Many Charlton fans were upset yesterday at the replacement of their popular manager Chris Powell by a Belgian coach, although in some cases that was tempered by the realisation that football remains a results business.
There was also resentment at the conversion of Charlton in what is perceived to be a feeder club for the Belgian Pro league leaders, Standard Liege. However, given the state of football finances and the difficulty of achieving success without a wealthy benefactor, could that be the way ahead for smaller clubs? Are Charlton ahead of the curve?
Many Charlton fans were upset yesterday at the replacement of their popular manager Chris Powell by a Belgian coach, although in some cases that was tempered by the realisation that football remains a results business.
There was also resentment at the conversion of Charlton in what is perceived to be a feeder club for the Belgian Pro league leaders, Standard Liege. However, given the state of football finances and the difficulty of achieving success without a wealthy benefactor, could that be the way ahead for smaller clubs? Are Charlton ahead of the curve?
Another Charlton fan has written about the positive case for being a feeder club:
‘Manchester United and Chelsea both use Belgian clubs as training clubs. If we are to be a proving ground for SL players this is not a lot different. There is no reason why the feeder system should not operate both ways.
‘I do not think that the concept of being a proving round is necessarily an indication that things will take a turn for the worse. If SL prosper, as we have to hope they will in the circumstances, it is likely to result in their attracting ever better young players that will be loaned to us for development.
‘The Belgian teams working with MU and Chelsea are stronger for the loans and it is perfectly conceivable that within a short period we will also be receiving quality players on loan to work with our own home-grown talent. The chance to have a strong squad with little need to buy in has a lot of attraction to me and the owner’s idea of running without loss becomes perfectly realistic.
‘The only downside is that the best players will always be cherry-picked during transfer windows, but I see nothing in this scenario to prevent us becoming a decent Premiership club once the system starts to work as every cherry-picked player will be replaced by a decent replacement in the ideal scenario. [Possibly this is a little too optimistic].
Part of that scenario requires the management of feeder clubs to give playing time to youngsters that have been sent over for development. The rumours suggest that [Chris] Powell was not prepared to be told who should be playing, but although that goes to his credit for his principles it does suggest a certain failure to recognise the reality of the motive behind the takeover and when has had a chance to reflect it may be that he may feel he could have handled it better.
‘If the owner has a bought a club as part of a plan he is entitled to require that the manager, as an employee, buy into that plan. If that means that he be required to accommodate certain players then so be it.I am sure there will be disagreement but I do not see that the owner is totally in the wrong here.’