Newsflash A Millwall mate of mine has had a beer meeting with an Aussie please log in to view this image
So far in this summer transfer window, League One Clubs have signed between them; 6 players from Premier League Clubs (1st team squads) 14 players from Premier League Clubs (youth squads) 22 players from Championship Clubs (1st team squads) 5 players from Championship Clubs (youth squads) That's a total of 47 players. No prizes for guessing how many of those players have been signed by Charlton Athletic.
Since we have only signed one player Ken, it's a number between 0 and 1 And I'm pretty sure I have the right answer, I counted twice.
I don't know what is being said on CL (haven't visited there for a few days) but Wingwizard on ITTV says that Duchatelet has ordered every department at CAFC to cut its budget by 20%, and there may be redundancies in the pipeline. If these things are true, then there is no hope at all of promotion this coming season. Even if there was a take-over before the January transfer window I doubt that new owners could co-ordinate an injection of resources sufficiently well to make Charlton competitive against the best sides in League One before the end of the season. A 20% across the board budget cut and laying off staff is blatant acclimatization to long term lower league football. A hostile and vindictive act from an owner who brought about the massive decline in Charlton's income by his own arrogant mistakes.
@lardiman Your comments chime with Bowyer's subdued comments after the Welling game. And Patrick Bauer wants out...
Duchatelet has decided that if he cannot get the Club offloaded to the only group who seemed willing to at least try to gather together the extortionate price he wanted, then he is going to cut his losses as hard as he can by imposing crippling cost cuts and laying off staff. He will find it is a false economy soon enough. An ever weaker squad will not produce any hopes of a promotion push this season. A season in mid-table or even battling to stay above the bottom 4 will not bring anybody back to the Valley. The 700 rise in average attendance from last season will become a drop, probably a four figure drop. Ticket revenues and ST sales will reach rock bottom. As well as having a lower league budget and a lower leage squad, academy and staff, Charlton Athletic will have a proper lower league attendance. 5,000 to 6,000 on any given home Saturday, if even that. The only thing left to indicate the Club was ever bigger than it is now will be the Valley - presumably with more sections closed off and left for the local pigeons and gulls to crap on. And the Valley will be the next thing to go, in two or three seasons time, unless Duchatelet sells the Club.
Look on the bright side - there's still 25 days left to sign players on permanent contracts - I'm sure the takeover will hapen in time
You seem to be all over this forum TC. Typical Millwall, kicking someone when they are down. I notice a few seasons ago when Millwall were doing badly you couldn't be located. Funny that.
I don't think TC means very much harm. I'd expect our traditional rivals to enjoy our misfortune. And it isn't Millwall's fault that CAFC is a basket case suitable only for laughing at. The blame for that lies with RD and him alone. Sadly I have to agree with Elfs. Looks like Duchatelet will be around for a few more years to come, and every season he grinds the Club further into the lower leagues and further into his debt. If this is going to be his long term policy I would have to wonder if he is now engineering the right circumstances to remove Charlton Athletic from the Valley some time in the future.
I don't take offence to what TC says. It is just banter. I would be giving it to him if our positions were reversed. Duchatelet won't be around for much longer. We have been told it is a done deal, imminent, happening next week blah blah blah by all those people ITK. I hang on every word they say.