First post guys so please be gentle. I've been reading a while but not posted. Recent events have lead me to change this. I am a lifelong Charlton fan but now live up in the Midlands. I attend games where I can but also attend a few Coventry City games as they are local.
Anyway on to my point, the fans CAN win this. At Coventry 2 seasons ago, the owners fell out with the stadium owners and the club were "forced" to move to Northampton for a season (or just over). Attendances plummeted from around 8000 at the Ricoh to 1500 at Northampton and it really did seem to hit the owners in their pockets. Similar things were seen with protests against the owners, so much so that after a season they were forced to renegotiate and move back to the Ricoh Arena.
I think the way we are going to win this battle against the Belgian clowns is to hit them where it hurts. Their pockets. It may be the only way to force them to sort this situation out.
Of course I am not saying not to continue the protests at The Valley, this needs to be kept up but it is very tempting to turn up, barracade the car park but NOT give them the ticket money.
Just a little comparison from something I have seen locally to me, but worth a thought and discussion.
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Salient points, and a good reminder that fan power can work.
I personally think that boycotts and a drop in revenue are the best, most logical option we have, but given Roland's worth, it might be a while before he feels it. I don't think he's in it for the money, I think he's in it to build some sort of footballing dynasty which is poorly thought out and even more poorly executed.
Either way, welcome
I agree with @SDAddick that he's not in it for the money, but that a drop in revenue is still our best option. We know that he's personally tightfisted, so he won't enjoy losing any cash. Plus, breaking-even financially is for the owner a more important measure of success than anything that happens on the pitch. His mad vision for how a club should be run is failing badly. We have to ensure that he pays the price for that failure.
I'll be going to the game at the Ricoh next season. Be nice to meet a few people in the casino there before the game.
I'm also going to be joining in at The Valley where possible. We need to stand firm and she needs to go along with the puppet master ASAP
Charlton are seen my many as a friendly family club. Most people would be happy to take their children to our club. There's certainly passion there as there should be but never have I seen or heard anything like this before said about our club.
I am completely shocked and appalled by the woman's mentality towards her loyal "Customer Base"
Stubbornness + wealth + arrogance = tenacity (sadly).
Wasps own stadium on a 250 year lease whilst Coventry shell out £1.3m a year and their owners keep suing the council because of it. Bit of a mess.
The worst thing RD could do is sell our ground.
All that said, I find the new out of town stadiums all a bit souless to be honest. I'd like to know what made them move in the first place. Especially with our wilderness years at Selhurst. I couldn't imagine going to see the team anywhere else.
I wonder how viable Wasps are finding their stay, as the ground is much too big for them
I guess corporate facilities weren't great, the place was simply run down and the council was willing to build them it and host them as tenants. Then Wasps came in and bought 50% of the stadium that was owned by a local charity and Coventry think it was unfair that Wasps were able to buy it. Interestingly Wasps bought the stadium for £5.5m and £14.4m was loaned to them by the council for the purchase which seems a bit odd to me. I suppose if you think about it, for £20m Wasps have got a 250 year lease on the stadium whereas in that time Coventry will have paid £325m.
Anyway, lessons to take home are don't move grounds if you can't afford to build the new one.
Barnet council never seemed that interested in the football club anyway, and seeing that Saracens won the Rugby European Cup yesterday, will probably feel that they backed the right horse...