A warm welcome to a new Addick blogger
Please join me in welcoming a new Charlton blogger to the ranks. Tony Jimenez, the man who lives in the shadows, refuses any media presence whatsoever, and as far as I know has never addressed Charlton fans in writing (or in public) is the latest member of the Addicks blogging fraternity.
Unearthed by an eagle-eyed Charlton Life member Jimenez published a blog post on the online UK version of the Huffington Post a week ago.
“Our stadium, The Valley, is less than 10 miles from where I was born – and my strong roots to the area, and understanding of the club’s identity, certainly proved beneficial when I took control.
Having spent two decades working closely with a host of top clubs across the continent, I have seen first hand the subtle differences in how they are run, their histories and traditions – and all of those nuances can pose problems for new owners.”Jimenez writes rather articulately about football club ownership, and concentrates on the impending plans of David Beckham’s to own a MLS franchise. Jimenez comments regarding Randy Lerner and the Venky’s all make much sense.
Jimenez also talks highly of Chris Powell and credits himself for not parting ways with him when others were calling for head in his first few months in the job. An interesting slant on things, but certainly the first time Charlton fans have read any opinion on the ‘gaffer’ from the majority owner of the club.
I will leave the debate to whether the blog is ghost written, or that he comes across far more intelligent than people believed him to be to Charlton Life contributors, although his bio does divulge more about him than you could ever find publicly. It does also raise a few more eyebrows.
The article is clearly meant for U.S. readership, writing it with inside knowledge of running a professional football club, and interestingly many of those words may well have formed part of a conversation with Josh Harris, who knows?
The thing is since I read the post this morning and again a little while ago, I can’t help but think that the whole thing is totally bizarre! Here we have a man so inconspicuous and taciturn, expressly with the loyal customers of the football club that he owns, and by all accounts it’s employees, that he has taken to write a blog on football for an American syndicated online news website.
What is wrong with the Valley Review, the local press or the Official Website I don’t know. Certainly now would be a very good time to engage with fans of the club, and perhaps he has a lot of very interesting things to say, but the thing is we just don’t know. I suppose I will just have to read next week’s Huffington Post to find out more.
Chicago
I also read it earlier having picked it up via the eagle eyed twitter post .
Its unbelievably bizarre . Do you think someone told him that the Huffington Post is the place to attract overseas investors /improve your profile /get more property deals . Its nothing short of astonishing . Perhaps he’s got Presidential ambitions and buying Charlton is just part of the master plan on the road to the West Wing via the West Stand .
yours bewildered
Well, at least you now know he walks, he talks, he crawls on his belly, to quote an old P. T. Barnum thing. This guy is more than an enigma and his presence at Charlton, albeit keeping us in business and through the good graces of Chris Powell, at least bringing us back to tier two, is mysterious and strange in all respects. I cannot tell you how disappointed I was that Josh Harris did not move in and take over. The entire operating culture at CAFC would have improved for the better and the club would have been placed in a position to get back to the “bigs.” For whatever reason this did not occur and I would love to know why. One only hopes that the mystery man has a plan B, C or D, but somehow I do not think that is the case.
That bio just get’s curious and curiouser….