Michael Slater | Chicago Addick

Jan 4

Finally. Good riddance

Good riddance to old fruit loop rubbish. 6 years to the day that Roland Duchatelet added Charlton to his football club collection, we are rid of the old scroat after the EFL finally ratified East Street Investments purchase for a sum guessed to be in the £50m range.

After the narcissist ownership of Tony Jimenez and Michael Slater backed by the secretive and shall we say complicated assets of Kevin Cash, we were very glad then to see a new owner with fresh ideas take the club on in January 2014. Especially after Cash cut Jimenez’s credit card up and for the longest time the club survived on a shoestring.

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Dec 29

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The CFO next

Rats and ships.

Rick Everitt has heard what I heard yesterday (from a fellow Blogger) that Charlton CFO David Jones has resigned. Possibly he has a job elsewhere lined up, like Meire apparently.

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Dec 9

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Getting to Know The Network

I’m a bit late with this but it is most definitely worth a plug and over 10,000 people have already listened to them I believe but as the pro-Duchatelet brigade get louder and the splits amongst the fan base get a little wider I implore all Charlton fans to listen to the recently released Getting to Know The Network. Whatever your view of how Duchatelet and Meire are running the club these two initial podcasts of an eventual set of four are required listening.
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Oct 27

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SLP speak out. We need others

Not a dickie bird in the main stream press about the stealing of a club’s identity in broad daylight in a little corner of south east London. Googling Karel Fraye or Roland Duchatelet brings up a couple of local press paragraph fillers but nothing from a national press too wrapped up in Jose Mourinho, Jurgen Klopp, Wayne Rooney and the best league in the world (sic).

Yet today, SLP journalist Richard Cawley who has been closer than most to the recent theatre at The Valley has written an excellent piece which sums up the despair with which Addicks’ fans look on helpless with what is happening to their club.
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Feb 19

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Thoughts post CAST meeting

I heard a lot of good things about last night. The fan’s meeting was expertly arranged by CAST and it sounded constructive and, importantly, respectful, with the overriding agreement from those present that we need much more engagement from the owner.

My hope was that a plan of intention was scoped out by the end, but that was probably asking for too much, and I support the view that we need to be ready for the long game by being organized, smart, rational and lucid. We also need to separate results from fan actions and back Luzon and the team.

I won’t dwell on the meeting because I wasn’t there, but these people were – Dave, Kyle, Blackheath and Ted. Video’s of the opening speeches are on VOTV, including Rick Everitt’s impassioned address to the 400 or so that were at the Woolwich Grand Theatre, a very impressive number that tells it’s own story.
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May 22

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Hamer time

Time to leave for Ben, who signed for Premier League new boys Leicester City today on a free. Undoubtedly Leicester’s Thai owners would have paid handsomely for a 4-year contract, even if it is to mostly sit on the bench. The galling bit of course is the King Power Group would happily have paid a fairy sizeable fee if Ben was under contract.

Slater and Jimenez take the brunt of the criticism for the farcial contract situation that the club find themselves in, and rightly so, but equally Duchatelet had plenty of time to heed the advice he was given and at least attempt to tie in Hamer and others to an extended contract which would have given us some kind of transfer fee. It’s good governance if nothing else.
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Apr 19

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Made in Charlton

Some good news earlier today as the Charlton’s U18’s won their Development League after beating QPR 4-3 away from home. Rangers were two points clear going into the final game of the season but in an exciting game the Addicks’ Brandon Hanlan grabbed the winner in the 88th minute.

The U18 Development League works the Play-Off system and as South Division winners we play the runners-up in the North, who were Crewe Alexander and QPR will play Huddersfield Town, the North winners.
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Jan 17

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What the papers say

Today both Chris Powell and Michael Slater took to the media to tell their stories. Slater turned again to his pet, the South London Press and like his partner, Tony Jimenez, Michael decided now was a good time to write his own ~~fairytale~~ chronicle of their time at The Valley.

“People may complain about the management style and the staff overhaul. But sometimes, tough decisions have to be made. There is no getting away from it – there is a real need to drag the club, kicking and screaming, into the 21st Century.”

He wouldn’t remember of course what happened at the turn of the century because Slater was busily watching Manchester City brushed aside by a tatty old Charlton as we lifted the Division One trophy aloft.
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Jan 10

Welcome Katrien Meire

Roland Duchâtelet first statement today included a welcome to Katrien Meire, who one assumes will be Roland’s eyes and ears at The Valley.

“Richard (Murray) will act as the spokesperson for the board, just as Chris Powell will represent the first team, and both men are hugely respected by our fans. I would also like to introduce Ms Katrien Meire who has been appointed onto the board and will be working at The Valley from now on.”

Ms Meire is currently the Legal and International Relations Manager at Standard Liège, which roughly translates into business leader with a legal background.
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Jan 6

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What to expect from M. Duchâtelet

So, what next?

On Friday Charlton became the 7th football club that Roland Duchâtelet owns or has an interest in. In 2003 Duchâtelet took over at Sint-Truidense, where he was originally encouraged to get involved as a sponsor. The then commercial manager had written to some of the wealthiest men in Belgium, and living locally Roland got his first introduction to football ownership.

He had to relinquish ownership of Sint-Truidense when he bought Standard de Liège in 2011 as both teams were in the same division at the time, and like only a man can, Roland gave it to his second wife.
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Jan 3

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In Jimenez’s own words

“So, finally, I’d like to thank the fans for their unwavering support of the team and the manager during my time at The Valley, and for all of the kind messages and emails. I am sure that they will provide the new owners with the same levels of warmth and support that we have received during our tenure.” more

You have to give it to him, almost within hours of Roland Duchâtelet officially taking over the club our Tony has knocked out a near 1,000 word blog post for the Huffington Post. Not a dickie bird for 3 years, then with his bags packed Tony is thanking all of the supporters for kind messages and emails.
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Dec 31

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Firing and firing

In America’s National Football League yesterday is known as ‘Black Monday‘ the day after the regular season ends. Six of the 24 franchises that did not make it through to the end of season play-off’s released or fired their head coach and the majority of the coaching staff on the one day. None of them were really a surprise and following the play-off’s NFL owners may still reach for the axe if coaches don’t live up to lofty expectations.

So, how is this different to English football? Well it’s not, except for one thing. Owners nearly always wait until the end of the season before making a head coach change, this despite the frying pan heat to win every week that a 16-game season brings, which for me makes the NFL season far more exciting than say a 162-game baseball regular season.
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Dec 28

Takeover. Part 564 in a very long series

Charles Sale of the Daily Mail was first out of the traps again with a Charlton takeover story this morning suggesting that Standard Liège owner Roland Duchatelet has bought the club for £14m. The OS later issued a short statement in which Michael Slater was quoted as saying that the current owners are in “very constructive discussions that we hope to conclude soon.”

Since The Mail’s latest tip off the proposed takeover has been widely reported in many media outlets both here and in Belgium, although a later online edition of Flanders News said that there was still a number of conditions to be met, which sounds eerily similar to the Josh Harris offer.

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Dec 11

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Harris takeover bites the dust

According to the South London Press Josh Harris has pulled out of the bid to buy the Addicks. Toby Porter was the same journo that originally declared that a British property compnay were involved in talks to acquire us, which may have been a plant of just factually wrong, but Porter has now been given information that Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersery Devils owner would not meet Jimenez and Slater’s valuation.
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Dec 1

3 get the tin-tack

In what must be some sort of record three Championship managers were sacked within a 24-hour period starting with David Flitcroft and ending with Owen Coyle with Dave Jones in the middle. Just for good measure Fulham also put Martin Jol out of his misery.

Welcome to the silly season as chairmen everywhere with Christmas and the window looming write to Santa asking for new managers, but sadly they themselves haven’t been good throughout the year.
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