And if only those who choose to vote with their feet could be persuaded to return to The Valley in numbers for ongoing black & white protests within the ground, we might see some positive results from said campaign.
Well said. Maybe this is the way forward for people who feel so disillusioned that they are staying away. Come to the game and support the players at the same time as registering with a scarf that you aren't happy with the way things are being run.
I have not been on this site for a long time but I've looked at this site a bit the last week or so because of the recent meeting and the protest. I wasn't going to comment but then I read this and felt I had to. No, you are not alone. Yes you are part of the 98%. The problem is the 2% spend their lives on here so whilst you are the majority 98% of the club, you are the minority 0.005% on this site. Like you point out we are the silent majority, not just silent in person at games, but silent online as well. However people spin it on here they dislike RD because he is not English. And they dislike KM because she is female. Of course they will not come out and say that clearly, but it is written between the lines of most of the post I've read. People have been quick to forget the past and are looking only at the money spent on the players, not money spent on the club. Stay strong, stay independent and accept that most of us will stay silent. Flag Quote
Sorry DRF but in my opinion, and experience, this is a lot of tosh. For me, Roland can be any nationality that he likes, and my annoyance with Katrien is not sexist, it simply comes from the fact that she hasn't got a clue about running a football Club. Her being given the responsibility for something she does not understand shows us what a wierd individual Roland is. The pair of them with their behaviour so far are running our Club into the ground, despite how nice they have made the pitch look, and that ridiculous sofa should have been the star of Bonfire Night. At the moment I and thousands of others are voting with their feet, to speak about 20K is embarassingly stupid when we are so obviously heading towards 9K. We are desperately in need of a proper football brain with knowledge of the English football leagues, but with these two there is no hope. I trust that people like yourself will enjoy the extra space available around you at The Valley, at least before long you will be able to count the crowd for yourself.
You make some good points there , @altrinchamaddick, and respect to you for posting as you did.
@LoOkOuT has pointed out that in truth there's a spectrum of opinion, as there nearly always is. There were people in 1990 who didn't want us to return to the Valley, but to stay at Selhurst. I met them. Part of the spectrum will involve what is meant by "protest".
Really ? (Unless they were palarse fans) Whatever was their reason for that because as a club we were dying on our feet.
yes really. I encountered them in some lounge there. I'm slightly ashamed to admit I was in a lounge at Selhurst after games in 1989-90, and can't quite remember how it happened (I definitely wasn't paying for the dubious privilege) . There were a few of them, and the worrying thing was that they had the ear of directors. The one I remember most vividly, because he was involved in business in CZ, lived in Dulwich and had started watching Charlton only since they arrived at Selhurst. It was simply convenient for him. Like I said, not many, but influential. They appalled me and I gave them a hard time of course, not least because this was after the Valley party victory, but they had a voice. In any fanbase you really will find all sorts, and its very difficult for any group to claim a majority viewpoint. Still less for an individual to claim he/she represents 98%, of course :-)
The idea that Murray exerts more influence than the chief executive, who is the line manager for all the non-football staff and apparently the head coach, given she is very obviously Duchatelet's proxy, is far-fetched to the point of being ridiculous. Perhaps Prague would like to comment, based on his conversations with RM.
Yes, Richard Murray has made it very clear that he is a non-executive director, and as such he is effectively an employee who plays the role RD wishes him to play. I think its also been not so easy for him to define what that role is, because he doesn't get to speak to RD that much either. I think he tries to act as an adviser to Katrien (that's usually the role a NED plays). It would be up to Katrien rather than RM to decide how big a role that is. So, basically, Airman is right.
sort of but rm, I would guess is her mentor - what on earth could a 31 year old woman know about running a football club in a foreign country? - I think we know.
My impression from viewing the meeting was that Katrien was rattled and a little nervous from the outset. I will probably be accused of being sexist here, but as a bloke, I actually felt a bit sorry for her. It would be a tough gig for an experienced bloke, but for a young lady with no experience of running a football club or dealing with hundreds of protesters, it must have been very unsettling for her. Now whether she should ever have been placed in that position of CEO is another argument. With that in mind, I am not too surprised that she conceded very little at the meeting and was most likely advised that she must not. To do so could have set a dangerous precedent that would encourage further protests whenever the fans wanted something that they (RD & KM) couldn't deliver. The signing of Vaz Te happened very shortly after the protest and the meeting. My hope is that the message has got through, and they are finally waking up to the problems, even if they are being very careful not to admit as much in public. One thing that I think warrants further discussion is Jacko saying that this is the strongest squad that he's played in. Because if that statement is correct it really goes against what the majority of fans are saying.
As the rain pours down in Manchester, I thought I would try to get my views on the current crisis across, as I am one of the 98% silent majority.
I have been following Charlton since 1965 and after retiring I have been a season ticket holder and a Valley Gold member. I have been to every home and away fixture this season ( bar MK Dons).
I fully support Roland Duchatelet’s aims of: 1. Creating a team that is competitive in the Championship with Premiere League ambitions. 2. Develop and improve the infrastructure of The Valley. 3. Improve the training facilities and Academy setup at Sparrows Lane, in order to provide our own players of the future.
I am pretty sure that most fans would support these objectives, so the arguments are around how they are to be achieved and how fast they happen.
Having been through the traumatic times of Hulyer and Fryer and the gradual decline of The Valley under Jimenez and Slater I want to see a steady evolution of the club, with a realistic budget that does not put the club in financial jeopardy in the future.
Duchatelet has certainly not got everything right. Player recruitment has obviously been a concern, especially last season and to a lesser extent this, with some signings not up to the standard or especially the rigour of the Championship. The important point is that he and his management team are learning from their mistakes, and the quality of the present squad shows a steady improvement. (although results might harm this argument!)
The second issue that some fans have complained about is the rapid turnover of managers/coaches. I personally supported all the changes except not giving Jose Riga a chance at the start of last season after his performance in the relegation battle. I supported the sacking of Guy Luzon because towards the end of his tenure he was playing players in unfamiliar positions and his rigid adherence to 4-4-2 left us undermanned in midfield. He seemed to lack tactical understanding that would have enabled us to scrape some points during our injury crisis.
The third issue is the CEO, Katrien Meire, she appears to have upset a great deal of people and has been accused of lying to fans, incompetent management of the club’s staff and mismanaging several issues such as the season ticket sales and the reorganisation of the lounges. I really don’t have enough insite or knowledge into what is going on inside the club, day to day to have a firm view on whether she has been beneficial to the development of CAFC. At the moment I’m on the fence, but I am willing at this stage to give her the benefit of the doubt until the end of this season. Changing CEO’s mid season may cause more problems than it solves.
Onto the protests, I have been disappointed at the crude sledging of RD and KM on here. What has it got to do with whether they come from Belgium or that KM is a woman? You are either successful at running a football club or not. The xenophobic and misogynistic rants that have appeared on Charlton Life are unacceptable. If you want to campaign for a change use arguments containing factual information not swearing rants, and empty talk. It concerns me that CL gets hijacked by some people for their own agenda, a bit like Militant infiltrating the Labour Party in the ‘80’s. Perhaps we have some UKIP/BNP/EDL members spouting their abhorrent rhetoric on here.
So, as a member of the 98% silent majority what am I going to do next? 1. I will not support the protest outside the West Stand against Ipswich. 2. I will not be supporting the Black and White campaign. 3. I will get behind the team fully during this relegation battle, I really don’t want to be in Div 1 next season. 4. I will continue to monitor the decision making prowess of our owners/CEO to try and get a balanced view as to their progress and intentions of CAFC.
What should the 2% vocal majority do? Well that is a thing that I should leave up to you. I fully support your right to protest, and make your complaints heard. What I’m not picking up is what you want to change other than wanting Duchatelet and Meire to leave the club with immediate effect.
My own opinion is while the club is in this difficult relegation fight, that you postpone your protests at the Ipswich game, both inside and outside the ground. Communicate with the club that you were going to hold mass demonstrations, but in light of the on-field problems they are being held back until the New Year. If, in your views, that the club have not shown a willingness to address the issues raised in the Fans Forum, start up your protests after Christmas.
My emotions for the club haven’t changed over the past 50 years, if anything, since I have retired and can spend more time following CAFC, they have strengthened. I am continually surprised on reading CL how many fans comment on, “ I want my Charlton back” and “ I’ve fallen out of love with my team”. Well the club is still here and it needs all the support it can get at the present moment.
So, finally, AM I THE ONLY ONE?
I have not been on this site for a long time but I've looked at this site a bit the last week or so because of the recent meeting and the protest. I wasn't going to comment but then I read this and felt I had to. No, you are not alone. Yes you are part of the 98%. The problem is the 2% spend their lives on here so whilst you are the majority 98% of the club, you are the minority 0.005% on this site. Like you point out we are the silent majority, not just silent in person at games, but silent online as well. However people spin it on here they dislike RD because he is not English. And they dislike KM because she is female. Of course they will not come out and say that clearly, but it is written between the lines of most of the post I've read. People have been quick to forget the past and are looking only at the money spent on the players, not money spent on the club. Stay strong, stay independent and accept that most of us will stay silent.
Complete and utter bollocks.
Politely put and interesting command of the English language but I doubt you used that at the protest, although I could possibly be wrong?
I do not want Roland out. He has achieved a lot of good things and I do think the squad has more quality than last year. I do think he is slow to support managers when needed and I think if he had we may have challenged the top half places. A new owner may well bring with them ideas much more dangerous (moving to a new ground for instance), and there is certainly no guarantees that the open dialogue that so many wish for will happen. I am hoping that the recent signing of Ricardo is an indication that the man is for turning and the team will be supported better in the future and that he is looking to learn from mistakes made. The call for an open dialogue on the face of it seems simple. Having read the abuse that some of the speakers have received I do believe that there are quite a few that feel that they are the ones best suited to run our club. The arrogance of some was beyond belief. He should have asked this...They should have done that...I would have given it this... They were invited to be a cross section of supporters so all views were heard. It appeared to me that they were viewed as spokespersons to represent Charlton Life members. The trust has received its fair share of abuse, but they have my full support as they do ask their members for their views via surveys and I do hope that any supporter groups do the same if they are invited to play a part.
As the rain pours down in Manchester, I thought I would try to get my views on the current crisis across, as I am one of the 98% silent majority.
I have been following Charlton since 1965 and after retiring I have been a season ticket holder and a Valley Gold member. I have been to every home and away fixture this season ( bar MK Dons).
I fully support Roland Duchatelet’s aims of: 1. Creating a team that is competitive in the Championship with Premiere League ambitions. 2. Develop and improve the infrastructure of The Valley. 3. Improve the training facilities and Academy setup at Sparrows Lane, in order to provide our own players of the future.
I am pretty sure that most fans would support these objectives, so the arguments are around how they are to be achieved and how fast they happen.
Having been through the traumatic times of Hulyer and Fryer and the gradual decline of The Valley under Jimenez and Slater I want to see a steady evolution of the club, with a realistic budget that does not put the club in financial jeopardy in the future.
Duchatelet has certainly not got everything right. Player recruitment has obviously been a concern, especially last season and to a lesser extent this, with some signings not up to the standard or especially the rigour of the Championship. The important point is that he and his management team are learning from their mistakes, and the quality of the present squad shows a steady improvement. (although results might harm this argument!)
The second issue that some fans have complained about is the rapid turnover of managers/coaches. I personally supported all the changes except not giving Jose Riga a chance at the start of last season after his performance in the relegation battle. I supported the sacking of Guy Luzon because towards the end of his tenure he was playing players in unfamiliar positions and his rigid adherence to 4-4-2 left us undermanned in midfield. He seemed to lack tactical understanding that would have enabled us to scrape some points during our injury crisis.
The third issue is the CEO, Katrien Meire, she appears to have upset a great deal of people and has been accused of lying to fans, incompetent management of the club’s staff and mismanaging several issues such as the season ticket sales and the reorganisation of the lounges. I really don’t have enough insite or knowledge into what is going on inside the club, day to day to have a firm view on whether she has been beneficial to the development of CAFC. At the moment I’m on the fence, but I am willing at this stage to give her the benefit of the doubt until the end of this season. Changing CEO’s mid season may cause more problems than it solves.
Onto the protests, I have been disappointed at the crude sledging of RD and KM on here. What has it got to do with whether they come from Belgium or that KM is a woman? You are either successful at running a football club or not. The xenophobic and misogynistic rants that have appeared on Charlton Life are unacceptable. If you want to campaign for a change use arguments containing factual information not swearing rants, and empty talk. It concerns me that CL gets hijacked by some people for their own agenda, a bit like Militant infiltrating the Labour Party in the ‘80’s. Perhaps we have some UKIP/BNP/EDL members spouting their abhorrent rhetoric on here.
So, as a member of the 98% silent majority what am I going to do next? 1. I will not support the protest outside the West Stand against Ipswich. 2. I will not be supporting the Black and White campaign. 3. I will get behind the team fully during this relegation battle, I really don’t want to be in Div 1 next season. 4. I will continue to monitor the decision making prowess of our owners/CEO to try and get a balanced view as to their progress and intentions of CAFC.
What should the 2% vocal majority do? Well that is a thing that I should leave up to you. I fully support your right to protest, and make your complaints heard. What I’m not picking up is what you want to change other than wanting Duchatelet and Meire to leave the club with immediate effect.
My own opinion is while the club is in this difficult relegation fight, that you postpone your protests at the Ipswich game, both inside and outside the ground. Communicate with the club that you were going to hold mass demonstrations, but in light of the on-field problems they are being held back until the New Year. If, in your views, that the club have not shown a willingness to address the issues raised in the Fans Forum, start up your protests after Christmas.
My emotions for the club haven’t changed over the past 50 years, if anything, since I have retired and can spend more time following CAFC, they have strengthened. I am continually surprised on reading CL how many fans comment on, “ I want my Charlton back” and “ I’ve fallen out of love with my team”. Well the club is still here and it needs all the support it can get at the present moment.
So, finally, AM I THE ONLY ONE?
I have not been on this site for a long time but I've looked at this site a bit the last week or so because of the recent meeting and the protest. I wasn't going to comment but then I read this and felt I had to. No, you are not alone. Yes you are part of the 98%. The problem is the 2% spend their lives on here so whilst you are the majority 98% of the club, you are the minority 0.005% on this site. Like you point out we are the silent majority, not just silent in person at games, but silent online as well. However people spin it on here they dislike RD because he is not English. And they dislike KM because she is female. Of course they will not come out and say that clearly, but it is written between the lines of most of the post I've read. People have been quick to forget the past and are looking only at the money spent on the players, not money spent on the club. Stay strong, stay independent and accept that most of us will stay silent.
The only apparent xenophobia in evidence comes from Belgium - four head coaches, three of them Belgian and one the former head coach of the owner's Belgian club; a Belgian chief executive; a clutch of Belgian signings in 2014/15, both Belgian nationals and from Belgian clubs; multiple other Belgian assistants and coaches; Belgian scouts - all at an English football club.
You could understand if all these roles were filled by English nationals, given the club is in England, or a smattering from all over Europe and beyond. When so many are filled by Belgians, one of the smaller European countries, it is legitimate to question whether they can all possibly be the best people for the jobs or whether the person making the appointments is a xenophobe, not whether the people observing this remarkable phenomenon are guilty of same.
FYI, 120 years ago Royal Antwerp won the first official match in the Belgian competition. Please have a look at the names of those that made up the R. Antwerp side : chapman, groom , jenkinson, jacobs, hood, robertson and another jacobs. Almost all of them ... Brits. How xenophobic that was !
As the rain pours down in Manchester, I thought I would try to get my views on the current crisis across, as I am one of the 98% silent majority.
I have been following Charlton since 1965 and after retiring I have been a season ticket holder and a Valley Gold member. I have been to every home and away fixture this season ( bar MK Dons).
I fully support Roland Duchatelet’s aims of: 1. Creating a team that is competitive in the Championship with Premiere League ambitions. 2. Develop and improve the infrastructure of The Valley. 3. Improve the training facilities and Academy setup at Sparrows Lane, in order to provide our own players of the future.
I am pretty sure that most fans would support these objectives, so the arguments are around how they are to be achieved and how fast they happen.
Having been through the traumatic times of Hulyer and Fryer and the gradual decline of The Valley under Jimenez and Slater I want to see a steady evolution of the club, with a realistic budget that does not put the club in financial jeopardy in the future.
Duchatelet has certainly not got everything right. Player recruitment has obviously been a concern, especially last season and to a lesser extent this, with some signings not up to the standard or especially the rigour of the Championship. The important point is that he and his management team are learning from their mistakes, and the quality of the present squad shows a steady improvement. (although results might harm this argument!)
The second issue that some fans have complained about is the rapid turnover of managers/coaches. I personally supported all the changes except not giving Jose Riga a chance at the start of last season after his performance in the relegation battle. I supported the sacking of Guy Luzon because towards the end of his tenure he was playing players in unfamiliar positions and his rigid adherence to 4-4-2 left us undermanned in midfield. He seemed to lack tactical understanding that would have enabled us to scrape some points during our injury crisis.
The third issue is the CEO, Katrien Meire, she appears to have upset a great deal of people and has been accused of lying to fans, incompetent management of the club’s staff and mismanaging several issues such as the season ticket sales and the reorganisation of the lounges. I really don’t have enough insite or knowledge into what is going on inside the club, day to day to have a firm view on whether she has been beneficial to the development of CAFC. At the moment I’m on the fence, but I am willing at this stage to give her the benefit of the doubt until the end of this season. Changing CEO’s mid season may cause more problems than it solves.
Onto the protests, I have been disappointed at the crude sledging of RD and KM on here. What has it got to do with whether they come from Belgium or that KM is a woman? You are either successful at running a football club or not. The xenophobic and misogynistic rants that have appeared on Charlton Life are unacceptable. If you want to campaign for a change use arguments containing factual information not swearing rants, and empty talk. It concerns me that CL gets hijacked by some people for their own agenda, a bit like Militant infiltrating the Labour Party in the ‘80’s. Perhaps we have some UKIP/BNP/EDL members spouting their abhorrent rhetoric on here.
So, as a member of the 98% silent majority what am I going to do next? 1. I will not support the protest outside the West Stand against Ipswich. 2. I will not be supporting the Black and White campaign. 3. I will get behind the team fully during this relegation battle, I really don’t want to be in Div 1 next season. 4. I will continue to monitor the decision making prowess of our owners/CEO to try and get a balanced view as to their progress and intentions of CAFC.
What should the 2% vocal majority do? Well that is a thing that I should leave up to you. I fully support your right to protest, and make your complaints heard. What I’m not picking up is what you want to change other than wanting Duchatelet and Meire to leave the club with immediate effect.
My own opinion is while the club is in this difficult relegation fight, that you postpone your protests at the Ipswich game, both inside and outside the ground. Communicate with the club that you were going to hold mass demonstrations, but in light of the on-field problems they are being held back until the New Year. If, in your views, that the club have not shown a willingness to address the issues raised in the Fans Forum, start up your protests after Christmas.
My emotions for the club haven’t changed over the past 50 years, if anything, since I have retired and can spend more time following CAFC, they have strengthened. I am continually surprised on reading CL how many fans comment on, “ I want my Charlton back” and “ I’ve fallen out of love with my team”. Well the club is still here and it needs all the support it can get at the present moment.
So, finally, AM I THE ONLY ONE?
I have not been on this site for a long time but I've looked at this site a bit the last week or so because of the recent meeting and the protest. I wasn't going to comment but then I read this and felt I had to. No, you are not alone. Yes you are part of the 98%. The problem is the 2% spend their lives on here so whilst you are the majority 98% of the club, you are the minority 0.005% on this site. Like you point out we are the silent majority, not just silent in person at games, but silent online as well. However people spin it on here they dislike RD because he is not English. And they dislike KM because she is female. Of course they will not come out and say that clearly, but it is written between the lines of most of the post I've read. People have been quick to forget the past and are looking only at the money spent on the players, not money spent on the club. Stay strong, stay independent and accept that most of us will stay silent.
The only apparent xenophobia in evidence comes from Belgium - four head coaches, three of them Belgian and one the former head coach of the owner's Belgian club; a Belgian chief executive; a clutch of Belgian signings in 2014/15, both Belgian nationals and from Belgian clubs; multiple other Belgian assistants and coaches; Belgian scouts - all at an English football club.
You could understand if all these roles were filled by English nationals, given the club is in England, or a smattering from all over Europe and beyond. When so many are filled by Belgians, one of the smaller European countries, it is legitimate to question whether they can all possibly be the best people for the jobs or whether the person making the appointments is a xenophobe, not whether the people observing this remarkable phenomenon are guilty of same.
FYI, 120 years ago Royal Antwerp won the first official match in the Belgian competition. Please have a look at the names of those that made up the R. Antwerp side : chapman, groom , jenkinson, jacobs, hood, robertson and another jacobs. Almost all of them ... Brits. How xenophobic that was !
To return to the question; no you are not the only one.
Picking up on a point made by RM at the meeting, throughout the Championship fans expectations rarely match the owners ability to deliver. I realise that is no comfort to the RD/KM opposition but I believe things could have been a lot more challenging for us if RD had not invested in the Club.
I've nicked this from ITTV because this sums up the situation perfectly for me!
People who want Charlton to lose and be relegated and who are trying to empty the stadium because they think it will force the owner to sell should be careful what they wish for.
Who will he sell to?
It took Jiminez and Slater how long to find a buyer - two seasons wasn't it?
So we get relegated and spend 2016-17 in div one. Duchatalet is trying to sell because he's fed up with the grief but nobody is buying. So he cuts off the funding, as Cash did when Jiminez and Slater were running the shop. Let's suppose that crowds have fallen to 7-8,000 as royston and reams predict, so there's hardly sufficient revenue to pay the wage bill. The remaining decent players are sold. CAFC get relegated to Div Two for 2017-18 and attendances fall further to 4-5,000.
Once you fall into such a spiral of decline, it can be very, very difficult to get out of it.
And if Duchatalet does finally finds a buyer? Best bet: an American or middle-eastern consortium or a hedge fund that revives the plan to sell the Valley and build a new multi-purpose 365 day venue on the Greenwich Peninsula.
Nah.We should welcome the many good things the current owner has done and then seek to persuade him that with a slightly better/larger squad the above scenario can be avoided and Charlton can rise up the table rather than drifting down it.
I've nicked this from ITTV because this sums up the situation perfectly for me!
People who want Charlton to lose and be relegated and who are trying to empty the stadium because they think it will force the owner to sell should be careful what they wish for.
Who will he sell to?
It took Jiminez and Slater how long to find a buyer - two seasons wasn't it?
So we get relegated and spend 2016-17 in div one. Duchatalet is trying to sell because he's fed up with the grief but nobody is buying. So he cuts off the funding, as Cash did when Jiminez and Slater were running the shop. Let's suppose that crowds have fallen to 7-8,000 as royston and reams predict, so there's hardly sufficient revenue to pay the wage bill. The remaining decent players are sold. CAFC get relegated to Div Two for 2017-18 and attendances fall further to 4-5,000.
Once you fall into such a spiral of decline, it can be very, very difficult to get out of it.
And if Duchatalet does finally finds a buyer? Best bet: an American or middle-eastern consortium or a hedge fund that revives the plan to sell the Valley and build a new multi-purpose 365 day venue on the Greenwich Peninsula.
Nah.We should welcome the many good things the current owner has done and then seek to persuade him that with a slightly better/larger squad the above scenario can be avoided and Charlton can rise up the table rather than drifting down it.
Thanks to incurruptableaddick for his thoughts.
Ignoring CorruptedAddick's extreme views but nevertheless answer what I think is your point, finding a buyer is not necessarily the problem, rather finding a buyer that will pay your asking price. Of course, all that money that RD has ploughed into our club or should I say loaned at 3% interest, will be there in his asking price. He will want his money back.
I've nicked this from ITTV because this sums up the situation perfectly for me!
People who want Charlton to lose and be relegated and who are trying to empty the stadium because they think it will force the owner to sell should be careful what they wish for.
Who will he sell to?
It took Jiminez and Slater how long to find a buyer - two seasons wasn't it?
So we get relegated and spend 2016-17 in div one. Duchatalet is trying to sell because he's fed up with the grief but nobody is buying. So he cuts off the funding, as Cash did when Jiminez and Slater were running the shop. Let's suppose that crowds have fallen to 7-8,000 as royston and reams predict, so there's hardly sufficient revenue to pay the wage bill. The remaining decent players are sold. CAFC get relegated to Div Two for 2017-18 and attendances fall further to 4-5,000.
Once you fall into such a spiral of decline, it can be very, very difficult to get out of it.
And if Duchatalet does finally finds a buyer? Best bet: an American or middle-eastern consortium or a hedge fund that revives the plan to sell the Valley and build a new multi-purpose 365 day venue on the Greenwich Peninsula.
Nah.We should welcome the many good things the current owner has done and then seek to persuade him that with a slightly better/larger squad the above scenario can be avoided and Charlton can rise up the table rather than drifting down it.
Thanks to incurruptableaddick for his thoughts.
Ignoring CorruptedAddick's extreme views but nevertheless answer what I think is your point, finding a buyer is not necessarily the problem, rather finding a buyer that will pay your asking price. Of course, all that money that RD has ploughed into our club or should I say loaned at 3% interest, will be there in his asking price. He will want his money back.
Firstly, totally unfair to dig out IA because he has a different opinion to you, and secondly if you were in business and were looking to sell, would you not expect to get your money back as a minimum.
However you want to spin in RD has kept us afloat and is still funding our losses, I can't imagine too many investors out there are willing to do the same!
I have got to admire your loyalty to RD. Essex Al. But let me put another spin on it. The squad was left very short after the Summer spending and injuries have left us with kids and players who are not good enough. We are sitting in a relegation position because of it. If we get relegated to the First Division attendances will drop alarmingly. How will RD address the situation? Will he throw more money at it, which is more debt to the Club. Or will he sell our best players and rely on youngsters to get us out of the division, which is a dangerous policy. I do not necesarily want a new owner. What i want is a owner and CEO who listen to the very real concerns of our Supporters. Many hard core loyal fans are not going anymore which is a crying shame, it is difficult to get these people back again. I commend RD on the pitch and the training ground, but i fear that our best youngsters we produce in a new Cat A Academy will be sold and the money trousered by RD to cover the losses. How is that a benefit to our Club. Of course if we get a new owner he could be worse than RD but he could also be better.
I think we should continue with peaceful protests, to me it is the only way forward.
I've nicked this from ITTV because this sums up the situation perfectly for me!
People who want Charlton to lose and be relegated and who are trying to empty the stadium because they think it will force the owner to sell should be careful what they wish for.
Who will he sell to?
It took Jiminez and Slater how long to find a buyer - two seasons wasn't it?
So we get relegated and spend 2016-17 in div one. Duchatalet is trying to sell because he's fed up with the grief but nobody is buying. So he cuts off the funding, as Cash did when Jiminez and Slater were running the shop. Let's suppose that crowds have fallen to 7-8,000 as royston and reams predict, so there's hardly sufficient revenue to pay the wage bill. The remaining decent players are sold. CAFC get relegated to Div Two for 2017-18 and attendances fall further to 4-5,000.
Once you fall into such a spiral of decline, it can be very, very difficult to get out of it.
And if Duchatalet does finally finds a buyer? Best bet: an American or middle-eastern consortium or a hedge fund that revives the plan to sell the Valley and build a new multi-purpose 365 day venue on the Greenwich Peninsula.
Nah.We should welcome the many good things the current owner has done and then seek to persuade him that with a slightly better/larger squad the above scenario can be avoided and Charlton can rise up the table rather than drifting down it.
Thanks to incurruptableaddick for his thoughts.
Ignoring CorruptedAddick's extreme views but nevertheless answer what I think is your point, finding a buyer is not necessarily the problem, rather finding a buyer that will pay your asking price. Of course, all that money that RD has ploughed into our club or should I say loaned at 3% interest, will be there in his asking price. He will want his money back.
Firstly, totally unfair to dig out IA because he has a different opinion to you, and secondly if you were in business and were looking to sell, would you not expect to get your money back as a minimum.
However you want to spin in RD has kept us afloat and is still funding our losses, I can't imagine too many investors out there are willing to do the same!
Having read and laughed at CorruptedAddick's posts on ITTV I think I will stick with my view of him.
Actually, I do agree that RD has kept us afloat, just, and could be good for the club and I would certainly be worried about any new owner. But that doesn't stop me being very concerned about our direction of travel which is due south and has been for most of the last 2 years.
I've nicked this from ITTV because this sums up the situation perfectly for me!
People who want Charlton to lose and be relegated and who are trying to empty the stadium because they think it will force the owner to sell should be careful what they wish for.
Who will he sell to?
It took Jiminez and Slater how long to find a buyer - two seasons wasn't it?
So we get relegated and spend 2016-17 in div one. Duchatalet is trying to sell because he's fed up with the grief but nobody is buying. So he cuts off the funding, as Cash did when Jiminez and Slater were running the shop. Let's suppose that crowds have fallen to 7-8,000 as royston and reams predict, so there's hardly sufficient revenue to pay the wage bill. The remaining decent players are sold. CAFC get relegated to Div Two for 2017-18 and attendances fall further to 4-5,000.
Once you fall into such a spiral of decline, it can be very, very difficult to get out of it.
And if Duchatalet does finally finds a buyer? Best bet: an American or middle-eastern consortium or a hedge fund that revives the plan to sell the Valley and build a new multi-purpose 365 day venue on the Greenwich Peninsula.
Nah.We should welcome the many good things the current owner has done and then seek to persuade him that with a slightly better/larger squad the above scenario can be avoided and Charlton can rise up the table rather than drifting down it.
Thanks to incurruptableaddick for his thoughts.
I can't think of a single post/tweet/overheard conversation where this has been said by any Charlton fan.
We want to win and gain promotion with an owner guiding a well run, accountable, recognisably Charlton club. That is all.
I've nicked this from ITTV because this sums up the situation perfectly for me!
People who want Charlton to lose and be relegated and who are trying to empty the stadium because they think it will force the owner to sell should be careful what they wish for.
Who will he sell to?
It took Jiminez and Slater how long to find a buyer - two seasons wasn't it?
So we get relegated and spend 2016-17 in div one. Duchatalet is trying to sell because he's fed up with the grief but nobody is buying. So he cuts off the funding, as Cash did when Jiminez and Slater were running the shop. Let's suppose that crowds have fallen to 7-8,000 as royston and reams predict, so there's hardly sufficient revenue to pay the wage bill. The remaining decent players are sold. CAFC get relegated to Div Two for 2017-18 and attendances fall further to 4-5,000.
Once you fall into such a spiral of decline, it can be very, very difficult to get out of it.
And if Duchatalet does finally finds a buyer? Best bet: an American or middle-eastern consortium or a hedge fund that revives the plan to sell the Valley and build a new multi-purpose 365 day venue on the Greenwich Peninsula.
Nah.We should welcome the many good things the current owner has done and then seek to persuade him that with a slightly better/larger squad the above scenario can be avoided and Charlton can rise up the table rather than drifting down it.
Thanks to incurruptableaddick for his thoughts.
I can't think of a single post/tweet/overheard conversation where this has been said by any Charlton fan.
We want to win and gain promotion with an owner guiding a well run, accountable, recognisably Charlton club. That is all.
You have to remember this was written by a poster who has rather twisted views and I believe worked in an industry used to inventing stories.
I have got to admire your loyalty to RD. Essex Al. But let me put another spin on it. The squad was left very short after the Summer spending and injuries have left us with kids and players who are not good enough. We are sitting in a relegation position because of it. If we get relegated to the First Division attendances will drop alarmingly. How will RD address the situation? Will he throw more money at it, which is more debt to the Club. Or will he sell our best players and rely on youngsters to get us out of the division, which is a dangerous policy. I do not necesarily want a new owner. What i want is a owner and CEO who listen to the very real concerns of our Supporters. Many hard core loyal fans are not going anymore which is a crying shame, it is difficult to get these people back again. I commend RD on the pitch and the training ground, but i fear that our best youngsters we produce in a new Cat A Academy will be sold and the money trousered by RD to cover the losses. How is that a benefit to our Club. Of course if we get a new owner he could be worse than RD but he could also be better.
I think we should continue with peaceful protests, to me it is the only way forward.
As usual Dick a voice of reason, and you know I have always been an admirer of your posts, especially re the youngsters. I am not stupid enough to realise that there have been and are, on going problems, but to randomly call for RD to leave the club is, in my book, crazy. I know you are one of them, but not to support the club in time of crisis and to boycott going to games, this I'm afraid I just do not understand, although obviously each to their own!
The vitriol shown on here to RD and KM is way, way, over the top IMHO and I want no part of the exceptionally poor behaviour shown to KM whatever anyone may think of her.
If RD does sell our best youngsters to cover the debt, then what can we do, at least the club is still afloat and not a car crash like Portsmouth.
It appears that KM has listened and dialogue with the trust and fans forum seems likely. What we need to do now is work with the club to try and get the fans back and then maybe, just maybe Roland won't have to sell our youngsters!
At the end of the day, like it or not, RD is a businessman and he certainly isn't going to continually bail us out. He is here, he is backing the club with his money and I personally can't see many others lining up to take over!
As the rain pours down in Manchester, I thought I would try to get my views on the current crisis across, as I am one of the 98% silent majority.
I have been following Charlton since 1965 and after retiring I have been a season ticket holder and a Valley Gold member. I have been to every home and away fixture this season ( bar MK Dons).
I fully support Roland Duchatelet’s aims of: 1. Creating a team that is competitive in the Championship with Premiere League ambitions. 2. Develop and improve the infrastructure of The Valley. 3. Improve the training facilities and Academy setup at Sparrows Lane, in order to provide our own players of the future.
I am pretty sure that most fans would support these objectives, so the arguments are around how they are to be achieved and how fast they happen.
Having been through the traumatic times of Hulyer and Fryer and the gradual decline of The Valley under Jimenez and Slater I want to see a steady evolution of the club, with a realistic budget that does not put the club in financial jeopardy in the future.
Duchatelet has certainly not got everything right. Player recruitment has obviously been a concern, especially last season and to a lesser extent this, with some signings not up to the standard or especially the rigour of the Championship. The important point is that he and his management team are learning from their mistakes, and the quality of the present squad shows a steady improvement. (although results might harm this argument!)
The second issue that some fans have complained about is the rapid turnover of managers/coaches. I personally supported all the changes except not giving Jose Riga a chance at the start of last season after his performance in the relegation battle. I supported the sacking of Guy Luzon because towards the end of his tenure he was playing players in unfamiliar positions and his rigid adherence to 4-4-2 left us undermanned in midfield. He seemed to lack tactical understanding that would have enabled us to scrape some points during our injury crisis.
The third issue is the CEO, Katrien Meire, she appears to have upset a great deal of people and has been accused of lying to fans, incompetent management of the club’s staff and mismanaging several issues such as the season ticket sales and the reorganisation of the lounges. I really don’t have enough insite or knowledge into what is going on inside the club, day to day to have a firm view on whether she has been beneficial to the development of CAFC. At the moment I’m on the fence, but I am willing at this stage to give her the benefit of the doubt until the end of this season. Changing CEO’s mid season may cause more problems than it solves.
Onto the protests, I have been disappointed at the crude sledging of RD and KM on here. What has it got to do with whether they come from Belgium or that KM is a woman? You are either successful at running a football club or not. The xenophobic and misogynistic rants that have appeared on Charlton Life are unacceptable. If you want to campaign for a change use arguments containing factual information not swearing rants, and empty talk. It concerns me that CL gets hijacked by some people for their own agenda, a bit like Militant infiltrating the Labour Party in the ‘80’s. Perhaps we have some UKIP/BNP/EDL members spouting their abhorrent rhetoric on here.
So, as a member of the 98% silent majority what am I going to do next? 1. I will not support the protest outside the West Stand against Ipswich. 2. I will not be supporting the Black and White campaign. 3. I will get behind the team fully during this relegation battle, I really don’t want to be in Div 1 next season. 4. I will continue to monitor the decision making prowess of our owners/CEO to try and get a balanced view as to their progress and intentions of CAFC.
What should the 2% vocal majority do? Well that is a thing that I should leave up to you. I fully support your right to protest, and make your complaints heard. What I’m not picking up is what you want to change other than wanting Duchatelet and Meire to leave the club with immediate effect.
My own opinion is while the club is in this difficult relegation fight, that you postpone your protests at the Ipswich game, both inside and outside the ground. Communicate with the club that you were going to hold mass demonstrations, but in light of the on-field problems they are being held back until the New Year. If, in your views, that the club have not shown a willingness to address the issues raised in the Fans Forum, start up your protests after Christmas.
My emotions for the club haven’t changed over the past 50 years, if anything, since I have retired and can spend more time following CAFC, they have strengthened. I am continually surprised on reading CL how many fans comment on, “ I want my Charlton back” and “ I’ve fallen out of love with my team”. Well the club is still here and it needs all the support it can get at the present moment.
So, finally, AM I THE ONLY ONE?
Not everybody wants Duchatelet and Meire to leave with immediate effect, just VERY much sooner rather than later.
The straw that has broke the camel's back for a lot of people is appointing a manager from division three in Belgium.
He's running the club as a business, which is hard as the club is our (fans) passion. He has/will put the right investment in the right areas, the club was making massive loses. He's bought financial stability,
I accept cost cutting had to be carried out, but they put all there eggs in 1 basket with the ffp and the cuts have too much for a paper thin squad, making us fans think he doesn't have any ambition.
Starting to wonder if Roland's not really the problem
The operating loss has increased from 2013/14 to 2014/15.
Is there a mention of by how much? I meant cutting cost in the amount of players that left the club
Meire claimed at the meeting that they are spending 40 per cent more on the playing side (wages not fees) than in 2013/14 when they took over - unfortunately some of it is being spent on players not able to play for us because they are not good enough.
As the rain pours down in Manchester, I thought I would try to get my views on the current crisis across, as I am one of the 98% silent majority.
I have been following Charlton since 1965 and after retiring I have been a season ticket holder and a Valley Gold member. I have been to every home and away fixture this season ( bar MK Dons).
I fully support Roland Duchatelet’s aims of: 1. Creating a team that is competitive in the Championship with Premiere League ambitions. 2. Develop and improve the infrastructure of The Valley. 3. Improve the training facilities and Academy setup at Sparrows Lane, in order to provide our own players of the future.
I am pretty sure that most fans would support these objectives, so the arguments are around how they are to be achieved and how fast they happen.
Having been through the traumatic times of Hulyer and Fryer and the gradual decline of The Valley under Jimenez and Slater I want to see a steady evolution of the club, with a realistic budget that does not put the club in financial jeopardy in the future.
Duchatelet has certainly not got everything right. Player recruitment has obviously been a concern, especially last season and to a lesser extent this, with some signings not up to the standard or especially the rigour of the Championship. The important point is that he and his management team are learning from their mistakes, and the quality of the present squad shows a steady improvement. (although results might harm this argument!)
The second issue that some fans have complained about is the rapid turnover of managers/coaches. I personally supported all the changes except not giving Jose Riga a chance at the start of last season after his performance in the relegation battle. I supported the sacking of Guy Luzon because towards the end of his tenure he was playing players in unfamiliar positions and his rigid adherence to 4-4-2 left us undermanned in midfield. He seemed to lack tactical understanding that would have enabled us to scrape some points during our injury crisis.
The third issue is the CEO, Katrien Meire, she appears to have upset a great deal of people and has been accused of lying to fans, incompetent management of the club’s staff and mismanaging several issues such as the season ticket sales and the reorganisation of the lounges. I really don’t have enough insite or knowledge into what is going on inside the club, day to day to have a firm view on whether she has been beneficial to the development of CAFC. At the moment I’m on the fence, but I am willing at this stage to give her the benefit of the doubt until the end of this season. Changing CEO’s mid season may cause more problems than it solves.
Onto the protests, I have been disappointed at the crude sledging of RD and KM on here. What has it got to do with whether they come from Belgium or that KM is a woman? You are either successful at running a football club or not. The xenophobic and misogynistic rants that have appeared on Charlton Life are unacceptable. If you want to campaign for a change use arguments containing factual information not swearing rants, and empty talk. It concerns me that CL gets hijacked by some people for their own agenda, a bit like Militant infiltrating the Labour Party in the ‘80’s. Perhaps we have some UKIP/BNP/EDL members spouting their abhorrent rhetoric on here.
So, as a member of the 98% silent majority what am I going to do next? 1. I will not support the protest outside the West Stand against Ipswich. 2. I will not be supporting the Black and White campaign. 3. I will get behind the team fully during this relegation battle, I really don’t want to be in Div 1 next season. 4. I will continue to monitor the decision making prowess of our owners/CEO to try and get a balanced view as to their progress and intentions of CAFC.
What should the 2% vocal majority do? Well that is a thing that I should leave up to you. I fully support your right to protest, and make your complaints heard. What I’m not picking up is what you want to change other than wanting Duchatelet and Meire to leave the club with immediate effect.
My own opinion is while the club is in this difficult relegation fight, that you postpone your protests at the Ipswich game, both inside and outside the ground. Communicate with the club that you were going to hold mass demonstrations, but in light of the on-field problems they are being held back until the New Year. If, in your views, that the club have not shown a willingness to address the issues raised in the Fans Forum, start up your protests after Christmas.
My emotions for the club haven’t changed over the past 50 years, if anything, since I have retired and can spend more time following CAFC, they have strengthened. I am continually surprised on reading CL how many fans comment on, “ I want my Charlton back” and “ I’ve fallen out of love with my team”. Well the club is still here and it needs all the support it can get at the present moment.
So, finally, AM I THE ONLY ONE?
good post - i was up for protest - i have now protested and since then we have won well and signed a new striker - i am happy to support again - if we start hurtling towards league 1 again and don't continue to add proven quality to the squad, i will be back in protest mode again. I like the objectives and don't doubt them - i was protesting to change their methods, not their aims. Others, i'm not sure about - some r narked at being held at arms length, some are a bit dim and get whipped up in hysteria but the vast majority r just scared of league 1 again - im well in that vast majority - keep repeating the same mistakes and skirting with league 1 and i will be for all out change - this is their last chance to show they have learnt what is needed and i will support them to do that.
I wish my wife was as easily pleased as you !
If there was a queue of better alternatives lining up to pump in millions i may be a bit more choosy. Given that in the last 10 years, these are the only lot that have taken it on (apart from the spivs and this lot are far less dangerous than them) then i think we owe them another chance to get it right. Whether KM is up to it or not is irrelevant - she's just a mouthpiece - rd and rm r running this show.
Richard Murray running the show, I'm not too sure about that.
Where are you getting the "98% silent majority" figure from?
As for Roland's 3 aims, they're meaningless without a feasible pan to achieve them. In relation to point 3, he's not developing the academy to provide our own players, he's developing it so he can sell the players we develop (see Joe Gomez).
I could go on, but there's about a thousand pages on this message board where various posters have explained in painstaking detail what a negative force RD and KM are.
Pretty obvious really - poor turnout at the protest which would have been worse if the weather had been poor. On another thread 8.1k views 166 comments a lot by the same people including myself so probably 43 different posters - well you do the sums.
I think 3000 season ticket holders not turning is a big enough protest in itself.
My impression from viewing the meeting was that Katrien was rattled and a little nervous from the outset. I will probably be accused of being sexist here, but as a bloke, I actually felt a bit sorry for her. It would be a tough gig for an experienced bloke, but for a young lady with no experience of running a football club or dealing with hundreds of protesters, it must have been very unsettling for her. Now whether she should ever have been placed in that position of CEO is another argument. With that in mind, I am not too surprised that she conceded very little at the meeting and was most likely advised that she must not. To do so could have set a dangerous precedent that would encourage further protests whenever the fans wanted something that they (RD & KM) couldn't deliver. The signing of Vaz Te happened very shortly after the protest and the meeting. My hope is that the message has got through, and they are finally waking up to the problems, even if they are being very careful not to admit as much in public. One thing that I think warrants further discussion is Jacko saying that this is the strongest squad that he's played in. Because if that statement is correct it really goes against what the majority of fans are saying.
Jackson is keeping his trap shut as I imagine he sees a coaching position coming up.
I've nicked this from ITTV because this sums up the situation perfectly for me!
People who want Charlton to lose and be relegated and who are trying to empty the stadium because they think it will force the owner to sell should be careful what they wish for.
Who will he sell to?
It took Jiminez and Slater how long to find a buyer - two seasons wasn't it?
So we get relegated and spend 2016-17 in div one. Duchatalet is trying to sell because he's fed up with the grief but nobody is buying. So he cuts off the funding, as Cash did when Jiminez and Slater were running the shop. Let's suppose that crowds have fallen to 7-8,000 as royston and reams predict, so there's hardly sufficient revenue to pay the wage bill. The remaining decent players are sold. CAFC get relegated to Div Two for 2017-18 and attendances fall further to 4-5,000.
Once you fall into such a spiral of decline, it can be very, very difficult to get out of it.
And if Duchatalet does finally finds a buyer? Best bet: an American or middle-eastern consortium or a hedge fund that revives the plan to sell the Valley and build a new multi-purpose 365 day venue on the Greenwich Peninsula.
Nah.We should welcome the many good things the current owner has done and then seek to persuade him that with a slightly better/larger squad the above scenario can be avoided and Charlton can rise up the table rather than drifting down it.
Thanks to incurruptableaddick for his thoughts.
Ignoring CorruptedAddick's extreme views but nevertheless answer what I think is your point, finding a buyer is not necessarily the problem, rather finding a buyer that will pay your asking price. Of course, all that money that RD has ploughed into our club or should I say loaned at 3% interest, will be there in his asking price. He will want his money back.
And there was me being brainwashed into thinking that Duchatelet was not going to want to make money out of us..........
Comments
I wasn't going to comment but then I read this and felt I had to.
No, you are not alone. Yes you are part of the 98%. The problem is the 2% spend their lives on here so whilst you are the majority 98% of the club, you are the minority 0.005% on this site. Like you point out we are the silent majority, not just silent in person at games, but silent online as well.
However people spin it on here they dislike RD because he is not English. And they dislike KM because she is female. Of course they will not come out and say that clearly, but it is written between the lines of most of the post I've read.
People have been quick to forget the past and are looking only at the money spent on the players, not money spent on the club.
Stay strong, stay independent and accept that most of us will stay silent.
Flag Quote
Sorry DRF but in my opinion, and experience, this is a lot of tosh. For me, Roland can be any nationality that he likes, and my annoyance with Katrien is not sexist, it simply comes from the fact that she hasn't got a clue about running a football Club. Her being given the responsibility for something she does not understand shows us what a wierd individual Roland is.
The pair of them with their behaviour so far are running our Club into the ground, despite how nice they have made the pitch look, and that ridiculous sofa should have been the star of Bonfire Night. At the moment I and thousands of others are voting with their feet, to speak about 20K is embarassingly stupid when we are so obviously heading towards 9K. We are desperately in need of a proper football brain with knowledge of the English football leagues, but with these two there is no hope. I trust that people like yourself will enjoy the extra space available around you at The Valley, at least before long you will be able to count the crowd for yourself.
The idea that Murray exerts more influence than the chief executive, who is the line manager for all the non-football staff and apparently the head coach, given she is very obviously Duchatelet's proxy, is far-fetched to the point of being ridiculous. Perhaps Prague would like to comment, based on his conversations with RM.
Yes, Richard Murray has made it very clear that he is a non-executive director, and as such he is effectively an employee who plays the role RD wishes him to play. I think its also been not so easy for him to define what that role is, because he doesn't get to speak to RD that much either. I think he tries to act as an adviser to Katrien (that's usually the role a NED plays). It would be up to Katrien rather than RM to decide how big a role that is. So, basically, Airman is right.
sort of but rm, I would guess is her mentor - what on earth could a 31 year old woman know about running a football club in a foreign country? - I think we know.
With that in mind, I am not too surprised that she conceded very little at the meeting and was most likely advised that she must not. To do so could have set a dangerous precedent that would encourage further protests whenever the fans wanted something that they (RD & KM) couldn't deliver.
The signing of Vaz Te happened very shortly after the protest and the meeting. My hope is that the message has got through, and they are finally waking up to the problems, even if they are being very careful not to admit as much in public.
One thing that I think warrants further discussion is Jacko saying that this is the strongest squad that he's played in. Because if that statement is correct it really goes against what the majority of fans are saying.
A new owner may well bring with them ideas much more dangerous (moving to a new ground for instance), and there is certainly no guarantees that the open dialogue that so many wish for will happen.
I am hoping that the recent signing of Ricardo is an indication that the man is for turning and the team will be supported better in the future and that he is looking to learn from mistakes made.
The call for an open dialogue on the face of it seems simple. Having read the abuse that some of the speakers have received I do believe that there are quite a few that feel that they are the ones best suited to run our club. The arrogance of some was beyond belief. He should have asked this...They should have done that...I would have given it this...
They were invited to be a cross section of supporters so all views were heard. It appeared to me that they were viewed as spokespersons to represent Charlton Life members.
The trust has received its fair share of abuse, but they have my full support as they do ask their members for their views via surveys and I do hope that any supporter groups do the same if they are invited to play a part.
http://www.nieuwsblad.be/sportwereld/cnt/dmf20151110_01964148
Picking up on a point made by RM at the meeting, throughout the Championship fans expectations rarely match the owners ability to deliver. I realise that is no comfort to the RD/KM opposition but I believe things could have been a lot more challenging for us if RD had not invested in the Club.
People who want Charlton to lose and be relegated and who are trying to empty the stadium because they think it will force the owner to sell should be careful what they wish for.
Who will he sell to?
It took Jiminez and Slater how long to find a buyer - two seasons wasn't it?
So we get relegated and spend 2016-17 in div one. Duchatalet is trying to sell because he's fed up with the grief but nobody is buying. So he cuts off the funding, as Cash did when Jiminez and Slater were running the shop. Let's suppose that crowds have fallen to 7-8,000 as royston and reams predict, so there's hardly sufficient revenue to pay the wage bill. The remaining decent players are sold. CAFC get relegated to Div Two for 2017-18 and attendances fall further to 4-5,000.
Once you fall into such a spiral of decline, it can be very, very difficult to get out of it.
And if Duchatalet does finally finds a buyer? Best bet: an American or middle-eastern consortium or a hedge fund that revives the plan to sell the Valley and build a new multi-purpose 365 day venue on the Greenwich Peninsula.
Nah.We should welcome the many good things the current owner has done and then seek to persuade him that with a slightly better/larger squad the above scenario can be avoided and Charlton can rise up the table rather than drifting down it.
Thanks to incurruptableaddick for his thoughts.
However you want to spin in RD has kept us afloat and is still funding our losses, I can't imagine too many investors out there are willing to do the same!
I think we should continue with peaceful protests, to me it is the only way forward.
Actually, I do agree that RD has kept us afloat, just, and could be good for the club and I would certainly be worried about any new owner. But that doesn't stop me being very concerned about our direction of travel which is due south and has been for most of the last 2 years.
We want to win and gain promotion with an owner guiding a well run, accountable, recognisably Charlton club. That is all.
Pre post -> initial posting -> post post -> edit post -> posting-> post post post
The vitriol shown on here to RD and KM is way, way, over the top IMHO and I want no part of the exceptionally poor behaviour shown to KM whatever anyone may think of her.
If RD does sell our best youngsters to cover the debt, then what can we do, at least the club is still afloat and not a car crash like Portsmouth.
It appears that KM has listened and dialogue with the trust and fans forum seems likely. What we need to do now is work with the club to try and get the fans back and then maybe, just maybe Roland won't have to sell our youngsters!
At the end of the day, like it or not, RD is a businessman and he certainly isn't going to continually bail us out. He is here, he is backing the club with his money and I personally can't see many others lining up to take over!
The straw that has broke the camel's back for a lot of people is appointing a manager from division three in Belgium.