Monday 2 May 2016

Oh we won

Those were the words from my wife sometime on Saturday evening. We spent the weekend camping in the Kent countryside several hundred miles away from Charlton's last road trip but metaphorically a million miles. 

For the first time that I can recall, I didn't think once about our game on a matchday. Not once, not even between 3pm and 5pm. It still hadn't registered until my wife caught-up with Facebook as we sat around a camp-fire. It matters not a jot, of course, that we managed our 9th (ninth) win of the season against a Leeds side with nothing to play for either. I did manage to guess both scorers. Rationale being JBG picking up his game in recent weeks as the season comes to a close and Lookman being due a goal. Ironic, too, that Gudmundson's goal makes him our top scorer - a winger who hasn't turned up for half our games this season. I would be embarrassed if I was one of the club's current 'strikers.' 

Onward to Burnley then and we can finally put this abysmal season behind us. It has been the worst in my watching memory and that goes back to 1977. Not only the poorest football output but the shambolic mismanagement of the Club. Unfortunately, that still doesn't look close to changing. The hopeless Meire clings on like a tick on a sheep's back. 

I read the Fan's Forum minutes with amusement today. Madame Meire was asked why there had been such a high turnover of senior staff recently, to which she replied that it was an HR matter so she couldn't comment but that "it was a combination of things." That's helpful, I thought perhaps it was just one thing. She also confirmed the Official Site lie that Roland Duchatelet had met supporter groups on one of his recent clandestine mid-week visits and instead told us it was "a couple of fans." My money's on it being someone from the University of Greenwich and/or one of the remaining Sponsors.

It was suggested that the Club should talk up a promotion ambition from League One but Meire countered that they don't want to build expectations. She hopes that on the back of a successful season we can rebuild. Not sure if that means we can strengthen the side following a promotion or if she is aiming to be competitive in League One and perhaps have an ambition for promotion the following season. She did say that we would have the sixth largest budget in League One which suggests a positive rather than a negative. The fact is we are stuck with a large proportion of our contracted playing base and the overheads of a 27,000 seat stadium. I think she would rather have a budget closer to the bottom six in the League because it would narrow the losses and get her closer to break even. Either way, we are going to see a clearout of as many players as she can manage. Any who are saleable will be sold and any out-of-contract are likely to have to look elsewhere. What's left will be the nucleus of the side next season. Doesn't bode well.

Finally, we were told that season ticket sales are ahead of target. This is one that made me snigger the most. I honestly believe they are ahead of the fan's own worst predictions but positioning it like that is ridiculous. They couldn't confirm actual numbers because "they are commercially sensitive." By this, I assume they mean it may affect their ability to over-price advertising or sponsorship - its' not as if they would be share price-affecting or useful to a competitor. Apparently we have sold more in the North Lower than usual and more to U11's. 'Cannibalisation of Revenue' is what we call that where I work and it's a sign of a business in trouble.

I can't wait until this season if over and, as things stand, I don't care if the new season ever comes. How unique is that?

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