great article, it's difficult not to like the fella and he always comes across well.
I think we are now also starting to see that they mean business with everything being done around the club and not just on the playing squad. A few real big statements of intent with the pitch upgrades and the work at the training ground.
long way to go, but I'm feeling more confident at the end of July that I have for many a year
Funny how some high profile ‘connected’ posters have simply vanished since things have started looking much better from an ownership point of view.
I guess it’s easier than accepting they got it wrong.
Mate that is a ridiculous post. We have achieved effing nothing. What are you congratulating them for? I’m sorry to be rude but to be blunt that post, you just sound like an idiot - if you’re patting an ownership on the back because they’ve painted the training ground so things “look better” then I have no idea what is going on in your head, presumably under the influence of something.
Have you forgotten the appointment of Michael Appleton? Pretty much every signing last season except May (where’s he now by the way?)? And most importantly and simply of all, our league position last season - the worst in our entire history!
Whatever you may think of the signings we’ve made (I struggle to believe many fans have any meaningful knowledge of most of them in reality, and I recall all sorts of rave reviews and excitement abouT signings the last couple of years who have been utter toilet - make a judgement when you’ve seen whether they’re any good not when you’ve read a few rival fans opinions on twitter) - I cannot fathom any Charlton supporter around for the last decade giving ANY owner credit at this moment in time, let alone calling out those who harbour very justified doubts.
If you’re not familiar with the term false dawn, revisit season 2014/15 - I think we began the championship season with a load of exciting , big money “champ man” signings who looked thrilling on paper, and we actually began the season unbeaten in 10 games or something? Our owner then; a freshly installed Roland Duchatalet. How did that turn out?
Im looking forward to getting behind the new players, Jones, the youth players who have already made names for themselves in difficult circumstances and pray to god we’re gonna be up there this season. I’ll chuck loads of praise their way if they get us out of this toilet league.
BUT. Congratulate an owner when they’ve actually achieved something, and when things ARE better, materially. They could sign Messi tomorrow but they’d still be very, very much in negative credit when they’ve just presided over the last year.
They are all fair points, last season was an absolute disaster, based on, imo, bad (no, awful) decisions, but not ill intent, like many had suggested.
It seems quite obvious to me that lessons have been learnt and these owners have long term ambitions for the club, they have done much more than ‘painted the training ground’ none of which will have come cheap, or have been necessary if the plan was to strip the club to its bones and run it into the ground chasing break even.
My gripe is not with anyone who has justifiable doubts, I have them too, as you said, any sane fan would, after not only last season, but the last decade - My issue is with those that told us we were dealing with another Farnell, simply scam artists rather than people that simply fucked it up, albeit with good intentions - they’ve not vanished with not a word to say about the positive stuff that’s now coming from the club, I wonder why. Things are - off the pitch at least - materially better, just the upgrades at the training ground are something to be very positive about.
Like you, I’d say the owners are still in negative credit, but I’d hope we can agree things appear to be heading in the right direction, positive and negative should be discussed.
Im sorry, I haven’t seen anything moving in the right direction. Literally nothing. I repeat; we just had our worst ever league finish.
What you are referring to is literally the bare minimum; a few signings, a manager with a competent L1 track record (albeit incompetent above that) and a few inoffensive interviews online. Again, previous owners have managed this stuff. I recall people heaping praise on Sandgaard when he acquired the ladies team, mugged off Southall and talked about achieving Cat 1 academy status.
Would you write a good review of a decorator on checkatrade when they turn up on the first Monday morning day with some tins of paint and a brush?
I don’t know how you have managed to erase the last decade from your head, I thought eternal sunshine of the spotless mind was fictional. These guys could still very much turn out to be crooks, chancers, incompetent, liars, all of the above. They are certainly in it for money and nothing else, like Slater/Jiminez et al were.
Come back to me when they’ve won promotion and attendances are back above those we used to get for reserve games and I’ll gladly embrace you in a fit of joy (relief) whilst singing there’s only one Charlie Methven. In the meantime, I’m going to keep my glass half empty and hope that February at St Andrews will be just too early in the season to have to watch Alfie May clinch the L1 title against us.
great article, it's difficult not to like the fella and he always comes across well.
I think we are now also starting to see that they mean business with everything being done around the club and not just on the playing squad. A few real big statements of intent with the pitch upgrades and the work at the training ground.
long way to go, but I'm feeling more confident at the end of July that I have for many a year
Funny how some high profile ‘connected’ posters have simply vanished since things have started looking much better from an ownership point of view.
I guess it’s easier than accepting they got it wrong.
Mate that is a ridiculous post. We have achieved effing nothing. What are you congratulating them for? I’m sorry to be rude but to be blunt that post, you just sound like an idiot - if you’re patting an ownership on the back because they’ve painted the training ground so things “look better” then I have no idea what is going on in your head, presumably under the influence of something.
Have you forgotten the appointment of Michael Appleton? Pretty much every signing last season except May (where’s he now by the way?)? And most importantly and simply of all, our league position last season - the worst in our entire history!
Whatever you may think of the signings we’ve made (I struggle to believe many fans have any meaningful knowledge of most of them in reality, and I recall all sorts of rave reviews and excitement abouT signings the last couple of years who have been utter toilet - make a judgement when you’ve seen whether they’re any good not when you’ve read a few rival fans opinions on twitter) - I cannot fathom any Charlton supporter around for the last decade giving ANY owner credit at this moment in time, let alone calling out those who harbour very justified doubts.
If you’re not familiar with the term false dawn, revisit season 2014/15 - I think we began the championship season with a load of exciting , big money “champ man” signings who looked thrilling on paper, and we actually began the season unbeaten in 10 games or something? Our owner then; a freshly installed Roland Duchatalet. How did that turn out?
Im looking forward to getting behind the new players, Jones, the youth players who have already made names for themselves in difficult circumstances and pray to god we’re gonna be up there this season. I’ll chuck loads of praise their way if they get us out of this toilet league.
BUT. Congratulate an owner when they’ve actually achieved something, and when things ARE better, materially. They could sign Messi tomorrow but they’d still be very, very much in negative credit when they’ve just presided over the last year.
They are all fair points, last season was an absolute disaster, based on, imo, bad (no, awful) decisions, but not ill intent, like many had suggested.
It seems quite obvious to me that lessons have been learnt and these owners have long term ambitions for the club, they have done much more than ‘painted the training ground’ none of which will have come cheap, or have been necessary if the plan was to strip the club to its bones and run it into the ground chasing break even.
My gripe is not with anyone who has justifiable doubts, I have them too, as you said, any sane fan would, after not only last season, but the last decade - My issue is with those that told us we were dealing with another Farnell, simply scam artists rather than people that simply fucked it up, albeit with good intentions - they’ve not vanished with not a word to say about the positive stuff that’s now coming from the club, I wonder why. Things are - off the pitch at least - materially better, just the upgrades at the training ground are something to be very positive about.
Like you, I’d say the owners are still in negative credit, but I’d hope we can agree things appear to be heading in the right direction, positive and negative should be discussed.
Positives : manager and technical staff- Abbott etc , money spent on the pitch and training ground. Unknowns : how good the squad will be relative the the shambles of last season. Negatives : the loss of our best player , our top scorer and our biggest creative threat in the last 6 months; the horrific appointment of Appleton , which almost saw us until league 2.
Cmon lads, we all want the best for Charlton. Like opinions, people can change. I didn’t watch the Sunderland doc but heard the guy was a bell and we’ve had plenty of them to be aware of. But this ain’t Sunderland so lessons learnt.
To me things are looking up. Which when you finish 16th in league one, shit will.
Two sides of the same coin.
For me the jury is still out on Methven and the owners and will remain so until we see the medium term results for the club as a whole. That means as Curbs has said I won't get carried away by the highs or the lows (well something like that).
I watched STID and Methven did come across as a bell end, but we should not forget that TV is made for ratings and sometimes you need a pantomime villain. That is Methven and there will be loads of film on the cutting room floor (no idea what the digital age equivalent is) that maybe more positive, or support the bell end view.
Whatever that is now history and we can judge him on the here and now. Actions have been positive if you take out the first six months but then those six months did exist so can't be totally dismissed and they did bring in Appleton.
Here's to the next 6 months on a decent pitch and little discussion on Methvem which will mean he is doing something right.
great article, it's difficult not to like the fella and he always comes across well.
I think we are now also starting to see that they mean business with everything being done around the club and not just on the playing squad. A few real big statements of intent with the pitch upgrades and the work at the training ground.
long way to go, but I'm feeling more confident at the end of July that I have for many a year
Funny how some high profile ‘connected’ posters have simply vanished since things have started looking much better from an ownership point of view.
I guess it’s easier than accepting they got it wrong.
Mate that is a ridiculous post. We have achieved effing nothing. What are you congratulating them for? I’m sorry to be rude but to be blunt that post, you just sound like an idiot - if you’re patting an ownership on the back because they’ve painted the training ground so things “look better” then I have no idea what is going on in your head, presumably under the influence of something.
Have you forgotten the appointment of Michael Appleton? Pretty much every signing last season except May (where’s he now by the way?)? And most importantly and simply of all, our league position last season - the worst in our entire history!
Whatever you may think of the signings we’ve made (I struggle to believe many fans have any meaningful knowledge of most of them in reality, and I recall all sorts of rave reviews and excitement abouT signings the last couple of years who have been utter toilet - make a judgement when you’ve seen whether they’re any good not when you’ve read a few rival fans opinions on twitter) - I cannot fathom any Charlton supporter around for the last decade giving ANY owner credit at this moment in time, let alone calling out those who harbour very justified doubts.
If you’re not familiar with the term false dawn, revisit season 2014/15 - I think we began the championship season with a load of exciting , big money “champ man” signings who looked thrilling on paper, and we actually began the season unbeaten in 10 games or something? Our owner then; a freshly installed Roland Duchatalet. How did that turn out?
Im looking forward to getting behind the new players, Jones, the youth players who have already made names for themselves in difficult circumstances and pray to god we’re gonna be up there this season. I’ll chuck loads of praise their way if they get us out of this toilet league.
BUT. Congratulate an owner when they’ve actually achieved something, and when things ARE better, materially. They could sign Messi tomorrow but they’d still be very, very much in negative credit when they’ve just presided over the last year.
They are all fair points, last season was an absolute disaster, based on, imo, bad (no, awful) decisions, but not ill intent, like many had suggested.
It seems quite obvious to me that lessons have been learnt and these owners have long term ambitions for the club, they have done much more than ‘painted the training ground’ none of which will have come cheap, or have been necessary if the plan was to strip the club to its bones and run it into the ground chasing break even.
My gripe is not with anyone who has justifiable doubts, I have them too, as you said, any sane fan would, after not only last season, but the last decade - My issue is with those that told us we were dealing with another Farnell, simply scam artists rather than people that simply fucked it up, albeit with good intentions - they’ve not vanished with not a word to say about the positive stuff that’s now coming from the club, I wonder why. Things are - off the pitch at least - materially better, just the upgrades at the training ground are something to be very positive about.
Like you, I’d say the owners are still in negative credit, but I’d hope we can agree things appear to be heading in the right direction, positive and negative should be discussed.
Positives : manager and technical staff- Abbott etc , money spent on the pitch and training ground. Unknowns : how good the squad will be relative the the shambles of last season. Negatives : the loss of our best player , our top scorer and our biggest creative threat in the last 6 months; the horrific appointment of Appleton , which almost saw us until league 2.
I’d agree with all of that, apart from the loss of Dobson and May, the first ignored advise and signed a contract it seems, the other wasn’t wanted by the manager.
If it turns out May wasn’t a NJ decision, that would change a lot for me.
It's a positive piece and CM is trying to put a positive spin on a disastrous 12 months in charge.
He is entitled to point to the positive changes but it it still very much Charlie marking his own homework and giving himself B+ when actually the grade was an F.
His "judge us from January" and "loans don't all work, maybe 1 in 3 do" statements are disingenuous.
He and his team of UK directors were in control from July, he and his team chose and backed Holden and Appleton. So I'll judge them from July 23, thanks.
We had 8 loans last season, none of them stood out and most were so bad they hardly played.
That was bad recruitment, not bad luck.
Something did appear to change in January.
Jones was a huge step up in profile, quality and no doubt cost. He also appears to have been given much more control ie control was taken away from Scott and the other UK directors.
Methvan also spoke about being asked to be more involved by the owners. But he has always been involved, now it is "official" so I don't see that as a change.
Maybe what changed in January was the US owners saw it wasn't working and demanded more and demanded different.
CM may well help with better commercial outcomes but doubling retail income seems ambitious.
Nothing to disagree with about having to win back old fans and bring in new ones. The pitches, Dr Will, the other upgrades are all good inputs but none are outcomes.
I remain optimistic that this season will be better than than last, not because it can hardly be worse, but because Jones is in control and his recruitment and preparation seems better. I don't think we'll be a soft touch but if it will be good enough for top six finish (the minimum "pass mark" IMHO) in what looks like a tough division we shall have to wait and see.
Then and only then should we start talking about positive progress and praise the UK directors.
Whenever Methven talks it's hard to disagree with what he says. He is after all very well educated and knows exactly what to say to his audience. Am I happy with a lot that's been going on behind the scenes, yes all looks rather positive. But. Last season was our lowest league position for 98 years and the football was mainly shit to watch. I am cautiously optimistic that this season will be a huge improvement on last. Can hardly be worse can it.
But I want to see Charlton back in the championship before I am convinced that we have the right senior management team in place. Until then I shall reserve any praise for them.
Im sorry, I haven’t seen anything moving in the right direction. Literally nothing. I repeat; we just had our worst ever league finish.
What you are referring to is literally the bare minimum; a few signings, a manager with a competent L1 track record (albeit incompetent above that) and a few inoffensive interviews online. Again, previous owners have managed this stuff. I recall people heaping praise on Sandgaard when he acquired the ladies team, mugged off Southall and talked about achieving Cat 1 academy status.
Would you write a good review of a decorator on checkatrade when they turn up on the first Monday morning day with some tins of paint and a brush?
I don’t know how you have managed to erase the last decade from your head, I thought eternal sunshine of the spotless mind was fictional. These guys could still very much turn out to be crooks, chancers, incompetent, liars, all of the above. They are certainly in it for money and nothing else, like Slater/Jiminez et al were.
Come back to me when they’ve won promotion and attendances are back above those we used to get for reserve games and I’ll gladly embrace you in a fit of joy (relief) whilst singing there’s only one Charlie Methven. In the meantime, I’m going to keep my glass half empty and hope that February at St Andrews will be just too early in the season to have to watch Alfie May clinch the L1 title against us.
I feel like Indecisive Dave from The Fast Show here as I can find myself liking posts above who are supporting both sides of the argument about where Charlie and his gang stand at the moment.
But I don’t feel that that’s wrong. The first few months and how the season ended up were atrocious. Losing Dobbo and May shouldn’t have happened (I accept that CBT wanted to go and wasn’t much we could do there). Scott was demoted from the Board but, in all honesty, he really should have been shown the door. I still think he will, possibly after this transfer window. The recruitment, as Methven says himself, wasn’t good enough and the tenure of Appleton was a disaster and lasted way too long.
On the positive side, the improvements to The Valley and Sparrows Lane, the recruitment of Jones and Will Abbott and, on paper at least, some of the player recruitment are all welcome. Everything feels far more professional than it has for a very long time behind the scenes.
We were warned when he joined that Jones may exit players who were fan favourites to get what and who he wants and it would be questioned. I suspect there may have been a way back for Dobbo if we had actually sacked Scott instead of just demoting him from the Board, but Jones quite obviously sanctioned the exit of Alfie and that was on the cards from soon after he joined.
There are plenty of potential positives going into this season, but none of them are proven and there’s a lot of making up to do to make up for that first year.
All to play for and everything crossed that this works. It’s about time the light at the end of the tunnel wasn’t another feckin’ train coming hurtling towards us!!
Personally, I don't hold last season against them. I accept they made mistakes, and finishing 16th in League 1 is totally unacceptable, but I feel they've done well in getting Jones in and allowing him to have a substantial backroom team behind him. They've also given him funds for a decent window so far. I think the club should obviously be up there for promotion this coming season though, and anything less won't be acceptable.
Im sorry, I haven’t seen anything moving in the right direction. Literally nothing. I repeat; we just had our worst ever league finish.
Come back to me when they’ve won promotion and attendances are back above those we used to get for reserve games
When did we average over 10,000 for reserve games? Certainly not in the last 50 years.
Poetic license to make a point. Most of our home games last season felt like they could have been reserve matches, and the over 10,000 average is also a bit of poetic license I’d say; I think there were probably at least half of our home matches with less than that in the stadium, some probably with only 5-6,000. When you compare that to crowds of comparable clubs, and wider thriving attendances in football, I’m afraid I find it very hard to find cause for positivity. Shattered glass outlook, myopic maybe. I’d call it realism.🤷🏼♂️
Im sorry, I haven’t seen anything moving in the right direction. Literally nothing. I repeat; we just had our worst ever league finish.
What you are referring to is literally the bare minimum; a few signings, a manager with a competent L1 track record (albeit incompetent above that) and a few inoffensive interviews online. Again, previous owners have managed this stuff. I recall people heaping praise on Sandgaard when he acquired the ladies team, mugged off Southall and talked about achieving Cat 1 academy status.
Would you write a good review of a decorator on checkatrade when they turn up on the first Monday morning day with some tins of paint and a brush?
I don’t know how you have managed to erase the last decade from your head, I thought eternal sunshine of the spotless mind was fictional. These guys could still very much turn out to be crooks, chancers, incompetent, liars, all of the above. They are certainly in it for money and nothing else, like Slater/Jiminez et al were.
Come back to me when they’ve won promotion and attendances are back above those we used to get for reserve games and I’ll gladly embrace you in a fit of joy (relief) whilst singing there’s only one Charlie Methven. In the meantime, I’m going to keep my glass half empty and hope that February at St Andrews will be just too early in the season to have to watch Alfie May clinch the L1 title against us.
The poster stirring this is more interested in calling people out than the substance of his argument. He’s done it for years. If I was on here posting regularly he’d complain about that too.
For the record I stopped publishing the Voice in October 2022 because I had an election to win. Having won it, I’ve switched my focus to running the council. The other reason I’m not writing much about Charlton is because I’ve had enough of the rubbish on the pitch and can’t be bothered to engage with it any more. It’s certainly not because we’re in a good place.
Nobody has any interest in the team and the club being unsuccessful, but after 15 years of this nonsense I’m past worrying about it.
There's definitely a certain amount of anti Charlie "bias" in some posters, where everything that goes wrong on the pitch is blamed on him, when of all the management group, he's the least responsible for that.
Rodwell for example is barely mentioned on this site.
There's definitely a certain amount of anti Charlie "bias" in some posters, where everything that goes wrong on the pitch is blamed on him, when of all the management group, he's the least responsible for that.
Rodwell for example is barely mentioned on this site.
Rodwell has been mentioned on many occasions on here especially after his showing after the first online meeting at the start of this year.
Poetic licence also known as making it up and not based on fact. Average home attendance 13,481.
I was at every home match last season. I’m commenting on the reality, not the paperwork. If you think you are stating fact, then evidently you didn’t go to many games (which is fine by the way, but don’t fall for the figures the club publish, they’re grossly inaccurate).
Poetic licence also known as making it up and not based on fact. Average home attendance 13,481.
I was at every home match last season. I’m commenting on the reality, not the paperwork. If you think you are stating fact, then evidently you didn’t go to many games (which is fine by the way, but don’t fall for the figures the club publish, they’re grossly inaccurate).
great article, it's difficult not to like the fella and he always comes across well.
I think we are now also starting to see that they mean business with everything being done around the club and not just on the playing squad. A few real big statements of intent with the pitch upgrades and the work at the training ground.
long way to go, but I'm feeling more confident at the end of July that I have for many a year
Funny how some high profile ‘connected’ posters have simply vanished since things have started looking much better from an ownership point of view.
I guess it’s easier than accepting they got it wrong.
Mate that is a ridiculous post. We have achieved effing nothing. What are you congratulating them for? I’m sorry to be rude but to be blunt that post, you just sound like an idiot - if you’re patting an ownership on the back because they’ve painted the training ground so things “look better” then I have no idea what is going on in your head, presumably under the influence of something.
Have you forgotten the appointment of Michael Appleton? Pretty much every signing last season except May (where’s he now by the way?)? And most importantly and simply of all, our league position last season - the worst in our entire history!
Whatever you may think of the signings we’ve made (I struggle to believe many fans have any meaningful knowledge of most of them in reality, and I recall all sorts of rave reviews and excitement abouT signings the last couple of years who have been utter toilet - make a judgement when you’ve seen whether they’re any good not when you’ve read a few rival fans opinions on twitter) - I cannot fathom any Charlton supporter around for the last decade giving ANY owner credit at this moment in time, let alone calling out those who harbour very justified doubts.
If you’re not familiar with the term false dawn, revisit season 2014/15 - I think we began the championship season with a load of exciting , big money “champ man” signings who looked thrilling on paper, and we actually began the season unbeaten in 10 games or something? Our owner then; a freshly installed Roland Duchatalet. How did that turn out?
Im looking forward to getting behind the new players, Jones, the youth players who have already made names for themselves in difficult circumstances and pray to god we’re gonna be up there this season. I’ll chuck loads of praise their way if they get us out of this toilet league.
BUT. Congratulate an owner when they’ve actually achieved something, and when things ARE better, materially. They could sign Messi tomorrow but they’d still be very, very much in negative credit when they’ve just presided over the last year.
They are all fair points, last season was an absolute disaster, based on, imo, bad (no, awful) decisions, but not ill intent, like many had suggested.
It seems quite obvious to me that lessons have been learnt and these owners have long term ambitions for the club, they have done much more than ‘painted the training ground’ none of which will have come cheap, or have been necessary if the plan was to strip the club to its bones and run it into the ground chasing break even.
My gripe is not with anyone who has justifiable doubts, I have them too, as you said, any sane fan would, after not only last season, but the last decade - My issue is with those that told us we were dealing with another Farnell, simply scam artists rather than people that simply fucked it up, albeit with good intentions - they’ve not vanished with not a word to say about the positive stuff that’s now coming from the club, I wonder why. Things are - off the pitch at least - materially better, just the upgrades at the training ground are something to be very positive about.
Like you, I’d say the owners are still in negative credit, but I’d hope we can agree things appear to be heading in the right direction, positive and negative should be discussed.
Positives : manager and technical staff- Abbott etc , money spent on the pitch and training ground. Unknowns : how good the squad will be relative the the shambles of last season. Negatives : the loss of our best player , our top scorer and our biggest creative threat in the last 6 months; the horrific appointment of Appleton , which almost saw us until league 2.
I’d agree with all of that, apart from the loss of Dobson and May, the first ignored advise and signed a contract it seems, the other wasn’t wanted by the manager.
If it turns out May wasn’t a NJ decision, that would change a lot for me.
Regardless of why we lost those two players (3 including CBT) we are still worse off without them .
great article, it's difficult not to like the fella and he always comes across well.
I think we are now also starting to see that they mean business with everything being done around the club and not just on the playing squad. A few real big statements of intent with the pitch upgrades and the work at the training ground.
long way to go, but I'm feeling more confident at the end of July that I have for many a year
Funny how some high profile ‘connected’ posters have simply vanished since things have started looking much better from an ownership point of view.
I guess it’s easier than accepting they got it wrong.
Mate that is a ridiculous post. We have achieved effing nothing. What are you congratulating them for? I’m sorry to be rude but to be blunt that post, you just sound like an idiot - if you’re patting an ownership on the back because they’ve painted the training ground so things “look better” then I have no idea what is going on in your head, presumably under the influence of something.
Have you forgotten the appointment of Michael Appleton? Pretty much every signing last season except May (where’s he now by the way?)? And most importantly and simply of all, our league position last season - the worst in our entire history!
Whatever you may think of the signings we’ve made (I struggle to believe many fans have any meaningful knowledge of most of them in reality, and I recall all sorts of rave reviews and excitement abouT signings the last couple of years who have been utter toilet - make a judgement when you’ve seen whether they’re any good not when you’ve read a few rival fans opinions on twitter) - I cannot fathom any Charlton supporter around for the last decade giving ANY owner credit at this moment in time, let alone calling out those who harbour very justified doubts.
If you’re not familiar with the term false dawn, revisit season 2014/15 - I think we began the championship season with a load of exciting , big money “champ man” signings who looked thrilling on paper, and we actually began the season unbeaten in 10 games or something? Our owner then; a freshly installed Roland Duchatalet. How did that turn out?
Im looking forward to getting behind the new players, Jones, the youth players who have already made names for themselves in difficult circumstances and pray to god we’re gonna be up there this season. I’ll chuck loads of praise their way if they get us out of this toilet league.
BUT. Congratulate an owner when they’ve actually achieved something, and when things ARE better, materially. They could sign Messi tomorrow but they’d still be very, very much in negative credit when they’ve just presided over the last year.
They are all fair points, last season was an absolute disaster, based on, imo, bad (no, awful) decisions, but not ill intent, like many had suggested.
It seems quite obvious to me that lessons have been learnt and these owners have long term ambitions for the club, they have done much more than ‘painted the training ground’ none of which will have come cheap, or have been necessary if the plan was to strip the club to its bones and run it into the ground chasing break even.
My gripe is not with anyone who has justifiable doubts, I have them too, as you said, any sane fan would, after not only last season, but the last decade - My issue is with those that told us we were dealing with another Farnell, simply scam artists rather than people that simply fucked it up, albeit with good intentions - they’ve not vanished with not a word to say about the positive stuff that’s now coming from the club, I wonder why. Things are - off the pitch at least - materially better, just the upgrades at the training ground are something to be very positive about.
Like you, I’d say the owners are still in negative credit, but I’d hope we can agree things appear to be heading in the right direction, positive and negative should be discussed.
Positives : manager and technical staff- Abbott etc , money spent on the pitch and training ground. Unknowns : how good the squad will be relative the the shambles of last season. Negatives : the loss of our best player , our top scorer and our biggest creative threat in the last 6 months; the horrific appointment of Appleton , which almost saw us until league 2.
I’d agree with all of that, apart from the loss of Dobson and May, the first ignored advise and signed a contract it seems, the other wasn’t wanted by the manager.
If it turns out May wasn’t a NJ decision, that would change a lot for me.
Regardless of why we lost those two players (3 including CBT) we are still worse off without them .
We are not worse off without them, behave. We finished 16th with those players and not much better the season before. We’ll do alright this season
great article, it's difficult not to like the fella and he always comes across well.
I think we are now also starting to see that they mean business with everything being done around the club and not just on the playing squad. A few real big statements of intent with the pitch upgrades and the work at the training ground.
long way to go, but I'm feeling more confident at the end of July that I have for many a year
Funny how some high profile ‘connected’ posters have simply vanished since things have started looking much better from an ownership point of view.
I guess it’s easier than accepting they got it wrong.
Mate that is a ridiculous post. We have achieved effing nothing. What are you congratulating them for? I’m sorry to be rude but to be blunt that post, you just sound like an idiot - if you’re patting an ownership on the back because they’ve painted the training ground so things “look better” then I have no idea what is going on in your head, presumably under the influence of something.
Have you forgotten the appointment of Michael Appleton? Pretty much every signing last season except May (where’s he now by the way?)? And most importantly and simply of all, our league position last season - the worst in our entire history!
Whatever you may think of the signings we’ve made (I struggle to believe many fans have any meaningful knowledge of most of them in reality, and I recall all sorts of rave reviews and excitement abouT signings the last couple of years who have been utter toilet - make a judgement when you’ve seen whether they’re any good not when you’ve read a few rival fans opinions on twitter) - I cannot fathom any Charlton supporter around for the last decade giving ANY owner credit at this moment in time, let alone calling out those who harbour very justified doubts.
If you’re not familiar with the term false dawn, revisit season 2014/15 - I think we began the championship season with a load of exciting , big money “champ man” signings who looked thrilling on paper, and we actually began the season unbeaten in 10 games or something? Our owner then; a freshly installed Roland Duchatalet. How did that turn out?
Im looking forward to getting behind the new players, Jones, the youth players who have already made names for themselves in difficult circumstances and pray to god we’re gonna be up there this season. I’ll chuck loads of praise their way if they get us out of this toilet league.
BUT. Congratulate an owner when they’ve actually achieved something, and when things ARE better, materially. They could sign Messi tomorrow but they’d still be very, very much in negative credit when they’ve just presided over the last year.
They are all fair points, last season was an absolute disaster, based on, imo, bad (no, awful) decisions, but not ill intent, like many had suggested.
It seems quite obvious to me that lessons have been learnt and these owners have long term ambitions for the club, they have done much more than ‘painted the training ground’ none of which will have come cheap, or have been necessary if the plan was to strip the club to its bones and run it into the ground chasing break even.
My gripe is not with anyone who has justifiable doubts, I have them too, as you said, any sane fan would, after not only last season, but the last decade - My issue is with those that told us we were dealing with another Farnell, simply scam artists rather than people that simply fucked it up, albeit with good intentions - they’ve not vanished with not a word to say about the positive stuff that’s now coming from the club, I wonder why. Things are - off the pitch at least - materially better, just the upgrades at the training ground are something to be very positive about.
Like you, I’d say the owners are still in negative credit, but I’d hope we can agree things appear to be heading in the right direction, positive and negative should be discussed.
Positives : manager and technical staff- Abbott etc , money spent on the pitch and training ground. Unknowns : how good the squad will be relative the the shambles of last season. Negatives : the loss of our best player , our top scorer and our biggest creative threat in the last 6 months; the horrific appointment of Appleton , which almost saw us until league 2.
I’d agree with all of that, apart from the loss of Dobson and May, the first ignored advise and signed a contract it seems, the other wasn’t wanted by the manager.
If it turns out May wasn’t a NJ decision, that would change a lot for me.
Regardless of why we lost those two players (3 including CBT) we are still worse off without them .
We are not worse off without them, behave. We finished 16th with those players and not much better the season before. We’ll do alright this season
I’ll try to behave - thanks for the encouragement to do so . I really hope we are better without those three good players - I suspect we’d have been lower than 16th if we hadn’t had those three - 2 of our better goal scorers , our chief assister and our best player for 3 years .
great article, it's difficult not to like the fella and he always comes across well.
I think we are now also starting to see that they mean business with everything being done around the club and not just on the playing squad. A few real big statements of intent with the pitch upgrades and the work at the training ground.
long way to go, but I'm feeling more confident at the end of July that I have for many a year
Funny how some high profile ‘connected’ posters have simply vanished since things have started looking much better from an ownership point of view.
I guess it’s easier than accepting they got it wrong.
Mate that is a ridiculous post. We have achieved effing nothing. What are you congratulating them for? I’m sorry to be rude but to be blunt that post, you just sound like an idiot - if you’re patting an ownership on the back because they’ve painted the training ground so things “look better” then I have no idea what is going on in your head, presumably under the influence of something.
Have you forgotten the appointment of Michael Appleton? Pretty much every signing last season except May (where’s he now by the way?)? And most importantly and simply of all, our league position last season - the worst in our entire history!
Whatever you may think of the signings we’ve made (I struggle to believe many fans have any meaningful knowledge of most of them in reality, and I recall all sorts of rave reviews and excitement abouT signings the last couple of years who have been utter toilet - make a judgement when you’ve seen whether they’re any good not when you’ve read a few rival fans opinions on twitter) - I cannot fathom any Charlton supporter around for the last decade giving ANY owner credit at this moment in time, let alone calling out those who harbour very justified doubts.
If you’re not familiar with the term false dawn, revisit season 2014/15 - I think we began the championship season with a load of exciting , big money “champ man” signings who looked thrilling on paper, and we actually began the season unbeaten in 10 games or something? Our owner then; a freshly installed Roland Duchatalet. How did that turn out?
Im looking forward to getting behind the new players, Jones, the youth players who have already made names for themselves in difficult circumstances and pray to god we’re gonna be up there this season. I’ll chuck loads of praise their way if they get us out of this toilet league.
BUT. Congratulate an owner when they’ve actually achieved something, and when things ARE better, materially. They could sign Messi tomorrow but they’d still be very, very much in negative credit when they’ve just presided over the last year.
They are all fair points, last season was an absolute disaster, based on, imo, bad (no, awful) decisions, but not ill intent, like many had suggested.
It seems quite obvious to me that lessons have been learnt and these owners have long term ambitions for the club, they have done much more than ‘painted the training ground’ none of which will have come cheap, or have been necessary if the plan was to strip the club to its bones and run it into the ground chasing break even.
My gripe is not with anyone who has justifiable doubts, I have them too, as you said, any sane fan would, after not only last season, but the last decade - My issue is with those that told us we were dealing with another Farnell, simply scam artists rather than people that simply fucked it up, albeit with good intentions - they’ve not vanished with not a word to say about the positive stuff that’s now coming from the club, I wonder why. Things are - off the pitch at least - materially better, just the upgrades at the training ground are something to be very positive about.
Like you, I’d say the owners are still in negative credit, but I’d hope we can agree things appear to be heading in the right direction, positive and negative should be discussed.
Positives : manager and technical staff- Abbott etc , money spent on the pitch and training ground. Unknowns : how good the squad will be relative the the shambles of last season. Negatives : the loss of our best player , our top scorer and our biggest creative threat in the last 6 months; the horrific appointment of Appleton , which almost saw us until league 2.
I’d agree with all of that, apart from the loss of Dobson and May, the first ignored advise and signed a contract it seems, the other wasn’t wanted by the manager.
If it turns out May wasn’t a NJ decision, that would change a lot for me.
Regardless of why we lost those two players (3 including CBT) we are still worse off without them .
We are not worse off without them, behave. We finished 16th with those players and not much better the season before. We’ll do alright this season
I’ll try to behave - thanks for the encouragement to do so . I really hope we are better without those three good players - I suspect we’d have been lower than 16th if we hadn’t had those three - 2 of our better goal scorers , our chief assister and our best player for 3 years .
Without 10 goals from May we'd probably have gone down.
Poetic licence also known as making it up and not based on fact. Average home attendance 13,481.
I was at every home match last season. I’m commenting on the reality, not the paperwork. If you think you are stating fact, then evidently you didn’t go to many games (which is fine by the way, but don’t fall for the figures the club publish, they’re grossly inaccurate).
Comments
My gripe is not with anyone who has justifiable doubts, I have them too, as you said, any sane fan would, after not only last season, but the last decade - My issue is with those that told us we were dealing with another Farnell, simply scam artists rather than people that simply fucked it up, albeit with good intentions - they’ve not vanished with not a word to say about the positive stuff that’s now coming from the club, I wonder why. Things are - off the pitch at least - materially better, just the upgrades at the training ground are something to be very positive about.
I don’t know how you have managed to erase the last decade from your head, I thought eternal sunshine of the spotless mind was fictional. These guys could still very much turn out to be crooks, chancers, incompetent, liars, all of the above. They are certainly in it for money and nothing else, like Slater/Jiminez et al were.
You are not alone I'm sure and I understand why you feel this way but I go with Stu's post at 7.53am above.
I watched STID and Methven did come across as a bell end, but we should not forget that TV is made for ratings and sometimes you need a pantomime villain. That is Methven and there will be loads of film on the cutting room floor (no idea what the digital age equivalent is) that maybe more positive, or support the bell end view.
Whatever that is now history and we can judge him on the here and now. Actions have been positive if you take out the first six months but then those six months did exist so can't be totally dismissed and they did bring in Appleton.
Here's to the next 6 months on a decent pitch and little discussion on Methvem which will mean he is doing something right.
If it turns out May wasn’t a NJ decision, that would change a lot for me.
He is entitled to point to the positive changes but it it still very much Charlie marking his own homework and giving himself B+ when actually the grade was an F.
His "judge us from January" and "loans don't all work, maybe 1 in 3 do" statements are disingenuous.
He and his team of UK directors were in control from July, he and his team chose and backed Holden and Appleton. So I'll judge them from July 23, thanks.
We had 8 loans last season, none of them stood out and most were so bad they hardly played.
That was bad recruitment, not bad luck.
Something did appear to change in January.
Jones was a huge step up in profile, quality and no doubt cost. He also appears to have been given much more control ie control was taken away from Scott and the other UK directors.
Methvan also spoke about being asked to be more involved by the owners. But he has always been involved, now it is "official" so I don't see that as a change.
Maybe what changed in January was the US owners saw it wasn't working and demanded more and demanded different.
CM may well help with better commercial outcomes but doubling retail income seems ambitious.
Nothing to disagree with about having to win back old fans and bring in new ones. The pitches, Dr Will, the other upgrades are all good inputs but none are outcomes.
I remain optimistic that this season will be better than than last, not because it can hardly be worse, but because Jones is in control and his recruitment and preparation seems better. I don't think we'll be a soft touch but if it will be good enough for top six finish (the minimum "pass mark" IMHO) in what looks like a tough division we shall have to wait and see.
Then and only then should we start talking about positive progress and praise the UK directors.
He is after all very well educated and knows exactly what to say to his audience.
Am I happy with a lot that's been going on behind the scenes, yes all looks rather positive.
But.
Last season was our lowest league position for 98 years and the football was mainly shit to watch.
I am cautiously optimistic that this season will be a huge improvement on last.
Can hardly be worse can it.
But I want to see Charlton back in the championship before I am convinced that we have the right senior management team in place.
Until then I shall reserve any praise for them.
Spin, spin, spin.
I'll judge how well they're doing by position in the league. We are a football club.
Certainly not in the last 50 years.
We were warned when he joined that Jones may exit players who were fan favourites to get what and who he wants and it would be questioned. I suspect there may have been a way back for Dobbo if we had actually sacked Scott instead of just demoting him from the Board, but Jones quite obviously sanctioned the exit of Alfie and that was on the cards from soon after he joined.
Average home attendance 13,481.
Rodwell for example is barely mentioned on this site.