Charlie

SELR_addicks said:

Says a lot. 

His ownership has led us to the lowest position in a century. 

Now is the time for apologies and accepting of mistakes, not more false promises. Had it all last summer. 

Rumours were there were disagreements between Scott and Methven. 

We need a simple management structure from Jones to the actual owners and purse strings. 

Thought he came across pretty well to be fair not sure what else he was supposed to have said in regards to those picking at his words.

Chunes said:

MartinCAFC said:

Thought he came across pretty well to be fair not sure what else he was supposed to have said in regards to those picking at his words.

Some acknowledgement that they have just overseen the worst season in 98 years.

This.

I've not listened to the interview, so appreciate the recaps. But it should be easy and necessary to acknowledge that this season was not just a failure, but a disaster at times. Any sensible heads of an organization that has just had a downturn should be sitting down and identifying what went wrong. He can talk about transfer outlays all he wants, personally my concern isn't with how much was spent on transfer fees, but how it was spent. Were players brought in that were an upgrade on what they inherited? And when you look at the signings this group has made since joining, the answer is still: I really don't know. (Note: apparently he did do at least some of this)

It's really not hard to say "this season didn't go well, we have identified some issues, we have learned, we will be better and smarter going forward." It's a lot easier to say that than it is to actually do it. 

With the talk of keeping the academy or not, keeping the women's team or not, to me that's an augur that cost cutting is on the way. To me, the question has always been how and when it would happened and not if. And some of that goes back to the larger systemic problem within the game, particularly the lower leagues, in which rich people don't want to just pour 10m into something every year that they can't drive, sail, snort, or live in. 

I do think this group has grand ambitions. I think TS had grand ambitions. What I don't know is: do they realize how much it is going to cost, both in the short term, and for as long as they run this club? And: do they have the skillset to match those ambitions?

My initial guess is no to the former--there is no break even in L1. There is no break even in the Championship. And as for the second, the first two managerial hires were bad, the third is quite good at least on paper. The transfer dealings have not been great (it's still early for some though). And as far as building out infrastructure, it's really hard to gauge those things from the outside looking in.

I think this ownership group is better than the last. And not all of the problems this season were their doing. But neither of those things makes them great at what they do. 

seth plum said:

In the interview he breaks the season down into four ‘quarters’. I think he said bad then good then bad then good.

Ah ok, thanks Seth, again, I hope they learned from the "bad"

Methven speaks complete sense, unlike Sandgaard, Southall and Duchatelet.
There's little more he can say in my opinion.
Let's hope Charlton fans back the team and owners by buying a Season Ticket if possible and if it's makes sense for the individuals. If they can't buy a S/T let's hope the fans turn up as often as they can.
We've no chance of reaching and remaining in The Championship without the fans support both vocal and financial. 

SDAddick said:

Chunes said:

MartinCAFC said:

Thought he came across pretty well to be fair not sure what else he was supposed to have said in regards to those picking at his words.

Some acknowledgement that they have just overseen the worst season in 98 years.

With the talk of keeping the academy or not, keeping the women's team or not, to me that's an augur that cost cutting is on the way. 

He didn't actually say anything about cutting the academy (exactly the opposite several times) or the women's team. The WSL and Championship have been put under the control of a "Newco" free of the FA. It is supposed to bring in more TV money and sposnsorship. He said they are waiting for details but the women's team needs to earn its keep.

Crusty54 said:

SDAddick said:

Chunes said:

MartinCAFC said:

Thought he came across pretty well to be fair not sure what else he was supposed to have said in regards to those picking at his words.

Some acknowledgement that they have just overseen the worst season in 98 years.

With the talk of keeping the academy or not, keeping the women's team or not, to me that's an augur that cost cutting is on the way. 

He didn't actually say anything about cutting the academy (exactly the opposite several times) or the women's team. The WSL and Championship have been put under the control of a "Newco" free of the FA. It is supposed to bring in more TV money and sposnsorship. He said they are waiting for details but the women's team needs to earn its keep.

Agreed and he stressed that we are the only League 1 club that have a full time women’s team and at a considerable cost it must be said.
 As such they will be watching to see how the women’s game progresses and what kind of backing, TV money, sponsorship, advertising etc will bring in. Without knowing that, it’s difficult to know what’s going to be expected for the game in general and clubs involved.
There was also an assurance that the academy will continue to be fully supported in every way possible.

Overall he spoke well and said what I'd expect a good owner to say. The one area I felt he went into bollocks-speak was talking about Jones the leader, the importance of leadership, the criticality of having someone who inspires. It just led me to say...
'Why the f*** did you hire Apples then?!"

Otherwise it was good to hear someone with some business awareness not reeling off a bunch of clichés.

golfaddick said:

Worryingly he said that the new season recruitment started in January & that there will not be wholesale clear out (my words) in the summer. Listen to it clearly - those players brought in that have been part of the crap football we've seen over the last 3 months will be here next season. There will be new signings & he wants it done before pre-season (yay) but from the sounds of it there wont be the 8+ new bodies we need.

He doesn't say that though really, and seeing as at least half the players brought in over January are out of contract or their loans end in the summer (currently Ladapo, Fiorini, Bakinson all going back, Ward, Small, Wickham, LuaLua on short term deals) Ramsay, Coventry, REG and Gillesphey are the only 4 actually here next season. Those 4 players have potential, and if you add Small and possibly Wickham to that, that's 6 players that should be an upgrade on what we started last season with. Mix in 5 or 6 players that are first 11 players and that's not far off what we need, and still sits within Jones calling for a big transfer window and Methven saying we don't need to go and sign a whole new squad. 

As the Earl of Cardigan famously said “Just win games”

Covered End said:

Methven speaks complete sense, unlike Sandgaard, Southall and Duchatelet.
There's little more he can say in my opinion.
Let's hope Charlton fans back the team and owners by buying a Season Ticket if possible and if it's makes sense for the individuals. If they can't buy a S/T let's hope the fans turn up as often as they can.
We've no chance of reaching and remaining in The Championship without the fans support both vocal and financial. 

This is the bottom line as far as we're concerned.

I think there is a purpose to Methven saying all this. He's given us a standard to live up to. Falling short will be unacceptable. One thing: I hope the women's team isn't dropped or severely defunded. Probably depends on cashflow, which probably depends on numbers. Show yerselves

J BLOCK said:

Basing him solely on his time at Charlton and what I’ve seen and heard from him, I’m nothing but impressed. 

Judging him purely on his time at Charlton, he talks too much for someone who has accomplished so little 

blackpool72 said:

Radostanradical said:

Can i say CM seems like someone id like to spend time with ? No, I can't but worth noting the shambles he took over. Regardless of where we finished I do feel we are in better hands with this lot than Tommy good time, especially the last season under TS.

I do get the feeling that some Charlton fans wouldn't be happy unless our owners were either Peter Varney or a Billionaire Charlton fan who splashes the cash but is also in touch with working man who only charges fiver a game yet we still break even and is sensible with the club budget.

I get the feeling Charlton fans would be happy with a winning team and promotion back to the championship. 
If that was to happen most Charlton fans wouldn't give a toss who the actual owners were. 

We have a winner.

i don’t think this summary can be bettered 

blackpool72 said:

Radostanradical said:

Can i say CM seems like someone id like to spend time with ? No, I can't but worth noting the shambles he took over. Regardless of where we finished I do feel we are in better hands with this lot than Tommy good time, especially the last season under TS.

I do get the feeling that some Charlton fans wouldn't be happy unless our owners were either Peter Varney or a Billionaire Charlton fan who splashes the cash but is also in touch with working man who only charges fiver a game yet we still break even and is sensible with the club budget.

I get the feeling Charlton fans would be happy with a winning team and promotion back to the championship. 
If that was to happen most Charlton fans wouldn't give a toss who the actual owners were. 

Or what they have to say... One of the reasons Roland was hated was the fact we didn't hear from him, he didn't care about us, he never bothered coming to watch our games. 

Owners since then (Im ignoring ESI) have done all three things, but the Football hasn't improved, so our relationship hasn't been brilliant with any of them still