I know my two sons will not again(aged 17 and 23) one who is disabled after having knee opp was made to walk up to Charlton village and back down to woolwich road took him almost 45 mins and the club realy expect t him to go again? The stewards/police could see he couldn't walk but didn't give a Fuck.had club told us crossing would be closed would have stayed put.
Facinating reading this thread. I admire those that have such blind passion that they feel they must continue to attend nomatter what. I in the past have been one of those. I started going in 1961 and take it from me I have seen some shit Charlton teams, performances and seasons. I hauled myself to Selhurst and Upton Park and up until about five years ago did my fair share of away days. I don't know what has changed but something has. On reflection I probably will renew next season but for the first time I have had to give it thought. I don't think this is purely a Charlton thing for me. I am beginning to dislike football and what it has become. As far as I can see the cheating, greed is good, chav culture has won. Not sure I want to be part of that anymore.
£440 for the dross we've seen this season is not a decision taken lightly. I missed one game in January and as a consequence I haven't seen a win since November. The manner of the home defeats has been very dispiriting. Thinking long and hard about renewing is not turning one's back on the team it is a very necessary consideration of whether £125 per home win (so far) is a good buy. (£20.83 per point overall at home!!)
what should worry us, and especially the Board is the identity of some of the people here who are saying they have lost faith in the club.
People like Leroy, Carly, and RCT, I've never met them, but these are not people who strike me as fair weather fans. people like Mundell Fleming who by now you'd expect to have returned from here to the Financial Times website for the week.
Of course we are all still getting over every aspect of Saturday, but the strength of feeling across the CL spectrum really worries me.
Did you notice that the thread about the post match nonsense is bigger than the one about the match?
God, I'm sick of the amount of people on here that have talked about not renewing their S/T's and or not going again this season or maybe only once etc.
We may well be in the shit & too many seem to want to turn their backs, instead of helping Chris & the boys pull through.
This set of players are nothing like the bunch of no triers we had at the end of The Prem years.
This squad lack quality not effort.
Please get behind them ffs. Your club needs you now !
Charlton 'til I die.
Can I ask the simple question ... Sick of what? Oh, sick of people questioning if they can spend most of saturday not enjoying themselves, not having the money to do so. I think it's a shame that you feel the need to question peoples commitment.
I for one have found very little enjoyment this season. So I blindly turn up, sit there like I did on saturday and think, could I be doing something else? The question is YES.
I may get a season ticket, but I may pick and choose what games I go to.
To para phrase the words of Kevin Keegan. I'd love it, love it, if we stuff Bolton at the next home game. Fair enough. Some fans love Charlton more than others. Some fans don't love Charlton at all, they drift in when the team's doing well and out when the team's struggling. When the going gets tough ............ ?
I've always said that if Charlton ended up in The Conference I'd still be there supporting, amongst the few thousand & I can see, that's sad but true.
Anyway, I'm not trying to be divisive. I just want our supporters to try and help the team to stay up & not desert in their droves.
Why should we show any loyalty to a club that clearly don't give a a sh*t about us, as they showed on Saturday.
Football is supposed to be an entertainment business isn't it? I'm sorry but seeing 4 wins out of 19 games at home this season is not very entertaining and then to ask people to hand over 400 odd quid without any promise of a bit of investment in the team is laughable.
They can stick their loyalty where the sun doesn't shine.
I'm a bit pissed off now, albeit have calmed down from Saturday (fully expected a defeat and that's what I got), I know I'll still renew my season ticket cause more out of habit I guess and I enjoy the 'day' more than the football.
forgetting all that's gone on in the last few days/weeks/months, the lads need our support now more than ever (at home) to just see us over the line this season and then hopefully re-evaluate
The football at home has been terrible I admit, but for me the game is just a small part of the day.
I enjoy the whole routine, meeting up with friends, haveing a few beers, having tear up with the away fans, shouting abuse at the ref, eating crappy food, having another tear up with the away fans, then getting pissed well into the evening, waking up the next morning being screamed at by the wife with half a kebab down my shirt.
If we stay up (two more wins/ one win and three draws / six draws will do it) then it has been a suscessful season.
It's progress.
I'll get my season ticket next season, no matter what. Even if it's just to get out of the house on a Saturday.
I think there are more people pissed off about the way we were treated outside the ground after the match than the style of football or home results - me included.
To accuse people of giving up cos the " going gets tough" isn't fair or accurate, because most people on here have seen it a lot tougher and watched worst seasons.
It didnt get any tougher traipsing over to palace for 6 years. Actually, we weren't even treated as badly over there, compared with Saturday's shambles.
I'll hold my hand up to being one of the one's that jumped ship. Had a season ticket since the Upton Park days but it was the Parkinson spell that ruined it for me. Far too often i'd be sat there, watching terrible football, bored out of my mind wishing i was somewhere else. I still go but i pick and choose my games, plus because of work i can't be guaranteed to get to that many evening games anyway.
I have to say (and i'm sure others do too), that i enjoy the away games much more. I had a 100% better time at Peterborough the other night than at any home game i've been to this season. I've got my ticket for Brighton and i'm also going to Middlesbrough. I know i'll enjoy both of those days out. Sitting here now i can't say i'm particularly fussed about any of the remaining home games.
I don't see it as deserting the club, more i see it as why continue to pay for something i wasn't enjoying.
Perhaps the club could use remainder of the season to try an persuade fans to go ahead and renew for next season?
Maybe the club could make a gesture; subsidised away trip? a Q&A for current ST holders with the board, free beer token, anything!!!! to get some fans back on side? Likewise, CP & the team could show that they give a tos$ and win a few at home before May! - as it stands we could be down a lot of st holders next term. Why not react now!?
Another factor in the decision to punt £440 on next season is whether I trust the club's owners (whoever they really are) to take my £440 this April and then still provide a legitimate product for at least 9 months from August. Slater said he's putting in £1M per month to cover the operating costs - that ain't sustainable indefinitely. He's stated that the prem is the aim because that's the only place where football washes its face but how long is the business plan, what stake money have they allocated to the project and how much remains? My £440 is significant to me but not meriting a nanosecond's consideration in the mind of the recipient.
I don't know whether it is the same for other people but my view is that i am not re newing season tickets unless there is investment .It's not that i don't want to renew at all or that i will not support the team to the end of the season through thick and thin its just that getting to the game on saturday due to the inconvenient kick off time ,having to sit in cold wet clothing and having to dash from a school football tournament to Charlton to watch a game where we were devoid of nous and a cutting edge was ,quite apart from the result ,a real pain .I have a son who is more interested in rugby than football and trying to get him to come to games that repeat the same formulaic /systemic problem is getting more and more difficult .He wants us to get season tickets at Saracens next year and in particular due to lack of board investment the performances on the pitch make it harder and harder to argue with him .Spending time at the weekend with him when i don't see my kids in the week due to the job i do is frankly more important to me than putting up with the same /similar disappointments from match to match .I don't blame the team or Chris Powell although they disappoint at times but i do have to put family issues first .
I'm glad this thread was started. Understandable the amount of negativity and 'thats it for this season' sentiments on here the last few days.
However, it feels like our patience, loyalty and commitment to the club is being tested to the limit right now. I hear the 'blind faith' approach of some - this is our Charlton - our club, but its just doesnt feel the same as it used to.
Personally, I put this down to the decline of my 'matchday experience'. A big group of us used to travel together, drink together in the Bugle, sit together, sing together and more often than not, grieve together after! But it was good fun, we experienced some good times and the banter/memories always kept us coming back for more regardless of results.
However, due to personal/family commitments we all travel separately now, irregularly sit together and the whole enjoyment of match day has been much watered down. I fear this is the same for others on here going on what I've read. Mix that in with a pretty shocking season at home, its bloody tough to keep wanting to come back for more.
Someone said above - this is Charlton - we dont do it for the glory or success but in and around those 90 minutes within the Valley you've got to be getting something out of your Saturday afternoon. Because at the moment what is being served up inside our beloved Valley is highly unlikely to be offering it.
In any case, I'll soon be dusting myself down ready for Bolton.
I've been following football for a few years and I've seen this all before. Several mates that used to all have season tickets stopped going. There were various reasons: a disconnection with football, feeling the club didn't care, family reasons etc. The only pattern that I can see is that it always happened in a bad year. New babies, boring tactics, disassociation with millionaire players and discontent at the clubs business dealings never seemed to have any impact, but a bad year and boom: snow off a dyke. Funny thing was the reason was never the bad year. For me, supporting a club isn't really about results or anything else, it's just what you do. If I were to jack it in and keep my cash in my pocket, then it'd only make things worse, and I can't switch it on and off as easily as some. I've got no problem with people voting with their feet, but please don't corner me at the bar or sit behind me and drone on about your loyalty for the club when the good times a rolling.
CE I agree with what you are saying about supporting the team through thick and thin. However the vast majority of complaints are about the way we were treated after the game and also why werent the Spanners removed from our areas.
I have supported Charlton for over 45 years, had a season ticket for most of them and for the last 3 years have spent over 5k per season on season tickets, hospitality, drinks etc.
I have seen some dross in those years so bad players will not drive me away, however the following two points are causing me serious concerns and could stop me from giving Charlton my 5k next season.
1/ being taken for granted by the board, they are fools if they think we will all be back next season following what has gone on this year.
2/ the pitch.........I would not join a golf club if the greens were full of mole hills, I would not join a snooker club if the tables were torn and thread bare. And I will not commit to parting with 5k if I do not see a statement from the club saying the pitch will be invested in next season, as a paying customer I expect to see CP and the players presented with a surface that they can play football on.
Don't hold your breath. This board doesn't communicate full stop. I believe they see the fans simply as another revenue stream to be used and manipulated as they see fit.
I think people who have already spent a lot of money watching Charlton should be respected for making the drcision that they arent getting what they want and choose to stop spending their money on that particular commodity. And those who feel it is what they want should be respected for carrying on. If it was a matter of duty they should be paying us. If it's charity I can think of more deserving cases.
The communication issue is become farcical. We have an invisable funder who doesn't seem to be funding. A Chairman that doesn't have an email address at the club he Chairs. An owner that as far as I can see is hologram and is incapable of speaking to the fans of the club he owns. An audit trail more complicated than the UK tax laws and they wonder why the board is viewed with some mistrust.
Don't hold your breath. This board doesn't communicate full stop. I believe they see the fans simply as another revenue stream to be used and manipulated as they see fit.
Well, I think they are going to learn something new if that's what they believe!
Surely the pitch is going to be fixed in the Summer?
I am led to believe it does not need "fixing", what it needs is a regular maintenance programme to keep it in a good condition the funds of which have been withdrawn. Yes they could lay a new one in the summer but it will be in the same state as it is now come November if all they are going to rely on is a couple of forks and daylight.
In my case, it is balancing out spending time with my family versus going along to something that isnt as enjoyable as it used to be. I miss my little boy so much during the week at work, and I guess that the fact that the games are boring and we are getting stuffed is the cherry on top of the guilt I feel for not spending time with him (he isnt old enough to go yet, and I certainly wont be forcing him).
When I was younger, I used to be so into it that it literally would ruin my weekend if we lost. Now, it is more an annoyance when we lose because I feel I have wasted my time for no pleasure, rather than the actual defeat.
I am not that old (33) but maybe there are more important things in life than watching 11 men I have never met kick a football around on a bit of grass (EDIT sand) for 90 mins.
Truth be told, if we didnt get stuffed every week, I dont actually know if I would feel the same.
Try moving abroad for work and reading everything each week on this forum. You are so lucky you can get to even one game a season, let alone own a season ticket. Try leaving it for a while and just having to watch poorly run internet streams (when you can find CAFC on there), having the poor updates on sky sports live score centre and then logging into this site for comments from those lucky enough to have been at a match. I had season tickets for years, first went to the Valley in 1963 and I MISS it. Stop moaning on and support our team, it's never going to be easy but realise what you have here, I would kill for a ticket and the chance to get to another game but it's very unlikely to happen.
In my case, it is balancing out spending time with my family versus going along to something that isnt as enjoyable as it used to be. I miss my little boy so much during the week at work, and I guess that the fact that the games are boring and we are getting stuffed is the cherry on top of the guilt I feel for not spending time with him (he isnt old enough to go yet, and I certainly wont be forcing him).
When I was younger, I used to be so into it that it literally would ruin my weekend if we lost. Now, it is more an annoyance when we lose because I feel I have wasted my time for no pleasure, rather than the actual defeat.
I am not that old (33) but maybe there are more important things in life than watching 11 men I have never met kick a football around on a bit of grass (EDIT sand) for 90 mins.
Truth be told, if we didnt get stuffed every week, I dont actually know if I would feel the same.
Completely understandable. Family comes first.
My baby grandson is in Birmingham and we visit on the weekends when Charlton aren't playing. Thanks to a combination of snow and Charlton games we haven't seen him for a month now. I'm not sure how much longer I can justify coming home fed up to be confronted with something like: "well it was your choice to go and watch Charlton we could have gone to Birmingham instead" as we'd both like to see more of him.
Comments
what should worry us, and especially the Board is the identity of some of the people here who are saying they have lost faith in the club.
People like Leroy, Carly, and RCT, I've never met them, but these are not people who strike me as fair weather fans. people like Mundell Fleming who by now you'd expect to have returned from here to the Financial Times website for the week.
Of course we are all still getting over every aspect of Saturday, but the strength of feeling across the CL spectrum really worries me.
Did you notice that the thread about the post match nonsense is bigger than the one about the match?
I for one have found very little enjoyment this season. So I blindly turn up, sit there like I did on saturday and think, could I be doing something else? The question is YES.
I may get a season ticket, but I may pick and choose what games I go to.
Fair enough. Some fans love Charlton more than others. Some fans don't love Charlton at all, they drift in when the team's doing well and out when the team's struggling.
When the going gets tough ............ ?
I've always said that if Charlton ended up in The Conference I'd still be there supporting, amongst the few thousand & I can see, that's sad but true.
Anyway, I'm not trying to be divisive. I just want our supporters to try and help the team to stay up & not desert in their droves.
Football is supposed to be an entertainment business isn't it? I'm sorry but seeing 4 wins out of 19 games at home this season is not very entertaining and then to ask people to hand over 400 odd quid without any promise of a bit of investment in the team is laughable.
They can stick their loyalty where the sun doesn't shine.
forgetting all that's gone on in the last few days/weeks/months, the lads need our support now more than ever (at home) to just see us over the line this season and then hopefully re-evaluate
I enjoy the whole routine, meeting up with friends, haveing a few beers, having tear up with the away fans, shouting abuse at the ref, eating crappy food, having another tear up with the away fans, then getting pissed well into the evening, waking up the next morning being screamed at by the wife with half a kebab down my shirt.
If we stay up (two more wins/ one win and three draws / six draws will do it) then it has been a suscessful season.
It's progress.
I'll get my season ticket next season, no matter what. Even if it's just to get out of the house on a Saturday.
To accuse people of giving up cos the " going gets tough" isn't fair or accurate, because most people on here have seen it a lot tougher and watched worst seasons.
It didnt get any tougher traipsing over to palace for 6 years. Actually, we weren't even treated as badly over there, compared with Saturday's shambles.
I have to say (and i'm sure others do too), that i enjoy the away games much more. I had a 100% better time at Peterborough the other night than at any home game i've been to this season. I've got my ticket for Brighton and i'm also going to Middlesbrough. I know i'll enjoy both of those days out. Sitting here now i can't say i'm particularly fussed about any of the remaining home games.
I don't see it as deserting the club, more i see it as why continue to pay for something i wasn't enjoying.
Maybe the club could make a gesture; subsidised away trip? a Q&A for current ST holders with the board, free beer token, anything!!!! to get some fans back on side?
Likewise, CP & the team could show that they give a tos$ and win a few at home before May! - as it stands we could be down a lot of st holders next term.
Why not react now!?
However, it feels like our patience, loyalty and commitment to the club is being tested to the limit right now. I hear the 'blind faith' approach of some - this is our Charlton - our club, but its just doesnt feel the same as it used to.
Personally, I put this down to the decline of my 'matchday experience'. A big group of us used to travel together, drink together in the Bugle, sit together, sing together and more often than not, grieve together after! But it was good fun, we experienced some good times and the banter/memories always kept us coming back for more regardless of results.
However, due to personal/family commitments we all travel separately now, irregularly sit together and the whole enjoyment of match day has been much watered down. I fear this is the same for others on here going on what I've read. Mix that in with a pretty shocking season at home, its bloody tough to keep wanting to come back for more.
Someone said above - this is Charlton - we dont do it for the glory or success but in and around those 90 minutes within the Valley you've got to be getting something out of your Saturday afternoon. Because at the moment what is being served up inside our beloved Valley is highly unlikely to be offering it.
In any case, I'll soon be dusting myself down ready for Bolton.
Its what we do.
I agree with what you are saying about supporting the team through thick and thin.
However the vast majority of complaints are about the way we were treated after the game and also why werent the Spanners removed from our areas.
I have seen some dross in those years so bad players will not drive me away, however the following two points are causing me serious concerns and could stop me from giving Charlton my 5k next season.
1/ being taken for granted by the board, they are fools if they think we will all be back next season following what has gone on this year.
2/ the pitch.........I would not join a golf club if the greens were full of mole hills, I would not join a snooker club if the tables were torn and thread bare.
And I will not commit to parting with 5k if I do not see a statement from the club saying the pitch will be invested in next season, as a paying customer I expect to see CP and the players presented with a surface that they can play football on.
Yes they could lay a new one in the summer but it will be in the same state as it is now come November if all they are going to rely on is a couple of forks and daylight.
When I was younger, I used to be so into it that it literally would ruin my weekend if we lost. Now, it is more an annoyance when we lose because I feel I have wasted my time for no pleasure, rather than the actual defeat.
I am not that old (33) but maybe there are more important things in life than watching 11 men I have never met kick a football around on a bit of grass (EDIT sand) for 90 mins.
Truth be told, if we didnt get stuffed every week, I dont actually know if I would feel the same.
I had season tickets for years, first went to the Valley in 1963 and I MISS it. Stop moaning on and support our team, it's never going to be easy but realise what you have here, I would kill for a ticket and the chance to get to another game but it's very unlikely to happen.
My baby grandson is in Birmingham and we visit on the weekends when Charlton aren't playing. Thanks to a combination of snow and Charlton games we haven't seen him for a month now. I'm not sure how much longer I can justify coming home fed up to be confronted with something like: "well it was your choice to go and watch Charlton we could have gone to Birmingham instead" as we'd both like to see more of him.