CAFC have recently upped their level of fan communication with programme articles and Q&A’s

It has been mentioned before that CAS Trust welcome this development, however we’d like it to go further, and here are some questions we and we feel that fans would like answers to:

• Club direction appears to have changed somewhat around the level of squad investment and overall strategy, something which many fans find a puzzle and indeed a concern with this years squad looking a bit threadbare.What is the long term strategy for the club?
  - Are we are ticking over until a buyer or investor can be found, or is there another strategy at play?
  - A large number of players were deemed surplus to requirements and some replacements came in, but where does that level of investment put us in the table?
• Can we please have more Q&A's from senior staff including Martin Prothero and the return of Michael Slater?
  - Recently Martin Prothero has begun writing in the programme but only his Operational and Commercial Officers have so far been out on the circuit, messrs Bradshaw and Kensell.
  - We welcome that but we'd like to see Martin and Michael (again) too. Charlton is a small close knit community and this level of contact is vital we believe.
• What is the Player contract strategy? Established practice is to sign up key players well before their last full contracts season, so why are these contracts being run down? The worry for many is that if no action is taken, we will have a team made up largely of Academy players who are not ready for regular first team football while hoping to find some quality free transfers it is assumed, and indeed a new Manager - a very high risk strategy some might argue, and one can understand the concern
  -This applies to key first teamers in their mid/late twenties such as Stephens, Hamer, Wiggins, Morrison
  -And older players such as Jackson and Kermogant; see our article on contracts here (Kermogant believed to have a 1 year renewal based on matches started).
  -Also the Manager himself Chris Powell - all of whom have deals that finish at the end of this season,
  -Have contracts been offered?
  -Are players refusing to sign?
• We have already established that Financial Fair Play is not a reason for the investment level, the club could put a great deal more funds in in the form of equity if available and remain compliant.
  -Why are the club not willing to invest equity rather than just loans?
  -The squad at the moment seems to be lacking a striker is this being addressed?
• CAFC are trying to improve commercial revenue streams in terms of attendance and catering bars etc. to close the gap between turnover and overheads. Sustainability is highly desirable and we agree a club should be run on commercial lines as much as possible, not only that we are trying to help this thrust.
  - What level of extra investment can be expected for say the next 3 years?

In this new dawn of communication, we would like to hear from CAFC on these topics, and we'll follow up in the next edition of TNT where we will be addressing some of these questions and asking fans their views.

TN