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CAFC, CASTrust, Duchatelet & Meire - Now is the time.

Much has been written on this forum and elsewhere regarding the intentions and plan that Roland Duchatelet has for the club. Only today a piece on Dr. Kish's Blog added to the numerous versions of the truth regarding our remote and mysterious owners true intentions.

After two years of speculation and scrutinisation of the evidence. The truth remains as elusive as it was on day one. The owner has demonstrated by his continued absence that he has no interest in Charlton Athletic as a football team. If he has a benevolent reason for owning the club he has Shown no inclination to share it with the supporters.

Duchatelet's presence in London in the shape of Ms. Meire who has proved to be a disappointingly ineffective CEO whose failure to communicate effectively with the fans either by design or indifference has pushed the relationship of supporters and club to breaking point. This despite recent words that more effective dialogue would be sought.

The appointment of the phenomenally under qualified Karel Fraeye as "interim" head coach has proved as expected to be a disaster in terms of results and what's worse, the spin and lies related to this mans appointment have been nothing less than an insult to the Inteligence and patience of the fans.

The fledgling protests organised behind the West Stand and The Black and White initiative will gain pace and fervour as the season slips away and the spectre of relegation looms large. Fans are voting with their feet and attendances are dropping at an alarming rate.

The Charlton Athletic Supportes Trust have for the whole period of Duchatelet's tenure battled to build a constructive relationship with the owner and CEO but much like the entire fan base have been treated with contempt and tolerated rather than be seen as a conduit to having Charlton Supporters on board. Their mission statement to build a dialogue with the club is proving to be a fools errand. The owners attitude is an affront to the hard work the Trust and others supporter groups do week in week out.

I understand that CASTrust are waiting to see what happens during the January window before deciding their next plan of action. I can understand this policy of wait and see but all the evidence points towards the club making signings that will be short term and without an adjustment to the budget. It is highly questionable if this will be enough to avoid relegation and even if successful will be as much by luck as judgement.

Enough is enough. As a Trust member I now want to see the Trust Board act and not wait until the end of January when it will be too late to have any impact or influence the club.

The gloves must come off now. Open conflict. Public condemnation of the CEO and owner. Start a fight and take it to the club. Action not reaction. There are a lot of people wanting to support some form of protest both active and passively but need to be effectively led. The Trust needs at this point to be seen as the rallying point for all the fans. In my view it cannot any longer remain on the sidelines. It is clear that unless change is forced there will be none.

Our special, and it is still special football club is in danger of death by a thousand cuts. Now is the time for The Valley Party spirit to return. Waiting even a week longer might not be good enough. The rot needs to be stopped right now. Leave it much longer and apathy and disenchantment might just have gone too far.

I have started this thread in the hope that others who feel like me can add number and weight to my argument and request that the Trust say to Meire and Duchatelet. We won't lie down quietly. You want a fight then you've got it. All guns blazing and as much public noise as is possible. Christmas Eve seems to me to be as good as time as any.

Over to you



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Comments

  • perfectly worded
  • Benefit of the doubt afforded the RD regime has expired for me. The club is being slowly poisoned, so I agree with Shooters. What is there to wait for?
  • Good to see a post at last that sticks to what "is" as opposed to scaremonger visions of our future demise.
    Calm, rational and reasonable.
    What's not to like?
  • Maybe the members who signed up to the overall stated aims of the Trust would accept that those original aims take precedent over subsequent consultations with members, be it meetings or surveys. And in the light of a deterioration of circumstances the founding principles of the Trust would justify overt opposition to the present caretakers of the club.
  • great post.

    We all need to come together and united against the owners, I am generally scared how far the apathy may go and the long term damage it will do to Charlton.

    As a trust member I would like the trust to take the lead now along side the great work HI and Joe have done to ensure we have a Charlton we love and can be proud off once again.
  • HexHex
    edited December 2015
    In the last few days @PragueAddick asked that Trust members contact the Trust directly with their thoughts, particularly in respect of the 'dialogue' mandate. I did so yesterday and received an enlightening reply. I urge other Trust members to do the same.
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  • Good point AFKA ... but we 'sat back' last year and gave the Club time and freedom to 'get it right' - as we now know, this did not materialise ... in fact, until the recent meeting, it is doubtful that they even tried.

    I agree we cannot expect the Trust to get activated this week ... but early January is still way better than the end of January.
  • Hex said:

    @PragueAddick asked that Trust members contact the Trust directly with their thoughts, particularly in respect of the 'dialogue' mandate. I did so yesterday and received an enlightening reply. I urge other Trust members to do the same.

    Perhaps the Trust can treat this thread as an 'open letter' giving our thoughts.
  • Agree and disagree SHG.

    Agree with your general 'thrust', disagree on timings. You want people to 'act now'. Those people have families, jobs like me and you, and it's Christmas. Nothing is really going to happen in the next 10 days.

    The ST have the balancing act that whatever action or non-action they do, there will be people that will loudly and publicly disagree with that action and no one knows how big an impact that will go on to have later, particularly if time proved they called it wrong.

    I understand their current passive stance as it is a much easier and less impacting one to take than an aggressive one. But I stated towards the end of the AGM a couple of months back that it is important that supporter wise they don't 'miss the boat' in being a representative of supporter view / feeling and that if they miss this opportunity, it may be hard to re-establish again.

    Their 'fear' I suspect is they go big in some way publicly against the club, the team win 4 out 5 games, supporter unrest dies down 70% and they have given the club an opportunity to completely arms length them again.

    It's a tough call, and one way or another it will have massive ramifications for them as a body if future events that can't be predicted (namely results) proved they called it wrong.

    But I feel the point will come sooner than February to be more aggressive.

    I agree AFKA it is Christmas and of course the Trust lads and lasses should be entitled to let's say Christmas morning off ;0).

    As for the rest I totally agree that whatever is done will be a gamble based on your possible scenarios.

    It might be more if a gamble however to sit on their hands and do nothing.

    I've made my view clear but there are always other arguments.

  • Personally, I'd love to see the Trust get it wrong by calling for action which lead to winning 4 or 5 matches on the bounce - anything to get us out of the drop zone. On that basis we should have action all the time. RD and KM are orchestrating the demise of this club because neither know any better or have a Plan B. Both are pig-headed and arrogant and they have shown repeatedly that they won't listen but they will lie to us. All they have done is manage expectations - the much needed Communications Manager only joins in February! We had the false dawn a year ago and the dissenters have been proven right. If we had all got behind the protest several months ago we might be seeing some action in January. As it is, I think we can afford to wait and see what little action we get in January from the owner but from then on we have to vote en masse with our feet and boycott as well as campaign for no season ticket renewals until they are gone. As things stand they have our money and can afford to laugh it off and publish gates of 14,000 when there's only 8,000 there. If we go down, as I believe we will, there will be a tidal wave of season ticket holders packing it in but they still think they can pull a stunt and a rabbit out of the hat.
  • edited December 2015
    The trust heirachy are already reconsidering the way forward as I understand it. For those that missed it on another thread here is what Prague posted yesterday in response to my similar calls as SHG several days ago for the Trust to be at the forefront of the protests for which I thanked him;

    PragueAddick Member
    December 22
    RedChaser said:
    @PragueAddick I don't see LLs comments as disrespectful to Airman or A2TR but it is good to learn that the Trust board are having a rethink and are seeking feedback from its membership, well done.

    Prague responded;
    I am sure LL didn't mean them disrespectfully either, but nobody who invests personal time and energy in trying to do stuff for Charlton wants to read that it would all be much more successful if the Trust moved in on it. We certainly don't believe that. The Valley Party never had a "leader" (other than for election registration purposes)That's a fact.

    We all got together on Skype last night to thrash out our tactics in the coming weeks. And most of us will meet for a curry on 29th too. It would be incredibly dumb to comment publicly on possible plans B and C, but of course we must have them ready. It's Christmas, but we will do our best to stay ahead of events. Nothing will happen before Christmas at the club, but then we enter a fast moving period with many games, and the window. We are not going to sleep through that
    .

    It is for Trust members however to make their current feelings known and Prague has requested that they email in accordingly as Hex mentions above.
  • HexHex
    edited December 2015
    RedChaser said:



    It is for Trust members however to make there current feelings known and Prague has requested that they email in accordingly as Hex mentions above.

    Don't forget to add sufficient info to prove you are a Trust member.
  • edited December 2015
    Excellent posts SHG, and Davo 55, a very well reasoned and articulate posting and some very convincing points made.

    You may or may not be aware I was a founding board member of the trust, until this last AGM.
    Part of the reason I stepped down was partly through three years of rather exhausting work, and like Razzel felt I had done my best, culminating in the Woolwich meeting ( remember that) which was to stop the concerns some of us felt was around the corner, I take no comfort for being vindicated from that approach, which sadly finds us in the state we are in.

    As a member of the trust, and anyone else has the right to make representation to the board especially on such a crucial matter.
    Therefore do as I have done, write to any board member, or the secretary Richard Wiseman. He is duty bound to report this to the board.
    It may also surprise you that I have written along the same lines especially in regard to the statement, and to do this by means of a survey completed on there site, and via the trust stall on the Christmas\New year holiday matches.

    Furthermore I have also asked for the clarification of the interim manager, a proposal to appoint an experienced championship manager, and also a vote of no confidence in the CEO if this is not immediately agreed. ( I bet that goes down well!)

    As the Woolwich meeting has mandated the trust to seek dialogue, which was again ratified at the AGM in October I feel they must contact there membership BEFORE agreeing to formally adopting a protest.

    Richard Hunt has already written on CL that the board has been divided on this issue, but it has to go along democratic lines voted on by the membership which was after all overwhelming, and suggested that you write to the trust about your concerns if you are a trust member.

    Of course some of the 'trust hatters' will claim that this is just pissing in the wind, and that it just a pointless exercise. They may well be right, but then writing on a social media website is probably just as futile if the 'Roland does what he wants mantra' crap attributed to our current CEO maintains.

    Let me assure you there is a diverse range of opinion on the board on most subjects, even ACV was debated, I know because I was one of the main architects of that as well?.

    ...... after all some people on here spend hours writing on social media sites!

    Here are the details: Board members are on the trust website.
    secretary@castrust.org
    Enquiries - enquiries@castrust.org
    Membership - membership@castrust.org



  • Thank you Ken. Part of the reason why I wrote the OP was in response to Richard Hunt's request for members to let the Trust know their feelings. My reasoning for responding on this forum ( I also responded to Richard privately) was to focus the angst and frustration into one thread. I am assuming that every Trust Board Member reads this forum.

    I agree that a survey of membership might be required but if that is the catalyst for outright action and protest then bring the survey on.

    Only my view but I suspect direct confrontation with the club by CASTrust at this point might be more unifying than divisive.

    It's leadership we need now and I'm hoping that the Trust are the group to provide it. Missing the boat now will leave the door open for others to pick up and run with what will surely be a shitstorm at some point soon.

    I believe the Trust is and should be the leading supporters group. They need to step up right now.
  • Personally I want RD out and would love the trust to be able to be the body that articulates that and carries that as their main message. However I'm just one person, and it is a big move for the fans' representative body to say 'we want our owners to leave'.

    SHG and Davo make good points re: a full consultation period with the fans to determine what and how the fans feel, whether enough of us are ready for them to make that claim that we no longer want RD at the club.

    It's a real rock and a hard place because once you make that statement and claim as the fans' representative body, we no longer want our owner here, it's very difficult to go back. I also believe that knowing what I read from the likes of Prague and the other trust members, they are level headed people who probably advocate diplomacy and dialogue, rather than all out statements that is, very very impacting.

    For me, I would be happy for the trust to take that next step as I believe RD is an idiot. He's arrogant, doesn't care and doesn't know what he's doing. I would obviously like us to start winning, but would hope that wouldn't dissipate the RD out movement.

    I don't think anything will happen until the new year anyway. Also, I'm sure results will play a part. I'm not confident we're gonna get much out the next 3. I think that will add to the feeling of RD out.

    I'm also keen to understand how many of us actually engage with the trust over your individual views. There's a lot of talk on here, but do we actually follow that up with specific messages to the trust board?

    I still support the trust and think they do an excellent job and am happy to be a member. Yes I would support them going all out and getting behind an RD out campaign.
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  • se9addick said:

    I think to an extent there's a case of once bitten twice shy.

    In Feb the Trust organised a public meeting in Woolwich, at the time there seemed to be a real groundswell of opinion that the club was not being run well. The Trust took those actions, put its neck on the line and was left high and dry when results turned round and that groundswell of opinion dissipated.

    If the club is being run badly now, then it was being run badly in March and April, and it was being run badly in the first month of this season. Where were the calls for protest then ? Where were the calls for the Trust to lead the vanguard then ? And, if the Trust take up the cause, will you still, really, support the Trust in doing so if the results turn around ? If your answer to that last question is yes then asks yourself the first two questions, I'd be interested in your answers.

    Charlton fans are on the whole a very nice tolerant bunch. I was certainly very much in the camp of let's see where this season takes us. I was on the whole excited by the signings we made and was quietly hopeful that we could get close to the playoffs. I thought there was progression.

    I was concerned by the depth of squad but the early omens were good. For me personally it all changed when it became obvious that Luzon just like Peeters before him was not really being supported. The lies told when Fraeye was appointed just made me feel like a mug punter to Meire and Duchatelet.

    We need to act. In actual fact I don't necessarily want the Trust to say We want Roland out. What I do want is for the fans to let him know that we know we've been spun a line once to often and we won't accept it.

    We demand better communication. We demand that Roland comes down from his ivory tower and speaks to us.

    I want him to know that we are prepared to stay away until he does. Now if that's the point he thinks stuff that I'm out then that's his decision.

    All I know is that we can't sit here moaning while he sits there in Belgium thinking we are mugs. We have to shout and shout very loudly. The club is dying on its arse.
    I agree - but I'm not sure you've answered my questions.
  • edited December 2015
    An excellent and timely post SHG.

    All I would say is let's give our Trust reps a bit of 'trust' and support and show a bit of faith in their motives and strategies.

    The likes of Richard Hunt, even if he has warped ideas re the EU :-), has shown both back in the Valley Party days and more recently with the Olympic Stadium business that he is not afraid to ruffle feathers if necessary no matter the so called prestige and influence of the owners of those feathers.

    Others have a similar outlook from what I can and have seen so let's back them.
  • edited December 2015
    The calls are now because it's gone too far and this season is in danger of turning into a disaster.

    If results turn around I certainly won't stop supporting the Trust. I gave them support previously even when I didn't fully agree with their approach.

    I understand your points fully but can we really allow RD and KM even more time when all they have committed since the last meeting is an ad-hoc Target 20000 group which we all know is absurd in the current situation.

    Once bitten twice shy? Yup, that not only applies to the Trust but to us too ...we have given the board far too much leeway and they give us little in return. They need to know that we have a limit.
    se9addick said:

    se9addick said:

    I think to an extent there's a case of once bitten twice shy.

    In Feb the Trust organised a public meeting in Woolwich, at the time there seemed to be a real groundswell of opinion that the club was not being run well. The Trust took those actions, put its neck on the line and was left high and dry when results turned round and that groundswell of opinion dissipated.

    If the club is being run badly now, then it was being run badly in March and April, and it was being run badly in the first month of this season. Where were the calls for protest then ? Where were the calls for the Trust to lead the vanguard then ? And, if the Trust take up the cause, will you still, really, support the Trust in doing so if the results turn around ? If your answer to that last question is yes then asks yourself the first two questions, I'd be interested in your answers.

    Charlton fans are on the whole a very nice tolerant bunch. I was certainly very much in the camp of let's see where this season takes us. I was on the whole excited by the signings we made and was quietly hopeful that we could get close to the playoffs. I thought there was progression.

    I was concerned by the depth of squad but the early omens were good. For me personally it all changed when it became obvious that Luzon just like Peeters before him was not really being supported. The lies told when Fraeye was appointed just made me feel like a mug punter to Meire and Duchatelet.

    We need to act. In actual fact I don't necessarily want the Trust to say We want Roland out. What I do want is for the fans to let him know that we know we've been spun a line once to often and we won't accept it.

    We demand better communication. We demand that Roland comes down from his ivory tower and speaks to us.

    I want him to know that we are prepared to stay away until he does. Now if that's the point he thinks stuff that I'm out then that's his decision.

    All I know is that we can't sit here moaning while he sits there in Belgium thinking we are mugs. We have to shout and shout very loudly. The club is dying on its arse.
    I agree - but I'm not sure you've answered my questions.
  • se9addick said:

    se9addick said:

    I think to an extent there's a case of once bitten twice shy.

    In Feb the Trust organised a public meeting in Woolwich, at the time there seemed to be a real groundswell of opinion that the club was not being run well. The Trust took those actions, put its neck on the line and was left high and dry when results turned round and that groundswell of opinion dissipated.

    If the club is being run badly now, then it was being run badly in March and April, and it was being run badly in the first month of this season. Where were the calls for protest then ? Where were the calls for the Trust to lead the vanguard then ? And, if the Trust take up the cause, will you still, really, support the Trust in doing so if the results turn around ? If your answer to that last question is yes then asks yourself the first two questions, I'd be interested in your answers.

    Charlton fans are on the whole a very nice tolerant bunch. I was certainly very much in the camp of let's see where this season takes us. I was on the whole excited by the signings we made and was quietly hopeful that we could get close to the playoffs. I thought there was progression.

    I was concerned by the depth of squad but the early omens were good. For me personally it all changed when it became obvious that Luzon just like Peeters before him was not really being supported. The lies told when Fraeye was appointed just made me feel like a mug punter to Meire and Duchatelet.

    We need to act. In actual fact I don't necessarily want the Trust to say We want Roland out. What I do want is for the fans to let him know that we know we've been spun a line once to often and we won't accept it.

    We demand better communication. We demand that Roland comes down from his ivory tower and speaks to us.

    I want him to know that we are prepared to stay away until he does. Now if that's the point he thinks stuff that I'm out then that's his decision.

    All I know is that we can't sit here moaning while he sits there in Belgium thinking we are mugs. We have to shout and shout very loudly. The club is dying on its arse.
    I agree - but I'm not sure you've answered my questions.
    I'm sorry I thought I had in a rambling sort of way.

    I would support the Trust regardless. Going back to your first two questions. Well I was prepared at the time you suggest to give them time. Yes the comms was piss poor but I thought there were good signings and was hopeful. I fell for the spin. I was made out to be a mug. Things have changed since those early encouraging signs.

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Roland Out Forever!