Time to Blow Off the Cobwebs for Another Season

While my blog has certainly not been updated over the last few months, with the exception of a brief hiatus at the end  of last season, the goings on at Charlton have ensured that there has been no time for cobwebs to settle at the Valley.

Much has been said on the subject of the new owner and the changes that took place at the end of last season.  Over the summer we’ve witnessed a number of changes that have started to put the owner’s intentions for the club into force.  Many believed that Charlton might become a cut price club, lacking in investment, with a head coach forced to field players sidelined by other clubs in the network.  While some beneficial elements of using the network are there, this is looking far from the case as recent spending reveals quite a different approach. 

While a new pitch was clearly a top priority it looks like we’ve ended up with a £1m investment in a pitch of Premier League quality, with state of the art drainage and under soil heating.  This along with other ground improvements such as replacement seating and pitch side astro turf will continue to make the Valley one of the more pleasant grounds for visitors in the Championship.  While a pitch renovation was required, the rest of the spending is perhaps more cosmetic but to me shows the intentions of the club to provide a quality match day experience for the fans.  The only downside I can see came from Twitter where an apparent ban on high heels on the pitch side artificial turf has meant a wardrobe rethink for certain stylish members of staff.

I wasn't expecting much of a spending spree this summer so the signing of Ivor Vetekeleh for a fee believed to be around Eu3m was a surprise.  However, I'm not expecting much more of the same and the recent signings while exciting have shown as much.  Feedback on first impressions of Bob Peeters is that he is likeable and gets on well with the squad.  I'm pleased to see his comments on certain players in the development squad and a decent complement of younger players turning out for the Welling game.  Duchatelet has also committed the club to its youth policy with Charlton’s ambitious plans for the new training ground complex to go ahead.  Some might say this is just a good excuse to get a cheaper squad but no manager or coach will play academy players if they are simply not up to the job. 

Having said this it looks like player wages are being firmly capped.  I have no idea as to what salaries players are on but we all remember the rumour of Ricardo Fuller being on £13k a week.  With Kermorgant and Stephens who were arguably our top wager earners gone, the number of younger players coming up from the development squad and cheaper (not my words) foreign players coming in I suspect that salaries are around the £3,000 a week mark.  While this helps in terms of the bottom line it does mean the Charlton will be one of the lowest paying teams in the Championship.  Other teams have not been so quick to adapt and are likely to breach Financial Fair Play rules as a consequence but may have the talent to propel them into the Premier League.  The alternative is that we become a club in a similar vein to Peterborough where they have a great ability in finding cheap but talented lower league footballers that subsequently leave for larger clubs who can afford to pay them higher salaries.  The good news is that the transfer fees effectively pay for the upkeep of the club.

 

The recent run outs at the Philips Stayen Cup and at Welling gave the fans a first chance to witness the players live but give us just a glimmer of new coach Bob Peeters thoughts on the first team line up.  A couple of players were missing from the Welling line up though.  While I presume that Reza is still enjoying a much deserved holiday after his world cup campaign there was no sign of Piotr Parzyszek (Belgium press reports him going to Sint Truiden)  The squad is not complete and clearly need more games under their belt, but there are rumours of another striker coming in and there are a couple of other obvious holes in the squad that need filling.  However, I am sure we will see a marked improvement as the July amd August friendlies go by and Peeters finds his ideal formation.  The Welling game showed Solly and Wilson pushing forward deep in to the opposition territory if that offers any clue as to current thinking.

It is pleasing to see that the club has maintained certain standards by continuing its family policy of not allowing a gambling outfit to sponsor its kit but there is clearly a harder nosed attitude to making the assets work for the club. Further sponsors on the mtach kit in addition to to the main shirt sponsor is an obvious example of new revenue generation.  It appears that a full review of contracts and services has been undertaken and changes have been made internally with director Katrien Meire taking a more hands on role. 

Recent contracts with the same outsourced caterers used by Arsenal and Wembley show the shape of things to come, but we should not read this as bad news for fans.  The partnership with IT company ITRM clearly states that is to "create better opportunities for fan engagement".  We have had a recent glimpse of the intentions of the board with the introduction of the excellent Fan Wall on the Charlton website, the introduction of free broadband at the Valley and the free youtube streaming of the recent tournament in Belgium.  I see this as a long term drive for a better game day experience that should ultimately attract and keep fans.

On the subject of fan engagement, the summer so far has been especially annoying from the mindless and crude drivel posted by those brave smartphone warriors claiming to be fans on various social media every time Charlton post an update. Calm down boys and girls, stay out of the sun and think before you tweet abuse.  How about providing some constructive criticism or at least giving the players a chance in an Addicks shirt first before you burden the rest of us with your refined and experienced three word opinions? You could do something useful like joining the supporters trust www.castrust.org.

Of course the real test is when we start to play in the league.  While there are a number of veterans in the squad, many players have not tasted Championship football and it does remain to be seen whether they can cope at this level but with the spread of youth and experience I am cautiously optimistic.  That’s not to say that I’m expecting miracles this year but it all looks like the club is starting to shape up for both the financial rigours and the pitch battles of the Championship.

Just one small selfish plea from me - please can we have proper pies back at the Valley?  I’m sure these nice people www.pieshop.co.uk would be only too happy to assist.

Charlton: Whingers need not apply

The main sports news on Wednesday was of Brian O'Driscoll's absence from the Lions squad.  The man is undoubtedly a legend in the sport but as a casual observer of the sport, I don't have any strong feelings as to whether this was the right decision or not.

However, what really caught my eye was O'Driscoll's public response to his exclusion.  His statement on Twitter read :-

" Obviously totally gutted at being left out for deciding Test but all efforts go into preparing the boys to see it through #seaofred "

There is no doubt that he was extremely upset about the decision, but he managed to put his own emotions aside to ensure that the focus was all about the team.  I can confidently say right now that even after the game on Saturday, win or lose, any public remarks by the man will reflect this stance.  This is the true mark of a real sportsman.

This is the reason why I'm not a fan of the likes of Michael Schumacher or Christiano Ronaldo.  They both undoubtedly reached the pinnacle of their respective sports, but there's winning and then there's sportsmanship.  These two professionals, in my eyes, sadly are not sportsmen.  Maybe its my British "support the under-dog" mentality but this "win at all costs" mentality, or the throw your toys out of the pram prima donna strops , don't cut it with me and never will.  We all remember Roy Kean admonishing Ronaldo as he lay rolling around the turf like a baby at the Valley following a good chop from Graham Stuart.

This point brings me to Charlton.  We really don't do whingers do we?  We have a squad of dependable workman-like footballers, no prima donnas, and I believe we play better like this.

Now please don't confuse my definition of sportsmanship with not showing emotion or passion.  By showing that he deeply cared about being dropped O'Driscoll displayed his passion for the game.  You can bet your last dollar that he will be watching the last test with gritted teeth, thinking how he would have played the game.  The Charlton team too has passion by the bucket load.  Plenty of Charlton players give their all for their team and are therefore understandably emotional for example when they are substituted during the ninety minutes.  This emotion sometimes shows its self in the form of what might be thought of as petulance but it is no more than the culmination of their passion for the game.  Passion is good and can be highly effective in the game when correctly channelled.

Ben Hamer's outburst at his team for conceding four goals in our epic win over Cardiff is such an example.  Despite the win, as a true professional he was annoyed that he and his defenders had not upheld their part of the bargain, making the job more difficult for the rest of the team.  Yann Kermogant is another example.  The man never stops.  There is no rolling around on the floor for him when he gets tapped.  It takes a good solid tackle to stop him and then despite the gashes and wounds, he picks himself up all wrapped in bandages and soldiers on.  Ronaldo take note!

I was rather worried when Ricardo Fuller signed for us last year.  A big name in a small pond, but prior to his 180 odd games at Stoke he has experienced his fair share of smaller clubs and he fitted well into the squad.


I am sure that there are plenty of fractious issues between manager and players that we don't hear about but the point is that these take place behind closed doors.  On the pitch and in the public eye we are a squad that is united.  So with the transfer window officially open, no star names for us please, we want team players.

There was a fair bit of chat on Twitter today from fans moaning about various things including the fact that we are definitely now going to lose against Millwall as the match is being screened live on Sky.  While football would not be the same without the odd moan, perhaps we as fans could take a leaf out of the attitude of the squad's sportsman like mentality?

I hope to be at Welling on Saturday, camera at the ready, on the look out for a few new faces in the match day squad.  I somehow doubt there will be any Russians investors in the crowd though.

COYR.....

Charlton: Financial Fair Play, Transfers and Reality

I had started to write an article entitled "N'Guessan I'm guessing" as my first attempt at speculation as to who would be joining Charlton this season.  Given that Dany N'Guessan has been a Charlton target for over a season now and with him apparently out of favour with Kenny Jackett he looked a certainty to me to be top of Chris Powell's buying list.  However, a week is a long time in football and as we all know Kenny Jackett has moved on and Steve Lomas will undoubtedly want to review the squad before making any decisions.  I believe that N'Gussean also has another year on his contract with Millwall and given that Charlton opted not to take up their free option on extending Danny Haynes' contract, they are unlikely to pay a fee to obtain the Millwall front man.

There are plenty of players out of contract this summer from the Premier League (see here for a complete list www.thepfa.com/transferlist )  but Financial Fair Play rules (FFP) in the Championship mean that (with the possible exception of a few clubs with Premier League parachute payments) it's going to take some serious reality to settle in on wages before those players join a lower league club.  Unfortunately I don't think that reality will settle in for a few years from now as former Premier players realise they're not going to be able to command those types of wages in the lower leagues even if a club has a new Sugar Daddy willing to splash a bit of cash.  With Charlton struggling to pay a rumoured top weekly wage of about £13k to Ricardo Fuller, what chance do we and other clubs have of paying £20k plus to the likes of Jermain Pennant and others?

The FFP rules are different between the three divisions of the football league.  For Leagues 1 and 2 it's based on player salaries as a percentage of turnover, while for Championship clubs the aim is to break even on the core element of the club's activities (ie spending on youth development and improving the stadium fall outside its scope).  For more information on FFP see the following link FPP Explained

I believe that Charlton have a deficit of roughly £500k a month to fill before we meet the criteria once they strictly apply.  The FFP rules allow for a certain amount of equity injection and with a £6m annual deficit we are comfortably within those boundaries for the next season but this assumes that Uncle Tony is willing to continue to bank roll us so far but the message is clear that this is not going to continue.

We're not the only team to suffer.  It seems certain to me that Jackett left Millwall as he was frustrated at the club's lack of resources to strengthen the squad.  Even the Premier League is not immune if we are to believe the newspaper stories currently doing the rounds.  It is rumoured that Michael Laudrup is unhappy at the transfer policy at Swansea and Harry Redknapp is on the verge of walking out over the hold up in recruiting out of contract Wayne Bridge from Manchester City who has since gone to Reading.

I did attempt to put Charlton's deficit in perspective using a back of the envelope calculation.  If we imagine that players are on £5k a week (I have no idea if this a realistic figure and have to admit that its a complete stab in the dark)  then £1/2m is equal to culling over 20 players in order to break even. This is quite a stunning figure by any stretch of the imagination and with solidarity payments only rising by 5% and other non Charlton income remaining fairly static I'm not sure how the void can be filled. 

With the the different FPP rules in each of the four divisions I can also certainly see player contracts getting a lot more complicated to allow for potential promotions and demotions each year.  Good luck to the finance department is all I can say.

Talking of fair play, its good to see that the Football League have now about to introduce tighter rules on foreign loan players to stop the ridiculous farce that was the Udinese B team masquerading as Watford FC.  While no self respecting Charlton fan wanted to see Crystal Palace go up, I'm pleased that this type of behaviour while perfectly legal was not rewarded with a place in the Premier League.

I am a Seagull

No I haven't gone loopy or all existentialist on you (some might disagree), but for one week only I will be supporting Brighton and Hove Albion in the Championship Playoff Finals and here, in my completely biased and non-factual reasoning is why.

Brighton's path has gone through similar trials and tribulations to that of Charlton so many of us have a deep empathy with them.  They've had to ground share at Gillingham for a while and have had a long and arduous battle with the local council to get planning permission for the superb Amex stadium (all sound familiar?).  Following years of what some have called financial mismanagement they appear to be on a prudent financial footing and have a good manager in the form of Gus Poyet.  If they get promoted I will miss our trips to the coast, but I feel that they do deserve another crack at the Championship. 

Watford, or to give them their real name the Udinese B team, have forced their way into the playoffs through a group of loan players.  While I have a lot of admiration for Zola, this is not what I call a proper team and for me personally I don't see Watford as having earned their spurs to have a go at the Premiership, for this year at least.

No further explanation is needed as to why I don't wish to see Crystal Palace in the Premier League but I will tell you anyway.  I want to see more London derbies next year and continue our rivalry for at least one more year and claw back some bragging rights after losing the double to them this season.  However at some stage I really do want to see a head to head between Ian Holloway and Paulo de Canio for purely entertainment purposes.  This could be a distinct possibility next season given Sunderland's current position.

Finally, have you noticed how returning former Charlton players keep on scoring at the Valley?  Well we now have our own man in the form of Yann Kermogant who just can't stop scoring against his old team Leicester.  It would be a shame if he could not to keep on haunting them with his trade mark "Sssshhh" at least for another season, so please Leicester stay down and keep us company for another year.

Hence I am a Seagull for a short while before returning to being an Addick.

All the Charlton talk today will undoubtedly be on the release of Wagstaff, Fuller, Kerkar and Taylor.  I have seen young Waggy grow up through the Charlton ranks and there is plenty more to come from this fellow if he is given the game time.  I've had compliments about him from other team's fans and I am sure he will find a suitable home.  Fuller was class but I believe the financial pressures at Charlton meant that we really needed more game time from him to afford a further contract.

Update
In my last blog I mentioned ex Charlton youth Sean McGinty who had gone to Manchester United.  By coincidence he popped up as a trialist at Leicester City under 21s in their game against Cardiff last night (source @CAFCofficial on twitter) where he scored an own goal.  If the press reports are correct I don't think this has been his only own goal recently.