[Football] More nonsense going on at Charlton Athletic

Juan Albion · Jun 17, 2019

https://www.cafc.co.uk/news/view/5d07a7df422e2/charlton-unable-to-reach-an-agreement-with-lee-bowyer-on-contract-extension

Official statement.

Charlton Athletic have been unable to reach an agreement with manager Lee Bowyer regarding the extension of his contract.

The fact the club is for sale has not helped with finding an agreement. The current owner needs to take into account that a new owner may want to appoint his own manager. However, this concern did not stop the current owner proposing a contract extension of one year to Lee Bowyer, even though the club may be sold in a few weeks. Under those circumstances a multi-year extension would not be good business practice.

In addition, since the club is still losing money, which is one of the reasons why the club has not been sold yet, the focus on reducing costs means that we are extremely limited on payroll increases.

Lee has been offered a one-year extension to his contract at a level which is approximately three times what he had since his last increase when he became permanent manager in September. It is six times what he earned when he started as assistant manager in 2017 and 50% more than what any Charlton manager previously had (excluding the Premier League years). This reflects the strong desire we have to continue to have Lee as our manager. But Lee wanted much more.

The owner understands Lee’s point of view, because many Championship clubs pay huge amounts (some pay millions of £ per year) to their manager. It is fair that Lee feels he should be paid like many other Championship managers. That the average Championship club makes a loss of around £15 million per year is not something players should care about. The owners are crazy.

This is why we could not come to an agreement. Another element may have influenced as well. Unlike previous contract discussions, Lee wanted an agent to handle it. We reluctantly accepted. However, involving a player agent in a manager’s contract discussion is not healthy. If the agent helps make the manager more money, it may result in the manager to have a more positive attitude towards players proposed by the same agent, a conflict of interest. Obviously, Lee is above such things, but it is nevertheless not a healthy situation.

The club hasn’t started to look for any other manager in the meantime and does not intend to appoint a permanent manager, since the club is going to be sold. A caretaker manager will be announced in due course and in the meantime the other staff members will continue to prepare the upcoming season for which a lot of good work has been performed already.

If Lee does change his mind before his contract expires and chooses to continue his good work at Charlton, he is still welcome to stay.

However our ability to sell the club is the most important thing right now.

Acker79 · Jun 17, 2019

Am I being overly generous or naive? Or missing the point? It doesn't seem that bad to me. They explain their position, they are quite fair about Bowyer's position, going out of their way to not paint him as being greedy or selfish. The involvement of agents would be a conflict of interest, they are trying to sell the club, and rein in their spending, etc.

Badger · Jun 17, 2019

That's an official club statement? It seems incredibly badly written.

Barham's tash · Jun 17, 2019

Controversial I know but is it nonsense? If factually incorrect with regards the % thrown around that’s one thing but is there anything nonsense in that release? A transparent wholly honest statement regarding the stupidity of modern football it may be but nonsense is not a word I would use.
[MENTION=355]Juan Albion[/MENTION] I’m not having a pop btw just answering the article.

Sit next to an ardent Valiant at work and he thought something like this would happen with Bowyer.

Have to say I understand Bowyer’s stance to an extent - we all want to be paid market value - but you have to say he can’t be wholly committed to the club in the circumstances.

Juan Albion · Jun 17, 2019

The nonsense is that they are, in effect, calling their manager a greedy bar steward. Sure, they have their reasons, but you don't air dirty laundry like this, especially when they go on to say they hope he changes his mind and stays.

Barham's tash · Jun 17, 2019

Juan Albion said:
The nonsense is that they are, in effect, calling their manager a greedy bar steward. Sure, they have their reasons, but you don't air dirty laundry like this, especially when they go on to say they hope he changes his mind and stays.

They’re not though. To me they respect his decision to want to be paid market raid but saying they don’t believe market rate to be sustainable.

Juan Albion · Jun 17, 2019

Barham's tash said:
They’re not though. To me they respect his decision to want to be paid market raid but saying they don’t believe market rate to be sustainable.

That's not how I read the 4th paragraph.

Easy 10 · Jun 17, 2019

Juan Albion said:
The nonsense is that they are, in effect, calling their manager a greedy bar steward. Sure, they have their reasons, but you don't air dirty laundry like this, especially when they go on to say they hope he changes his mind and stays.

Agreed. They've hung him out to dry here by revealing what SHOULD be details on private negotiations. The fact that its worded "politely" doesn't detract from the fact that they've now publically painted him as being greedy.

I have no idea if what Bowyer is asking for is unreasonable, but this public statement has probably scuppered any chances of a deal being agreed now. A one year extension is perhaps understandable given that the club is up for sale, but doesn't offer much stability for Bowyer.

He's done a great job there despite all the chaos and uncertainty off the field. The right thing to do would be to state that an agreement couldn't be reached and part ways, leave it at that. Instead, the CAFC board are obviously looking to pre-empt any criticism if Bowyer walks, by openly branding him as a moneygrabber. Pretty shabby and not very professional.

Harry Wilson's tackle · Jun 17, 2019

Juan Albion said:
The nonsense is that they are, in effect, calling their manager a greedy bar steward. Sure, they have their reasons, but you don't air dirty laundry like this, especially when they go on to say they hope he changes his mind and stays.

I understand exactly your point.

You don't go on twatter to say your missus is thinking about leaving you after a disagreement about how fat she is getting, but that you hope she stays, unless you're completely drunk.

Acker79 · Jun 17, 2019

Juan Albion said:
That's not how I read the 4th paragraph.

But the fifth paragraph explains how what he want is market rate. I think if you take the statement as a whole they are being fairer to him than if you just read the fourth paragraph in isolation. To me, the 4th paragraph is a 'look, were not deliberately being stingy, this is the charlton context for what we're offering' and the fifth paragraph is 'this is the lee bowyer context for what he's asking, and why it's an reasonable desire'

Gwylan · Jun 17, 2019

Harry Wilson's tackle said:
You don't go on twatter to say your missus is thinking about leaving you after a disagreement about how fat she is getting, but that you hope she stays, unless you're completely drunk.

IS there something you want to tell us, Harry?

Easy 10 · Jun 17, 2019

Acker79 said:
But the fifth paragraph explains how what he want is market rate. I think if you take the statement as a whole they are being fairer to him than if you just read the fourth paragraph in isolation. To me, the 4th paragraph is a 'look, were not deliberately being stingy, this is the charlton context for what we're offering' and the fifth paragraph is 'this is the lee bowyer context for what he's asking, and why it's an reasonable desire'

Or they could have just said "negotiations are ongoing". If he leaves then he leaves, then they can thank him for the brilliant job he's done but state that unfortunately an agreement couldn't be reached, and leave it at that.

When Peter Taylor left, I don't remember BHA saying "he's fed up waiting for the stadium, and wants to spend 5 times our budget on new players. But we hope he changes his mind and stays".

Acker79 · Jun 17, 2019

Easy 10 said:
Or they could have just said "negotiations are ongoing". If he leaves then he leaves, and they can state that unfortunately an agreement couldn't be reached.

When Peter Taylor left, I don't remember BHA saying "he's fed up waiting for the stadium, and wants to spend 5 times our budget on new players. But we hope he changes his mind and stays".

Maybe. But a lot of fans also want transparency. I read that last line as more of a 'no hard feelings' than a 'come on, let's keep talking'. To me that reads as if the negotiations are over, so 'negotiations are ongoing' would be false. They've ended and the club wanted to be open about why a deal couldn't be done, explaining their position, and why Bowyer's position wasn't unreasonable.

And perhaps there's also an element of wanting to make it clear to potential buyers they are working to reduce losses, and not have locked in obligations that would be needed to be paid off. Vague, non-statements will lead to rumours and innuendo that could negatively impact on their efforts to secure the clubs future through new ownership.

Easy 10 · Jun 17, 2019

Acker79 said:
Maybe. But a lot of fans also want transparency. I read that last line as more of a 'no hard feelings' than a 'come on, let's keep talking'. To me that reads as if the negotiations are over, so 'negotiations are ongoing' would be false. They've ended and the club wanted to be open about why a deal couldn't be done, explaining their position, and why Bowyer's position wasn't unreasonable.

And perhaps there's also an element of wanting to make it clear to potential buyers they are working to reduce losses, and not have locked in obligations that would be needed to be paid off. Vague, non-statements will lead to rumours and innuendo that could negatively impact on their efforts to secure the clubs future through new ownership.

"This reflects the strong desire we have to continue to have Lee as our manager. But Lee wanted much more."

Sorry but they've proper done the snide on him with that part of the statement. There's really no other way of interpreting it. That part colours the entire statement.

Acker79 · Jun 17, 2019

Easy 10 said:
"This reflects the strong desire we have to continue to have Lee as our manager. But Lee wanted much more."

Sorry but they've proper done the snide on him with that part of the statement. There's really no other way of interpreting it. That part colours the entire statement.

But again, you are being selective and taking one comment. Why not take this one:

"The owner understands Lee’s point of view, because many Championship clubs pay huge amounts (some pay millions of £ per year) to their manager. It is fair that Lee feels he should be paid like many other Championship managers."

?

Sussex Nomad · Jun 17, 2019

Incredibly intimate statement to make public, considering he is still in post.

PILTDOWN MAN · Jun 17, 2019

Gwylan said:
IS there something you want to tell us, Harry?

He’s been put on ignore by the wife

Surrey Phil · Jun 17, 2019

Sometimes, it makes you realise just how lucky we are and how far we’ve come as a club, when you read that.

Cheshire Cat · Jun 17, 2019

I can't see that statement helping matters at all. It effectively says we, the owners, have offered our manager what we think he is worth, and if he decides to be greedy and ask for the current going rate elsewhere, which we think is ludicrously expensive, he can sod off and do one.

Bizarre.

Harry Wilson's tackle · Jun 17, 2019

Gwylan said:
IS there something you want to tell us, Harry?

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[Football] More nonsense going on at Charlton Athletic

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