Reports are circulating today that Chris Powell is to be offered a new contract as Charlton manager. Certainly it has been the stated intention of the owners last month to retain his services, although no action was taken on a contract last year: Powell
Given that it is a little surprising that the chairman's message in the Bristol City programme, while expressing pleasure with the club's progress, did not specifically mention Powell's contribution, but perhaps he thought it could be taken as read. For that matter, Powell did not refer to the owners in his message of thanks.
There are some areas of uncertainty, however. The club's losses and debts mean that there cannot be a big budget to bring in players. Indeed, it may be necessary to sell to fund acquisitions. Rumours have been circulating today that Fulham are interested in Chris Solly and might be prepared to pay as much as £4m. I must emphasise that I cannot find any corroboration of this and it may simply be the first of a number of summer rumours which turn out to 'be all sound and fury, signifying nothing.' Even so, our player of the year is our most saleable asset.
5 comments:
That article is more than a year old Wyn !
Chris Powell did specifically thank Tony Jiminez and Michael Slater for their support at the Player of the Year do. For their part, I think it's fair to say that they are smart enough to know when they are on to a good thing ( apart from having the foresight and good judgment to appoint Chis in the first place ) - it's a results business and Chris Powell's results have been outstanding since his appointment. I also ask ( rhetorically ), is there a closer emotional bond between any manager and set of supporters at present ? The only two I could think of 18 months ago were Dalglish (gone) and Mowbray (less successful of late).
The finances are a big problem, of course, but the Financial Fair Play rules may edge things a little more towards a level playing field.
The Solly rumour on Charlton Life was from " a mate of a mate" and signals the start of the silly season. No doubt a Sun journo, or other lazy hack, will pick it up - and so it goes on....
I am sure they do realise they are on to a good thing, but different interpretations of the relationship are circulating. There is also certainly a strong emotional bond between manager and fans. The Uefa financial fair play rules are now the subject of a court challenge, but they may not have any implications for the domestic rules, although it is worth noting that the challenge came from an agent who claimed his income was being diminished.
Interesting that the challenge to Financial Fair Play is coming from an agent who is worried about his future level of income.
Even from my rather jaundiced viewpoint, it is not, at first blush, a challenge which is exactly overflowing with the "moral merits". Hopefully the European Court/Competition Commission will have regard to the broader public policy considerations - not the least of which, is to try and create a more level and competitive playing field. Still, from a cynical point of view, there is nothing really to be lost from the agents' point of view in mounting a challenge ( even a slight delay in implementation will make them the net winners ).
Of course, it has to be said that the effect of financial fair play will be to pull the ladder up behind the existing big clubs so whether it is fair is open to question. The agent is using the lawyer who got the Bosman ruling, but there are a number of obstacles in the way of his move succeeding.
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