Sandgaard squirming

The Club website this evening carries an interim update of the Fan's Forum meeting last night - "Tweets, Club Ambition and Summer Transfer(s)." Sandgaard wasn't present but joined via Tom Rubashaw's laptop which can't have been ideal. The initial statement here begs more questions than it answers and some of it is very wishful thinking.

First, Sandgaard apologised for Leo Rifkind's Tweets this week which angered many Charlton fans. Sandgaard said he had known nothing about Rifkind's intentions and that he didn't believe Rifkind meant to offend supporters. That is really half the problem - a Non Executive Director who obviously knows so little about football, the club or its supporters that he would have Tweeted what he did. In a now-familiar line, Thomas told us that he intends "to improve and avoid mis-steps like this in future."

The notes then reference Heather Alderson questioning why the Club was conducting its own research on Twitter when CAST had just completed an extensive survey with a large number of supporter responses. They don't mention what it concerned, but I am fairly certain it mainly referred to the current pricing policy which practically everyone knows is horribly wrong. Perhaps we will find out more when the minutes are published next week (why does it always take a week?) but it suggests mistrust from the club or an attempt to get a more sympathetic response.

We were then informed that the "men's first team budget increased this season and is around fourth largest in League One." I find this very hard to believe and I am fairly sure we have already been told that the playing budget was being trimmed this year and next (£800k over two years at the back of my mind) as part of the plan to break even. A quick look at the outgoing and incoming players this Summer doesn't support Sandgaard's claim of an increased budget.

Wollacott - aged 25 on average League Two wages at best - replaced Stephen Henderson (34), an experienced keeper who has played at a higher level.

Egbo - aged 25 on average League Two wages at best - replaced Adam Matthews (30), who has played for Celtic, Cardiff and Sunderland as well as Wales.

O'Connell - aged 27, started at Celtic but his league experience has largely been Bury and Rochdale. Replaced Jason Pearce (34) who has vast experience at Portsmouth, Bournemouth, Leeds and Wigan. We also let Famewo go back to Norwich (and subsequently sign for promotion favourites Sheffield Wednesday).

Steve Sessegnon - aged 22, 14 appearances for Fulham but loaned out at Bristol City and Plymouth. Replaced Ben Purrington (26) with league experience at Plymouth, Rotherham and Wimbledon. I can believe Sessegnon might be on better money than Purrington but he is a loanee and Fulham may well be part-paying his wages. I would also argue that the money we saved from left-sided loanee Papa Soare more than covers Sessegnon's wages.

Conor McGrandles - aged 26 with League One experience from Lincoln and MK Dons. Effectively replaced Chris Gunter and Ben Watson, both vastly experienced at higher level (Gunter record Welsh cap holder) and both of whom would have been on comfortably more money that we are paying Conor.

Jack Payne - aged 26 and another signing from Swindon but with a better CV than his counterparts (Huddersfield, Blackburn, Lincoln). You can take your pick but let's say he replaced Elliott Lee and Jonathan Leko. Two loanees but who would both better him for wages.

Jesurun Rak-Sakyi - aged 19, on loan from Crystal Place but with only two first team appearances. His wages would be dwarfed by Conor Washington and Josh Davidson.   

I think you can see where I am coming from on this but in case you are still in any doubt, remember that we were also paying for Mason Burstow as well as Nile John and Juan Castillo.

Moving on and Sandgaard also told us that "we had some early signings which was an improvement over several transfer windows before." I assume he is talking about the timing of these transfers rather than the quality and in that respect he is correct. However, the elephant in the room is the absolute horlicks they made of the end of the window when we aimed very low and missed out on Bonne and have left us hobbled upfront. He really can't claim to have learnt the lesson from last Summer despite saying they were "in control of recruiting" and to have not spent a bean on acquiring any of them screams 'no ambition.' 

The Trust's Richard Wiseman looks to have tried to nail him regarding the contradiction between ambition v break even. Eventually we got that his "longer term goal is still to play in the best division, but I expect to take two seasons to get financial sustainability." Interesting that he couldn't even say 'Premier League' but perhaps I am reading too much into that. What I am absolutely convinced of though, is that break-even within two seasons is impossible without a sustained promotion push or the sale of a couple of players for say £5m each. Not sure which is least likely of those but I won't be betting on any of them.

Sandgaard reiterated that he was here for the long term and even said he wouldn't be spending so much time here if not. That's a fair point, but break-even may be time-consuming and so would looking for a buyer. 

As I close, I remember that the acquisition of Ben Garner was one of the early signings and they were hardly in control of that. From memory it was announced here and in Swindon by the local press and it took a further two weeks before he was confirmed. That was haggling too, I believe over terms and I don't believe Garner is costing us any more than Jackson.