Good to see a CARD statement urging Charlton Athletic supporters to consider delaying any decision to renew season tickets until we get some form of commitment from Roland Duchatelet to the future of the club.
Duchatelet must be having a laugh if he thinks he can cut all investment and commitment to the playing side of the club and still expect supporters to pay in advance for season tickets. As things stand we still have the majority of the squad out-of-contract at the end of the season as well as Bowyer and Jackson. The uncertainty that this causes will inevitably lead to us losing a number of our better players who will not be prepared to simply wait until the last minute in the hope of a new offer. What sort of a message does it send to the players? The owner doesn't care and isn't prepared to extend their employment?
The problem is probably exacerbated by the fact that the club is being run by a skeleton staff and without a Chief Executive or Finance Director, you have to ask who is taking responsibility for getting these done or acknowledging the risk being taken?
The most likely scenario is that it's a deliberate ploy by Duchatelet to cut his close season running costs and allow him to once again trim his wage bill even if that is at the expense of the current side and the future competitiveness of the team. After all, he doesn't care a jot about the football and he made it clear in his recent rant that he has zero ambition for promotion given the cost of competing in the Championship.
There is also an argument that if he sells the club in the close season it could suit new owners to be free of a large number of contractual responsibilities but let's face it, there looks like no sign of any imminent sale given the ridiculously inflated sale price being bandied around and any ambitious purchaser would need to fund a competitive squad, the basis of which we currently have.
My take on the current situation is that we look very likely to start next season with a much weaker squad of players under Duchatelet than we have now and potentially new management. That would be a huge risk and we could very easily find ourselves once again battling to avoid a disastrous historically-low relegation to League 2. Who would want to have committed in advance to a whole season of that?
Duchatelet must be having a laugh if he thinks he can cut all investment and commitment to the playing side of the club and still expect supporters to pay in advance for season tickets. As things stand we still have the majority of the squad out-of-contract at the end of the season as well as Bowyer and Jackson. The uncertainty that this causes will inevitably lead to us losing a number of our better players who will not be prepared to simply wait until the last minute in the hope of a new offer. What sort of a message does it send to the players? The owner doesn't care and isn't prepared to extend their employment?
The problem is probably exacerbated by the fact that the club is being run by a skeleton staff and without a Chief Executive or Finance Director, you have to ask who is taking responsibility for getting these done or acknowledging the risk being taken?
The most likely scenario is that it's a deliberate ploy by Duchatelet to cut his close season running costs and allow him to once again trim his wage bill even if that is at the expense of the current side and the future competitiveness of the team. After all, he doesn't care a jot about the football and he made it clear in his recent rant that he has zero ambition for promotion given the cost of competing in the Championship.
There is also an argument that if he sells the club in the close season it could suit new owners to be free of a large number of contractual responsibilities but let's face it, there looks like no sign of any imminent sale given the ridiculously inflated sale price being bandied around and any ambitious purchaser would need to fund a competitive squad, the basis of which we currently have.
My take on the current situation is that we look very likely to start next season with a much weaker squad of players under Duchatelet than we have now and potentially new management. That would be a huge risk and we could very easily find ourselves once again battling to avoid a disastrous historically-low relegation to League 2. Who would want to have committed in advance to a whole season of that?
I wont rush to renew my ticket but at the end of the day,many people(especially old fogies like me)dont have a lot of alternatives entertainment options,other than football,so many will renew whatever the situation.
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