If KM replied to all the emails she has been receiving on a daily basis she'd then be accused of fiddling whilst Rome burns. I'm sure she's busy but grateful you are taking the time to email her but do you all really expect a reply from her?
Perhaps the email from Wendy Perfect got buried in the mass.
I appreciate that some effort has been belatedly made by the club to calm the fears of many supporters but that is as far as I would go in applauding this cynical piece of PR. For a start, choosing a young lad to represent supporters and express their views was a deliberate ploy to make the club appear responsive without subjecting its officials to any real scrutiny. And of course it has an added aaawww factor designed to disarm potential critics. You can’t condemn a 15 year old for being unassertive in that situation. However, at a time when many supporters have articulated deep concerns about the direction in which the club is being taken, the softly-softly interview we saw was a quite inadequate response by the club aimed solely at taking the wind out of supporters’ sails. (What do you mean, we don’t engage with you? Didn’t you see that video of our CEO meeting the young fan and answering all his [and, by extension, your] questions openly and honestly? And, look, we gave him a signed shirt too! See how well we treat our young supporters! Why won’t you accept our good intentions?)
But this was clearly no spontaneous gesture of goodwill by the club. It had to be set up and the club filmed it for a reason. Ben’s questions would have been vetted in advance and Katrien’s responses would have been rehearsed and approved. Ben had clearly been told not to follow up any of his questions, even though some were blatently not answered or answered with blandness and imprecision. That’s what I would have done too if I were arranging that interview. I’ve been there and know how it works. As a civil servant for over 30 years I became used to writing briefs and speeches for ministerial events, the primary aim of which was not to tell the whole truth but to put across the message that the government wanted to get out and create an impression of being open. That’s what we have here. You can deconstruct it bit by manipulative bit. I very much hope that over the coming weeks we will have a more honest response from the club to our genuine concerns.
For myself, among the things I am hoping to learn more about are these. What are Monsieur Duchatelet’s objectives for Charlton Athletic? What does he want to achieve this season and what does he want to achieve in the short, medium and long term? Saying that he wants to create a strong Championship squad is not good enough. According to some of his defenders on CL, we have that already. So what’s the next step? Where does he want to take us and how will success be measured? Where does he see the club in three years, five years, ten years? What is his plan to achieve this? How can he persuade us that he wants what every other owner of a Championship football club wants? How can he convince us that he has the interests of Charlton Athletic as his prime concern – and if he doesn’t, how does he plan to keep supporters (who are, of course, also investors in the club) onside when his and their interests are so opposed? Does he give any thought to the history of support for this club over the generations or care at all whether we are happy with whatever his strategy is? If he doesn’t care about us, what does he care about?
I can understand that some supporters won’t worry about what goes on behind the club and whether its owner sees it primarily as a business opportunity or has a genuine love for it like us. You have ups and downs in football and you just have to go with them. But this is different. Our club is now unlike any other in the Football League. It is being used, manipulated, reconstructed and the only set of people who care about it, who can care about it, is us. If we can’t make the effort to try to find out what is going on, where it is being taken and to what end, who will?
Crude, stage-managed, clumsy and rather cynical publicity stunt. I am no expert but the exploitation of children to spread the message of the evil Roly empire, could backfire as a long term communications strategy.
He really needs to hire some decent PR people or at least start paying those he's got.
Problem: Communication is terrible. Solution: Club communicates. Response: Communication is the wrong sort.
There is what I believe to be a 'myth' that communication was ever that much better. I haven't seen any evidence that it was substantially better than what we have. Have we just become more media savvy? Less trusting? And less susceptible to the constant spin across all media formats from politics to sport?
For me, I found it all a bit sickly and false. If KM is serious about wanting to answer our questions and concerns then surely she must attend the open meeting on Wednesday!? Assuming that the meeting will be well managed and the fans 'behave' and respect the views of everyone in attendance (including any club representatives) then KM should be there. I will be there. I wouldn't be at all surprised if she DID attend. Like others, I do feel that she has zero 'power' at the club which reduces her credibility as a CEO, but I have seen how hard she works on numerous occasions in aiming to give the fans the best match day experience so I am convinced that she is doing the best she can with her 'hands tie behind her back' somewhat. I see her more as the Stadium Manager or Customer Service Manager rather than CEO.
If KM replied to all the emails she has been receiving on a daily basis she'd then be accused of fiddling whilst Rome burns. I'm sure she's busy but grateful you are taking the time to email her but do you all really expect a reply from her?
Perhaps the email from Wendy Perfect got buried in the mass.
Quite easy to filter internal emails. I'm sure Katrien's PA could help with that ;-)
if that was Chris Powell inviting a kid in to ask about his defensive team selection and at the end he gave away a signed shirt, we would all be saying how nice he is and what a great way of going about it
Why does everything that gets released now have to have some evil edge to it?!
Red Pete. Conspiracy theory ? Bit strong. Pure coincidence then, that this is released just a couple of days before the Trust's meeting ? Not as if she makes a habit of talking to fans is it.
Red Pete. Conspiracy theory ? Bit strong. Pure coincidence then, that this is released just a couple of days before the Trust's meeting ? Not as if she makes a habit of talking to fans is it.
No need for the personal abuse either "mate".
But people will be able to pose the same/different questions tonight at the VIP meeting. Plus if you can see right through this then what difference will it make to the Trust meeting...surely none?
It isn't though Gal, is it mate, because you wouldn't have batted an eyelid at something like that.
No communication for months other than 'we do it our way and the fans had better get used to it', very public refusal to engage with a sizeable and organised representative fan group, yet the day before potentially hostile VIP meeting, and two days before an important fan meeting, this fluffy piece gets released.
Whats today's offering? Roland helping a cat down from a tree in Charlton Park ?
.At least this tells us they are not 100% dismissing supporters concerns, I just wish they would. Go about it in a less cynical and loaded way.
Ps. If you are the lad looking in or are his parent, well done lad, you done well and that's a great thing to have on your CV
Whatever you think of the broadcast, the following are facts.
Charlton Athletic Supporters Trust, the largest single democratically constituted CAFC supporters' group, has asked Katrien Meire several times, and as late as the middle of last month, for a meeting to help us understand and explain to our members and the wider fan base, the business strategy of those who direct the club. We were supported in this request by Richard Murray. She declined. She stated that she had already made the strategy sufficiently clear.
We only called the meeting after she declined.
We know that she has been aware of the meeting from the moment it was announced.
In her response to us, she offered us, by way of consolation, the opportunity to meet with a member of her line management to discuss ideas about increasing match day revenue. She was unaware that we had already started such discussions with that manager several weeks earlier.
Yesterday she instead staged the interview with a 15 year old fan, who, to his enormous credit, asked some of the questions we also would have wished to ask.
I'll stop posting on this subject now, seeing as my opinion means that I "Actually need to get a life". And that from someone who knows nothing about me and has never met me. Shame.
So who were the people she interviewed for the head coach? Some with experience of English experience, does she mean that they could speak English?
She also said the Roland knew the history of the club, therefore he must have known what the fans have done for the club, so rather than work with the fans he chooses the opposite.
there are those who would lick the under crust of anyone who owns Charlton no matter what and there are those who wouldn't piss on anyone who owned Charlton if they caught fire
me i'm a miserable twunt who trusts no one but i'd prolly chuck a bucket of water on them cos i'm a caring sort
don't see any harm in the video but i'm also aware of the timing and reasons for it
The club communicates via the Valley Review, it's web site, and the local press.
Tomorrow night there is a QA with Valley Gold and the CEO and a Director are meeting fans at the Bromley event.
It is not the lack of opportunity to ask questions, it is that some of you do not like and will never be happy with the answers. I think they go something like this:-
Yes, he wants to build a strong Championship side. He may pump a bob or two into a player if we are very close to getting promoted, but otherwise not.
He will sell players if a good offer comes in.
Yes he will move players within the network if he can see a financial advantage to the network. If it benefits the network we all benefit indirectly.
The stadium and pitch have been greatly improved, as have the catering and the provision for a half time pint. Easily dismissed as 'yes but.....' but it was urgently required.
Plans for a much improved training ground moving forward.
Speaking of forward. Old and lonely forward who wanted to leave replaced by rwo young potential stars costing 3.5 mil.
We have put in place a young manager who has won the premier league in Belgium who likes his teams to play direct football without lumping it up front. We did interview others and he was the best candidate.
We want to bring in another forward but he would have to better than we have and affordable.
Our aim this year is to consolidate in the Championship and look to improve the squad again in the summer. We have only been in charge a year, we have made one or two mistakes but give us a chance please.
I'll stop posting on this subject now, seeing as my opinion means that I "Actually need to get a life". And that from someone who knows nothing about me and has never met me. Shame.
Don't take it personally. i agreed with your post re timing.
The club communicates via the Valley Review, it's web site, and the local press.
Tomorrow night there is a QA with Valley Gold and the CEO and a Director are meeting fans at the Bromley event.
It is not the lack of opportunity to ask questions, it is that some of you do not like and will never be happy with the answers. I think they go something like this:-
Yes, he wants to build a strong Championship side. He may pump a bob or two into a player if we are very close to getting promoted, but otherwise not.
He will sell players if a good offer comes in.
Yes he will move players within the network if he can see a financial advantage to the network. If it benefits the network we all benefit indirectly.
The stadium and pitch have been greatly improved, as have the catering and the provision for a half time pint. Easily dismissed as 'yes but.....' but it was urgently required.
Plans for a much improved training ground moving forward.
Speaking of forward. Old and lonely forward who wanted to leave replaced by rwo young potential stars costing 3.5 mil.
We have put in place a young manager who has won the premier league in Belgium who likes his teams to play direct football without lumping it up front. We did interview others and he was the best candidate.
We want to bring in another forward but he would have to better than we have and affordable.
Our aim this year is to consolidate in the Championship and look to improve the squad again in the summer. We have only been in charge a year, we have made one or two mistakes but give us a chance please.
This happens to be how I feel about the communication issue. Its not the lack of information but the answers. People want to keep asking in the hope that they get the answer they want.
Jeez, how can some people not realise it's the timing of this interview that's the issue, not the fact that she has "communicated" with fans.
Wednesday "Charlton fans hold meeting regarding lack of Comms by club".
Thursday Club: " Lack of Comms ? But what do you mean ? Look on YouTube, we meet and chat with young lad with lovely haircut".
If people can't see through that, they need to maybe wake up a little.
Here we go.... yet another conspiracy theory. Some people actually need to get a life!!
In the video, the man standing behind Katrien has been identified as an external PR consultant. It was presumed by those who recognised him that the video was his idea, a presumption that seems perfectly reasonable to me.
The role of PR consultants or managers is to advise the company on the correct public response to external events. Given that Katrien told the Trust previously that she has already communicated the strategy to her satisfaction, the only external events I can think of which would warrant this new attempt to explain the strategy (and the decision to film the VIP meeting) are
1. the public meeting
2. the wave of direct communications she has received from fans, which she refers to in her video.
The debate we are now having is whether the respond has been effective. Judging by the responses so far, i would say that it has had a positive effect on only a minority who have seen it (but presumably including you).
We have put in place a young manager who has won the premier league in Belgium who likes his teams to play direct football without lumping it up front. We did interview others and he was the best candidate.
.
Really? So Mrs Luzon following Charlton from late December, the briefings against Peeters, and the Israeli blog predicting Peeters sacking and Luzon's appointment way before it happened, and way before the 'back Peeters' article in the programme...these events were random happenstances were they?
I cannot believe how hot under the collar so many people get as a result of a video'd interview with a young Addick. Of course the timing is not a co-incidence and of course it was done for PR purposes but does that make it something to get wound up about? NO. That lad would seem to be a lot more mature than many of his elders.
No harm done. Publicity for the network machine on one hand, job done. After all it won't sway the opinion of the naysayers, ie; us. And the lad got to meet KM, so one for the wank bank...
Comments
Perhaps the email from Wendy Perfect got buried in the mass.
But this was clearly no spontaneous gesture of goodwill by the club. It had to be set up and the club filmed it for a reason. Ben’s questions would have been vetted in advance and Katrien’s responses would have been rehearsed and approved. Ben had clearly been told not to follow up any of his questions, even though some were blatently not answered or answered with blandness and imprecision. That’s what I would have done too if I were arranging that interview. I’ve been there and know how it works. As a civil servant for over 30 years I became used to writing briefs and speeches for ministerial events, the primary aim of which was not to tell the whole truth but to put across the message that the government wanted to get out and create an impression of being open. That’s what we have here. You can deconstruct it bit by manipulative bit. I very much hope that over the coming weeks we will have a more honest response from the club to our genuine concerns.
For myself, among the things I am hoping to learn more about are these. What are Monsieur Duchatelet’s objectives for Charlton Athletic? What does he want to achieve this season and what does he want to achieve in the short, medium and long term? Saying that he wants to create a strong Championship squad is not good enough. According to some of his defenders on CL, we have that already. So what’s the next step? Where does he want to take us and how will success be measured? Where does he see the club in three years, five years, ten years? What is his plan to achieve this? How can he persuade us that he wants what every other owner of a Championship football club wants? How can he convince us that he has the interests of Charlton Athletic as his prime concern – and if he doesn’t, how does he plan to keep supporters (who are, of course, also investors in the club) onside when his and their interests are so opposed? Does he give any thought to the history of support for this club over the generations or care at all whether we are happy with whatever his strategy is? If he doesn’t care about us, what does he care about?
I can understand that some supporters won’t worry about what goes on behind the club and whether its owner sees it primarily as a business opportunity or has a genuine love for it like us. You have ups and downs in football and you just have to go with them. But this is different. Our club is now unlike any other in the Football League. It is being used, manipulated, reconstructed and the only set of people who care about it, who can care about it, is us. If we can’t make the effort to try to find out what is going on, where it is being taken and to what end, who will?
Crude, stage-managed, clumsy and rather cynical publicity stunt. I am no expert but the exploitation of children to spread the message of the evil Roly empire, could backfire as a long term communications strategy.
He really needs to hire some decent PR people or at least start paying those he's got.
Solution: Club communicates.
Response: Communication is the wrong sort.
There is what I believe to be a 'myth' that communication was ever that much better. I haven't seen any evidence that it was substantially better than what we have. Have we just become more media savvy? Less trusting? And less susceptible to the constant spin across all media formats from politics to sport?
Wednesday
"Charlton fans hold meeting regarding lack of Comms by club".
Thursday
Club: " Lack of Comms ? But what do you mean ? Look on YouTube, we meet and chat with young lad with lovely haircut".
If people can't see through that, they need to maybe wake up a little.
Why does everything that gets released now have to have some evil edge to it?!
Pure coincidence then, that this is released just a couple of days before the Trust's meeting ?
Not as if she makes a habit of talking to fans is it.
No need for the personal abuse either "mate".
No communication for months other than 'we do it our way and the fans had better get used to it', very public refusal to engage with a sizeable and organised representative fan group, yet the day before potentially hostile VIP meeting, and two days before an important fan meeting, this fluffy piece gets released.
Whats today's offering? Roland helping a cat down from a tree in Charlton Park ?
.At least this tells us they are not 100% dismissing supporters concerns, I just wish they would. Go about it in a less cynical and loaded way.
Ps. If you are the lad looking in or are his parent, well done lad, you done well and that's a great thing to have on your CV
Charlton Athletic Supporters Trust, the largest single democratically constituted CAFC supporters' group, has asked Katrien Meire several times, and as late as the middle of last month, for a meeting to help us understand and explain to our members and the wider fan base, the business strategy of those who direct the club. We were supported in this request by Richard Murray. She declined. She stated that she had already made the strategy sufficiently clear.
We only called the meeting after she declined.
We know that she has been aware of the meeting from the moment it was announced.
In her response to us, she offered us, by way of consolation, the opportunity to meet with a member of her line management to discuss ideas about increasing match day revenue. She was unaware that we had already started such discussions with that manager several weeks earlier.
Yesterday she instead staged the interview with a 15 year old fan, who, to his enormous credit, asked some of the questions we also would have wished to ask.
And that from someone who knows nothing about me and has never met me.
Shame.
She also said the Roland knew the history of the club, therefore he must have known what the fans have done for the club, so rather than work with the fans he chooses the opposite.
there are those who would lick the under crust of anyone who owns Charlton no matter what and there are those who wouldn't piss on anyone who owned Charlton if they caught fire
me i'm a miserable twunt who trusts no one but i'd prolly chuck a bucket of water on them cos i'm a caring sort
don't see any harm in the video but i'm also aware of the timing and reasons for it
Tomorrow night there is a QA with Valley Gold and the CEO and a Director are meeting fans at the Bromley event.
It is not the lack of opportunity to ask questions, it is that some of you do not like and will never be happy with the answers. I think they go something like this:-
Yes, he wants to build a strong Championship side. He may pump a bob or two into a player if we are very close to getting promoted, but otherwise not.
He will sell players if a good offer comes in.
Yes he will move players within the network if he can see a financial advantage to the network. If it benefits the network we all benefit indirectly.
The stadium and pitch have been greatly improved, as have the catering and the provision for a half time pint. Easily dismissed as 'yes but.....' but it was urgently required.
Plans for a much improved training ground moving forward.
Speaking of forward. Old and lonely forward who wanted to leave replaced by rwo young potential stars costing 3.5 mil.
We have put in place a young manager who has won the premier league in Belgium who likes his teams to play direct football without lumping it up front. We did interview others and he was the best candidate.
We want to bring in another forward but he would have to better than we have and affordable.
Our aim this year is to consolidate in the Championship and look to improve the squad again in the summer. We have only been in charge a year, we have made one or two mistakes but give us a chance please.
The role of PR consultants or managers is to advise the company on the correct public response to external events. Given that Katrien told the Trust previously that she has already communicated the strategy to her satisfaction, the only external events I can think of which would warrant this new attempt to explain the strategy (and the decision to film the VIP meeting) are
1. the public meeting
2. the wave of direct communications she has received from fans, which she refers to in her video.
The debate we are now having is whether the respond has been effective. Judging by the responses so far, i would say that it has had a positive effect on only a minority who have seen it (but presumably including you).
Of course the timing is not a co-incidence and of course it was done for PR purposes but does that make it something to get wound up about? NO.
That lad would seem to be a lot more mature than many of his elders.