Lets see in five years

If everything has gone to plan then the 24th will be the end of Rchard Murray's ownership and literally the baton will be passed on to new owners.  The only thing near to a guarantee is that not every body will be happy on the fans side of the fence.

I am amazed that there has not been a sniff of who is behind Peter "Reg " Varney.  Sightings of Dennis Wise at the Valley maybe a clue, although it may have just been a youth player being mistaken.

I was speaking to a fellow supporter this morning who wanted it to be anyone but Wise and this led to a brief chat and a realisation that whoever is the new custodian of our  obsession, they won't be good enough and that we cannot judge them on reputation alone  but on their actions and those actions over a reasonable period of time.

Takeovers are notorious for ending in tears, I was at Hillsborough when an American was hailed as their saviour only a few years ago and of course they barely avoided a winding up order before Miljan Mandic came in to buy them on the cheap, another club he has beem assoicated with are Portsmouth, which he sold on only for Rednap and the new succession of owners bankrupted them and there is Chelsea where bates sold on to Abramovich in a friendly sale only now to take every opportunity to slate the current ownership, take note Richard Murray.

Richard Murray has done everything possible within the context of our recent past to make Charlton saleable in a reasonable condition and kept us out of administration.  This is so different from  his early Charlton involvement when he was raising money not to save the club but to fund the flames and momentum of success.  Success to establish the valley, once Richard Alwen had got us there,  success of winning the playoff final and success of returning to the Premier and staying there for so long.  The last few years it has simply been a success to stay afloat.

Whoever is in charge tomorrow has big shoes to fill and there will be accusations of "lack of investment in the team", but we will now have business men running the club with their wallet and not their heart, unless they are charlton, accusations that they are not true charlton, accusations that they are foreign and do not understand the game (reference Sam Allardyce), accusations that they are British / local and don't have enough money and accusations that they are Dennis Wise / Peter Risdale.

Whoever Santa brings us on Christmas Eve we cannot judge their worth to the club for maybe years to come because its not what they do this week, its what they do in the coming years the stability, order and success that will count.

One final point, Santa brought us a present on Christmas Eve before and we applauded and thought our dreams had come true.  That present had a smile like a cheshire cat and by the time we were able to look back on his legacy our club was broke, in more ways than one.  This time Santa we are looking for a present that may not match our Christmas list like before but has longevity and lasting quality that will do what it says on the tin.