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Unfinished Business

With Charlton now facing their most important and most exciting run of matches for best part of a decade, it is worth remembering that we still have some unfinished business. It’s been great to see people regaining their enthusiasm for things Charlton, but conversely there’s been little or nothing recently by way of protest. He is still here. The team might be doing well on the pitch, but the club is an absolute shambles.

Do people think it’s a done deal and they don’t have to bother any more? Is it a case of hopelessness or fatigue? Are you scared that chanting ‘Roland Out’ will detract from the team’s performance? Are you scared that those who deride protests as ‘negative’ will pick an argument with you? Or has red become the new black?

I don’t know what’s happening to galvanise opposition to the regime anymore. CARD have gone distinctly quiet. Do they still exist? ROT did put a plea on here for support and, I hope I’m wrong, but from my perspective it seemed to get decidedly lukewarm response. At the Rochdale game I didn’t see so much as one anti-regime badge (except my own). Has everyone given up or have we decided that as Roland has so skilfully masterminded a 50th place finish in league football that we’d like him to stick around?

I’ll end on a personal plea. Whether we end up despondent, euphoric or disappointedly proud at the end of the play-offs, please can everyone put themselves in a position where they can, hand on heart, say that they did something over this period to let Roland know that he should exit the stage as quickly as possible. Remember that the most important prize isn’t a day out to Wembley or regaining our place in a division we should never have dropped out of. The real prize is getting an owner who cares about the club and with whom we might have some chance of proper and sustained success.

For those of you who are going tonight, enjoy the match. COYR.

Comments

  • I've got my CARD shirt on as my way of showing I am still not happy with how the club has been run, but will be supporting the team 100% - there's no need for anti regime chants or protests in a game like this.
  • personally (and I know nothing really) I think it's all done and will be announced shortly after our season has finished
  • Football fans on the whole are a fickle bunch Stig. This was more to do with performance and standing for many I believe.

    Do well on the pitch and have some success and the owner could be a far right sycophant from Kathmandu and happy fans wouldn't bat an eyelid.
    The bigger picture is a serious worry as the minority well know. The man is poison.

    It's hard because you want the club to do well but I think we need to fall a bit further in order to get the outcome that serious protesters want. Going up could be a chain around our neck in terms of getting rid of the old scroat.
  • I think that there will be an announcement after we know what division we are in next year. If that doesn't happen pretty sharpish afterwards, I will be joining in any protests.
    I've not been a boycotter, though, so have a different perspective having suffered some of the atrocious dross on show over the last couple of seasons. I keep telling myself it's character building, but I really don't want to see another game against the likes of Bury or Oldham or Rochdale...
  • Protests have been on the back-burner as the club IS up for sale. It's clear Roland wants out and has enough of football.

    If the Aussies (or any other buying party) had come forward in public and publicly stated that Roland was constantly moving the goalposts and preventing them completing the deal, then I'm sure protests would have started again. As it is, it's all hearsay and speculation as to why the deal hasn't been finalised yet...

  • He's as good as gone.

    No point singing Roland Out, who's there to hear it?

    I won't partake in any protests because it's completely pointless at this point
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  • Won't be there, boycott continues until he's gone.
    But wishing for a great result.
    COYR!!!!
  • I have to admit that I am totally confused as to where the supporters are. I am beginning to feel like the 2% that our ex-CEO referred to.

    What if Roland doesn't go? There's been plenty of false dawns over the recent months and talk of a takeover happening imminently, so is there any reason to believe that it is about to happen as soon as promotion/non-promotion is sorted out?

    As far as I can see if we win the play offs and get to a decent level in the Championship and hopefully push for promotion, the consensus is that we don't mind if Roland stays or not really. If we win the play offs and end up bottom or the near the bottom of the Championship, it's definitely back to Roland Out. If we don't go up and are near the top of League One next year, Roland can stay. If it reverts back to mid-table and mediocrity, it's back to Roland Out.

    In other words, is it just about results? And, now that KM has gone, is there really nothing to moan about because RD says nothing (almost), doesn't show his face and just pays the bills.

    Or, is he really definitely going?
  • I have to admit that I am totally confused as to where the supporters are. I am beginning to feel like the 2% that our ex-CEO referred to.

    What if Roland doesn't go? There's been plenty of false dawns over the recent months and talk of a takeover happening imminently, so is there any reason to believe that it is about to happen as soon as promotion/non-promotion is sorted out?

    As far as I can see if we win the play offs and get to a decent level in the Championship and hopefully push for promotion, the consensus is that we don't mind if Roland stays or not really. If we win the play offs and end up bottom or the near the bottom of the Championship, it's definitely back to Roland Out. If we don't go up and are near the top of League One next year, Roland can stay. If it reverts back to mid-table and mediocrity, it's back to Roland Out.

    In other words, is it just about results? And, now that KM has gone, is there really nothing to moan about because RD says nothing (almost), doesn't show his face and just pays the bills.

    Or, is he really definitely going?

    But none of that applies.

    If the buyers all pulled out, and Roland said he'd keep the club, then the protests would start up again even if we were promoted

    At this stage, the takeover talks are still ongoing and may reach their conclusion once our division for next season is finalised, the vast majority of people for a few weeks would rather concentrate on what's happening on the pitch

  • sam3110 said:

    He's as good as gone.

    No point singing Roland Out, who's there to hear it?

    I won't partake in any protests because it's completely pointless at this point

    Brave man saying that, I hope you are right.

  • If Roland had run the club in proper fashion from Day One, then there never would have been a problem with him owning the club.
    We just want the club run sensibly. We just want our Charlton back. We need the old scrote gone.

    But, right or wrong, I feel tonight is about the football.

    We've got 2 Cup-Finals in quick succession. The carrot of Wembley and promotion awaits us if we get it right.
    We need the team to perform 100%. And we need to do the same.

    It's up to every single one of us, on the pitch and on the terraces.
    God knows, we've waited painfully long enough for moments like this.

  • edited May 2018
    A good and thought provoking post.

    I understand your concern, and share it to some extent, but the big caveats in my mind are (just reading this back I hope this doesn't come across as dismissive or condescending, because that's not how I mean it. This is just my thought process and how I am evaluating things):
    1) The club is up for sale and in negotiations with buyers and, and I think that feels like we've crossed a threshold, and we have. It's really been in maybe the last 4-6 weeks that we've gone from "next month" to nothing from the club.
    2) Even though it feels like an age, and even though it's 256,000 pages on the takeover thread, it's not been very long since things have gone from a sale being rumored to be any day to no news. And in that time we've had a good run of form which leads me to
    3) Our run in was both so tense and so promising that it didn't feel like the right time for protests. Not because they'll effect the team, that's nonsense of course, but just, I dunno, I think there's a risk there or it being counterproductive. And if there's one thing CARD has always been really, really good at its reading the mood and understanding timing and how things will play both with the media and with other supporters.
    4) *IF* we make it to Wembley don't be surprised to see something planned for that day. Again, CARD are very clever at picking their moments and that would be a good one. And there's also a much longer run up to that than the silly five days we had from the last game of the season.

    And hey maybe I'm too complacent, and I try not to be. I think my general feeling is that these things ebb and flow because it's very hard to keep up the same level of outrage every single week for the what, two and a half years it's been now. And again I trust CARD and they seem to be chalk full of marketing and PR and strategy intelligence that I don't have, and even when things are quiet I implicitly trust that they know when to push and when to back off.
  • My Dad sat me on the wall of the East Terrace when I was four. When I was 15 he bought us season tickets as we hadn’t missed many home games in the previous ten years and it worked out more cost effective. I’ve had a season ticket every year since, and go to 10 - 20 away games every season - 131 different grounds, now.

    I seriously considered boycotting a couple of seasons ago. But to be honest, I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t let Duchatelet take away something that has been at the core of my life for as long as I remember.

    I have no problem with those that are boycotting; I’ve attended every protest - here and in Belgium - and will continue to do so until he is gone. Regardless of the play off results.

    I do think we’ll have new owners by the end of the month, but if we don’t, I feel we should take the protests to Duchatelet’s home town. In the meantime let’s enjoy our relative success on the pitch and each of us support the team in whatever way we think is best. COYR.
  • I can understand delaying the announcement of new owners between last Saturday and the semi-final second leg so as not to upset the preparations for these important matches. However, between the second leg and the final is 14 days and I cannot see new owners wanting to sit on their hands given how much work there is to be done to get our club on the road to recovery. So, win or lose, if there is no announcement by next Wednesday, I think we can assume the takeover is not going to happen any time soon. For me that would be the starting gun for further protests.
  • If I thought protesting in the next 2/3 games would be the make or break on him selling, then I would protest. I believe that is unlikely so having suffered all the dross and desperation over the last 4 years I mainly want to enjoy a few games for a change.
  • Really good OP @Stig

    My personal view is that most fans remain anti-Duchatelet but believe that the club will be sold at the end of the season or, at least, sometime over the summer. Meanwhile, there's some rare excitement going on and it's not surprising that the large majority want to experience some of that.

    If the club remains unsold, I doubt that any success we may have on the pitch will be enough to keep the protest movement dormant.

    I believe that CARD will provide an update after the last game of the season.
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  • iainment said:

    Won't be there, boycott continues until he's gone.
    But wishing for a great result.
    COYR!!!!

    This COYR!!
  • The reason no takeover has happened is because if we end up a championship club he will value the club as worth more and want to renegotiate price
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Roland Out Forever!