad.
The club has no doubt saved money on the wages that are being paid out due to the departure of these players, and I wouldn't be surprised to the likes of Claire, Dobson CBT sold in January as their contracts will run out next summer.
The inflation in ticketing is also a strange one. In his five year plan was we now meant to be in the championship therefore we are now paying season ticket prices/ matchday prices, with the additional cost of buying tickets on the day, driving away fans who want to make a last minute decision on going to a game.
Ben Garner was clearly the one who highlighted three players that the club should go after, in which were not wage breakers. He has a system of play, and needs the players to do so and maybe this morning he could be thinking I should have stayed at Swindon.
Sadly for TS the fans have now lost faith in the owner and history suggests that he will continue to carry on spouting his mouth off, I feel that things in the future may get a bit rocky.
If TS wants to get fans back onside, he needs to bring a CEO who knows how to run a club, keep quiet, the funds generated need to be reinvested and not just be used to cover the running of the club as the well will soon dry up, and get fans through the door.
I find myself really disappointed in our transfer business again, because we seemingly left everything too late and ended up with egg on our faces by not getting the cover (at the very least) for a couple of key positions. Even semi-knowledgeable Charlton fans could see the gaps we had in the squad if it is to be believed we (incl. TS) truly held the objectives of getting promoted this year. Fully appreciate that the market for players can be volatile and risky, but the can-kicking approach to drag things out to the very last minute and then end up with nothing is not without targeted blame for our owner and his recruitment team. We won't know the full story, but the fact we've ended up with nothing means that we've let a lot of people down - the fans, the manager and the other players.
TS has a lot of banked credit for me for saving the club. I shall be eternally grateful for that and that carries a plenty of weight. The feast and famine approach to squad investment is frustratingly inconsistent - he backed NA heavily, but has now entirely dialled that back for BG. The lack of learning from the past about getting players in and signed early truly grates on me. You obviously can't control what players' agents are going to ask for. However, we should be moving heaven and earth to ensure the squad has everything it needs, be it first-team or squad players. I fear that the constant desire to spend as little as possible and extract the most value in re-sellable player assets has made that team lose focus on the bigger picture. I am not able to post-mortem what went wrong, but I sincerely hope they are able to ensure this doesn't happen again. The window as a whole meant that we did cut some chaff and generally fill all the holes, but we did seriously drop the ball at the end once again.
When TS made his statement earlier in the week, he said we were looking to "strengthen" up front and get "cover" at the back. A lot of us got quite excited by this - that means we'll pay a fee for someone up front and get a loan/small fee for the cover at the back, right? I got caught up in this too. However, on reflection of re-reading the statement, he said:
We have also been recruiting as part of the overall strategy for the club. We will have a period of probably two seasons where we are getting to the point of being financially break-even, or cash flow neutral.
This element is the most concerning, as what unfolded yesterday could be the planned norm for the next 3+ transfer windows. Given the widespread and reasonable unhappiness amongst many Charlton fans yesterday about the lack of transfer dealings, it won't take much for the boo boys to come out. A couple of blunt performances and/or injuries in the areas we want cover will likely mean dropped points.
If there was a manager to back, I feel it is Ben Garner. He's got us playing good football and I like his passion. This squad may well be able to get into playoffs, but it's infinitely more risky without the cover. Treating the squad as a collection of assets, rather than a vehicle for promotion is a dangerous game. The players are human - many of them have a vested interest in the success of the club and even the most dedicated player could have their confidence dented by the lack of bringing people in. I can't imagine Dobson or Clare being too happy about giving big performances every single week and then we don't bring in the players we can all see we need. Similarly, the manager must be frustrated. If they all don't see the point in giving everything because TS didn't invest, we're left with another potentially mediocre season once again.
I will happily be wrong about all of this if results continue on the pitch. If we keep playing well and players stay fit, we've got nothing to worry about. However, history dictates we will get those injuries and it is naïve to roll the dice and think we'll probably be fine. If Stockley gets injured, the replacement is a young (but exciting) lad with a handful of games under his belt or a square peg that needs to be molded quickly into a round one. I think the square pegs for the cover at the back are a little more plentiful and appropriate in comparison to the ones for Stockley, but it's still throwing a lot of young kids to the L1 wolves earlier than they probably should be.
Thankfully, we have a manager that might be able to pull this off, but his job did not need to be made any harder than it already is. Still got the faith in him and the bulk of the squad, but we're going to have to hope that we keep up our early pace and work our socks off.
I would say that post could get a promote, but unfortunately you're not in the IN crowd.
Just writing from the heart the day after having Twitter scroll through all day with nuggets of potential hope and then having them dashed at the end.
It hurts when it feels like this squad is really close to challenging. I'm not full doom mongering at this point, as there's a long way to go, we've had a good start and we've barely just begun this season. Just feels like Garner deserves to be backed, as I wanted whoever was going to be in charge this season to be fully backed. The lack of getting any deal over the line yesterday stings a lot. Those last couple of players were the last piece in the puzzle, imo.
Still going to support the boys every game and not give up yet. However, my faith in TS to be the man to bring the (even relative) glory days back to the club is slowly being eroded.
Thomas has once again not learnt from his mistakes. He has continued to make statements that all football fans regardless of what team you support take with a pinch of salt. The we are " Premiership in five years, then Europe" "Going to smash the League" " We have learned from our mistakes last season in recruiting players" "We are 95% done on a striker" really has to stop, however being a headstrong person I don't think this will happen.
With all due respect we have gone backwards and not forwards during his ownership, and the five year plan, smashing the league, learning from last years mistakes and 95% of signing a player are statements that were not fulfilled. Do any other chairman make such claims, and surely it would be better to make such bold statements after delivering.
Although there was hope when he took over the club, in which lets face it was not in a good place, the trust and patience are slowing wearing thin.
With the transfer money that the club have received recently, we have not invested a penny into the team.
Its all well and good stating that we have brought in seven players, however we have lost 15 from loans and out of contracts. Forest although they have signed 21 players, this was due to them numerous players in the summer and had to be replaced.
We have players that will not make a third of a season in Innis, Chucks, CBT to name but three, with hot heads such as Claire and Stockley who are more than capable than being sent off and the number of yellow cards that players get then leading to a suspension further depletes the squad.
The club has no doubt saved money on the wages that are being paid out due to the departure of these players, and I wouldn't be surprised to the likes of Claire, Dobson CBT sold in January as their contracts will run out next summer.
The inflation in ticketing is also a strange one. In his five year plan was we now meant to be in the championship therefore we are now paying season ticket prices/ matchday prices, with the additional cost of buying tickets on the day, driving away fans who want to make a last minute decision on going to a game.
Ben Garner was clearly the one who highlighted three players that the club should go after, in which were not wage breakers. He has a system of play, and needs the players to do so and maybe this morning he could be thinking I should have stayed at Swindon.
Sadly for TS the fans have now lost faith in the owner and history suggests that he will continue to carry on spouting his mouth off, I feel that things in the future may get a bit rocky.
If TS wants to get fans back onside, he needs to bring a CEO who knows how to run a club, keep quiet, the funds generated need to be reinvested and not just be used to cover the running of the club as the well will soon dry up, and get fans through the door.
CEOs cost money, so that isn't going to happen.
As much as I'd love to have a CEO similar to Varney I'm now of the opinion it would make little difference. Sandgaard believes he knows more than anyone else and would ignore whatever he was told.
Should be sticking massive EV panels on the roof of the stands and using the electricity generated to cover our energy bills. There must be a pretty quick pay back given the size of the roofs. Would have though it would generate a meaningful short to medium term saving.
Not too sure about short term gain and it depends on how long you mean by medium term.
But take The Valley. Stick a load of EV panels on the roof. The roof space is enormous and it would have no impact on players, fans etc. There MAY even be grants available (although suspect not currently).
Then Stick a load of car chargers in our car park. TS could then recoup significant cost by charging fans/players to charge their cars when parked there (do it at a reasonable rate slightly less than it would cost at home as it is all profit if you have generated the power yourself) = even quicker pay back.
He could even rent it out during the week when it would otherwise be under utilised.
Landlords are doing this on offices and the like already, so the economics must work.
Plus businesses will be taxed more on their carbon emissions in future years through sustainable taxonomy so it would be future proofing us from that too.
Of course, not owning The Valley is not ideal but I still think the pay back would work.
Supermarkets are offering free charging while you shop, so it’d need to be at a pretty low rate, which might not recoup the cost of installing to charging points. It costs around £15 to fully charge a car at home, so perhaps they could get away with charging £10 at The Valley. Not really a big earner. Plus of course not many fans have electric cars at this time.
They’d be better off using the panels to power the whole ground, and saving having to pay inflated energy bills over the next couple of years.
Well of course. But there would be spare electricity given the size of the roofs and an extra £10 x 50 spaces or so on a match day, plus renting during the week is all easy revenue. Not a massive earner but worth it and as I said it also future proofs us against taxonomy.
I’d imagine the set-up cost would be into six figures and not all of the roofs, if any, would have the optimum orientation or slope. Most of the electricity would be fed into the grid because the club wouldn’t be able to use it, unless there was further substantial investment in batteries.
There wouldn’t be any power generated at the time the floodlights were needed and the percentage of electric cars using the car park on matchdays will be small.
Nothing wrong with the principle but probably impossible to make it work for the club financially.
Plus Rd would want part of the action as its his ground
There has defo been a change in approach from TS. When you take into account that we bought Kirk for £500k which was always a gamble (that might still pay off) and Aneke for £300k which was as everyone knew at the time a mental move. But not we dont seem to have the appetite to spend anything like those figures anymore even on players that should be much less of a gamble i.e. Camara went to Ipswich for £500k. I think TS might be thinking sod that !
Thomas has once again not learnt from his mistakes. He has continued to make statements that all football fans regardless of what team you support take with a pinch of salt. The we are " Premiership in five years, then Europe" "Going to smash the League" " We have learned from our mistakes last season in recruiting players" "We are 95% done on a striker" really has to stop, however being a headstrong person I don't think this will happen.
With all due respect we have gone backwards and not forwards during his ownership, and the five year plan, smashing the league, learning from last years mistakes and 95% of signing a player are statements that were not fulfilled. Do any other chairman make such claims, and surely it would be better to make such bold statements after delivering.
Although there was hope when he took over the club, in which lets face it was not in a good place, the trust and patience are slowing wearing thin.
With the transfer money that the club have received recently, we have not invested a penny into the team.
Its all well and good stating that we have brought in seven players, however we have lost 15 from loans and out of contracts. Forest although they have signed 21 players, this was due to them numerous players in the summer and had to be replaced.
We have players that will not make a third of a season in Innis, Chucks, CBT to name but three, with hot heads such as Claire and Stockley who are more than capable than being sent off and the number of yellow cards that players get then leading to a suspension further depletes the squad.
The club has no doubt saved money on the wages that are being paid out due to the departure of these players, and I wouldn't be surprised to the likes of Claire, Dobson CBT sold in January as their contracts will run out next summer.
The inflation in ticketing is also a strange one. In his five year plan was we now meant to be in the championship therefore we are now paying season ticket prices/ matchday prices, with the additional cost of buying tickets on the day, driving away fans who want to make a last minute decision on going to a game.
Ben Garner was clearly the one who highlighted three players that the club should go after, in which were not wage breakers. He has a system of play, and needs the players to do so and maybe this morning he could be thinking I should have stayed at Swindon.
Sadly for TS the fans have now lost faith in the owner and history suggests that he will continue to carry on spouting his mouth off, I feel that things in the future may get a bit rocky.
If TS wants to get fans back onside, he needs to bring a CEO who knows how to run a club, keep quiet, the funds generated need to be reinvested and not just be used to cover the running of the club as the well will soon dry up, and get fans through the door.
CEOs cost money, so that isn't going to happen.
As much as I'd love to have a CEO similar to Varney I'm now of the opinion it would make little difference. Sandgaard believes he knows more than anyone else and would ignore whatever he was told.
He would only appoint a yes-man anyway, so he probably doesn't see the point.
He's obviously tightening his belt in terms of what he wants to spend. I suspect he will be looking to sell if we don't get promoted this season
I doubt anyone that we would consider decent would want to buy a loss making 3rd division football club that has no tangible assets (other than a team that isn’t good enough for promotion).
Sandgaard frustrates me, and I think his concept of breaking even whilst in L1 is wildly unrealistic as is any plan to attract significant outside investment. But whilst the present circumstances persist he’s probably the best we can hope for. Roland’s shadow still looms large over Charlton Athletic’s future.
Parallels to Charlton under the Glikstens? Their early ambition soon turning to consolidation. A lack of investment in both players and infrastructure, (despite promotion to the First Division in the Glikstens case). A need to 'break even' through player sales. Reliance on a manager to keep the ship afloat. Not sure Garner will hang around as long as Seed did if his hands are tied though. Personally I have sympathy for Sandgaard if his personal fortune has shrunk as much as they say it has. Have to hope Zynex's fortunes improve ASAP.
Sandguard cares about what people think of him and he doesn't shoot from the hip when reacting to criticism.
He is a bit of an idiot though. Sounds like he is only formulating short term solutions to particular problems.
A part of him has already given up.
Always, always listen to fans. Browse the Web for opinions. Ask the fans genuine mature questions about how they feel and what could be improved, from their perspective, and follow it through, within reason. Do your best.
That is how to minimise losses! And help increase Charltons chances of promotion.
Be patient and understanding. I believe he did try and do that, but perhaps, his heart isn't quite fully in it now, even if he wishes it was.
That is how you make your money. "The customer" is always right.
Stop moaning about financial losses. No one cares.
The moaning millionaire who blames others.
Let's hopefully beat Bolton today and continue a playoff push
I wonder if the rejection of cat A status, after a heavy investment in the academy has seriously bruised his ego, and with that he's re-evaluated his commitment to football in general, which obviously hurts us directly.
I’m sick of him. All talk. That last transfer window has done it for me. Seriously, we could go down this year. I’m starting to get sick of everything Charlton. There’s only so much you can take. Fuck off Sandgaard and your false promises.
I feel this is a new low for us. A reaction after being let down in the transfer window. I can seriously see a downhill spiral happening with morale getting worse and worse. The way we capitulated after our goal tells it’s own story. Unacceptable. You can’t put lipstick on this pig. We are truly awful.
I wonder if the rejection of cat A status, after a heavy investment in the academy has seriously bruised his ego, and with that he's re-evaluated his commitment to football in general, which obviously hurts us directly.
We were never going to get Cat 1 status with our present set up
£15-20M down in 2 years for a mid table L1 side. Oh dear.
No one to blame but himself, bought us on a whim, he is owner, CEO and main part of the recruitment team (AB's comments about Bonne pretty damning I thought).
Comments
Oh...
Just writing from the heart the day after having Twitter scroll through all day with nuggets of potential hope and then having them dashed at the end.
It hurts when it feels like this squad is really close to challenging. I'm not full doom mongering at this point, as there's a long way to go, we've had a good start and we've barely just begun this season. Just feels like Garner deserves to be backed, as I wanted whoever was going to be in charge this season to be fully backed. The lack of getting any deal over the line yesterday stings a lot. Those last couple of players were the last piece in the puzzle, imo.
Still going to support the boys every game and not give up yet. However, my faith in TS to be the man to bring the (even relative) glory days back to the club is slowly being eroded.
Sandgaard believes he knows more than anyone else and would ignore whatever he was told.
I think TS might be thinking sod that !
Sandgaard frustrates me, and I think his concept of breaking even whilst in L1 is wildly unrealistic as is any plan to attract significant outside investment. But whilst the present circumstances persist he’s probably the best we can hope for. Roland’s shadow still looms large over Charlton Athletic’s future.
Their early ambition soon turning to consolidation.
A lack of investment in both players and infrastructure, (despite promotion to the First Division in the Glikstens case).
A need to 'break even' through player sales.
Reliance on a manager to keep the ship afloat. Not sure Garner will hang around as long as Seed did if his hands are tied though.
Personally I have sympathy for Sandgaard if his personal fortune has shrunk as much as they say it has. Have to hope Zynex's fortunes improve ASAP.
He is a bit of an idiot though. Sounds like he is only formulating short term solutions to particular problems.
A part of him has already given up.
Always, always listen to fans. Browse the Web for opinions. Ask the fans genuine mature questions about how they feel and what could be improved, from their perspective, and follow it through, within reason. Do your best.
That is how to minimise losses! And help increase Charltons chances of promotion.
Be patient and understanding. I believe he did try and do that, but perhaps, his heart isn't quite fully in it now, even if he wishes it was.
That is how you make your money. "The customer" is always right.
Stop moaning about financial losses. No one cares.
The moaning millionaire who blames others.
Let's hopefully beat Bolton today and continue a playoff push
The way we capitulated after our goal tells it’s own story. Unacceptable.
You can’t put lipstick on this pig. We are truly awful.
No one to blame but himself, bought us on a whim, he is owner, CEO and main part of the recruitment team (AB's comments about Bonne pretty damning I thought).
He has left himself no where to hide.
The ego was initially ignited with a flame a few years ago when fans were speaking highly of him and communicating on twitter.
There was hope of Charlton having a normal owner with emotional intelligence and reasonable common sense.
The hope is the enemy. May be easier to simply just accept - Charlton are f*cked.
Who knows, the original protesting was well organised and well executed. It may be useful again at some stage in the near future.
No, but protests have already been in practice, so they will be easier to return to.
Protests aren't a necessary solution at the moment, but unfortunately it's one of few ways for things to actually go our way, if things get desperate.
He's had over two years.
The club hasn't made any significant improvements.
It's all now just kind of boring.