Mystic Meg has some predictions for Charlton fans for 2023.
1. A US-based investment company will announce a successful takeover from Thomas Sandgaard and appoint Charlie Methven to run the club as CEO on it's behalf. They talk of wanting to change the club's fortunes and get out of League One next season.
2. They may decide not to tell us what they have paid for the club but will confirm they haven't acquired the Valley or Sparrows Lane (it's not a major investment).
3. Methven is excited by this new opportunity but tells us the club is in poor financial shape and that we need to take some heavy medicine before we can expect any recovery. This would be code for him having to run the club on a finite and hopelessly small budget.
4. The January window is deemed a disappointment by fans but we have shuffled a number of players in and out within our existing wage budget or spending any money we haven't first raised through player sales. Expect to see Leaburn or Kanu sold.
5. Methven begins to make changes to make the club "stronger financially." He may wait until the early-bird season ticket is out of the way (they will have £1-2m renewals baked into their plan) but the need to stop some costs before the season finishes will inevitably mean some big changes can't wait. Charlton TV could be the first thing to be axed.
6. The CAFC Women's team to be viewed as a luxury we can't afford unless someone else funds it.
7. Gallen and Sandgaard Junior to be relieved of their positions as the new gang of Methven's Mercenaries will cover that.
8. The Academy to have a huge budget cut - think 50%.
9. Whilst there is a lot of supporter speculation about a ground move to avoid that annoying "£50m purchase clause" of the Valley and Sparrows lane, Mystic Meg says that is unlikely because that's not an issue until 2035 and the plan for Methven and Co is to be out inside 12 months (there is also a break clause in 2025). Ground-sharing will take too much time and effort and would antagonise fans unnecessarily.
10. No significant spending on the squad in the Summer and we open the season with the East Stand and the Upper West closed to save money more.
11. Club then sold on before Christmas for a profit for the investors.
Happy New Year!
As soon as the evidence shows that Mystic Meg is right, we need to appeal to the fan base to boycott. I would start with requesting no-one purchases a season ticket. I'm going to leave Valley Gold in protest and certainly won't be purchasing a ST. CAST need to get involved. I'm sure they are monitoring the situation.
ReplyDeleteThat is precisely what I will be doing.
ReplyDeleteThe difficulty with boycotts, which I would welcome, that protesters will be up against the Lemmings who throw themselves off a cliff week in week out regardless of how shite and dire the football is and the state of the Clubs affairs are!
ReplyDeleteThis is indeed the difficulty. But if this plays out as predicted, you have to hope they see it for themselves. The message isn't necessarily don't buy one, but don't rush in to give these bastards your money upfront. hold their feet to the fire. see just how the strengthen the side or not during the Summer. An early-bird discount is fine but it's not great value if, like this year, you can't be bothered to attend loads of games because the football is so predictably poor. Match-to-match can be better value.
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