There were few surprises in the Charlton accounts but there were a couple of interesting (depressing) facts to be gleamed.
https://southnorwoodaddick.com/2023/04/17/enthusiastic-spending-poor-execution/1) Charlton spent more on players than most of the division did last season.
2) Charlton's wage bill was the second highest it has ever been in the third tier. (The Russell Slade squad of 2016/17 was actually more expensive)
3) Sandgaard spent more on firing Adkins & Jackson than Duchatelet did on players in the 2019 promotion season (565k vs 543k)...
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There seemed to be a narrative developing a few months ago that some people were parroting which suggested Sandgaard was “greedy” (wasn’t there a weird banner on Floyd Road that compared him to Scrooge or something?). The story went that he was “pocketing” the transfer income that we had seen, some of it imagined, and was running the club for his own profit.
As a typical hypocritic I support a shite team in this sport who wants us to have an owner who throws money at us till success happens. Just to be in the same league as the spanners will be an achievement.
Kirk - loaned out
Lavelle - loaned out, doesn’t play much for Burton
Clare - still here, no guarantee we’ll renew his contract
Chuks - always injured, plays 30 mins at most when fit
Fraser - ok signing with a few goals from midfield
With the probable exception of Clare (who blows hot and cold), each of those signings has been on a spectrum between mediocre and lamentable. Jayden Stockley did very well in 21/22 but he was poor this season (possibly due in part to his back injury) and I expect that we recouped only a fraction of the £400K or so that we paid for him from Fleetwood. Maybe £100-150K ? How much would we recoup for Fraser now if we decided to sell him ? Maybe a similar level of fee, given that his stock has fallen in the last two seasons.
Given the club's appalling track record on recruitment and the overall scale of the losses, it's perhaps more understandable why Sandgaard has declined to fund any more transfer fees - albeit some of the damage at least has been self-inflicted by the vanity appointment of his son, Martin - not that any of us really know what's going on behind the scenes.
It would be interesting to see how we compared with other teams in League 1 in terms of transfer receipts, as we received substantial sums for Mason Burstow and also for the Grant sell-on fee. I expect very well.
Apart from squandering a large sum of money on poor recruitment, those signings will also be on salaries commensurate with the excessive fees paid, meaning it will be very difficult to move the players on without the club making a further contribution - whether it be through a reduction or waiving of any transfer fee or the payment of a lump sum to the player to reflect their lower salary at the new club. It's an albatross that will be around our necks for the next two seasons and one which will inhibit inevitably further recruitment this summer.
Remembrance Day commemoration always reminds me the heroes are not the ones playing football
However, unlike incoming transfers, clubs that post reduced accounts don't have to include sale figures so quite a few are blank.
This season hasn't been that much better, although since Jan we've picked up more points & look like securing a top half finish 🙄.
Just shows that Sandgaard really has no clue.