For Charlton Athletic, the coming of a new season coincides with yet another new dawn.
For the fourth time in three years, the Addicks are under fresh ownership after SE7 Partners, headed up by former Sunderland director Charlie Methven, bought out Thomas Sandgaard last month.
Charlton's long-suffering fans have been repeatedly burned since relegation from the Premier League in 2007 and it was telling that the club's Supporters' Trust (CAST) greeted the takeover with "relief rather than jubilation".
"There have been so many takeovers at Charlton since 2010, there's little appetite to believe that it is a brave new dawn and not just more of the same," says Rick Everitt, who edited the Voice of the Valley fanzine for 34 years. "Anyone coming in will suffer from the legacy of the last four at least successive ownerships going back to Tony Jimenez and Michael Slater from 2011 to 2014."
Like many fans, Everitt is sceptical of SE7’s intentions, although Methven has been quick to insist there are no plans to 'flip' the club for a profit and is set to hold a Q&A with supporters ahead of tomorrow's opener against Leyton Orient.
"[They] haven't set out a credible explanation as to why they want to own the club. People need a story to believe in," says Everitt.
"I worry that... people who have taken a minority stake in the club have been sold a vision of the business which isn't realistic and pretty soon they'll work out, as Sandgaard eventually worked out, that it's a money pit."
Elsewhere, there is more cautious optimism, not least because Sandgaard has been ousted.
The Dane effectively saved the Addicks from extinction in 2020 but his tenure turned sour amid a series of tone-deaf decisions, and he was actively seeking an exit from midway through last season.
"Glad to see the back of him, we were a midlife crisis club for him," says Jim Dutton, whose grandfather Jimmy Seed managed the Addicks for 23 years until 1957.
"But he got rid of the previous owners — thank you very much.
"I've always been an optimist but over the last few years I've become a little more cynical. However, having these new owners has got to be a good thing. They do seem to have a bit more money, the whole set up behind the scenes seems to be a bit more professional. And signing Alfie May was a good start."
While manager Dean Holden is popular, part of the challenge for SE7 is re-energising a fanbase preparing for a fourth consecutive season in League One — Charlton's longest stretch in the third tier since the 1920s.
"This is the most intrigued and engaged I've felt in a long time," says fan Paddy Pamment. "While I have got some cynicism, everything they [SE7] have done so far has been good — before the start of the actual football.
"The apathy is certainly there. I don't go to as many games as I used to, despite holding a season-ticket. We've been in purgatory waiting for the right owners to come in.
"Now that could be the case, it feels like they'll be an uplift but it all depends on what happens on the pitch."
