A pall of gloom has understandably been hanging over SE7 at the parade of underwhelming candidates for manager, including one from Mumbai City who was best mates with one of the ownership group at Oxford.
However, at least the owners stood firm against bids for George Dobson, Corey Blackett-Taylor and Miles Leaburn: https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/charlton-athletic-fended-off-wrexham-and-derby-county-bids-before-transfer-window-closes-with-miles-leaburn-also-attracting-approaches/
Defeat by Charlton has seen Fleetwood coach Scott Brown relieved of his duties: https://www.fleetwoodtownfc.com/news/2023/september/brown-statement/
Of course, once it was Premier League managers who lost their jobs after a poor showing against Charlton/
It is now evident that Dean Holden was sacked, apparently by text, without any consideration of a possible replacement. Darren Ferguson was approached and, not surprisingly, turned the job down. Chris Powell had no interest in becoming interim manager.
Lee Bowyer has been talked about. While I would prefer not to have a retread, and some are upset by his departure for Birmingham, he would certainly be better than Lee Johnson.
It;s quite likely that Methven thinks that Bowyer would go down well with the Valley faithful. He doesn't realise how some fans structure their whole lives around a total negativity and pessimism about Charlton.
Danny Cowley is at the top of one odds list. The question is, did his ascent from non-league show that he was eventually appointed beyond his level of competence?
As Dave of Drinking During The Game points out in his latest post, the many owners have been offered a cheap punt on the EFL. Charlie Methven seems to have told them that he could cut costs and increase revenues, whereas the fact the latter requires levels of investment that would attract fans back to The Valley.
A low cost solution could be to give Jason Pearce a few games to see how he does. At least he knows how to organise a defence. He could be helped by Curbs as an advisor.
The news that Jack Payne is going out on loan is encouraging: https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/charlton-midfielder-jack-payne-to-make-mk-loan-move/ We also need to unload Charlie Kirk, who has never fulfilled his promise, and get rid of DJ. This would free up some funds.
I said that I wouldn't post again unless there was a major development at the club and I wake up to find that Dean Holden has been sacked with Jason Pearce in interim charge: https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/dean-holden-dismissed-by-charlton-athletic-with-backroom-departures-too/
Our greatest success as a club has been achieved with long serving managers: Jimmy Seed, Lenny Lawrence, Curbs. Having said that, it is no good keeping a manager who isn't up to the task otherwise we would still have Karel Fraeye (currently at Lokeren-Terrisse).
Rick Everitt thinks that Dean Holden was out of his depth. He was a decent man who had a bond with the fans.
The real problem in my view is that there has been insufficient investment in the squad and it will now be difficult to make decisions in the absence of a manager.
I don't think we need retreads like Bowyer or even Curbs, although he could be given an advisory role. I would like Darren Moore, but doubt whether he would come.
We lurch from crisis to crisis.
The ESI episode was so bizarre but also so worrying that it is difficult to sum it up. Best just to refer back to the court hearing. This account gives a sense of the confusion: https://addicksdiary3.blogspot.com/2020/09/our-day-in-court.html
The Sandgaard period is very fresh in our memories. I think that he was well intentioned but naive, a typical example of a businessman successful in another field thinking he can sort out the much more challenging and uncertain world of football. He under estimated how much getting promoted would cost and, like Roland, involved some unsuitable people in running the club, not least his son. I am more tolerant than some of his egotistical guitar playing antics. If you are going to put millions into a loss making business, you are entitled to a bit of fun.
I find it difficult to work out what the strategy of the fragmented present ownership is. If they want to make money out of Charlton, they should get the club promoted to the Championship and then sell it on as a potential Premier League club. That requires much more investment than has been forthcoming.
Indeed, apart from Alfie May, it's the old story: use Academy players while they are still developing and see what we can pick up at the end of the transfer window on the cheap or as loan signings. We were very fortunate with Rak Sakyi last year.
I can only suggest that you follow Drinking During the Game on this topic, Like Dave, I am sceptical about Charlie Methven whom I think is a slippery customer. VOTV website editor Rick Everitt has been surprisingly silent on the topic: usually he is first in the queue to denounce a new owner. However, he may be weighed down by his civic duties.
In my view there were two crucial turning points in our history. First, and most crucially, the failure to back Jimmy Seed when he wanted to make Charlton the Arsenal of South London by developing The Valley and making marquee signings. Second, the mess made of the Alan Curbishley succession. He should have been allowed to stay on for a final year while potential successors were researched. Instead we got Dowie and his all purpose PowerPoint.
What future for Charlton?
'Charlton till I die' has more meaning for some of us and I am unlikely to see the end of this saga, but it may not be a happy one. Charlton had the third biggest loss in League One in the last accounting period and has one of the biggest debts (£20m). The ground and the training ground are owned by Roland who is said to want an excessive £50m for them.
So here are three scenarios with probabilities attached:
1. Charlton get promoted to the Championship and are bought by a seriously rich individual who is prepared to spend to get the club in the Premier League. 20 per cent.
2. Charlton muddle through as a mid-table League One club (perhaps including one season in League Two). 40 per cent.
3. Charlton fall into the National League, the club is no longer viable or sustainable. Fans form AFC Charlton using a Kent non-ground and entering Step 6 of the non-league pyramid.
That's my last post for a while, unless there is some major development at the club.
Tomorrow I hope to be well enough to see my first live football this season, the 'El Warwicko' clash between Leamington and Stratford Town.
I remember some years ago watching the Bardsmen away at their old ground. The Brakes went 2-0 up and started a chant of 'two nil or not two nil?' Bemused American tourists leaving the Royal Shakespeare Theatre were greeted by cars crusing round the town flashing the black and gold colours of Leamington.
Stratford Town Council get revenue from owning properties in the town centre and have built the Bardsmen a neat stadium on the outskirts of town with all weather training pitches. However, we won't be going to the Anne Hathaway tomorrow as the match is at Your Co-op Community Stadium in Harbury Lane.
It's possible to get in for free at Harbury Lane
All this started me thinking about the contrasts between league and non-league football. Leamington were relegated from the National League North last season. Fans were disappointed but phlegmatic. They are just glad to have a club: after Automotive Products sold the ground for housing there was no club for 13 years until a new ground was created out in the country.
There was also no question of sacking manager Paul Holleran in his 13th year at the club, only the second manager since the club reformed in 2000. A few bad results from a thin and injury hit squad and some Charlton fans are already calling for Dean Holden's head.
Manager Paul Holleran is not slow to tell referees what he thinks of them
Holleran's skill is identifying players with potential in the non-league system and turning them into Football League players. Colby Bishop, now at Portsmouth, is the prime example, but there are many more. Charlton would not pay the modest fee for Bishop so he went to Accrington and invariably scored against us.
Tomorrow I know that I can enjoy some good banter as we exchange views with the linesman and at half time I will get a cup of tea and the biscuit of my choice in the vice-presidents longue (aka portakabin). And I can read my article in our award winning programme.
Some Charlton fans think that the Roland era was much better than what followed or went before, although it's not a competitive league. Steve Sutherland thinks that Charlton fans will rue amtagonising Rolamd and he does still own the stadium and the training ground.
Roland's idea of a network of European clubs was not in principle a bad one and Manchester City have produced a more sophisticated version on a global basis: https://footballeconomyv2.blogspot.com/2019/11/share-sale-puts-high-value-on.html Indeed, Chelsea have now said they will follow suit.
However, it all went wrong for Roland when he lost the mother ship, Standard Liege, after fans there got fed up with him. All the other clubs in the network apart from Charlton were third rate at best.
So let's look at the charge sheet against Roland. He appointed as chief executive a lawyer with no previous experience of football who made errors in negotiating contracts. She introduced gimmicks like the fan sofa, eventually destroyed by fans. Nevertheless, she subsequently commanded an annual salary estimated to be £137,000 in a similar position at Sheffield Wednesday.
The really big puzzle is why she made no use of her knowledge of competition law. Roland believed that his financial model would work because there was bound to be a levelling of the playing field in English football, certainly in the EFL. Katrien Meire should have told him that any such move would have been open to challenge in the courts umder both domestic and EU competition law. The Premier League had already had its fingers burnt in a face off with the European Commission in 2006.
One of Roland's first acts was to sell off Yann Kermorgant. He then foisted on us a series of incompetent players from the continent, advised by someone with a laptop and no football background. When Chris Powell got us promoted, he failed to back him with sufficient funds. We then had a rapid succession of managers largely in the range barely adequate to useless.
One of the most effective critques of Roland's stewardship ws provided by Millwall fan Rod Liddle: https://addicksdiary3.blogspot.com/search?q=Liddle+gives+it+large
The barmy Belgian had a great opportunity, but he ended up doing us a lot of harm.
