Stockport County - a lesson from recent history
The recent history of Stockport is a warning as to how spectacularly it can all go wrong. In 1997-98 , the season we beat Sunderland in the playoffs Stockport finished 7th in the Championship having done the double over Charlton and just missing out on the playoffs to the Premier league. Yesterday they lost 2-0 away to North Ferriby and are currently 9th in National League North. An established League club who now are one division below Welling and Bromley.
The protests must continue, the recent history of Stockport shows what can happen and must serve as a warning to anyone who doubts how bad it could get or where we could end up under this regime.
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That's a horrible drop, but what's the story behind it? What went wrong for them to sink so rapidly? What have the fans done to try and halt the decline?0
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They were still in League One in 2010 before 3 relegations in 4 years.
A mess of a club off the pitch can quickly descend on it.
RD out.0 -
Sobering but unlikely to happen to a club "as big" as Charlton. That season we beat Sunderland at Wembley Charlton were punching at the level they had done previously many many seasons albeit at the top end of that range. Stockport County were that season punching well above their weight and was a blip in their football league cv.
I think it perfectly possible for CAFC to tumble all the way to Division 2 but I couldn't envisage anything worse.
Not impossible but highly unlikely in my opinion.0 -
Still remember AH's hattrick.0
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Which one home or away?1
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This is absolutely the reason why I am 100% behind CARD and will continue to help and participate in the protests. Results on the pitch are not important to RD and nobody knows what he has as his ultimate ambition for the club.Dennis_inthelastmin said:The decisions which come next at Charlton , as we all know, are important but could be pivotal in the history of the club. If we carry on the path we are currently on under this regime who knows how low we will sink.
The recent history of Stockport is a warning as to how spectacularly it can all go wrong. In 1997-98 , the season we beat Sunderland in the playoffs Stockport finished 7th in the Championship having done the double over Charlton and just missing out on the playoffs to the Premier league. Yesterday they lost 2-0 away to North Ferriby and are currently 9th in National League North. An established League club who now are one division below Welling and Bromley.
The protests must continue, the recent history of Stockport shows what can happen and must serve as a warning to anyone who doubts how bad it could get or where we could end up under this regime.
Nobody should be under any illusion that we are too big a club to suffer the same fate as Stockport.0 -
It's very dangerous to think "it won't or it's unlikely to happen to us" you have to remember we have a total fruitcake running things and he has a host of arse kissing minions only too happy to do his bidding regardless of how crackpot his ideas are.
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RD will bugger off long before we slip that low. He won't want to be involved.2
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This is a really important point. In any other situation you normally have at least some kind of board of directors or some limitation to the power of the owner to do what he wants but given recent events and that statement it looks like no one is in any position to stop RD doing what he wants and the only person who had any spine walked out. If RD wanted to turn the Lower North into a giant fish tank there'd be no internal opposition, you'd just get Judas handing out snorkels on the way in.addick1965 said:It's very dangerous to think "it won't or it's unlikely to happen to us" you have to remember we have a total fruitcake running things and he has a host of arse kissing minions only too happy to do his bidding regardless of how crackpot his ideas are.
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Have any of Duchatelet's businesses ever gone bankrupt or into administration? It would help to know if Duchatelet has it in him to walk away from a loss making venture. If he hasn't then his ego could override all business sense and then we would be in real trouble.0
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Dennis_inthelastmin said:
The decisions which come next at Charlton , as we all know, are important but could be pivotal in the history of the club. If we carry on the path we are currently on under this regime who knows how low we will sink.
The recent history of Stockport is a warning as to how spectacularly it can all go wrong. In 1997-98 , the season we beat Sunderland in the playoffs Stockport finished 7th in the Championship having done the double over Charlton and just missing out on the playoffs to the Premier league. Yesterday they lost 2-0 away to North Ferriby and are currently 9th in National League North. An established League club who now are one division below Welling and Bromley.
The protests must continue, the recent history of Stockport shows what can happen and must serve as a warning to anyone who doubts how bad it could get or where we could end up under this regime.
Fair point but there's no shame in losing to North Ferriby United - they are 2nd in the league and play some good stuff. I know because they are my 'village' team
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County were bought by Sale Sharks RFC owner Brian Kennedy. Sale then moved into the ground and shared with County. Both clubs were run by a new company called "Cheshire Sports Ltd". 2 years later Kennedy had evidently lost too cash much, so sold County to the supporters trust for £1. But Cheshire Sports retained ownership of the ground. The hope was the trust could make the club break even, but without the ground they did not have enough of a revenue source. It was a disaster. There was a promotion thrown in the mix, but administration soon followed, with the training ground sold and very capable manager (Jim Gannon) made redundant. Then followed a new group of owners who were equally inept and a succession of managers completely incapable of working at the level the club were at (British and foreign). May 2011 saw the end of a 106 year stay in the football league.
Last year the local council bought the ground for a reported £2m to stop it being lost for redevelopment - I think this was some sort of scheme where they traded land in another part of the borough. A couple of months ago, Gannon was reappointed. Yesterday was the first loss in an otherwise promotion run of form. The club is hopefully on the way back, but ultimately it still does not own the ground itself.
Not sure what similarities there are with CAFC, but all of the above was caused by years of atrocious mismanagement and appalling decisions made off the field.
RD OUT!10 -
This article is three years old, but it tells the story up to the point before they dropped to the conference: http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2013/mar/29/stockport-county-paying-price-chaos
From the quotes below, there looks to be some similarities. I think @Dennis_inthelastmin is absolutely correct. The protests have to continue. We have to get this regime out.
"civil war between fans and hierarchy due to chronic instability and a chaotic back-of-house operation".
"building a continental-style long-term structure and philosophy for County. But his lack of experience of running a club, plus a penchant for "football specific" business-speak, has provoked scepticism from fans".
"sources at County claim there is no debt beyond what is owed to shareholders, the prime anger for supporters is rooted in the draining of assets".
"It stems from Brian Kennedy separating the club from the ground. Once we lost our assets we were doomed. It's been bad management after bad management".
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Oh F**K!EdgeleyAddick said:County were bought by Sale Sharks RFC owner Brian Kennedy. Sale then moved into the ground and shared with County. Both clubs were run by a new company called "Cheshire Sports Ltd". 2 years later Kennedy had evidently lost too cash much, so sold County to the supporters trust for £1. But Cheshire Sports retained ownership of the ground. The hope was the trust could make the club break even, but without the ground they did not have enough of a revenue source. It was a disaster. There was a promotion thrown in the mix, but administration soon followed, with the training ground sold and very capable manager (Jim Gannon) made redundant. Then followed a new group of owners who were equally inept and a succession of managers completely incapable of working at the level the club were at (British and foreign). May 2011 saw the end of a 106 year stay in the football league.
Last year the local council bought the ground for a reported £2m to stop it being lost for redevelopment - I think this was some sort of scheme where they traded land in another part of the borough. A couple of months ago, Gannon was reappointed. Yesterday was the first loss in an otherwise promotion run of form. The club is hopefully on the way back, but ultimately it still does not own the ground itself.
Not sure what similarities there are with CAFC, but all of the above was caused by years of atrocious mismanagement and appalling decisions made off the field.
RD OUT!0 -
Yes they have, which is strange for a man who does not do failure.johnny73 said:Have any of Duchatelet's businesses ever gone bankrupt or into administration? It would help to know if Duchatelet has it in him to walk away from a loss making venture. If he hasn't then his ego could override all business sense and then we would be in real trouble.
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one of the comments in that guardian article is from a charlton fan whose second team is stockport, poor bastard13
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So that's how it's done..!!Stig said:2 -
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Strangely enough I was talking to my brother in law and a few other mates in a pub in Edgeley about this scenario only a day or two ago. There is a very real threat that we could end up in football oblivion and we have already taken the first steps in that direction and the blokes I was with all agreed. We are not too big to drop big style under this regime.
Back to Stockport County, considering how far down the footballing ladder they have fallen, the gates they are still pulling in are remarkable, averaging over 3k with just under 5k for the fixture with FC United.0 - Sponsored links:
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I have no idea if it's possible or feasible but my biggest fear is he somehow gets rid of the football club but keeps ownership of the valley and training ground and rents it to Charlton. Unless he sells in 2016 I can't ever see him recouping anything close to his outlay.0
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Nug said:
I have no idea if it's possible or feasible but my biggest fear is he somehow gets rid of the football club but keeps ownership of the valley and training ground and rents it to Charlton. Unless he sells in 2016 I can't ever see him recouping anything close to his outlay.
IMO, Any future owner would want the Valley and the training ground included In any sale of the club. It's very unlikely any astute owner would take on the risk of club ownership without also being in control of the fixed assets.
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Apparently he doesn't do failure, although I think he's getting a taste of it with us.johnny73 said:Have any of Duchatelet's businesses ever gone bankrupt or into administration? It would help to know if Duchatelet has it in him to walk away from a loss making venture. If he hasn't then his ego could override all business sense and then we would be in real trouble.
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Oh, but do they have a lovely pitch and plans for a magnificent training ground development?
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Too big to fail? Recipe for disaster. Remember, Meire will have shrunk our fan base by about 50% next season. We will be a League One club with a new squad of unknowns and, as things stand, a manager who has failed to stop us being relegated and has no experience of League One. Actual gates next season could be less than Millwall's this season. Not a million miles from Stockport County when they went down and with Duchatelet in charge and a break-even target, League 2 could be closer than ever and certainly a more realistic prospect than promotion to the Championship. They have to go and we need to up the ante because the sooner the better.12
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My family are from Stockport and I have followed them since I was a kid - quite incredible how far down they've sunk. Don't think we'll get that low but who knows?0
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Bloody hell, I know of another Charlton fan born in Stockport so had them as his second team.Leuth said:one of the comments in that guardian article is from a charlton fan whose second team is stockport, poor bastard
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Very sad. Lets make sure this doesnt happen to us.0
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In that 97/98 season they finished 8th and 9 points behind Birmingham who were 7th. Had to look it up because I was sure we had played Brum on the last day, drawing 0-0 and that kept them out of the play offs on goals scored.
Point still remains though. That County team were very good. That season they scores 71 goals, 11 more than Birmingham who were the second highest scoring side outside the playoffs.
County had also done the double over Charlton. Interestingly Charlton's home record that season... P23 W17 D5 L1
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https://youtu.be/CH8ckBlKmnw
