I have been a charlton fan for over 50 years, I now live in Geneva, but still saw over 30 games last year, less this, but who can blame me.
I got up at 3am yesterday, and walked to Geneva Airport, got back home 12pm, still seething about the way Charlton fans were treated after the game, and what about the inconsistency?
lose 4 0 at Millwall kept in for an hour.
lose 2 1at Palace, let out but kettled
lose 2 0 to Millwall at home, not allowed to the Station.
All 3 times, our fans not allowed to go about their lawful business.
This is just wrong, and to be frank I was disappointed how few fans made their feelings known to the Police.
I think that Millwall fans would have made their feelings known, and that is part of the problem, Treating Charlton fans like cattle is the line of least resistance.
There has to be a very good reason to curtail someone's human rights.
Going to and from Geneva in 1 day is not easy with the inconsistencies of the British Transport system, yesterday, I arrived at Gatwick, only to find that Thameslink Were not stopping at London. Bridge, adding an hour to my journey.
I actually missed my flight after the Millwall game, had to shell out for a hotel, and another plane ticket.
If yesterday's match had kicked off at 3pm, the same might have happened, and Why.
To ensure no inconvenience for Millwall fans, don't make me laugh!
Blimey, mate - you're a hero doing that. Or mad. (Only joking about the mad bit, total respect to you).
Write to the club and demand they pay for the cost of your second ticket. Won't get anwhere, I suspect, but if they've got an ounce of decency they will refund you.i
The club are not bothered.
I'm still amazed that a club with declining interest in it decides to pull such a stunt. Where is the connection between the club and its regular supporters? The club must be actively seeking a 'them' and 'us' state of affairs, so fair play to them, yesterday worked a treat.
The garbage on the pitch once we went 1 down is within the scope of knocks you take as a supporter of any club, so I'm just about over that.
Give someone a bit of power and authority and they think the rest of us are plebs and morons, and a threat. I certainly don't think the police or club authorities at the moment give a chite in the slightest, complaints will wash off their back while they attempt to shift responsibility elsewhere. T'was ever thus though.
Lets face it, no matter how bad it was for us and how bad they got it wrong, all they will do or in fact have to do is simply say "sorry we got it wrong, now lets move on!"
They know most of us who said we wont go again or like myself slowly loosing the love of this club will be back and renew our season tickets etc
Will the club be putting out a statement or explanation for alienating their own customers so badly yesterday?
Of course not, what have they done to show they give a sh*t?
I feel sorry for the likes of Matt Wright, Mick Everett and others who have been getting all of the dogs abuse, emails, twitter messages on behalf of a couple of cowardly board members who can't be arsed to front up to their supporters in an honest and transparent way.
Screw us? Screw them. They've made me and a lot of others stop actually loving our club.
People should complain both to the club and the police. Personally I want to find out how these decisions were taken, because I'm still reluctant to believe that Mick Everett at the club would have come up with such an idea.
I already made a request under the Freedom of Information Act to the Met. They have to answer, and we can all read it here by April 17 latest.
I sent it on Friday (and frankly, as you can read, didnt make the best job of it). So other people could make similar requests. This particular law is about getting specific information (not explanations or making complaints). But somebody could ask for example for all minutes of all meetings about policing of this fixture; and since we are told that the police are so weighed down writing reports and forms, somebody could ask for the reports and forms they must have filled in after yesterdays goings on.
The programme refers to Steve Bradshaw as Chief Operating Officer so presumably the overall responsibility for the Club input to yesterday's fiasco lies at his door rather than Mick Everett who we know has been highly competent over many years.
What about John Little? Is he still involved in security?
People should complain both to the club and the police. Personally I want to find out how these decisions were taken, because I'm still reluctant to believe that Mick Everett at the club would have come up with such an idea.
I already made a request under the Freedom of Information Act to the Met. They have to answer, and we can all read it here by April 17 latest.
I sent it on Friday (and frankly, as you can read, didnt make the best job of it). So other people could make similar requests. This particular law is about getting specific information (not explanations or making complaints). But somebody could ask for example for all minutes of all meetings about policing of this fixture; and since we are told that the police are so weighed down writing reports and forms, somebody could ask for the reports and forms they must have filled in after yesterdays goings on.
The programme refers to Steve Bradshaw as Chief Operating Officer so presumably the overall responsibility for the Club input to yesterday's fiasco lies at his door rather than Mick Everett who we know has been highly competent over many years.
What about John Little? Is he still involved in security?
I think it is important to establish to what extent it was really a "joint" decision between club and police. I have been told that generally the police intimidate clubs on things like kickoff times. Thats why I put in my Freedom of Infomration request to the police, and urge others to do the same. They may not always behave like it, but the police are accountable to us. Lets hold them to account.
The club unfortunately is a private commercial business and not accountable to us in the sense the police are. I think it is important to find out who exactly at the Club played the key role in agreeing (if agree is the right word at all) to this fiasco. I really cannot believe it was Mick Everett. He knows his stuff and he knows his fellow Charlton fans. If, as Len says above it was this Bradshaw bloke, then it illustrates the following:
We were a decent club, regardless of what went on on the pitch because we had Charlton people in operational management roles. Some of us warned on here that getting rid of them would have consequences for how the club is run. We still have to find out for sure who decided what, but I am 80% sure that what happened yesterday is directly linked to the de-Charltonisation of CAFC which has been going on in the last 12 months.
None of these problems exist (although others might) if Millwall had been kept in. If the police do that there are no other decisions required. I understand the police would not do this. If not, why not?
Accepting that the decision to block Floyd Road and Ransom Walk flows inevitably from that (and I know some don't) who knew what and when about Charlton Lane needs to be uncovered, because somewhere the communication broke down and that was the cause of a lot of the confusion and complaint.
So they have a planning meeting on Thursday to sort how they are going to deal with the spanners exiting the ground. They come with their master plan, then some fookers when and put a level crossing around the corner.
Either the ob lied to the club, the club lied to us or both lied. Do the club want us as supporters? It's amount time they starting supporting us.
I have just been on the O/S to get the e-mail address of Steve Bradshaw to voice my disgust at the debacle yesterday, but he is not listed on the contacts page the site is so far out of date, an example of this "Wendy Perfect is club development manager and will deal with operational enquiries relating to Valley Express, Valley Away, Young Addicks, player appearances and supporters' groups". am I suprised not really. I feel I might put my feelings in writing using snail mail.
I have just been on the O/S to get the e-mail address of Steve Bradshaw to voice my disgust at the debacle yesterday, but he is not listed on the contacts page the site is so far out of date, an example of this "Wendy Perfect is club development manager and will deal with operational enquiries relating to Valley Express, Valley Away, Young Addicks, player appearances and supporters' groups". am I suprised not really. I feel I might put my feelings in writing using snail mail.
You could try and guess his email address by studying the format of the others. Maybe steve.bradshaw@cafc.co.uk
depends on the steve bit, I guess
I am sure I will not be the only one who will be interested to read any reply you get
So they have a planning meeting on Thursday to sort how they are going to deal with the spanners exiting the ground. They come with their master plan, then some fookers when and put a level crossing around the corner.
Either the ob lied to the club, the club lied to us or both lied. Do the club want us as supporters? It's amount time they starting supporting us.
Not sure but I know one thing - the club lied to us. Someone posted on Wednesday a reply he/she had had from Mick Everett saying no meeting had yet taken place regarding post-match arrangements and that arrangements would be confirmed idc. That clearly, excuse my French, was bollocks. No decision to keep Charlton fans back in could possibly have been taken on Thursday - not when it was in the programme that presumably must have been printed prior to Thursday. And, anyway, think of the time necessary for planning for this course of action and the decision must have been taken weeks earlier. So the club must have known this for ages but obviously tried to hide it for as long as possible and release the information at the last moment.
As has been already mentioned I think the 'Thursday' decision is a big red herring. You don't just call up the MPS manpower and organize trains that quick. This decision was probably made some time ago.
As for the email address, it's probably worth trying a few variations to see if any bounce.
Please complain to the club, just complete the email form on the o/s. The more that do the more the club might realise how pissed off we all are. Go to the bottom of 1st page, fans, feedback.
The programme is printed Thursday night. However, the timing of the announcement and what is said are key elements of the plan. A factor in that will be not wanting to impact on ticket sales, albeit the longer term effect of what happened may be worse than the short-term revenue effect of lost sales.
Be careful not scapegoat to Mick Everett and John Little, the safety officer, because whatever some of you may think they are good people who care about the club. It's the people above them that need to be drawn out.
Prothero is the person paid to take overall responsibility - of signings, commercial matters and matchday operations. It's him who should be answering the questions.
E mail sent to the head of operations at the club. The whole day was a pain and totally changed what we do on a saturday afternoon before and after the game. If we play that lot next season, then a lot of fans will stay away.
I accept the embarrassing pitch, our poor home form generally, the terrible results against Palace and Millwall in particular, and the fact that we don't do cup runs.
I don't fully understand why but I'm still thoroughly pissed off by the post match arrangements more than anything else. I believe that the club are complicit and by failing to put out a sensible statement that said something like 'We're sorry for the inconvenience but on this occasion for this match we believe that these are the safest arrangements'.
Instead the Charlton statement stresses the importance of getting Millwall fans on the special trains. Well I'm a ST holder and live in Hampshire and travel via Waterloo. Don't I count?
Apart from the banks and utilities I struggle to think of too many other organisations that would treat their paying customers in this way. I expect more from my club, a club I've supported for over 40 years.
More and more it doesn't feel like my club any more. And if they don't give a shit about me, why should I give a shit about them?
For fuck sake, the ckub are skint and couldn't afford for the stand to be wrecked. If but so million to chance we had won if would have happened, also make no mistake if they hadn't of won more would have kicked off.It was a one off as we won't be playing them next season, I don't think the same will happen for Orient. I don't think the club really wanted all this agg, in fact I was told by someone who knows the landlady of the ROD we had to compensate them for loss of earnings yesterday considering they weren't allowed to open after the game.
With all due respect I knew exactly where they were comin from. My son took the decision out of my hands yesterday after the game at the Den he didn't want to go, yesterday had a poisonous vibe to it , it was only their poxy win, that dampened it.
I have passes for Crossbars, and had I known that my way back to my car was blocked, i would have sat in there and waiting but because my way was said to be open as normal, I didn't wait around, i wanted to go home. If the club and or Police had warned me, I would have, but they did not. They let me walk to a route that was closed. I did not hear any PA announcements, not stewards shouting out, or Police with megaphones. What i did hear was warning or Ransom walk being closed, I saw stewards directing me towards Charlton Lane and the odd Police officer telling everybody to keep moving even though two out of the possible route being closed and the only one open taking me away from my car!
With all due respect I knew exactly where they were comin from. My son took the decision out of my hands yesterday after the game at the Den he didn't want to go, yesterday had a poisonous vibe to it , it was only their poxy win, that dampened it.
You may well be right but, with respect, ValleyMick has an important and valid point.
I've just re-read the announcement re the post match arrangements that was posted on the OS on Friday. At no point does it appear to recognise the inconvenience caused to home fans, let alone apologise. The word "unfortunate" is used once in relation to the closure of Ransom Walk. On two occasions reference is made to the need to enable Millwall fans to catch trains. Perhaps those that wrote and approved the announcement don't realise that many Charlton fans use the train to travel to and from the game?
Frankly, the Club's communication around the post match arrangements was unbelievably crass, insensitive and unprofessional. The Club is beginning to resemble an absolute shambles I'm afraid. If those in charge have any wit and decency they'll put out a grovelling apology next week. I'm not expecting one though.
Comments
I'm still amazed that a club with declining interest in it decides to pull such a stunt. Where is the connection between the club and its regular supporters? The club must be actively seeking a 'them' and 'us' state of affairs, so fair play to them, yesterday worked a treat.
The garbage on the pitch once we went 1 down is within the scope of knocks you take as a supporter of any club, so I'm just about over that.
They know most of us who said we wont go again or like myself slowly loosing the love of this club will be back and renew our season tickets etc
I feel sorry for the likes of Matt Wright, Mick Everett and others who have been getting all of the dogs abuse, emails, twitter messages on behalf of a couple of cowardly board members who can't be arsed to front up to their supporters in an honest and transparent way.
Screw us? Screw them. They've made me and a lot of others stop actually loving our club.
The club unfortunately is a private commercial business and not accountable to us in the sense the police are. I think it is important to find out who exactly at the Club played the key role in agreeing (if agree is the right word at all) to this fiasco. I really cannot believe it was Mick Everett. He knows his stuff and he knows his fellow Charlton fans. If, as Len says above it was this Bradshaw bloke, then it illustrates the following:
We were a decent club, regardless of what went on on the pitch because we had Charlton people in operational management roles. Some of us warned on here that getting rid of them would have consequences for how the club is run. We still have to find out for sure who decided what, but I am 80% sure that what happened yesterday is directly linked to the de-Charltonisation of CAFC which has been going on in the last 12 months.
Accepting that the decision to block Floyd Road and Ransom Walk flows inevitably from that (and I know some don't) who knew what and when about Charlton Lane needs to be uncovered, because somewhere the communication broke down and that was the cause of a lot of the confusion and complaint.
Either the ob lied to the club, the club lied to us or both lied.
Do the club want us as supporters? It's amount time they starting supporting us.
Maybe steve.bradshaw@cafc.co.uk
depends on the steve bit, I guess
I am sure I will not be the only one who will be interested to read any reply you get
Stinks to high Heaven.
As for the email address, it's probably worth trying a few variations to see if any bounce.
Be careful not scapegoat to Mick Everett and John Little, the safety officer, because whatever some of you may think they are good people who care about the club. It's the people above them that need to be drawn out.
Prothero is the person paid to take overall responsibility - of signings, commercial matters and matchday operations. It's him who should be answering the questions.
I don't fully understand why but I'm still thoroughly pissed off by the post match arrangements more than anything else. I believe that the club are complicit and by failing to put out a sensible statement that said something like 'We're sorry for the inconvenience but on this occasion for this match we believe that these are the safest arrangements'.
Instead the Charlton statement stresses the importance of getting Millwall fans on the special trains. Well I'm a ST holder and live in Hampshire and travel via Waterloo. Don't I count?
Apart from the banks and utilities I struggle to think of too many other organisations that would treat their paying customers in this way. I expect more from my club, a club I've supported for over 40 years.
More and more it doesn't feel like my club any more. And if they don't give a shit about me, why should I give a shit about them?
I've just re-read the announcement re the post match arrangements that was posted on the OS on Friday. At no point does it appear to recognise the inconvenience caused to home fans, let alone apologise. The word "unfortunate" is used once in relation to the closure of Ransom Walk. On two occasions reference is made to the need to enable Millwall fans to catch trains. Perhaps those that wrote and approved the announcement don't realise that many Charlton fans use the train to travel to and from the game?
Frankly, the Club's communication around the post match arrangements was unbelievably crass, insensitive and unprofessional. The Club is beginning to resemble an absolute shambles I'm afraid. If those in charge have any wit and decency they'll put out a grovelling apology next week. I'm not expecting one though.