Beneficial owner

After today’s pitch inspection at Chesterfield was declared inconclusive, another inspection will take place in the morning as once again the UK struggles with another dash of snow. The games at Brentford, MK Dons, Stevenage, Rochdale and Walsall have already succumbed. Sadly the 1,300 or so travelling Addicks will already be en route tomorrow when the pitch inspection takes place and many might have to end up at Bramall Lane to cheer on Wycombe.

An interesting titbit of news today tucked away on the Official Site was the announcement of new board member Alex Newall.

New era arrives with a bang

Quite a day. Phil Parkinson was indeed a good bloke, decent and hard working but after yesterday evening the writing was on the wall and the difference between this week and last, is that the board could afford to pay him, Breacker and Kinsella off.

Let’s deal with the backroom staff first. It is sad to see Kinsella go, but as a coach, I don’t think he has anywhere near the qualities he had as a player. Very different skills of course. As for Breacker, well he was a Parkinson appointee and as in 99% of cases a new broom sweeps every corner of the room as it probably should have done two years ago. I wonder how long Phil Chapple will last when a new managerial team come in?

As for Parky, many Addicks will point to our league position, last season’s play-off finish and a 39% win rate, but despite the club’s ongoing financial situation, he’s still had one of League One’s largest budgets and free-reign and support in the transfer market from his chairman.  

But for me and a growing band of other Addicks it was the dour style of play (and I mostly only get to listen to it on the radio), lack of ambition in games, especially at The Valley plus more and more glaringly obvious, Parky’s tactical limitations. Sadly too many times he has stood on the side lines and been out-thought by his fellow managers, some or most of whom, have a fraction of the resources that he has had.

You need four things to be a successful manager. There are probably more, but these four came to mind first: Motivational man-management skills; coaching ability; transfer acumen; and a bloody boat load of luck. Parky may have ticked one of those boxes.

Hopefully last night on the way home following his meeting with Michael Slater, Phil Parkinson fell into the same barrel of shit that his old boss fell into and come out smelling of any remaining roses that Pardew may have left behind. Unfortunately there can’t be many.

The new board may have misled us the other day about their managerial plans, but I for one am delighted that they have acted swiftly, something as Dave points out we have hardly been used to. They obviously came with a plan and remember they have been around the club for a number of weeks. Yesterday’s performance, and to some degree Saturday’s gave Slater and Jimenez the opportunity to make the change. Parky didn’t help himself and to be honest, with perhaps one or two exceptions, the players who played yesterday could do with taking a long look in the mirror.

So what is Slater and Jimenez’s plan? And is there someone else in the equation calling the shots? And how much money is there? I suppose if we appoint Keith Peacock as permanent manager, then that will tell us not a lot but there is an evolving school of thought that there is money, not silly money, but enough to change our ambitions.

Ladbrokes stopped taking bets on Dennis Wise being the next manager within 45 minutes of Parky’s dismissal. He is the obvious favourite but why not appoint him now? Are the club really going to try and pair Wise and Poyet? Jimenez lives next door to Poyet, his son plays for us and he applied for the job after Pardew was sacked. Is it that far-fetched?

And is Wise such a favourite that no one else will apply for the job? Coleman, Hughton, Southgate, Hart, Ferguson, Tilson, Strachan? And the new owners would be doing us a disservice if they did not consider approaches for people like Eddie Howe, Paul Tisdale and Sean O’Driscoll.

Quite a day indeed and lots to think about as Charlton Athletic proved unequivocally that they have well and truly moved into a new era.

Parky and backroom staff sacked

Sky and the South London Press are reporting that Parky and the whole backroom staff have been sacked by the new board.

Some Addicks will be thrilled by that news. I’m not sure what kind of light this puts the new owners in after backing him just a couple of days ago. Nonetheless football is a cruel game and Parky, Breacker and Kinsella are now all jobless.

Who do you fancy to takeover?

UPDATE: Now official. Michael Slater: “The team has not won in the league since November and recent performances have simply not been good enough. Last night’s defeat convinced us as a board that change is required now we are still in the hunt for promotion, and that we must appoint a new manager to give us every chance of going up.”

Takeover completed

“As the new owners, we are both football fans and businessmen. Today’s acquisition brings much-needed financial stability to the club. Our plan for Charlton is to run the club on a sensible financial footing and develop a commercial plan to ensure we make progress on and off the pitch to meet the expectations of our fans.

What we won’t do is create unrealistic pie in the sky expectations.”

Comments from new Charlton chairman Michael Slater, who is described as co-owner alongside property developer (those two words always worry me) Tony Jimenez, once of Newcastle ‘fame’. There also appears to be an unnamed 3rd party, whom I wondering maybe the money behind the transaction because I don’t think Jimenez or Slater have the funds themselves. Slater did say that Dennis Wise is not in the new owners’ plans.

Good news is that Richard Murray remains a director and Peter Varney is appointed as executive vice chairman, with responsibilites for corporate strategy and planning. Former managing director Stephen Kavanagh becomes chief executive and will continue to be responsible for the day-to-day running of the club.

All a bit too cloak and dagger still for my liking, Slater a lawyer by trade has a lot of business interests including a couple of investment trusts. Jimenez equally has a number of fingers in pies. However I am happier that Murray, Varney and Kavanagh are staying involved with the new company but I am interested to know more about a rumoured Swiss interest. More information will hopefully unravel itself in a few days.

More: Official Site, BBC, Sky Sports, Daily Mail, Slater interview.

3 days to Takeover Day

Another sleepless night. The family are ill, and the little ‘un was up all night so it gave me plenty of time to think about the impending takeover. I mean there are now only 3 shopping days to go before t-day.

So what do we think? I see Charlton Life has had a stab in the dark at potential buyers, but honestly there is not a dickie bird of gossip out there and really it could be anyone couldn’t it?

The club have been busying itself clearing the decks, we know that much. They settled with Iain Dowie before the planned date of a Premier League tribunal hearing. Shame in many ways, because how much fun would we have had finding out about all the Dowie stories?

Peter Varney has indicated that he doesn’t yet know if he will be asked to continue with the new ownership, but one would have thought he would like to. Richard Murray may well have seen his last game as owner, but most of us hope and expect him to still be involved, maybe as chairman.

Despite my late night over-thinking I really don’t expect the takeover to make the major sports wires. No Arabs, No AEG, no American sports team owners, no Russian billionaires.

Perhaps a handful of British business men with an eye on potential, not hugely wealthy but with enough money to clear debts, fund a mini-entrance into the January transfer window and hopefully enough to secure the club’s future, which is really all I’ve asked Santa for.

Is Dennis Wise involved? I wouldn’t be surprised to find that he is. He is connected, maybe not well connected but I do get the impression that he sees himself as the next Niall Quinn. He has been around the club for a while now, and his involvement would worry me, yet equally the alternative may be administration or someone like Peter Risdale.

Whoever it is, buying a football club has notoriously been bad for investors and sadly a lot of these people have more ego than money. Charlton have also been on ‘the market’ for some time, but we can only hope that Varney and Murray pass the Baton onto someone we can trust.

Club before country

Let’s be honest if someone had told me before I went to bed Wednesday night that today Richard Murray and Charlton Athletic would accept an offer from a Peter Varney led consortium to purchase and invest in the club but England would not even make the 2nd Round of the 2018 World Cup host bid then I would have been absolutely delighted.

Peter Varney is what they call in London, SE7 ‘proper Charlton.’ A lifelong fan who in the past had worked tirelessly and unselfishly for the good of the club.

There is a strange but compulsive magnetism about being a Charlton supporter. Those that live far away or those that live across the street are emotionally drawn to the club in way that only those that have been introduced or inflicted will ever understand. Simply Peter Varney is one of us, as is Richard Murray.

One hopes that Murray and Varney can overcome any recent differences and can again work together with others to take us, if not once again to the promised land, then at least on a hopeful and exciting journey.

Today’s news is very exciting especially when you consider that dubious characters like Sebastien Sainsbury and Peter Risdale have been lurking around Floyd Road these past few months.

More will follow about the members of Varney’s consortium but you have to laugh that whilst BBC hacks like Dan Roan were derailing England’s World Cup bid, Sky Sports dropped into their coverage the Varney news.

I wonder how much blame will be put on the media after the FA’s embarrassment in Zurich today. The impassioned presentation from David Beckham et al sounded excellent but as I suggested yesterday I think Russia was already chosen. Sepp Blatter and the old duffers of FIFA will find plenty in common with the people of Russia I am sure and the African nations must be thrilled.

Following the same theme Qatar has been awarded the 2022 tournament. A November World Cup. Marvellous.

Sadly I will be almost 60 before England next get a chance to host the world’s greatest sporting spectacle. English football deserves better but then again we have probably got everything we deserve!

Nonetheless as the old conversation in the pub goes: “Would you rather England win the World Cup or Charlton the League title?” Well maybe, just maybe the answer to that might just become a little bit less of a pipe dream.

Takeover rollercoaster ride

The rollercoaster ride of being a Charlton Athletic supporter eh? Yesterday morning we awoke to news that serial football club killer Peter Risdale was bidding for the club (later denied), then early this morning BBC journalist know-it-all Dan Roan tweets that an announcement is imminent and then Richard Murray responds via the Official Site stating that nothing is imminent at all!

So what can we make of these latest developments on a saga that has been a constant in our minds for a couple of years now, and who are the key characters involved in these latest rumours.

Firstly it was the BBC’s Dan Roan who while we were up in arms about Parky, tweeted out of the blue on October 18th that news of a Charlton takeover was due soon. For a journo who from what I can see has only ever been interested in the ups and downs of Manchester United, Liverpool and England’s national team it sure was a perplexing outpouring of a maximum of 140 characters. Why us? What is his connection and frankly why does the ex-Setanta presenter give a toss?

Since the original tweet, Roan offered up a couple of more along the lines of ‘I know something you don’t but all will be revealed’ format. Er, thanks for nothing.