Thomas Sandgaard isn't perfect. He's a successful and canny businessman in fields he knows things about. But in his own way, he probably knows as little (or maybe less) about EFL football than the Belgian did back in 2014. But whereas Roland didn't care about the English way of football, and just expected the Club & fans to morph into the continental European style feeder club he wanted, Sandgaard genuinely wants Charlton fans to share in his vision of a better (Brentford style) future for CAFC. His enthusiasm level is so high he gets carried away sometimes, and says things that a fan might say down the pub with a couple of mates. And perhaps he doesn't fully appreciate how jaded and weary many Chalton fans have become. We need time to recover. My feeling is he only said that "smash the league" thing as a fan, rather than as an official objective of the ownership. If you're in the pub and your mate says "we're going to smash the league this season" you might agree with him, or you might laugh at him. What you won't tend to do (I think) is take what he said as a literal promise, or prediction of future fact. It's always in the back of my mind that we came within a day or two of ending up like Bury. Their fans must still be gutted, and feel betrayed and abandoned. I never want to feel that bad.
I agree. Comments made at the end of last season don’t match the comments made recently. We are playing the waiting game on transfers, using yoof instead. It’s a gamble which could backfire. But I think we have the spine of our first eleven sorted. It all sounds like typical Charlton really I’m looking forward to seeing the old place again
This comes into my thinking too. Maybe I just feel lucky to 1) have a team and 2) be able to go and watch it We are short of players though.
Work is overwhelming me now. Suddenly everyone wants stuff, but there are so many shortages of matertial and workers that suppliers cannot deliver on time. Am sick of firefighting. Everything is unbalanced now. Nobody can be relied on. Can't see an end to it. And it's really getting me down. Was looking forward to this weekend, but now I'm so tired I don't know if I'll be going. Everything seems such a massive effort right now.
Tickets will be available as per the loyalty points system below: Phase 1: 550 points + VG – Tuesday, August 3rd @ 3pm Phase 2: 550 Loyalty Points – Wednesday, August 4th @ 9:30am Phase 3: 530 Loyalty Points + VG – Wednesday, August 4th @ 2pm Phase 4: 530 Loyalty Points - Thursday, August 5th @ 9:30am Phase 5: 510 Loyalty Points + VG – Thursday, August 5th @ 2pm Phase 6: 510 Loyalty Points – Friday, August 6th @ 9:30am Phase 7: 490 Loyalty Points or Valley Gold - Friday, August 6th @ 2pm Phase 8: 460 Loyalty Points – Monday August 10th @ 9:30am Phase 9: 230 Loyalty Points – Monday, August 10th @ 2pm Phase 10: General Sale – Tuesday, August 11th @ 9:30am
Not the top 20 is a podcast I enjoy listening to. This one is a countdown predicting the final league table. I agree on where they have put Charlton, some surprises in there though. https://m.soundcloud.com/ntt20pod/league-one-1-24-predictions-202122
We don't have a squad it is very poor, but we need to accept we are a league one team nothing more. We've spent majority of the last decade in it. Its what we are now sadly
Were we really bad? Or just inexperienced. Well done to the 3,000 or so who went tonight. Another obscure Cup game ends in tears We've still got the Checkatrade to put up with as well
Good defeat to get us out of a pointless cup, but Jeez, what an awful weak side we put out. We are so much weaker than even last season and I can't see us bringing in enough quality players to improve the side sufficiently. Although as I've said, I'm grateful that we have a side to support, I'll admit I was expecting more than this. Apart from keeping Stockley and Famewo we appear to have done nothing to improve the side at all. I'm not sure I buy all the talk about us having to compete with other teams for good players, that's what it's always been about and you have to outbid them, it's as simple as that. If we can't then it's going to be some more season's in L1 I'm afraid. Roland tried to run the club and break even, but it just doesn't work in the current model. If TS can't or won't spend more on the playing staff then we will struggle. Perhaps he's got so much other stuff to put right that it's not leaving enough for improving the team ?
Thass juss wot I think n all. Under Roland whenever we produced a top player they were seen as a commodity to balance the books, not as part of Charlton's future. We all know who those players are, and the derisory fees we sold them for. ESI was the last straw, and TS can't have been aware of quite how bare the cupboard was when he took over, but he has a long-term vision of success through the Academy, which NA appears to back. This requires patience, not something many football fans are noted for.
It's a good, but somewhat quaint idea though. Will we really produce enough top quality players through our academy (possible) and then will they be allowed to play for us for a lengthy period (doubtful) and if instead they are quickly sold, will all the profit be put back in to buy new players to improve the squad (possible but perhaps unlikely). Personally I just don't think that model works unless all teams are bound by the same philosophy (which they are not). To be fair to Roland (and it pains me to say that) one of the reasons his experiment didn't work, was the watering down of the FFP rules and alas we are still just as handicapped by them (or lack of them) as we were back then. I don't like it, but I think that unless we spend a lot more than we are currently doing we will struggle to get out of this division. It will be interesting to see what happens to real attendance figures once the initial feel good factor wears off and we are still in L1 next season.
It might have worked a few years ago, when we had an exceptional crop of players, but Roland seemed to assume that a Gomez,a Pope or a Lookman would come through every year. I used to watch the U-18's and potentially that was an exciting time, but that ship has sailed, sadly, and there doesn't seem to be the basis (yet) for a team based on our own products.
That's it exactly. We (and others) can't just rely on this method because there's no guarantees about when and how often you are going to find a gem. Looking at our bench for the first two games I don't see any of the youngsters being good enough yet to become 1st team regulars (who will drive a promotion bid) or being sold for a big profit and therein lies the problem. If the stream dries up and you can't afford to buy water then you die (sorry I seem to have gone a bit Cantona).
Now we have two wingers I’d hope we could have two up front like this: Mac Matthews Inniss Famewo Gunter DJ Clare Dobson Kirk Washington Stockley We sit in the centre and use the wings, Washington running the channels and working closely with Stockley. Albie to come on in the second half. I think Dobson and Clare won’t get overrun in a central two, and I think Washington/Stockley is a good pairing.
I'm wondering if the quality midfielders on loan we have had in previous seasons were attracted by Bowyer's record as an outstanding midfielder himself, meaning they could learn from him.