The Five Year Plan

B

Badger11

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Location
Beckenham
Country
England
Charlton fans are unhappy (what's new) as the latest in a long line of disappointing owners, are 2 years into their 5 year plan and appear to cutting back on their spending. Fans suspect they are treading water and looking to sell.

I don't believe there is such a thing as a 5 year plan, it's all smoke and mirrors (sorry Steve). Thank god Parish has never claimed to have one. So I would love to hear from someone who does have a plan and can prove me wrong.

This is not specific to Charlton, over the years most football fans have heard this from the new owner. "I have a 5 year plan, we will be in the PL and playing in Europe blah blah". Of course we never get details of the plan because I don't believe it exists.

You can only control the things you can control, anything else is an aspiration, a hope a wish. There is nothing wrong in saying I want this club to be successful.

So when owners say they have a plan, what is it? My guess is something like this:

To achieve promotion / success playing attractive football that pleases the fans. That is not a plan that is a goal which is very different thing.

1. So the new owner hires a top manager and spends money on players to get success. It's not a plan as you cannot guarantee that will work and the failure rate is high. Lots of clubs have tried to buy their way to success and failed.

Or

2. The owners try to find the best manager and best players within their budget. Financially that is a plan, but again you cannot guarantee the outcome. You will be shopping in the "potential" market hoping to find hidden gems. It's a big ask to find the right mix of budget players and manger who will achieve success.

Or

3. Okay the club gets lucky, it hires a great manager and recruits well, all within budget. The team is now rocketing up the league playing wonderful football, so the plan is working, except...

The minute any lower league club starts showing success the vultures gather. So how do you keep your manager and best players. Fans often complain that just as they saw the green shoots they lost a key player or manager and it all went wrong.

Summary
As I said at the start a plan is about having control. You can have a plan to build a new academy or stadium or toilets. However I simply don't believe you can do the same with a team as there are too many variables outside of your control

Discuss.
 
Last edited:
Badger11 said:
Charlton fans are unhappy (what's new) as the latest in a long line of disappointing owners are 2 years into their 5 year plan and appear to cutting back on their spending. Fans suspect they are treading water and looking to sell.

I don't believe there is such a thing as a 5 year plan, it's all smoke and mirrors (sorry Steve). Thank god Parish has never claimed to have one. So I would love to hear from someone who does have a plan and can prove me wrong.

This is not specific to Charlton, over the years most football fans have heard this from the new messiah sorry owner. "I have a 5 year plan, we will be in the PL and playing in Europe blah blah". Of course we never get details of the plan because I don't believe it exists.

You can only control the things you can control, anything else is an aspiration, a hope a wish. There is nothing wrong in saying I want this club to be successful.

So when owners say they have a plan (they never reveal it) what is it. My guess is something like this:

To achieve promotion / success playing attractive football that pleases the fans. That is not a plan that is a goal which is very different thing.

1. So the new owner hires a manager and spends money on players to get success. It's not a plan as you cannot guarantee that will work and the failure rate is high. Lots of clubs have tried to buy their way to success and failed.

Or

2. The owners tried to find the best manager and best players within their budget. Okay financially that is a plan but again you cannot guarantee the outcome. If you have a tight budget you will be shopping in the market hoping to find hidden gems. It's a big ask to fid the right mix of budget players and manger who will achieve success.

3. Okay the club gets lucky, it hires a great manager and recruits well, all within budget. The team is rocketing up the league, so the plan is working, except...

The minute any lower league club starts showing success the vultures gather. So how do you keep your manager and best players. Fans often complain that just as they saw the green shoots they lost a key player or manager and it all went wrong.

Summary
As I said at the start a plan is about having control. You can have a plan to build a new academy or stadium. However i simply don't believe you can do the same with a team as there are too many variables outside of your control

Discuss.
Click to expand...
I consider it is very much possible to have a Five Year Plan. But only if years One, Two, Three and Four all go to plan beforehand!

One season out of kilter and it can nuke both short and medium term planning. I look at Chelsea sniffing around Henderson (Jordan, so as not to cause any coronaries) and Welbeck, having been warned off Xhaka, and I see this concept applying at every level of football.

The clubs who manage change best are the ones that seem to thrive in this modern era. So maybe any plan should be change management oriented rather than a publicly declared owner's wet dream.
 
I’ve always thought these so called long term plans are bollox, any team with any budget in any league, with good recruitment can do it now, this season. But obviously it’s not that easy, but having some long term plan for the future, well we can all ask Marc Goldberg how that went, just concentrate on the now!!
Fair enough bring young players in, who might be for the ‘future’ but don’t give the fans all this crap about where the club wants to be in however many years time
 
RubinsCube said:
I consider it is very much possible to have a Five Year Plan. But only if years One, Two, Three and Four all go to plan beforehand!

One season out of kilter and it can nuke both short and medium term planning. I look at Chelsea sniffing around Henderson (Jordan, so as not to cause any coronaries) and Welbeck, having been warned off Xhaka, and I see this concept applying at every level of football.

The clubs who manage change best are the ones that seem to thrive in this modern era. So maybe any plan should be change management oriented rather than a publicly declared owner's wet dream.
Click to expand...
Chelsea are a good example. For many years a successful team but lately a basket case despite spending a fortune on top managers and players.

Other clubs can't make up their mind what style of football they want. So they sack a manager and bring a new one in who plays a completely different style so wants his own players. The you have Spurs a big fan base, deep pockets and perennial under achieves who lurch from one manager to the next.

I would love to see Chelsea and Spurs plans.
 
As for Palace. Steve has done a great job, my guess is his plan is all about the budget. He can control our spending so we don't go bust and his choice of managers to keep us in the PL bar our Dutch friend has been pretty good.

It's still not a plan though, it's more about risk adversity.
 
I’ve got a plan, buy some decent players, win the Europa league and win more bloody league games at selhurst 🤣🤣
 
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