Funny? It will be universally heralded as a modern miracle or more likely investigated as a case of match fixing by the boro players who will have cashed in on the very long odds of (the team we used to recognise as)Charlton getting a win.
Trying to think about this is trickier than I thought it'd be.
The narrative is that Fraeye has come from the Belgian equivalent of Northwich Victoria and has no management experience, only here because he is cheap and known to Roland. The narrative is that we are clowntown. The narrative is enraged.
My argument is that of course this happened - in fact, it would have been surprising if anything else did.
Fraeye is indeed cheap and known to Roland. His cheapness is the whole point - he is a tenured employee on call rather than a new man with a golden handshake. Do you really think he was at Hamme to further his career? I'd be perfectly willing to believe that during their recent losing run he was concentrating more on Charlton than his own side. It was a holding pen, nothing more.
Furthermore, Fraeye knows The Valley and many of these players. He has more than just experience at this level; he has experience with us. I wonder if Jackson thinks this is the worst appointment we could have made. I bet he doesn't.
I am not saying that there is nothing disappointing about this - Roland has lived down to budgeted expectations. But this leads me to my second point - concerning the club's ownership.
By now it is clear that Roland's little scheme of egalitarian football revolution requires a tweak or two. His ideas about a society powered by social dividends and the partial redistribution of wealth strike a chord, but football is not the common good - it is a fundamentally conservative, meritocratic, spiteful, ruthless and cruel institution. It is every club jack for itself. While I somewhat admire his trial run for a kindlier, gentler EU, it uses football clubs as its playing pieces. It uses our football club. If he'd picked, say, Brighton, I'd be following their story quite assiduously. I'd be wishing them luck in their little tryst with Ujpest and St Truiden. I'd throw my hands up and say "Oy, but this would always be!" when it ran into the teeth of this brutal league. Poor little Brighton! Sundered by a visionary eccentric whose ideas I like but whose aptness for football is limited.
And indeed, I would wish Roland well were he to go into politics. I think the world needs more like him, who look for the common good and the fairest incorporation of a society and its people.
But he owns Charlton, and while he owns Charlton, we will be rinsed - not directly by Roland, but by the other clubs in this league, who won't play ball with his League of Nations. For while we are led by a Corbyn, they are all led by Hitler himself. Charlton would need to be relegated two or three times before finding other clubs with comparably docile ownership models. The irony of people abandoning us for Welling etc is that at this point we are the closest we have ever been to a non-league model. The cry of "We want our Charlton back" goes up, but in this commercialised sport, no longer my village against yours but my benefactor's chequebook against yours' oilfield, ownership at this level is increasingly distanced from fan revenues. In actual fact I think the opposite is now true of Charlton. Would we have our club back with a sheikh in charge and a regular 11th-place Premiership finish? Don't make me laugh. We are running a model that looks to preserve, not expand.
If you don't mind where Charlton are in the pyramid, this is fine.
But you do, and Roland is dimly aware of this, so he is trying to keep us up, somewhat - a few good signings should do it - plus a coach who knows the players, knows European football, shows a few book smarts. Until another coach who buys into the revolution turns up - if one does. Brian Clough was a socialist, don't forget!
It might work. I genuinely think we will stay up this season. I do not think it is sustainable for this tier, however, and so the cry of Roland Out becomes inevitable for those wanting a bash at the Premiership.
I say fuck the Premiership. But it would be nice to win a few games.
Make no mistake. Duchatelet is not out to destroy the club or piss off the supporters. He has a plan. He knows that he can beat the system and get a successfully run top end Championship club with a decent shout at the big prize by doing it HIS way. It's a slow burn and doesn't require huge investment.
He will be perfectly happy to take the flak because he knows he's right. He is doing it for the club. He knows it will be painful at times but in the long term it will work out.
This my fellow Addicks is the reality of RD. Yes he is deluded. Yes he is wrong. Yes he will set us back years but no amount of kicking and screaming will deflect him from his way.
He's rich enough and eccentric enough to not care a hoot what we say or think.
And I'm withdrawing from my seat on the FF as of now. No great loss as little of any note is acted upon as a result of these meetings as most fans will acknowledge. I now live over an hour's drive from The Valley so that's one of the reasons but primarily, it's a "hitting our heads against a brick wall" time once every 3 months and I have better things to do with my time.
IF KM goes ahead and arranges a Club event to " celebrate" the end of another season & the players are not allowed to attend the annual Supporters' dinner, then that's that. But if common sense prevails & she acknowledges that this long standing event can continue with the Club's blessing then I'm happy to be Ian Wallis' sidekick again. Only time will tell.
All the best FF.
Am i right in thinking Katrien was saying a few months ago she didn't want the players attending the End of Season dinner?
She implied that players do not want to turn out on a Sunday, the day following the last home game of the season and was "thinking" of an event on said Saturday, post match. Her thoughts appeared to indicate that she felt more fans should have the opportunity to meet their favourite players and a sit down meal would not be part of the "deal".This was at the FF meeting in July.
I didn't attend the most recent meeting held on October 15th and I'm not at liberty to post anything from the draft minutes at this moment in time ( as I could be barred from the ground !) but I understand that Katrien was strongly advised that the POTY dinner is NOT a Club event and has always been organised by supporters...albeit with the permission of the Club for players to attend. I believe the issue will be discussed further in the January meeting which is about the time of year when we have started to plan the dinner in past seasons.
Fraye should already be here as Riga's no.2, was utterly baffled when they let him go. Players liked him and there was some fighting spirit! I'll give the guy a chance but confidence in these decisions made by the board are pretty much 0
Yes he will set us back years but no amount of kicking and screaming will deflect him from his way.
He's rich enough and eccentric enough to not care a hoot what we say or think.
Incorrect. SL have got rid of him after they wanted him out, perhaps we should contact them for help/advise - they know RD's weak spots and we can attack them - be it his wallet or be it something else.
And I'm withdrawing from my seat on the FF as of now. No great loss as little of any note is acted upon as a result of these meetings as most fans will acknowledge. I now live over an hour's drive from The Valley so that's one of the reasons but primarily, it's a "hitting our heads against a brick wall" time once every 3 months and I have better things to do with my time.
IF KM goes ahead and arranges a Club event to " celebrate" the end of another season & the players are not allowed to attend the annual Supporters' dinner, then that's that. But if common sense prevails & she acknowledges that this long standing event can continue with the Club's blessing then I'm happy to be Ian Wallis' sidekick again. Only time will tell.
All the best FF.
Am i right in thinking Katrien was saying a few months ago she didn't want the players attending the End of Season dinner?
She implied that players do not want to turn out on a Sunday, the day following the last home game of the season and was "thinking" of an event on said Saturday, post match. Her thoughts appeared to indicate that she felt more fans should have the opportunity to meet their favourite players and a sit down meal would not be part of the "deal".This was at the FF meeting in July.
I didn't attend the most recent meeting held on October 15th and I'm not at liberty to post anything from the draft minutes at this moment in time ( as I could be barred from the ground !) but I understand that Katrien was strongly advised that the POTY dinner is NOT a Club event and has always been organised by supporters...albeit with the permission of the Club for players to attend. I believe the issue will be discussed further in the January meeting which is about the time of year when we have started to plan the dinner in past seasons.
So, watch this space .
Basically - she didn't want our angry fans grilling these players for what goes on behind the scenes or scaring them away from the club. Despise the lady and it's obvious why RD has got her in the position he has.
And I'm withdrawing from my seat on the FF as of now. No great loss as little of any note is acted upon as a result of these meetings as most fans will acknowledge. I now live over an hour's drive from The Valley so that's one of the reasons but primarily, it's a "hitting our heads against a brick wall" time once every 3 months and I have better things to do with my time.
IF KM goes ahead and arranges a Club event to " celebrate" the end of another season & the players are not allowed to attend the annual Supporters' dinner, then that's that. But if common sense prevails & she acknowledges that this long standing event can continue with the Club's blessing then I'm happy to be Ian Wallis' sidekick again. Only time will tell.
All the best FF.
Am i right in thinking Katrien was saying a few months ago she didn't want the players attending the End of Season dinner?
She implied that players do not want to turn out on a Sunday, the day following the last home game of the season and was "thinking" of an event on said Saturday, post match. Her thoughts appeared to indicate that she felt more fans should have the opportunity to meet their favourite players and a sit down meal would not be part of the "deal".This was at the FF meeting in July.
I didn't attend the most recent meeting held on October 15th and I'm not at liberty to post anything from the draft minutes at this moment in time ( as I could be barred from the ground !) but I understand that Katrien was strongly advised that the POTY dinner is NOT a Club event and has always been organised by supporters...albeit with the permission of the Club for players to attend. I believe the issue will be discussed further in the January meeting which is about the time of year when we have started to plan the dinner in past seasons.
So, watch this space .
This is attrition simply put.
The fans are our enemies is the message I get, or at least not to be trusted (except with their money).
And I'm withdrawing from my seat on the FF as of now. No great loss as little of any note is acted upon as a result of these meetings as most fans will acknowledge. I now live over an hour's drive from The Valley so that's one of the reasons but primarily, it's a "hitting our heads against a brick wall" time once every 3 months and I have better things to do with my time.
IF KM goes ahead and arranges a Club event to " celebrate" the end of another season & the players are not allowed to attend the annual Supporters' dinner, then that's that. But if common sense prevails & she acknowledges that this long standing event can continue with the Club's blessing then I'm happy to be Ian Wallis' sidekick again. Only time will tell.
All the best FF.
Am i right in thinking Katrien was saying a few months ago she didn't want the players attending the End of Season dinner?
She implied that players do not want to turn out on a Sunday, the day following the last home game of the season and was "thinking" of an event on said Saturday, post match. Her thoughts appeared to indicate that she felt more fans should have the opportunity to meet their favourite players and a sit down meal would not be part of the "deal".This was at the FF meeting in July.
I didn't attend the most recent meeting held on October 15th and I'm not at liberty to post anything from the draft minutes at this moment in time ( as I could be barred from the ground !) but I understand that Katrien was strongly advised that the POTY dinner is NOT a Club event and has always been organised by supporters...albeit with the permission of the Club for players to attend. I believe the issue will be discussed further in the January meeting which is about the time of year when we have started to plan the dinner in past seasons.
So, watch this space .
This is attrition simply put.
The fans are our enemies is the message I get, or at least not to be trusted (except with their money).
Yes he will set us back years but no amount of kicking and screaming will deflect him from his way.
He's rich enough and eccentric enough to not care a hoot what we say or think.
Incorrect. SL have got rid of him after they wanted him out, perhaps we should contact them for help/advise - they know RD's weak spots and we can attack them - be it his wallet or be it something else.
Yes so they got shot of him but he is rich enough and in our case remote enough not to have to batt an eyelid.
Yes he will set us back years but no amount of kicking and screaming will deflect him from his way.
He's rich enough and eccentric enough to not care a hoot what we say or think.
Incorrect. SL have got rid of him after they wanted him out, perhaps we should contact them for help/advise - they know RD's weak spots and we can attack them - be it his wallet or be it something else.
Yes so they got shot of him but he is rich enough and in our case remote enough not to have to batt an eyelid.
He was as rich when he owned SL and he was also pretty remote to them? I don't get what your basing it on, you don't think he will be moving - he won't if there's nothing happening our end. We can do a lot more as fans than we probably think we are capable of
Is there still a Charlton Ath community team in the kent league? If so, maybe we try to get a mass boycott when both are at home and a few thousand rock up to watch them. It would certainly send a message to the club..............
And I'm withdrawing from my seat on the FF as of now. No great loss as little of any note is acted upon as a result of these meetings as most fans will acknowledge. I now live over an hour's drive from The Valley so that's one of the reasons but primarily, it's a "hitting our heads against a brick wall" time once every 3 months and I have better things to do with my time.
IF KM goes ahead and arranges a Club event to " celebrate" the end of another season & the players are not allowed to attend the annual Supporters' dinner, then that's that. But if common sense prevails & she acknowledges that this long standing event can continue with the Club's blessing then I'm happy to be Ian Wallis' sidekick again. Only time will tell.
All the best FF.
Am i right in thinking Katrien was saying a few months ago she didn't want the players attending the End of Season dinner?
She implied that players do not want to turn out on a Sunday, the day following the last home game of the season and was "thinking" of an event on said Saturday, post match. Her thoughts appeared to indicate that she felt more fans should have the opportunity to meet their favourite players and a sit down meal would not be part of the "deal".This was at the FF meeting in July.
I didn't attend the most recent meeting held on October 15th and I'm not at liberty to post anything from the draft minutes at this moment in time ( as I could be barred from the ground !) but I understand that Katrien was strongly advised that the POTY dinner is NOT a Club event and has always been organised by supporters...albeit with the permission of the Club for players to attend. I believe the issue will be discussed further in the January meeting which is about the time of year when we have started to plan the dinner in past seasons.
So, watch this space .
This is attrition simply put.
The fans are our enemies is the message I get, or at least not to be trusted (except with their money).
Is there still a Charlton Ath community team in the kent league? If so, maybe we try to get a mass boycott when both are at home and a few thousand rock up to watch them. It would certainly send a message to the club..............
Honestly I've been one of those curious types that has tried to adopt a positive attitude since Duchalatet took over. When he took decisions to sell our best players, fire beloved coaches, hire managers that even a seasoned Football Manager researcher wouldn't have come across or any number of his other seemingly ill-advised actions, I told myself that there must be a masterplan, and that he has a vested interest in the club and that he needs it to work.
But all this positivity has become exhausting. Early in the summer it felt like he was finally investing, in the team and the infrastructure, and I felt like my positivity had been vindicated. But then the signings dried up too soon, and while the first month felt good, I'm now at the stage where I truly have no idea what is going through Roland's mind. Is he capable of admitting his mistakes?
Does he lie in his casket at night and think 'well, maybe I shouldn't have hired Luzon, after all, he did nearly cause a riot at Standard' or does he just blame Luzon for letting him down. Does he think to himself that arguably the only positive move he made - hiring Riga to save us from relegation - was then completely nullified by deciding not to renew his contract and instead replacing him with the woefully inept Big Bad Bob.
I just despair. I know we all do. When I saw Karel's name, and his 'pedigree' it read like an article from The Onion. When the photos of his last team were shared, it reminded me of my visits to Camberley Town FC. Granted, maybe we're all jumping the gun by assuming he will be permanent, but I think we are entirely justified in doing so.
The only thing we can hope for is a miracle. Duch gets bored of constantly filling out P45s, sells up and ships out before we find ourselves back in League One.
I live in NYC so a little removed from it, but home for Christmas and was planning to take my girlfriend to Forest on the 2nd to show her what it's all about; but I'm honestly not sure I can bring myself to do it - not just because the current regime makes my skin crawl, but because I fear the atmosphere will be poisonous, resigned, or a bit of both.
Is there still a Charlton Ath community team in the kent league? If so, maybe we try to get a mass boycott when both are at home and a few thousand rock up to watch them. It would certainly send a message to the club..............
There was part of me that thought a few years ago this was a definite sly way of getting something 'charlton' up the pyramid if the worst happened in terms of CAFC being liquidated, or being run into the ground.
Not heard anything about this team for a couple of years now.
Comments
Thanks, didn't realise.
Where can I find it please?
The narrative is that Fraeye has come from the Belgian equivalent of Northwich Victoria and has no management experience, only here because he is cheap and known to Roland. The narrative is that we are clowntown. The narrative is enraged.
My argument is that of course this happened - in fact, it would have been surprising if anything else did.
Fraeye is indeed cheap and known to Roland. His cheapness is the whole point - he is a tenured employee on call rather than a new man with a golden handshake. Do you really think he was at Hamme to further his career? I'd be perfectly willing to believe that during their recent losing run he was concentrating more on Charlton than his own side. It was a holding pen, nothing more.
Furthermore, Fraeye knows The Valley and many of these players. He has more than just experience at this level; he has experience with us. I wonder if Jackson thinks this is the worst appointment we could have made. I bet he doesn't.
I am not saying that there is nothing disappointing about this - Roland has lived down to budgeted expectations. But this leads me to my second point - concerning the club's ownership.
By now it is clear that Roland's little scheme of egalitarian football revolution requires a tweak or two. His ideas about a society powered by social dividends and the partial redistribution of wealth strike a chord, but football is not the common good - it is a fundamentally conservative, meritocratic, spiteful, ruthless and cruel institution. It is every club jack for itself. While I somewhat admire his trial run for a kindlier, gentler EU, it uses football clubs as its playing pieces. It uses our football club. If he'd picked, say, Brighton, I'd be following their story quite assiduously. I'd be wishing them luck in their little tryst with Ujpest and St Truiden. I'd throw my hands up and say "Oy, but this would always be!" when it ran into the teeth of this brutal league. Poor little Brighton! Sundered by a visionary eccentric whose ideas I like but whose aptness for football is limited.
And indeed, I would wish Roland well were he to go into politics. I think the world needs more like him, who look for the common good and the fairest incorporation of a society and its people.
But he owns Charlton, and while he owns Charlton, we will be rinsed - not directly by Roland, but by the other clubs in this league, who won't play ball with his League of Nations. For while we are led by a Corbyn, they are all led by Hitler himself. Charlton would need to be relegated two or three times before finding other clubs with comparably docile ownership models. The irony of people abandoning us for Welling etc is that at this point we are the closest we have ever been to a non-league model. The cry of "We want our Charlton back" goes up, but in this commercialised sport, no longer my village against yours but my benefactor's chequebook against yours' oilfield, ownership at this level is increasingly distanced from fan revenues. In actual fact I think the opposite is now true of Charlton. Would we have our club back with a sheikh in charge and a regular 11th-place Premiership finish? Don't make me laugh. We are running a model that looks to preserve, not expand.
If you don't mind where Charlton are in the pyramid, this is fine.
But you do, and Roland is dimly aware of this, so he is trying to keep us up, somewhat - a few good signings should do it - plus a coach who knows the players, knows European football, shows a few book smarts. Until another coach who buys into the revolution turns up - if one does. Brian Clough was a socialist, don't forget!
It might work. I genuinely think we will stay up this season. I do not think it is sustainable for this tier, however, and so the cry of Roland Out becomes inevitable for those wanting a bash at the Premiership.
I say fuck the Premiership. But it would be nice to win a few games.
He will be perfectly happy to take the flak because he knows he's right. He is doing it for the club. He knows it will be painful at times but in the long term it will work out.
This my fellow Addicks is the reality of RD. Yes he is deluded. Yes he is wrong. Yes he will set us back years but no amount of kicking and screaming will deflect him from his way.
He's rich enough and eccentric enough to not care a hoot what we say or think.
I didn't attend the most recent meeting held on October 15th and I'm not at liberty to post anything from the draft minutes at this moment in time ( as I could be barred from the ground !) but I understand that Katrien was strongly advised that the POTY dinner is NOT a Club event and has always been organised by supporters...albeit with the permission of the Club for players to attend. I believe the issue will be discussed further in the January meeting which is about the time of year when we have started to plan the dinner in past seasons.
So, watch this space .
Players liked him and there was some fighting spirit!
I'll give the guy a chance but confidence in these decisions made by the board are pretty much 0
The fans are our enemies is the message I get, or at least not to be trusted (except with their money).
Barred from the ground?
Dear God.
After Middlesbrough of course!
"Managed by Belgians. We're always managed by Belgians..."etc
We may be lucky again.
Only kidding.
But all this positivity has become exhausting. Early in the summer it felt like he was finally investing, in the team and the infrastructure, and I felt like my positivity had been vindicated. But then the signings dried up too soon, and while the first month felt good, I'm now at the stage where I truly have no idea what is going through Roland's mind. Is he capable of admitting his mistakes?
Does he lie in his casket at night and think 'well, maybe I shouldn't have hired Luzon, after all, he did nearly cause a riot at Standard' or does he just blame Luzon for letting him down. Does he think to himself that arguably the only positive move he made - hiring Riga to save us from relegation - was then completely nullified by deciding not to renew his contract and instead replacing him with the woefully inept Big Bad Bob.
I just despair. I know we all do. When I saw Karel's name, and his 'pedigree' it read like an article from The Onion. When the photos of his last team were shared, it reminded me of my visits to Camberley Town FC. Granted, maybe we're all jumping the gun by assuming he will be permanent, but I think we are entirely justified in doing so.
The only thing we can hope for is a miracle. Duch gets bored of constantly filling out P45s, sells up and ships out before we find ourselves back in League One.
I live in NYC so a little removed from it, but home for Christmas and was planning to take my girlfriend to Forest on the 2nd to show her what it's all about; but I'm honestly not sure I can bring myself to do it - not just because the current regime makes my skin crawl, but because I fear the atmosphere will be poisonous, resigned, or a bit of both.
Boom!
Not heard anything about this team for a couple of years now.