Those of us of a certain age will well remember when Voice of the Valley was first published, and Charlton were marooned at Sellout with little likelihood of returning home anytime soon, Rick Everitt called for a boycott of a home game against Oxford (I think) and suggested fans should instead gather at the Valley.
The suggestion met with the inevitable response from certain quarters - we need to support the team blah, blah, blah. Real supporters would never suggest such a thing etc. Same as it would now. But honestly things can't go on like they are for much longer.
Last night, my son told me he couldn't go today as he had something else urgent he had to do. As I looked out of the window this morning, I just thought "s*d it, I can't be bothered either" and I didn't go. That is so unlike me - indeed, it's the first time since the end of the Pardew era that I have missed a home league game that I could have gone to. I guess the RD regime has just made me fall out of love (temporarily I hope) with the club. This man has in only just over a year ripped the heart out of this club by replacing players who seemingly cared for the club with a bunch of foreign imports who either don't want to be here or are simply passing through whilst sacking managers with a touch of class like Powell and Riga and now appointing a puppet in Luzon. And when his sidekick Katrien Meire said in the Evening Standard that we simply had to accept what RD wanted, that was the time I thought enough was enough.
So what are we going to do about it? Are we just going to moan on here and other social media sites? Not re-new our season tickets? (Not a hope in hell of me renewing mine unless there is a remarkable change in the next couple of months). Or should we do something more significant? From what we have seen and heard from our Belgian friends, RD is not a man to back down in the face of threats. But most rich men do take notice when they start to get hit in the pocket.
So should we test the water for a boycott of a home match? Not saying we should but it is going to take something like this to get RD and KM to listen to us and realise that we are completely fed up with second rate players from RD's network being foistered on us and that we really do want our Charlton back.
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Comments
Boycott, which all true fans would do for the future of the club, for a future match.
I'm going next Saturday.
Have watched Charlton in 5 differerent countries.
Don't FUCKING tell me I am not a fan.
I've never felt this non interest in us ever , not even close
If I wasn't brainwashing my boys I doubt I'd attend more than 2 or 3 games more this season and they would only be for piss ups
This Belgian control freak has done what I would have thought impossible and that is knock the granny out of my ridiculous passion for our poxy club
I've been through it all since 1976 a proper Charlton freak , driven to Newcastle on my own midweek , coach to Middlesboro on my own , as well as a load of other stupid make no sense trips throughout the years
I even took two of my boys to Blackburn pre Christmas to see our heartless club surrender in 20 mins
It really is a shambles down there
But I'm an idiot and will be buying season tickets for the kids next year even if we don't attend that many
The whole set up feels just so weird and you can almost see the life and soul being sucked out of us by this experiment
I don't know what the solution is to all this is but I'm sure there will be buyers out there for our club at the right price who may take a different approach but that's up to Doucheboy
Gutted of Epping
It really gives me no pleasure. I miss the trips away and my days at the Valley, but I will not change until the owners start to listen to the fans.
But it's OUR shambles.
Keep on keeping on , mate.
I can't bring myself to boycott a home game, though. Not fair on the players who do put in a shift and try hard.
Something has gone wrong behind the scenes. We are unlikely to be privy to what that is. But I firmly believe we should be turning up.
For me protests need to be constructive - if Roland is going to listen might he be more inclined to something positive rather then negative?
I must obviously not be a proper fan because I will not go again until the Belgian's are gone. I have been a fan for fifty three years go to U18 and U21 games. Was a shareholder, VIP and Valley Gold member and Season Ticket holder. If you want to know how I feel read Steve Dixon's article in VOTV. What is the point in going to something that I get no pleasure from. I was just going because of a sense of duty. I feel that the only way I can protest at what is happening is to withdraw my custom.
It really gives me no pleasure. I miss the trips away and my days at the Valley, but I will not change until the owners start to listen to the fans.
Good post. The part about there being no pleasure in going? That hits the nail on the head for me.
Top work.
Plus home games are so boring. Except from Cardiff second half, this season matches have been poor.
Looking forward to Cardiff though.
It's not cos the team are rubbish because I have been there and done that (still not over 0-2 v Dagenham)
It's just that I don't like the club anymore, the owners, most of the players and the depressing realisation that the 5/6 hours out of my day on a Saturday could be better spent doing something else more exciting, like putting the bins out
The whole support them through thick and thin has finally beat me.
Will go to Millwall though
No connection at all with this club.
2-1 Dagenham, Noubles only goal for us.
It's Roland's and we've got to 'accept it'
How about we all print out spreadsheets and then rip them up outside reception? Hit him where it hurts.
I have an old copy of MS Excel in an original box. I'll slip the floppy out, no one has to know, then I'll burn the box, right there when Katrien comes out after the Huddersfield match.
Can you imagine the symbolism of such an act!!!