Ashford & Shepway Addicks, an independent Supporter's Branch of Charlton Athletic Football Club are pleased to announce that they will become East Kent Addicks with effect from 1st June, 2013.
This change has been approved by both the current membership and Charlton Athletic Football Club and will result in the expansion of our current area to include all areas of East Kent. The Group will still be head-quartered in Ashford, but will enable other supporters in East Kent, who are not currently represented, to have a voice and become more actively involved locally with the Club. All current memberships of Ashford & Shepway Addicks will be automatically be transferred to East Kent Addicks.
Please note that all enquiries concerning free membership should be addressed to John Commerford on 01301 814766 or by email to ekaddicks@talktalk.net
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Planning to have an early season Player Q & A as a Club event clashed with our proposed meeting on 2nd May last.
Watch this space !
They said we can have a Belgian and a Moroccan.
As ashfordaddickted knows, there would have been a meeting in Faversham some time ago to establish something in East Kent, but Chris Powell pulled out as guest at about 36 hours notice. This was about the third time that meeting had been scheduled. The reason, which I couldn't say at the time, was that Jimenez had suddenly decided he wanted to see him that evening instead. Around the same time BWP failed to turn up at a Young Addicks afternoon event giving an excuse that nobody believed, disappointing dozens of small children.
Wendy Perfect and I decided then we would have nothing further to do with personal appearances because the club was letting too many people down too often. I know this continues because it can be seen in the confusion around some events this year.
On top of that there is a reluctance at Sparrows Lane to send people to Kent which is largely based on ignorance of journey times, and the fact that it is very difficult to get people to attend meetings more locally, as has recently been seen in Eltham.
When players, etc, do attend they are almost invariably good value and of course the performances they give on the pitch are what matters. There have been some good guests at Ashford, as elsewhere, but the lack of consistent co-operation from the playing side - under all managers - makes it too much like hard work too often to encourage new people to give up their time organising things.
There will always be promises this will change but from long and bitter experience over more than 20 years I can tell you that there will always be another priority at Sparrows Lane that trumps mere supporters and the promises will never be consistently delivered, whoever makes them and whoever is in charge of arrangements.
I have met Joe and he is a very well organised and personable young man. He has already been in touch with me regarding any dates we may have in mind for next season ...
I have every confidence that Joe will do his best to accommodate Groups although as Airman stated, there will always be hiccups when it comes to arranging anything with players/management involved due to the nature of "the beast ". We have been fortunate on the whole at NWKA in comparison to VERY last minute non appearances around 12-15 years ago...
In the end the manager and players have to be willing to attend and see the value.
My experience is that some do and others don't.
It was near impossible to get Curbs to Bromley. Before 98 it was fairly easy to get players. The longer we spent in the prem the harder it got.
That it has been easier in recent years maybe due to some smaller egos.
The trick is to not rely too much on the club and get old players and some directors by your own means.
The Holy Grail remains Tony Jimenez but we'll settle for Martin Prothero, Steve Bradshaw and Michael Slater this season. You've got the phone number Guys.
So what if the chairman wanted to see the manager which meant other things had to be cancelled? It happens.
Doesn't building support and improving communication with fans help, indirectly, in producing winning teams in any case? Any business will try to look after, reward and listen to it's "customers".
And fans are certainly interested in what is said as I find out if I haven't written a full report within minutes of the meeting ending : - )
No one is saying players or managers should miss training or risk injury to talk to fans. This is just an evening once or twice a season for most. We know SCP will have more demands on his time so his diary needs to be managed and not every supporters' group should expect to see him every year but IMHO going to fan meetings is part of his job.
The Chairman can speak to the manager anytime. As there is no crises at the Club the Jimenez meeting could have been done later or earlier rather than let down 70 or more fans who had arranged to come along and hear the manager. TJ could even have come to the same meeting alongside him but let's not get too ambitious.
The supporters trust has members and subscribers from all over SE London, Kent and rest of the World (even Essex!)
That said events do happen, often due to the tenacity of the individuals involved, so the problem shouldn't be overstated. I was more making the point that additional groups serving areas like East Kent would struggle to get guests from the playing side and having to deal with these issues puts people off.
I think its important to engage positively and not be shackled by the past. We have new management this year, and also new fan representation that will hopefully mean change
I feel this an area that the FF and CAS must continue to pay attention to, and we will continue to do so.
I think we are in a new era of modern communications and there is a role for CAS to play in helping bring this uptodate across the board, as well as helping co ordinate publicity.
This is not us jumping on the bandwagon, but having spent the last year doing the circuit - a result of direct experience.
I think the point is that staff and owners may change but the fans remain the same for much longer anyway, so this is part of the custodian role that CAS trust are keen to play, along with the ctes of the supporters groups pretty much all of whom are members.
Some will argue that was the role of main branch casc, i would say partly yes but the SGs as they stand are more than capable of doing without that. All we want to do is fill in the gaps.