Finding difficult for even myself to keep up with with all the non-football related Charlton news and issues at the moment under the huge amount of posts being generated, so I suspect many others are as well. I intent to use this thread as a summary of key news, things to be aware of, press coverage and will update as things progress. If anyone feels something else should be included / updated, please give me an inbox.
Planned protests ahead of the Forest game 2/1There are
TWO planned protests scheduled for this Saturday's game against Nottingham Forest
1. A 2.30 protest in the West Stand Car Park outside the main entrance
2. A 5pm sit-in protest in the same area for one hour.
There have been other similar protests held at other games, but this needs to be by far the biggest and as widely supported as possible. If you feel this is worth supporting, please make the effort to do so, and please encourage your friends and family to do so.
Recent newsVoice of the Valley fanzine published copies in Saturday's edition of an
email chain between former Chief Executive Peter Varney with Charlton Owner Roland Duchatelet and CEO Katrien Meire in trying to instigate a meeting to discuss an investment opportunity. The publisher of the article states this was for a potential takeover. The email chain gives a strong example of the unprofessional way the club has been run. A link to the discussion on the article, VoTV's summary article, and the full email chain can be found
hereAn
interview that Katrien Meire gave in November at a Web Summit in Dublin was published on line on Christmas Eve. Again, Meire comes across poorly in terms of thoughts of the club and its supporters. Links to bite size chunks of the interview can be found
here . The full interview can be found here
The
SLP has said here that Duchatelet is not listening to any offers for the Club
hereDiscussion on the current ticket office being turned into an NHS call centre can be found
here
Discussion on the matchday programme changing next season to a 10-page leaflet can be found
here
Other things to be aware of
@Davo55 and
@Curb_It are seeking to put together a Fans Protest Fund to help financially support protest initiatives. Initial discussions seeking support can be found
here The
Spell It Out campaign have changed their goals from wanting the Club to spell out to fans their strategy for the Club, to the fans spelling it out to Roland and Katrien that they are no longer wanted here. After disctributing 250 black and white scarves on Monday, they are seeking to extend this further for the Blackburn game later in January, and are seeking further funding
here A good example of the many 'open letters' to Katrien Meire / Roland to have been published by fans can be found
hereThe
CAS Trust issued a
'Time for Change' article on Xmas Eve, and its approach seems to be evolving. Any news of their change in stance / engagement will be posted on here and on their website.
Updates going forward will be highlight with date change in title, and will include press coverage
Comments
With it being the quiet Christmas period, outside of standard forum and social media routes it was challenging to get awareness out regarding supporter unrest. A couple of key pieces helped though:
The Guardian published a critical article Is Roland Duchatelet leading Charlton into the valley of no return which was discussed here
While @InspectorSands wrote a fantastic article How Roland Duchatelet and Katrien Meire are Killing Charlton Athletic which was discusssed here
There had been a number of similar articles in recent weeks, but the difference with the Inspector's? It was picked up by James Corden who tweeted the below to his 5.9 million Twitter followers and was discussed here
On the morning of the game, we also used Twitter to rally using our @CharltonLife account, and had the following shared 127 times, which helped us get the message to around 7,000 people. The #WeWantOurClubBack hashtag become widely adopted elsewhere and helped provide more publicity.
Ahead of the Forest game, again approx. 500 fans congregated outside the main entrance at 2.30 and chanted to Meire and the executives in the lounge. This time the Sam Bartram statue was given a black and white scarf to wear. Coverage and photos can be found starting here
During the game, the crowd again stood as one during the 12th min to chant 'stand up if you want them out' like was seen in the previous game.
Post-Forest 5pm Protest
Post match however was when the protests were notched up a level. Approximately 1,500+ supporters demonstrated outside the main entrance for an hour, and the story really started to get traction nationally.
Full thread on Post-match protest coverage, pics and videos can be found here. Below are probably the two best bits of video captured of the protests:
Radio Coverage
Talksport really took to the story, and a number of callers were given airtime, including @Airman Brown below, and also the BBC
While @LouisMend also conducted a number of fan interviews
And the Sunday night Charlton Live podcast can be heard here
TV Coverage
Channel 5's Football League show just so happened to have Sir Chris Powell as their guest on Saturday, and showed footage of the protests and questioned SCP heavily on what was occurring at Charlton. Interestingly, SCP neither ruled out a return, but also insinuated that fans would be organising boycott's next. Coverage below
Press coverage
Daily Mail here
Evening Standard here
SLP here
The Wharf here
It also made the main paper in Belgium here
Blogs
A number of Charlton bloggers also penned their thoughts after the protest
Chicago Addick
Chris Powell's Flat Cap
Drinking During The Game