Can we get a zebra at the next game for the black and white campaign? Or more likely two guys in a zebra costume! Would get us on the lad bible and sport bible raising more awareness for the campaign.
Maybe we can do our annual fancy dress away match early this year and all go as zebras!
Zebras or Badgers ?
Animals in Black and white trip.
Or better still skunks, Katrien would soon get a wiff of that in her Carriage. Plus CAFC fans, as CL Demonstrates, are known to be Anal !
KM was ridiculed in front the SKY cameras. Their coverage of it was excellent.
Well done all involved.
Ridiculed? She couldn't have given less of a toss if she tried. She smirked. I fully respect those for trying to do something, but what happened on Saturday made no impact whatsoever. Just stop going to games.
Makes me laugh the number of people on here who weren't at the Valley yet feel qualified to say that the protest was poorly supported and a failure. I was there yesterday and this afternoon I watched the Sky recording of events. There is no way you can tell from the TV images what proportion of the crowd held up posters. Overall, I reckon it was about half, with the North and East being well covered. That, dear boys, is pretty damn good for a start.
Spent about 50 mins distributing leaflets at the top of Harvey Gardens and must have shifted about 300 and restocked others with another 200. Probably had about a 40% take up but a fair few already had posters. A few people said they weren't interested but a fair few also took them when I said they could read an explanation for the protest on the back. No aggro from anyone other than my daughter nagging me to step out of the way of oncoming cars and moaning her feet were cold. Having not been part of the Back to the Valley campaign (I was playing football rather than watching it in those years), it felt good to play a small part in the beginnings of this one. My daughter may not be the best at maths but, after the second minute, even she said " that's a lot more than two percent Dad." My guess would be somewhere between 40-50% and then you have to add on the missing ST holders. Bloody good for a fledgling campaign, all thanks to great organisation by Joe, and a host of willing donors and volunteers.
Came through loud and clear on tv in these remote parts. It was impressive. The commentators clearly explained what it was all about and, in their analysis of what was happening on the pitch, underlined the unfortunate position the club is in. It was laid out plain and clear that all is not right.
The protest was apathetic, about half the meagre crowd bothered to stand and wave the black and white hand outs. I tried to get the people around me to stand and hardly any did. sorry there was no demo outside the west stand reception.
Woke up with a sore head after a great night trying to forget the match
I just wanted to say I thought the protest was brilliant! Well done to all involved!!! Some of the things I was shouting when handing them out was as follows:
"Love it, hate it, support it, don't support it, this is your charlton find out what we are protesting about! It is all on the back of this flyer!!"
"Don't sit back and ignore what is happening to your club! read about it in this flyer"
"There will be a protest 2 minutes into the game find out why"
"This is not a Black Friday weekend event, we are not giving 2% off washing machines and ovens!! This is a protest and it is an ongoing event" - this got lots of laughs.
I must have handed out about 500 in 30-40 mins. And walked around a lot to get a feel for the protest, I must say most fans seemed very interested, I noticed that some had walked past 3-4 people handing them out but when they heard me shouting the decided to take one which I thought was great!
98% of people I saw had a flyer so that was good. If we handed out all 10k I doubt there was that in the stadium yesterday in the home end.
I personally feel that the actual protest was great and sitting in the noisy part of the North upper it sounded very loud. Looking at the east stand there was a lot of people holding up flyers the west was empty anyway so only small patches of posters.
Considering at the Wednesday game I counted about 5 scarfs in the east and west, and we have had two wins, the amount of scarfs and stuff blew me away!
Some people have put some very hard work into this and I applaud that.
The person who convinced me to protest was Katrien after her fans meeting. I finished that video and thought, I have only supported CAFC a few years and they now don't give a fluck about my support.
Having also met her and Rolland in Belgium when they first bought us. I must say I'm not convinced what they said then is what we have now or even working towards.
I will continue to support the team. But I'm sorry I can't get behind the current regimes gimmicks and BS.
Happy for them to stay but they MUST change there ways! And fast.
Anyway thanks again to all those who are helping make this happen.
Ahh it was you?! I very much enjoyed handing out the posters when you were nearby! You put a smile on my face and made my day infact. Very funny.
Personally I stuck to the simple but effective "stand up for the two percent protest"
"Get your posters for the stand up for the two percent protest"
The protest was apathetic, about half the meagre crowd bothered to stand and wave the black and white hand outs. I tried to get the people around me to stand and hardly any did. sorry there was no demo outside the west stand reception.
50% is a lot more than 2% which was the point.
The protest wasn't apathetic either. The only people you could aim that at would be those that stayed sitting down but they may well have not agreed with the protest (which is fine) or not known about it.
One thing to note, the protest was never going to get full distribution coverage as it had to be abandoned 5-10 minutes before KO to ensure the distributors actually got in for the start of the game. There were still huge numbers (considering how small the crowd) still making their way to the ground at the time and when I got back to the ground to go in the NU, the Lower turnstiles were still about 30 deep.
It is also as I found impossible to blanket canvas a moving crowd when the numbers start to add up
Came through loud and clear on tv in these remote parts. It was impressive. The commentators clearly explained what it was all about and, in their analysis of what was happening on the pitch, underlined the unfortunate position the club is in. It was laid out plain and clear that all is not right.
Yeah fair play to Minto, Lee and Holloway for spending a good five minutes or so analysing the situation before the game too which was useful.
I was very surprised and impressed with the Sky coverage of the protest and especially of Mr Holloway who seemed to have a very good understanding of our plight and articulated it to very good effect.
There are different degrees of view, but the protest on Saturday was, I felt, something most people could get behind….and to be fair, they did. KM has an opportunity now to try and build some bridges. But the reason bridges have to be built is that she has spent too much of her time in charge burning them! It isn’t too late to change tack, but I think it is unlikely as she seems to have no perception on how to use the fans for the good of the club – none of them want Charlton to fail after all. She has to decide, whether she wants to show RD that she is strong, and stand up to the evil bullies, or take greater strides to involve and communicate with fans and accept they have an active part to play in the future of the club. And she has to genuinely respect them! If she adopts the latter option, most of us would make allowance for her inexperience and react positively I’m sure. But I don’t think it will happen, as I believe she genuinely thinks she knows more than us and changing her policy will show RD she is weak and her job is working for him, not for Charlton Athletic. Of course, the opposite is true. Standing up and challenging him is a sign of strength, but she probably realises it is not a good career move. It is all a bit depressing really.
Great effort from all involved. I'm sure a lot of supporters who perhaps felt disillusioned but didnt know what to do about it will have seen the effort today and I bet the take up will be higher next game.
A shame KM sat there smirking (I was kind of hoping she'd have a face like a bulldog licking piss off a stinging nettle) but what a fantastic start to the campaign.
I was very surprised and impressed with the Sky coverage of the protest and especially of Mr Holloway who seemed to have a very good understanding of our plight and articulated it to very good effect.
Agreed, Holloway came across very well in our defence ... as did Rob Lee. Scott Minto also very understanding ... he's a very articulate presenter.
I thought the protest was brilliant. Joe - take a bow, mate.
It got on TV and was talked about on TV, which was the whole point of it.
A lot more people now know what is going wrong at Charlton.
A lot more Charlton fans now know what is going wrong at Charlton.
In life, there are always people who prefer to believe authority figures - it's comforting, safer, easier. It's an unfair fact of life that those who protest against authority are expected to justify themselves in a way that those in power aren't. The backbiting among Charlton fans has always been the most depressing thing about this club, and I'm saddened but not surprised to see it erupt over this.
But I was heartened to see so many people handing out the 2% cards, and so many familiar faces too. The protest on TV, combined with the rows of empty seats, followed by the director cutting to KM, sent a powerful message.
I've no idea what the next step is. Change won't come soon. But RD and KM have been publicly embarrassed, and will have to justify their stewardship of this club. For a variety of reasons, Charlton owners have evaded this type of scrutiny - not any more. And that's healthy.
It was interesting that we were playing Ipswich. They were clearly their manager’s team. That is a team built around what the manager feels are the attributes needed to do well in the division. Now, I’m not saying I am a fan of McCarthy, but he is no mug, and he believes a physical, athletic presence is needed through the team. 8 of their players looked like the same bloke FFS. It was certainly too much for us on Saturday. Other managers will have different plans and I would prefer a more footballing approach, but my point is a Charlton manager can never plan as he has to make the most out of what he is given and he doesn’t get long enough either.
Don’t get me wrong, we have some decent players. But we also have one of the lowest budgets, and have had 5 managers since the owner bought the club a couple of years ago. When you are on a low budget, you would imagine that getting the right manager and letting him build might be the way to succeed. I certainly find it hard to see how our way can do so! I would say that the size and weakness of the squad- not the best team when everybody is fit – did for Peeters and Luzon as much as anything. And at some point, it will do for Freye. But the owner will just go on sacking managers, without realising or accepting his responsibility.
The supporters that voiced their concerns at a recent home match were dismissed as being among ‘two per cent’ of the fanbase by chief executive Katrien Meire.
That comment was like a red rag to a bull. Those that are still bothering to turn up held black and white banners proclaiming ‘we are the two per cent’ in the second minute of Saturday’s televised game. For the record, and this is a guesstimate, around 80% of the crowd joined in.
Point made. The chants were delivered half-heartedly, rather than with gusto though. These are supporters that no longer recognise the club they love.
I think it is a good point the article made - as well as the clear unity running all the way through Ipswich - do RD and KM seriously not understand? Seriously?
Comments
Alright Dan!
Now on 510.
Having not been part of the Back to the Valley campaign (I was playing football rather than watching it in those years), it felt good to play a small part in the beginnings of this one. My daughter may not be the best at maths but, after the second minute, even she said " that's a lot more than two percent Dad." My guess would be somewhere between 40-50% and then you have to add on the missing ST holders. Bloody good for a fledgling campaign, all thanks to great organisation by Joe, and a host of willing donors and volunteers.
Personally I stuck to the simple but effective "stand up for the two percent protest"
"Get your posters for the stand up for the two percent protest"
"Hold them up in the second minute" etc
The protest wasn't apathetic either. The only people you could aim that at would be those that stayed sitting down but they may well have not agreed with the protest (which is fine) or not known about it.
It is also as I found impossible to blanket canvas a moving crowd when the numbers start to add up
A shame KM sat there smirking (I was kind of hoping she'd have a face like a bulldog licking piss off a stinging nettle) but what a fantastic start to the campaign.
Monday verdict:
Ipswich Town unity in stark contrast to Charlton Athletic unrest https://t.co/HAIyeg44KS
It got on TV and was talked about on TV, which was the whole point of it.
A lot more people now know what is going wrong at Charlton.
A lot more Charlton fans now know what is going wrong at Charlton.
In life, there are always people who prefer to believe authority figures - it's comforting, safer, easier. It's an unfair fact of life that those who protest against authority are expected to justify themselves in a way that those in power aren't. The backbiting among Charlton fans has always been the most depressing thing about this club, and I'm saddened but not surprised to see it erupt over this.
But I was heartened to see so many people handing out the 2% cards, and so many familiar faces too. The protest on TV, combined with the rows of empty seats, followed by the director cutting to KM, sent a powerful message.
I've no idea what the next step is. Change won't come soon. But RD and KM have been publicly embarrassed, and will have to justify their stewardship of this club. For a variety of reasons, Charlton owners have evaded this type of scrutiny - not any more. And that's healthy.
More power to the 2%.
Don’t get me wrong, we have some decent players. But we also have one of the lowest budgets, and have had 5 managers since the owner bought the club a couple of years ago. When you are on a low budget, you would imagine that getting the right manager and letting him build might be the way to succeed. I certainly find it hard to see how our way can do so! I would say that the size and weakness of the squad- not the best team when everybody is fit – did for Peeters and Luzon as much as anything. And at some point, it will do for Freye. But the owner will just go on sacking managers, without realising or accepting his responsibility.
80% seems way too high but that is the reaction from outsiders.
The supporters that voiced their concerns at a recent home match were dismissed as being among ‘two per cent’ of the fanbase by chief executive Katrien Meire.
That comment was like a red rag to a bull. Those that are still bothering to turn up held black and white banners proclaiming ‘we are the two per cent’ in the second minute of Saturday’s televised game. For the record, and this is a guesstimate, around 80% of the crowd joined in.
Point made. The chants were delivered half-heartedly, rather than with gusto though. These are supporters that no longer recognise the club they love.
A Brentford supporter's view