Dear Sir / Madam
I write as a member of the Trust from its inception to the present day.
To the best of my knowledge I have completed all surveys as requested during that time.
As an instinctive supporter of "jaw jaw" rather than "war war" I supported attempts to build up constructive links with the Belgian Regime presently "running" our beloved football club mistakenly believing that common ground may exist once communication was improved. The repeated public contempt that the CEO has expressed for Charlton fans, particularly those above a certain age or length of support of the Club, has convinced me however that the Belgians have no interest whatsoever in dialogue, constructive or otherwise, beyond YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND THE OWNER DOES THINGS HIS WAY.
I therefore feel qualified and entitled to plead with and urgently implore the Trust to become more transparently proactive in supporting the protests of ordinary fans against this Belgian regime currently destroying our beloved football club. At best we face an ignominious descent to the third tier (league 1) at worst I dread to think in the longer term if something is not done and soon.
In my opinion there are a number of tangible ways in which the Trust could assist. However I will set out two here:
I seem to recall that the Trust has representation on the committee of Valley Gold. If I am correct in that recollection then the Trust representative should be lobbying for Valley Gold to retain all monies and pass no more over to the Club until satisfied that these will be used properly and as intended.
I also understand that some fans, members of the Trust incidentally I think, wish to start a protest fund. The Trust could take this under its wing to alleviate concerns about accountability, audit trail etc whilst allowing Trust members to remain as account signatories.
As a long standing Trust member I frankly fear for the future and credibility of the Trust if it is perceived to "fiddle while Rome burns."
Views such as those I have expressed above have been posted regularly on Charlton Life. The response from known Trust Committee members, in a personal capacity as Charlton Life members, can be summarised as contact the Trust directly if you are members.
This is therefore what I am doing with this email and I intend posting a copy of it on Charlton Life in the hope that, in the nicest possible way, the Trust's inbox is bombarded to leave the Committee in no doubt as to the groundswell of opinion.
My thanks to all of you who give voluntarily of your time for our benefit and best wishes for 2016.
Yours faithfully
Len
I sent my email here: enquiries@castrust.org not that I am suggesting that Katrien helps out with Trust emails :-)
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Comments
I was hoping for that too - up to the Burnley thrashing in my case.
Their plans for the youth are good, ground improvements have been good but the management situations and player recruitment decisions have been bizarre. We need a new owner to lead us back from Div.1 (unless something amazing happens). We are a London club with a decent ground - surely someone would want us...
I will email too.
If the trust start to take proper action would be more than happy to join.
To gouge from the op, please no more jaw jaw it's time for war war, before it's too late for our great club.
However, we'll be down by then AND out of the cup.