The Varney 'memoirs' and Duchatelet

The latest instalment of Peter Varney's conversations with Richard Cawley on his Substack page cover Duchatelet and his guitar playing successor.  Needless to say, Varney has little time for either of them.

I have asked Richard Cawley if these interviews can be aggregated in some way as they give a fascinating 'behind the scenes' look at Charlton's recent travails.

Varney doesn't suffer fools gladly and I felt the rough edge of his tongue when I put friendship with an Addick before good judgement.   Nevertheless, he is a very shrewd and experienced individual and a genuine Addick.

Rick Everitt and Varney worked closely together on the excellent Rickshaw project  among others and Varney uses Everitt as corroboration at one point in his remarks.  Nevertheless, it has been alleged that they had the occasional  vigorous exchange of views when working together.

Duchatelet seems to have formed the view with Varney was a 'bad' person and refused to engage with him in relation to attempts to buy the club from serious bidders.  The barmy Belgian's excessive valuations of the stadium and the training ground also discouraged prospective buyers.

Apparently Duchatelet took exception to a £25k consultancy fee Varney had received from Jiminez for some hard work on his behalf.   Varney initially got nothing, but Her Indoors rightly insisted that he should be paid for his labours.

As for Sandgaard, Varney makes it clear what he thinks of his lack of realism.

Exhaustive search for Jackson successor

Thomas Sandgaard explains his decision not to extend Johnnie Jackson's contract: https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/charlton-athletic-part-company-with-manager-johnnie-jackson/

Richard Cawley of the SLP comments: 'Fairly clear indications that the style of football that Thomas Sandgaard wants, he didn't feel was aligned to the way that Johnnie Jackson felt was best way to win promotion.'

Terry Skiverton has also left as coach, but this has not led to any rending of shirts.

Sandgaard says he is looking to next season.   Whoever is chosen should  have no previous connection with the club and can take a long, cool look at things.

However, supremo Sandgaard has said that it will be an exhaustive search, but in the mean time will not affect recruitment: https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/thomas-sandgaard-claims-johnnie-jacksons-departure-will-not-affect-charltons-recruitment-plans/

The decision was a bolt from the blue and the initial reaction from supporters has been predominantly negative.

VOTV editor Rick Everitt commented: 'The detail about Jacko’s contract got very confused but my understanding is final league position this season determined the level of severance pay he’d get. So finishing 13th made sacking him a cheaper option. It wasn’t about an extension this summer.'

Steve Brown commented on BBC London Sport: ''I don't think Johnnie has done badly enough to warrant being sacked. We're so quick in this country to pull the trigger on young managers we put in charge of a football team."

'The best Charlton could have hoped for when JJ took over was 6th and it would have taken a championship winning run to get 6th. I don't look at JJ as the reason they've finished 13th. I look at the squad, recruitment, lack of leadership within the players.'

Sandgaard's plans for club raise doubts

Thomas Sandgaard has set out his plans for the transfer window which include more loan signings to the disappointment of some fans: https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/thomas-sandgaard-breaks-down-how-he-sees-summer-transfer-window-for-charlton-athletic/

Loan signings have been a mixture of the good (Conor Gallagher), the mixed and the poor.  However, any fan who feels able to fund a new player should contact TS.

TS has also explained that he intends to appoint a new CEO and they do not need to have a football background: https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/charlton-athletic-owner-on-his-plans-to-appoint-ceo-and-why-they-dont-need-to-have-football-background/

Again the lack of a football background has been criticised by some fans.  TS has argued that he wants the club to run as a real business, but the difficulty is that football is unique sector of the economy and society as I have argued in my book Political Football.   I am prepared to offer a free signed copy of the book to any fan who can identify a credible candidate for CEO (entries of Peter Varney not allowed: also please note that signed copies of the book are worth less than unsigned copies).

Of course, some of us recall our experiences with Katrien Meire.   What always puzzled me about her was that she was a competition lawyer but she never apparently told Roland that his assumptions were flawed in competition policy terms.

Sandgaard's company is not in trouble

Reports about difficulties at Thomas Sandgaard's company have no foundation.   An International Addick has stated: 'Seen some reports on the "unofficial" page that TS company Zynex is in trouble due to losing it's biggest contract, I actually am a shareholder and get all the reports, I can say the individual who wrote the story is "shorting" the stock, so in his interest to post negative stories. CAFC won't be filing bankruptcy any time soon.'

It may well be the case that Sandgaard is seeking additional investment in Charlton, but that was always his intention.

Unfortunately, this may have led to artificial attempts to boost attendances which have denied fans their usual seats.

Charlton talk to Villa assistant manager

Thomas Sandgaard is to wait a month before making a decision about the next Charlton manager.  While appreciating what Johnnie Jackson has done, Sandgaard emphasises that it is a business decision, not a fans' popularity decision: https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/exclusive-thomas-sandgaard-gives-update-on-charlton-athletic-managerial-situation/

Discussions have been held with Aston Villa assistant manager Michael Beale who spent eight years in the Charlton academy. 

One fan commented on social media: 'I think Sandgaard is possibly trying to figure out still if he's ready because yes there's the honeymoon period when we get the wins in but will Jackson be able to turn around a bad result in the future? Does he have the know-how to work the transfer market? I'm sure there's a few other skills in the job that we don't even consider as fans.'

VOTV editor Rick Everitt has commented: 'I think TS has handled the manager appointment just fine so far, but “30 days” is a hostage to fortune if Charlton carry on winning. And if they don’t it could look like he was waiting for the team to start losing to appoint someone like Hasselbaink (no thanks).

Sandgaard: a shock to the system was needed

Thomas Sandgaard says that it was a difficult decision to get rid of Nigel Adkins as he had enjoyed working with him, but sometimes a shock to the system was necessary: https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/thomas-sandgaard-on-handing-charlton-caretaker-boss-role-to-johnnie-jackson-and-difficult-decision-to-part-company-with-nigel-adkins/

Some Charlton fans have argued that a wider shock to the system was necessary, in particular getting rid of Roddy, given a poor pattern of recruitment over the summer.  I am not saying that they are wrong, simply that I don't know enough about how decisions are made.  However, there may be a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth and it would be good to have a CEO in overall charge.

No rushed decisions will be made about a replacement and Johnnie Jackson will be given time to show what he can do which is only fair.

12 months in charge for Sandgaard

Thomas Sandgaard discusses his first 12 months as Charlton's owner in an in depth interview with the SLP's Richard Cawley: https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/big-read-thomas-sandgaard-on-12-months-as-charlton-athletic-owner-and-his-laser-focus-on-bringing-success-to-addicks/ 

No change of control at Charlton

There was some concern this morning about a filing on Companies House that appeared to suggest that Thomas Sandgaard had relinquished significant control of Charlton, leading to suspicions of meddling.

However, barrister Lauren Kreamer has clarified the situation: 'Nothing to worry about from my perspective. I suspect correcting a mistake in the filings from the time of the takeover - TS isn’t the owner of CAFC, Clear Ocean Capital is. COC should appear on the register for CAFC, and then TS will appear on the COC register. Hope that helps!'

'Don't fear change' Sandgaard tells fans

CAS Trust have had a meeting with Thomas Sandgaard.  He said that fans should not fear change, but he would take things one step at a time: https://www.castrust.org/2021/03/cast-meeting-with-thomas-sandgaard/?fbclid=IwAR2fpqxZpB_XIWS4mOaAHkpfuGCo1wmQYRCJqmEU5d8zSuQjka84vTkubwA

Charlton TV success helps with funds

There has been little discussion by fans of the role of Charlton's experienced technical director Ged Roddy, but one of his key tasks is to help Academy players make a seamless transition to senior football: https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/thomas-sandgaard-wants-charltons-academy-players-to-make-seamless-transition-to-senior-set-up-claims-charlton-tv-softening-financial-blow-of-no-fans/

Sandgaard is thinking about the future structure of the Academy and path taken by Brentford, but is looking at restructuring rather than abolition.

Charlton supremo Thomas Sandgaard says that the club's television service has almost quadrupled users since it was improved and this, together with some smart player trades, means that the financial position is a little better than forecast.

Sandgaard speaks out

Charlton now have one of the best attacks in League One according to owner Thomas Sandgaard: https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/charlton-athletic-owner-thomas-sandgaard-weve-now-got-one-of-best-attacks-in-league-one/

The doughty Dane recognises that there have been injury problems in central defence. He added, 'We were unable to find central defenders who simply had enough quality. We were fishing for some, but it did not go our way.'

In an implicit rebuke to keyboard warriors who have targeted Lee Bowyer, he pointed out that the beleaguered boss was dealing with a lot of new players.

In relation to excessive expectations he pointed out  that, 'Our focus has primarily been to strengthen the team for the remainder of the season, more than it has been to prepare for life in the Championship.'   The top two looked beyond reach, but a top six finish was possible.

Sandgaard's vision

Rick Everitt conducted an in depth interview with Thomas Sandgaard for Voice of the Valley and it is now available to read online: http://www.votvonline.com/home/the-2020-21-blogs/21-1-high-hopes-for-sandgaard/

One of the new owner's most interesting points was that even when we were in the Premier League our commercial income was disappointing.

The right strategy and people can rectify that, although it also requires success on the pitch.  The two can set up a virtuous circle.

Charlton's fanbase

I'm always cautious about self-selected surveys rather than ones based on a sampling frame, although it has to be admitted that those frames seem to be working less well because of response biases.   In any event, at least the latest CAST survey of Charlton fans had over 1,000 responses: https://www.castrust.org/2021/01/cast-survey-99-of-charlton-fans-positive-about-the-future/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=cast-survey-99-of-charlton-fans-positive-about-the-future

It's no surprise that they are overwhelmingly positive about the future under Thomas Sandgaard, but some of the other information is very interesting.

Respondents were 89 per cent male which possibly understates the part of the support base that is not male.  96 per cent defined themselves as white British.   It is probably not too far off the actual figure.

Thomas Sandgaard has said there is a challenge about diversity.   This is not about being 'politically correct', it is about attracting potential supporters living within ten to fifteen miles of The Valley.

I agree that 'Perhaps the most interesting result is the strength of feeling about playing at The Valley, given Charlton's unique history in leaving then returning to the stadium. Among those under 24, three quarters (76%) agreed that they would find it hard to support Charlton if they were not playing at The Valley. Feeling was also quite strong among those aged 55+.  However, among those aged 35-44, a slight majority (54%) disagreed with the statement.'

This is a useful corrective for someone of my generation, giving that my support for Charlton is closely identified with The Valley, although it is interesting that young supporters feel the same way.