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  • Charlton owner Roland Duchâtelet has assured supporters that the club is working hard to build a competitive squad ahead of the new Championship season
    Olly Groome reports

    Charlton owner Roland Duchâtelet has assured supporters that the club is working hard to build a competitive squad ahead of the 2014/15 Championship season.

    New Head Coach Bob Peeters has already added midfielder Yoni Buyens and highly-rated striker Igor Vetokele to the ranks as he begins to construct his side in time for August’s big kick-off.

    Although the first of the new faces through The Valley’s doors this summer have links to Peeters and Belgium, Duchâtelet insists that recruitment will not be limited to his home country as they look to find a perfect balance for the squad.

    “We try to bring the best possible players that are affordable,” said the Belgian, who completed his takeover of the club in January.

    “Of course, we need to be very competitive because [the Championship] is a very competitive league.

    “We just want to bring in the right players whether they are from Belgium or the moon! The main thing is that they are very good.”

    With the Addicks’ renowned academy playing a significant part in Charlton securing their Championship safety last term, Duchâtelet believes that a mixture of youth and experience will be key in bringing future success to The Valley.

    “The expectation is that we stay up, that’s the first thing,” explained the Charlton owner.

    “But on the other hand, we want to develop the youth players and want to give chances to the academy players.

    “We have a fantastic academy and our main goal is to try and make the difference with our own fantastic young players.

    “Of course, you need experience to go along with them. The right mix between young players and experienced players is the right solution to bring this club to future success.”

    Meanwhile, Duchâtelet pledged that Peeters, who was appointed as the Addicks' new boss in May, is the ideal man to strike that required balance.

    “He has two big qualities. Firstly, he detects the quality in young players as he has proven in the past," added the owner.

    “Secondly, he is not afraid to put his head on the block to play the youth. Many coaches don’t want to take the risk to play young players because if you play them and it goes wrong, then people blame the coach.

    “He has a special mindset to play young players and there’s not many coaches who want to do that.”

    Read more at http://www.cafc.co.uk/news/article/20140626-duchatelet-we-are-working-to-build-competitive-squad-1689499.aspx#3pbTusTluGE5GZw0.99
  • More importantly the experienced players need to have experience of this league. But we have those already in the squad.
  • He will get mocked for the moon joke but other then that seems sensible enough if we get the business done, i agree that unless they are from our academy, i don't care what part of the world they come from, just looking forward to more signings now.
  • yep quite happy with this latest communication.

  • Seeing no one else has I might as wel................... huh!
  • Can I be the first to say that he is always banging on about the youth players. You don't win anything with kids.
  • At what point will we think the squad is as strong/stronger than last season? Negatives for me are losing Poyet, Kermorgant, Dervite, Hamer, Stephens. So far the replacements for these are, Buyens and Vetokele, so still way behind on quality.
  • I think that in the context of what has happened in the last two weeks, with Morro re-signing, and very good reports about Buyens and Vetokele, that is a pretty credible statement. Clearly we need more, but his statement seems to recognise that. He still isn't explaining about Riga, because Riga has a fine reputation for developing the youth too, but we have always wanted a Charlton full of academy stars, and if thats Peeters speciality, lets give it a go.
  • @dickplumb, The golden generation at Man U did win lots - Scholes, Giggs, Beckham, Butt etc and all kids do grow up at some point. I am not expecting raft of World Class players this season, but promising youngsters well coached and introduced carefully into a full blown playing carreer could yield another Poyet, Parker, Jenkinson Shelvey, Defoe etc that we can earn money form until we reach the point that we are back in the Prem and can afford to beat of competition financially to keep hold of them.

    The fact that the academy is being heavily invested in can only improve the odds of further gems being unearthed sooner.

    I prefer this approach as opposed to throwing obsene amounts of money at disinterested journeymen towards the end of their carreers. This is how Pardew and Parkinson got us in to all sorts of trouble.
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  • Will you whoooosh Dick, or shall I?
  • I think that in the context of what has happened in the last two weeks, with Morro re-signing, and very good reports about Buyens and Vetokele, that is a pretty credible statement. Clearly we need more, but his statement seems to recognise that. He still isn't explaining about Riga, because Riga has a fine reputation for developing the youth too, but we have always wanted a Charlton full of academy stars, and if thats Peeters speciality, lets give it a go.

    He is never going to elaborate on Peeters over Riga I think, he's said through KM they looked at options and Peeters was the choice made, and why, and drawn a line under it. While it would be nice to have a point by point breakdown of his thinking he has no obligation to share it with us so the best thing to do is accept it and move on and get behind Bob and the boys.
  • The Roland out brigade have quietened down a lot recently
  • Is it too soon to moan about all this communication that's going on?

    Blah blah blah academy, blah blah pitch, blah blah signings, squad building etc etc.
    I mean don't they ever shut up and just get on with running the club instead of telling everyone what they are doing or going to do?

    I'm just sick of it.

    image

    EDIT# This is a picture of someone with their tongue in their cheek.

    And to think, I nearly didn't spot that.
  • dickplumb said:

    Can i ? whoosh. Irony has obviously passed Denmark by.

    How do we go about getting a Whooosh button to go with the Like, Lol, etc.?
  • edited June 2014
    Duchatelet gets this division. Him, his analysts and Meire and Peeters know what it takes and this statement backed with actions of the last week shows a big step up from the January window and subsequent loan window.
    Let's see who they sign in July to complete the jigsaw. I usually wait for the first ten games to say anything about the season but the squad so far looks stronger than last summer.
  • Opinions will differ and we know not the price let alone the calibre of the final signings. August and September will tell us where we are for sure in terms of points and performances.
    Hamer and Dervite are being replaced.
    I'd take Vetokele and Buyens over Poyet and Sordell... To me it feels better knowing that the owner has real money to complete the job.
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  • I think it is fair to say the squad is stronger than it was this time last week, but there is a LOT of work yet to be done. The defence needed attention even before we lost Wood, and while Lennon and even Gomez are going to be developing this season they really shouldn't be relied on - it would be unfair on them and us expecting teenagers to be battered from pillar to post by big lumps or tied in knots by pace/tricks, they aren't mentally prepared for a whole season of that I think.

    On the other hand, Buyens seems to be well suited physically for the league (where Reza maybe is/was not) and Vetokele is highly thought of and I am optimistic. If this is the calibre of signing I would be optimistic going into next season - I am of the opinion RD's comment re: survival was simply that that was the bare minimum expected, not the end goal.

  • Duchatelet gets this division. Him, his analysts and Meire and Peeters know what it takes and this statement backed with actions of the last week shows a big step up from the January window and subsequent loan window.
    Let's see who they sign in July to complete the jigsaw. I usually wait for the first ten games to say anything about the season but the squad so far looks stronger than last summer.

    Losing our POTY, our keeper who kept us in many a matches, won us some too imo, our 2 CB's, and signing 2 untested overseas players and we look far stronger?

    They got the January window horribly wrong and that includes similar prospects to this one, i.e. Iran international, French youth international, Polish U21 etc.... we're not stronger imo.
    I agree.

    There is no way we can say the squad is stronger. Yet.

    It may turn out to be stronger and I think there is a good chance it might but we've been here before. Signing Polish Pete was going to mean we'd all be saying "Yann who?".

    The two new players look like good prospects and they seem to be the Head Coach's choice (a big change from January) but so far they are unproven in the Championship.

    We don't even know who else or how many others are coming in yet so there's no way we can say they will make the squad stronger.

    There's optimism and there's blind faith.

    Let's wait and see who, what and when before deciding the squad is stronger, weaker or the same.
    We still need 4-5 new 1st team players in - AT LEAST - given the number of players that left the club in the summer and even then we'd still have a pretty small squad.

    Effectively you are going to want about 18 senior pros with 30+ games under their belt to offer depth across the key areas - the youngsters can then fill in around that.

    At the moment we are nowhere near that level and it only needs 2-3 injuries to key players and we are bang in trouble.

    However, its only June so there is still time.
  • Opinions will differ and we know not the price let alone the calibre of the final signings. August and September will tell us where we are for sure in terms of points and performances.
    Hamer and Dervite are being replaced.
    I'd take Vetokele and Buyens over Poyet and Sordell... To me it feels better knowing that the owner has real money to complete the job.

    Based on what exactly?
  • Scoham said:

    Opinions will differ and we know not the price let alone the calibre of the final signings. August and September will tell us where we are for sure in terms of points and performances.
    Hamer and Dervite are being replaced.
    I'd take Vetokele and Buyens over Poyet and Sordell... To me it feels better knowing that the owner has real money to complete the job.

    Based on what exactly?
    Based on some data entry lackey putting YB and IV "values" as higher than DP and MS I'd wager...
  • thenewbie said:

    I think that in the context of what has happened in the last two weeks, with Morro re-signing, and very good reports about Buyens and Vetokele, that is a pretty credible statement. Clearly we need more, but his statement seems to recognise that. He still isn't explaining about Riga, because Riga has a fine reputation for developing the youth too, but we have always wanted a Charlton full of academy stars, and if thats Peeters speciality, lets give it a go.

    He is never going to elaborate on Peeters over Riga I think, he's said through KM they looked at options and Peeters was the choice made, and why, and drawn a line under it. While it would be nice to have a point by point breakdown of his thinking he has no obligation to share it with us so the best thing to do is accept it and move on and get behind Bob and the boys.
    I think that's right and I'd add that very often those eloquent and seemingly complete public statements we receive from CEOs and Boards et al amount to little more than a combination of platitudes and spin. Much does not always mean more.

    In recent weeks I've read a number of statements by clubs announcing the appointment of a new Manager, mostly on this forum. Some of them read very well, but I don't recall any that actually say any more than we've been told. Duchatelet picked the man he judged was best for the job, having considerd a number of candidates. Many announcements don't even say that much!!

    The press conference with Peeters is worth listening to and I was struck by two things. First, his energy and youthful enthusiasm and second the fact that he is "current" and has worked recently with a number of players we may be interested in, two of whom we've already signed.

    The appointment of Riga was a master stroke. He was ideal for the situation he inherited. Not only was he immediately available, but he had the experience and maturity to steady a ship that was listing badly, restoring confidence while working with the existing coaching staff.

    In playing terms he was required to operate with what he was given. Nor did he have much opportunity to work with the players on the training ground. More generally, his air of calmness and natural charm meant that a potentially hostile fan base was quickly reassured. There is little doubt that all of this required considerable skill but, arguably, those skills are not quite those required to build a squad and develop a style of play. Moreover, Riga faced much less pressure last season than he would if in charge for a full year. Given where we were when he arrived, he didn't have much to lose.

    Success, in any field, isn't just about ability or even a willingness to work hard, it's often about desire, intensity and singular focus. I think we can expect Peeters to be really up for it, but it would not be surprising if Duchatelet had doubts about Riga on this score. That's not a criticism of Riga, but it may be that his decisions to work in Qatar and then Milan tell us that he feels he no longer has anything to prove and was happy to quit the limelight and the pressure that goes with it. Instead, spending his life doing something he thought he'd enjoy. Can't blame him for that.

    Riga clearly enjoyed his time with us and fancied another fix, but a key question might still be whether he'd offer the same drive and motivation we can expect from Peeters? Or whether he'd be as focused six, twelve or eighteen months in?

    This is all speculation, obviously. However, having listened to and observed Peeters carefully and reflected on what Riga brought to the Club and on his CV, I'd have to say that I'm not at all surprised by the choice Duchatelet has made. Only time will tell how his decision will work out. Let's hope it's another master stroke. There is little doubting Roland's eccentricity, but it's hard not to respect his willingness to make tough decisions when he believes it's the right thing to do. Many owners would, no doubt, have made the easy, conventional play and avoided criticism. Not our man, it seems.

  • I agree that we are currently weaker and need 4-5 signings before the start of the season.

    I have faith not only will we get them, but they will also be good players.
  • I agree that we are currently weaker and need 4-5 signings before the start of the season.

    I have faith not only will we get them, but they will also be good players.

    I think you will be proved correct but as an atheist I don't do faith : - )
  • I agree that we are currently weaker and need 4-5 signings before the start of the season.

    I have faith not only will we get them, but they will also be good players.

    I think you will be proved correct but as an atheist I don't do faith : - )
    so was I until RD came down from the heavens with his cheque book ;-)
  • I agree that we are currently weaker and need 4-5 signings before the start of the season.

    I have faith not only will we get them, but they will also be good players.

    Right now we only have NINE senior pros - so we need at least five new bodies to be able to even have a proper 1st team squad in place.

    I remember back in the Premiership days when we had about 28 SENIOR pros in the squad!
  • thenewbie said:

    I think that in the context of what has happened in the last two weeks, with Morro re-signing, and very good reports about Buyens and Vetokele, that is a pretty credible statement. Clearly we need more, but his statement seems to recognise that. He still isn't explaining about Riga, because Riga has a fine reputation for developing the youth too, but we have always wanted a Charlton full of academy stars, and if thats Peeters speciality, lets give it a go.

    He is never going to elaborate on Peeters over Riga I think, he's said through KM they looked at options and Peeters was the choice made, and why, and drawn a line under it. While it would be nice to have a point by point breakdown of his thinking he has no obligation to share it with us so the best thing to do is accept it and move on and get behind Bob and the boys.
    I still believe the rumour that RD wanted BP in January, offered him the job, but could not leave his club, so RD told him the job would be his and BP has kept up with the players in first 11 and under 21's since then. Who made the decision to release the players we did, this happened before BP was appointed, how did RD know whether the new manager wanted them? He wanted rid of CP so gave the job to JR till the end of season with no intention of giving him the job for this season, as he had already promised it to BP.
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Roland Out Forever!