“I’m very sorry some people may have misunderstood what she said.”
This is good that he is recognising this, but will he put it into practice ? –
Well he didn't actually apologise did he? He expressed regret that none of us understood it, which is pretty much Meire's MO too. If you're not understood, that's your fault - not the fault of the recipient.
Either way, seek first to understand, then to be understood.
“I’m very sorry some people may have misunderstood what she said.”
This is good that he is recognising this, but will he put it into practice ? –
Well he didn't actually apologise did he? He expressed regret that none of us understood it, which is pretty much Meire's MO too. If you're not understood, that's your fault - not the fault of the recipient.
Either way, seek first to understand, then to be understood.
Or "the meaning of your communication is the response you get"
“I’m very sorry some people may have misunderstood what she said.”
This is good that he is recognising this, but will he put it into practice ? –
Well he didn't actually apologise did he? He expressed regret that none of us understood it, which is pretty much Meire's MO too. If you're not understood, that's your fault - not the fault of the recipient.
Either way, seek first to understand, then to be understood.
It's the good old non-apology apology, more that he is saddened that we do not understand the message, his unsuccessful stint in politics has left its mark.
If he was apologising he'd say:
"We're sorry that KM's comments gave the impression that... It was not what was intended and we appreciate that fans will have read a different message into her comments. I hope that fans will accept that there was no intention that the Web Summit discussion would lead to any disenchantment on their part, and I apologise for any distress that was caused."
Not what I thought was gonna b in it - a load of tripe - now fully back behind the protests
Out of interest what did you think was going to be in it?
Something that would have convinced people that there isn't a credible / better alternative waiting in the wings - not gonna go into details but I had my reasons. I am now 100% behind the protests again. That interview, if nothing else, has cleared up any doubts.
Not what I thought was gonna b in it - a load of tripe - now fully back behind the protests
Out of interest what did you think was going to be in it?
Something that would have convinced people that there isn't a credible / better alternative waiting in the wings - not gonna go into details but I had my reasons. I am now 100% behind the protests again. That interview, if nothing else, has cleared up any doubts.
I was very interested to see what he had to say, and all the more disappointed to see that it was nothing positive that could give me hope. In terms of Meire – saying she was misunderstood – possibly correct to an extent, but the whole theme of what she was saying has to be taken into account. Also what she has said before. She was being negative about the fans, not positive, or why would she have made the third of the income point in the same breath in Ireland?
In terms of the mistakes – he talks about learning from them but admits repeating them. It would be helpful if he was very specific as to what they were. Was KF a mistake for instance. I know it was a major one, but does he?
As for the squad. It lacks balance and has too many players not good enough or too injury prone. Putting it simply down to bad luck is a cop out. With a smaller budget you need a few players who can do a job in multiple positions and you need a plan - ideally the manager's plan.
As for the dealings with Varney – this is an ex CEO of the club – it is true it could have been a billboard, but it could also have been a takeover – how can a business be run in this way? It confirms incompetence.
If the interviews were meant to appease fans, they have been seriously misguided. I am fuming!
I've only just had a chance to read the SLP articles, which I did first, and I skipped all but the first few posts on here, so apologies if this repeats what a lot have said.
What a load of banal, dishonest cobblers. Hearing it at tedious length from the horse's mouth only increases the disbelief and outrage. If that is a charm offensive, you failed on the charm part of it, Roland. Next on my agenda is another contribution to the protest fund. I urge everyone who feels the same and can afford it to do the same.
Thing is, he is SAYING the right things mostly but his ACTIONS, not once but repeatedly just don't match his words.
The squad is too small to cope with the injuries because Roland doesn't like to spend money on players who aren't playing not because he cares about squad morale.
Players getting injured is a predictable risk not a one-off act of God. And many such as Kashi were injured early on and could have been replaced then but werent.
That they don't even have contingency plans for relegation is staggering. I heard yesterday that they really don't have plans, not that he is just saying that to avoid the "he thinks we're going down" retorts.
And he badly dodges or perhaps totally misunderstands the protests if he believes they are only because of the league position. That, of course, is a factor and a big one for many, but that is the symptom. The disease is his mismanagement.
This. There are times when he feels like he's giving advice to himself. But he's clearly not heeding it. He talks about learning from mistakes, but how have they done so? This is cyclical, it's like RM coming out and saying "we are going to get better at communicating with the supporters. All well and great, but how? Show us you've actually learned.
I work in all kinds of cultures where "fail fast" is a motto we take very seriously. But two years in, with the club in its third straight relegation threat halfway through the year, with its fifth different managerial change, what is being learned?
Also, the fact that they don't have plans for relegation is obscene. It may be that he's playing it close to the chest, fearing that if he says "yes we have plans" that it will be interpreted as him wanting to take us down, and I think some on here would read it as such. But again, bottom of the table in February and we don't have plans for next season is dereliction of duty.
Actually, it's arguably worse than that, it's ignoring simple business common sense. Again, I work with organizations who contract with the US Government, so for a lot of our work comes up for renewal every year. I can't tell you how much time I spend walking through the scenarios of what happens when X or Y go away, what would we do if Z came out with better results than expected, etc. And I work in pretty immature organizations in terms of foresight and planning, but again, just common sense.
Amidst all that interminable shite there's something in there that really reveals Roland not to be a football man. I know people have highlighted this quote for other reasons but it's this:
'let’s say you have a squad of 35 players which happens in the Championship - there are only 11 starting players. That means only one in three players are happy at the beginning of the game.'
Firstly, we're bottom, and we've spent the last two years flirting with the relegation spots. That means in general there's been around 20 other teams having a far more pleasant time of it than us. The conclusion you could draw from that is that if other teams have squads of 35 players and they've been doing better than us for the past two years then maybe it works Roland. Bournemouth had a squad of around 30 and won the league. Watford had around 40 players and Norwich had 35. These are all now Premier League teams. The problem is Roland applies business strategies to football problems.
He talks about how there are only 11 starting players, meaning 2 thirds of the squad are an under-utilised workforce and so are unhappy. As if he gives a shit about their happiness or knows anything about how to manage a football dressing room. What he really means is that he doesn't want to pay two thirds of the staff to not do anything on a Saturday, even though any manager worth his salt will rotate his team, keep his players motivated, bring players in to cover injury and use squad competition to increase performance. He just has completely zero understanding of what it is to challenge in a league of this nature. We can now see where Karel got his 'you only need 11 players' spiel from, which is interesting in itself as that's obviously the party line, but it means we're doomed to forever have squads made up of unready youth players and no depth or competition.
He's permanently going to tell us that they know what they're doing but it's knowledge coming from a microchips magnate and a competition lawyer whose only experience working in football is a series of colossal omnishambles and increasingly ridiculous PR gaffes. They're a bunch of wankers is what I'm getting at.
Funnily enough.. I think we may have him on the back foot and running a little scared... let's keep up the pressure till he and his lackeys take the Eurostar back to Brussels!
The CARD organisers can take great credit for forcing him to put in an appearance. And what does he do? Make himself and his laughable CEO look even more deluded. He seems genuinely to think that he can turn things round in the longer term but has alienated the vast majority of the people who could best help him achieve that. His vision is clearly now very different to ours.
He has also insulted our most successful CEO by treating his approach with complete contempt. He has shown incredible ignorance and stupidity by not listening to those who are far better informed than his pathetic yes men. His complaints about injuries are astounding - perhaps even a little shrewd investment in the squad might just have plugged that gap a little better than the suicidal mistakes repeated after the summer before.
Back when a lot of us were still unsure over whether he could make things work we asked simply for communication; an explanation of his vision. That KM has failed spectacularly to deliver that is surely reason enough for her departure. If nothing else she has added to the loathing now felt for him.
Possibly his final chance to heal the wounds he has inflicted on so many and he has failed miserably, just pretending nothing's wrong with his so obviously flawed approach. To date he has taken us dramatically backwards both on and off the pitch, and has now confirmed very publicly that he feels the only way to repair the damage is to keep making the same mistakes. Incredible.
I will avoid the more general debate over the protest issues and general feeling among non on-line supporters and those who may hold a different view. I have already tried to address such views and will do so again elsewhere.
To focus on these latest media releases and to put them in some context they were in effect a pretty bulk standard set of responses to a business in trouble. Once again however as with 90% of the clubs communications the audience was largely internal. It was geared to rallying the troops in the face of the constant criticism and increasing media attention on how they are running the club.
There was a gram of contrition for the reading public.
Once again as with the all club communications it was all about headline and broad brush "fluff" without substance and most crucially a shred of anything remotely addressing a clear decisive and convincing plan to put it right.
Much of it reads like a wish list to Santa Claus. We want to do this, we would like to do that, we have made mistakes, we are still learning (trying to be good) but not one shred of evidence of how they intend to address any of the issues. It was akin to the owner and Captain of the Titanic assuring everyone is trying to ensure the boat is heading in the right direction, was in fact unsinkable, without understanding any of the pitfalls their business planning and design had in store when all too soon the evidence suggested and proved to be entirely the opposite.
His few references to the substance of the problems were worryingly either exceptionally naïve or were cynical "spin".
No one speaks of having a full squad of 35 senior players, even the PL demands clubs carry only 25 senior players.
All clubs have the ambition to promote players from their academy when they are ready, within the right playing infrastructure, with the right players around them to enable them to develop and contribute. Their policies do not create a situation where they have to be thrown in because there is no one else.
I have long since bored everyone to death with my analysis of the playing strength of the senior squad. It has been and remains appallingly constructed and completely and quite literally unfit for purpose.
M Duchatelet your comments come days after the closure of the January Transfer Window where the Owner, CEO and "President" had the opportunity to act in, and demonstrably show their, support of their "new" head coach and the players in bringing in a range of quality new players able to address the challenges we face.
Reversals of 0-5 and 0-6 do not happen by accident they occur through flawed policy and implementation. The opportunity was there to change policy and support not through words but through actions. Words are cheap.
Where in the actions taken is there any evidence this executive have learned anything over the past 2yrs of their stewardship? Once again you pursued corporate theory and policy over meeting palpable practical operational needs - "the emperor does indeed fiddle while Rome burns".
Putting aside the "rumours" concerning the possible appointment of a Serbian coach your actions involve six player acquisitions only one of whom has been ready to contribute as he was playing regularly at a comparable level, one has already left us, three are not yet deemed to be fit to even start a game while the other is in a playing position for which we already carry cover. We even tried to bring in another player for exactly the same position.
In essence across Johnson, Williams, Poyet, Texeira, Fanni and Sanogo just one has been able to contribute and even he is completely new to the Championship.
When staring into the abyss of relegation your executive have singularly failed to learn from their mistakes and have once again been completely incapable of securing/ providing the necessary resources to the head coach to do his job. When will you understand it is a fundamental part of your job to facilitate and empower? You once again have failed to act in delivering to the footballing business requirements.
The condemnation of your footballing policies is industry wide so it may well be other clubs have no wish for their players to join us, or the players and their agents see little point in submitting themselves to the risk of playing for this regime.
No matter the playing attributes of the players concerned after the tribulations of McAleny and Williams and the current situation with Poyet why would they? Please tell me what exactly does this regime offer any serious competitive professional footballer? Please tell me why the club after 5 transfer windows has failed to secure a single permanent transfer of a UK player directly from another UK club in the top four divisions of the English game.
M. Duchatelet I am sure you and your CEO are dismayed by the reaction to your philanthropic investment in the club but you are the architect of your own downfall. You have a vision and are pursuing an idealistic plan built around the "new academy" while working with the local community trust.
Yet for a man who understands "you cannot build tall buildings without strong foundations" you have repeatedly rejected the entreaties of the professionals (you have gone through 5) you chose to employ to invest in the strong playing infrastructure and foundations necessary for your vision to be delivered.
Indeed it is not the fans who are rushing to judgement in calling for your departure it is you who has chosen to try to rush through the implementation of your vision, your strategy and your policies onto playing foundations and an infrastructure simply unable to carry the weight.
So despite all the rhetoric of understanding repeated mistakes have been made, despite the understanding of supporters concerns, despite the hand wringing over the extensive injury list, ( largely attributable to the inadequate player recruitment policy) the evidence of just the past few weeks clearly shows you have learned nothing and there is absolutely nothing that has changed or will change.
You as with the CEO, as with the "President" have offered nothing but empty words. Shame on you all.
So thank you for your efforts, thank you for finding the time to talk to our local media, thank you for confirming you, as many of us have long feared you, actually have nothing of value to say.
Next time don't call us we will call you. In fact if you listen closely we already are.
We are calling on you and your inadequate CEO to go and go now.
I do agree with those posters that point out that Charlton Life is not representative of our fanbase. We're a minority (anorak ultras) that attach a disproportionate importance to a football club* to which we probably have a slightly irrational attachment to.
Can we make this our new name? Charlton's Nasty Anorak Ultras. The likes of Millwall and West Ham won't know what to say (they'll probably need a dictionary).
Amidst all that interminable shite there's something in there that really reveals Roland not to be a football man. I know people have highlighted this quote for other reasons but it's this:
'let’s say you have a squad of 35 players which happens in the Championship - there are only 11 starting players. That means only one in three players are happy at the beginning of the game.'
Firstly, we're bottom, and we've spent the last two years flirting with the relegation spots. That means in general there's been around 20 other teams having a far more pleasant time of it than us. The conclusion you could draw from that is that if other teams have squads of 35 players and they've been doing better than us for the past two years then maybe it works Roland. Bournemouth had a squad of around 30 and won the league. Watford had around 40 players and Norwich had 35. These are all now Premier League teams. The problem is Roland applies business strategies to football problems.
He talks about how there are only 11 starting players, meaning 2 thirds of the squad are an under-utilised workforce and so are unhappy. As if he gives a shit about their happiness or knows anything about how to manage a football dressing room. What he really means is that he doesn't want to pay two thirds of the staff to not do anything on a Saturday, even though any manager worth his salt will rotate his team, keep his players motivated, bring players in to cover injury and use squad competition to increase performance. He just has completely zero understanding of what it is to challenge in a league of this nature. We can now see where Karel got his 'you only need 11 players' spiel from, which is interesting in itself as that's obviously the party line, but it means we're doomed to forever have squads made up of unready youth players and no depth or competition.
He's permanently going to tell us that they know what they're doing but it's knowledge coming from a microchips magnate and a competition lawyer whose only experience working in football is a series of colossal omnishambles and increasingly ridiculous PR gaffes. They're a bunch of wankers is what I'm getting at.
I know I mentioned this earlier in the thread but his squad comments are why we will never achieve anything in any league with these clowns in charge. You need at least two decent players for each position and your youth team can supplement the squad if (and only if) they are good enough.
And it is comments like these that make me (and others) wonder how any sensible fan can support this regime? His plans are at best flawed and, at worst downright ridiculous! We are a laughing stock and will plummet through the leagues with dwindling crowds and a generation of fans lost yet people are happy to sit and watch with their blankets and coffee saying "But who else is there?" or "If it wasn't for the Belgians, where would we be?" I know there isn't many of you left but for those still thinking that way, get your head out of your arse and look at the bigger picture!
Not what I thought was gonna b in it - a load of tripe - now fully back behind the protests
Out of interest what did you think was going to be in it?
Something that would have convinced people that there isn't a credible / better alternative waiting in the wings - not gonna go into details but I had my reasons. I am now 100% behind the protests again. That interview, if nothing else, has cleared up any doubts.
I acknowledge that disagreeing with you is like a Catholic arguing with the pope...
Of course neither of us know what Roland was trying to achieve. I suspect that most neutrals after reading a few sentences would believe that Roland is a competent, thoughtful, reasonably intelligent owner of a football club. I also suspect that the majority of Charlton's less active fans wouldn't be alarmed by what Roland has said.
So far the SLP interview Is positive coverage for the club and there's no obvious slip-ups. So yes, a competent, well executed bit of PR and if the team can manage a few wins this month, the protests will quieten down for a while.
Most fans will be unhappy about our league position, the prospect of relegation, poor results, lack of quality on the pitch, poor atmosphere and so on. I don't believe that 80% blame the owner and I certainly don't think that 80% are 'lined up against' the owner.
I do agree with those posters that point out that Charlton Life is not representative of our fanbase. We're a minority (anorak ultras) that attach a disproportionate importance to a football club* to which we probably have a slightly irrational attachment to.
The interview hasn't changed how I feel at all, but then the interview wasn't aimed at me- or you.
I'll now go and say a few Hail Marys...
* Edit
Not taking you to task personally on this @ValleyMick, but this notion crops up from time to time and I don't think it's helpful.
I don't want to overstate my point, and I realise the danger in that, but we often do hear that this site is one of two things:
1. a small number of obsessives 2. Not representative or particularly significant of the wider fanbase
Perhaps the first is at least partially true! But most often, we hear this when someone feels the need to be dismissive: "That's just a message board thing!"—Richard Murray helping to birth the 2% movement.
Well, in the past thirty days, we have had more than 68,000 unique visitors and well over 4 million page views. Though this is somewhat affected by the current situation and external interest, of the visitors from 150 different countries (shoutout to Belgium, who moved into the top 10 list this month), over 40,000 or 90%+ are UK based (60%+ of that, directly from the club's catchment area: guess what, that's about the same as the capacity of The Valley!). And these numbers actually aren't unusual. In fact, we're down on the comparative period last year in terms of new users and up only a little on number of pages consumed per visit. And we're down 16% from the same period in 2014.
We don't do anything to actively encourage this (in fact, you could argue that we've willfully neglected growing the site, and I'll hold my hand up to that... sorry!), beyond providing, in the best way we currently can, a space for productive Charlton-related discussion, organisation and action (witness, just in recent times, CAST, Spell it Out, CARD, supporting the Upbeats, Member-causes etc., etc.).
We can argue about the meaning of this data all day long, but the fact is, this little message board plays its role and plays its role well. We have a very active number of regular contributors. If you confuse the number of active contributors with the power of this site's reach... well, you've made a mistake. Our active members may or may not be representative of the total fanbase, but you'd be wrong in saying that we as a collective (and including other Charlton-related message boards and blogs, or any kind of websites) aren't influential. We can't be dismissed easily.
Remove the supporters that are representative of this site, including the relatively small number of active contributors AND the much, much larger number of active lurkers, from the wider fanbase and see how sustainable the club is. It certainly won't be anything like the Charlton we know. The thing is, no one can remove us.
Over many years, Charlton supporters have come to the aid of the club in dramatic times and this has created a sense of community rooted in the very fabric of the club that is much deeper than at many, many other clubs. This site has been privileged to be a platform for that in the past ten years.
Unfortunately for Roland, he's bought the wrong club.
We know it. And he's only just beginning to see it, because he's quite obviously a slow learner.
Comments
Either way, seek first to understand, then to be understood.
If he was apologising he'd say:
"We're sorry that KM's comments gave the impression that... It was not what was intended and we appreciate that fans will have read a different message into her comments. I hope that fans will accept that there was no intention that the Web Summit discussion would lead to any disenchantment on their part, and I apologise for any distress that was caused."
In terms of the mistakes – he talks about learning from them but admits repeating them. It would be helpful if he was very specific as to what they were. Was KF a mistake for instance. I know it was a major one, but does he?
As for the squad. It lacks balance and has too many players not good enough or too injury prone. Putting it simply down to bad luck is a cop out. With a smaller budget you need a few players who can do a job in multiple positions and you need a plan - ideally the manager's plan.
As for the dealings with Varney – this is an ex CEO of the club – it is true it could have been a billboard, but it could also have been a takeover – how can a business be run in this way? It confirms incompetence.
If the interviews were meant to appease fans, they have been seriously misguided. I am fuming!
Sadly, I'll have to wait until I get home.
The hard-hitting questions will obviously have made him provide more in depth answers... or not.
What a load of banal, dishonest cobblers. Hearing it at tedious length from the horse's mouth only increases the disbelief and outrage. If that is a charm offensive, you failed on the charm part of it, Roland. Next on my agenda is another contribution to the protest fund. I urge everyone who feels the same and can afford it to do the same.
"But in my businesses we have a culture of learning from mistakes. This is very common in industry. If you don’t do that you are stupid"
I work in all kinds of cultures where "fail fast" is a motto we take very seriously. But two years in, with the club in its third straight relegation threat halfway through the year, with its fifth different managerial change, what is being learned?
Also, the fact that they don't have plans for relegation is obscene. It may be that he's playing it close to the chest, fearing that if he says "yes we have plans" that it will be interpreted as him wanting to take us down, and I think some on here would read it as such. But again, bottom of the table in February and we don't have plans for next season is dereliction of duty.
Actually, it's arguably worse than that, it's ignoring simple business common sense. Again, I work with organizations who contract with the US Government, so for a lot of our work comes up for renewal every year. I can't tell you how much time I spend walking through the scenarios of what happens when X or Y go away, what would we do if Z came out with better results than expected, etc. And I work in pretty immature organizations in terms of foresight and planning, but again, just common sense.
'let’s say you have a squad of 35 players which happens in the Championship - there are only 11 starting players. That means only one in three players are happy at the beginning of the game.'
Firstly, we're bottom, and we've spent the last two years flirting with the relegation spots. That means in general there's been around 20 other teams having a far more pleasant time of it than us. The conclusion you could draw from that is that if other teams have squads of 35 players and they've been doing better than us for the past two years then maybe it works Roland. Bournemouth had a squad of around 30 and won the league. Watford had around 40 players and Norwich had 35. These are all now Premier League teams. The problem is Roland applies business strategies to football problems.
He talks about how there are only 11 starting players, meaning 2 thirds of the squad are an under-utilised workforce and so are unhappy. As if he gives a shit about their happiness or knows anything about how to manage a football dressing room. What he really means is that he doesn't want to pay two thirds of the staff to not do anything on a Saturday, even though any manager worth his salt will rotate his team, keep his players motivated, bring players in to cover injury and use squad competition to increase performance. He just has completely zero understanding of what it is to challenge in a league of this nature. We can now see where Karel got his 'you only need 11 players' spiel from, which is interesting in itself as that's obviously the party line, but it means we're doomed to forever have squads made up of unready youth players and no depth or competition.
He's permanently going to tell us that they know what they're doing but it's knowledge coming from a microchips magnate and a competition lawyer whose only experience working in football is a series of colossal omnishambles and increasingly ridiculous PR gaffes. They're a bunch of wankers is what I'm getting at.
He has also insulted our most successful CEO by treating his approach with complete contempt. He has shown incredible ignorance and stupidity by not listening to those who are far better informed than his pathetic yes men. His complaints about injuries are astounding - perhaps even a little shrewd investment in the squad might just have plugged that gap a little better than the suicidal mistakes repeated after the summer before.
Back when a lot of us were still unsure over whether he could make things work we asked simply for communication; an explanation of his vision. That KM has failed spectacularly to deliver that is surely reason enough for her departure. If nothing else she has added to the loathing now felt for him.
Possibly his final chance to heal the wounds he has inflicted on so many and he has failed miserably, just pretending nothing's wrong with his so obviously flawed approach. To date he has taken us dramatically backwards both on and off the pitch, and has now confirmed very publicly that he feels the only way to repair the damage is to keep making the same mistakes. Incredible.
To focus on these latest media releases and to put them in some context they were in effect a pretty bulk standard set of responses to a business in trouble. Once again however as with 90% of the clubs communications the audience was largely internal. It was geared to rallying the troops in the face of the constant criticism and increasing media attention on how they are running the club.
There was a gram of contrition for the reading public.
Once again as with the all club communications it was all about headline and broad brush "fluff" without substance and most crucially a shred of anything remotely addressing a clear decisive and convincing plan to put it right.
Much of it reads like a wish list to Santa Claus. We want to do this, we would like to do that, we have made mistakes, we are still learning (trying to be good) but not one shred of evidence of how they intend to address any of the issues. It was akin to the owner and Captain of the Titanic assuring everyone is trying to ensure the boat is heading in the right direction, was in fact unsinkable, without understanding any of the pitfalls their business planning and design had in store when all too soon the evidence suggested and proved to be entirely the opposite.
His few references to the substance of the problems were worryingly either exceptionally naïve or were cynical "spin".
No one speaks of having a full squad of 35 senior players, even the PL demands clubs carry only 25 senior players.
All clubs have the ambition to promote players from their academy when they are ready, within the right playing infrastructure, with the right players around them to enable them to develop and contribute. Their policies do not create a situation where they have to be thrown in because there is no one else.
I have long since bored everyone to death with my analysis of the playing strength of the senior squad. It has been and remains appallingly constructed and completely and quite literally unfit for purpose.
M Duchatelet your comments come days after the closure of the January Transfer Window where the Owner, CEO and "President" had the opportunity to act in, and demonstrably show their, support of their "new" head coach and the players in bringing in a range of quality new players able to address the challenges we face.
Reversals of 0-5 and 0-6 do not happen by accident they occur through flawed policy and implementation. The opportunity was there to change policy and support not through words but through actions. Words are cheap.
Where in the actions taken is there any evidence this executive have learned anything over the past 2yrs of their stewardship? Once again you pursued corporate theory and policy over meeting palpable practical operational needs - "the emperor does indeed fiddle while Rome burns".
Putting aside the "rumours" concerning the possible appointment of a Serbian coach your actions involve six player acquisitions only one of whom has been ready to contribute as he was playing regularly at a comparable level, one has already left us, three are not yet deemed to be fit to even start a game while the other is in a playing position for which we already carry cover. We even tried to bring in another player for exactly the same position.
In essence across Johnson, Williams, Poyet, Texeira, Fanni and Sanogo just one has been able to contribute and even he is completely new to the Championship.
When staring into the abyss of relegation your executive have singularly failed to learn from their mistakes and have once again been completely incapable of securing/ providing the necessary resources to the head coach to do his job. When will you understand it is a fundamental part of your job to facilitate and empower? You once again have failed to act in delivering to the footballing business requirements.
The condemnation of your footballing policies is industry wide so it may well be other clubs have no wish for their players to join us, or the players and their agents see little point in submitting themselves to the risk of playing for this regime.
No matter the playing attributes of the players concerned after the tribulations of McAleny and Williams and the current situation with Poyet why would they? Please tell me what exactly does this regime offer any serious competitive professional footballer? Please tell me why the club after 5 transfer windows has failed to secure a single permanent transfer of a UK player directly from another UK club in the top four divisions of the English game.
M. Duchatelet I am sure you and your CEO are dismayed by the reaction to your philanthropic investment in the club but you are the architect of your own downfall. You have a vision and are pursuing an idealistic plan built around the "new academy" while working with the local community trust.
Yet for a man who understands "you cannot build tall buildings without strong foundations" you have repeatedly rejected the entreaties of the professionals (you have gone through 5) you chose to employ to invest in the strong playing infrastructure and foundations necessary for your vision to be delivered.
Indeed it is not the fans who are rushing to judgement in calling for your departure it is you who has chosen to try to rush through the implementation of your vision, your strategy and your policies onto playing foundations and an infrastructure simply unable to carry the weight.
So despite all the rhetoric of understanding repeated mistakes have been made, despite the understanding of supporters concerns, despite the hand wringing over the extensive injury list, ( largely attributable to the inadequate player recruitment policy) the evidence of just the past few weeks clearly shows you have learned nothing and there is absolutely nothing that has changed or will change.
You as with the CEO, as with the "President" have offered nothing but empty words. Shame on you all.
So thank you for your efforts, thank you for finding the time to talk to our local media, thank you for confirming you, as many of us have long feared you, actually have nothing of value to say.
Next time don't call us we will call you. In fact if you listen closely we already are.
We are calling on you and your inadequate CEO to go and go now.
http://forum.charltonlife.com/discussion/71600/roland-duchatelet-on-interview-with-cafc-official
And it is comments like these that make me (and others) wonder how any sensible fan can support this regime? His plans are at best flawed and, at worst downright ridiculous! We are a laughing stock and will plummet through the leagues with dwindling crowds and a generation of fans lost yet people are happy to sit and watch with their blankets and coffee saying "But who else is there?" or "If it wasn't for the Belgians, where would we be?" I know there isn't many of you left but for those still thinking that way, get your head out of your arse and look at the bigger picture!
The bloke is an idiot, lets spend all the leftover CARD money on the lottery..
I don't want to overstate my point, and I realise the danger in that, but we often do hear that this site is one of two things:
1. a small number of obsessives
2. Not representative or particularly significant of the wider fanbase
Perhaps the first is at least partially true! But most often, we hear this when someone feels the need to be dismissive: "That's just a message board thing!"—Richard Murray helping to birth the 2% movement.
Well, in the past thirty days, we have had more than 68,000 unique visitors and well over 4 million page views. Though this is somewhat affected by the current situation and external interest, of the visitors from 150 different countries (shoutout to Belgium, who moved into the top 10 list this month), over 40,000 or 90%+ are UK based (60%+ of that, directly from the club's catchment area: guess what, that's about the same as the capacity of The Valley!). And these numbers actually aren't unusual. In fact, we're down on the comparative period last year in terms of new users and up only a little on number of pages consumed per visit. And we're down 16% from the same period in 2014.
We don't do anything to actively encourage this (in fact, you could argue that we've willfully neglected growing the site, and I'll hold my hand up to that... sorry!), beyond providing, in the best way we currently can, a space for productive Charlton-related discussion, organisation and action (witness, just in recent times, CAST, Spell it Out, CARD, supporting the Upbeats, Member-causes etc., etc.).
We can argue about the meaning of this data all day long, but the fact is, this little message board plays its role and plays its role well. We have a very active number of regular contributors. If you confuse the number of active contributors with the power of this site's reach... well, you've made a mistake. Our active members may or may not be representative of the total fanbase, but you'd be wrong in saying that we as a collective (and including other Charlton-related message boards and blogs, or any kind of websites) aren't influential. We can't be dismissed easily.
Remove the supporters that are representative of this site, including the relatively small number of active contributors AND the much, much larger number of active lurkers, from the wider fanbase and see how sustainable the club is. It certainly won't be anything like the Charlton we know. The thing is, no one can remove us.
Over many years, Charlton supporters have come to the aid of the club in dramatic times and this has created a sense of community rooted in the very fabric of the club that is much deeper than at many, many other clubs. This site has been privileged to be a platform for that in the past ten years.
Unfortunately for Roland, he's bought the wrong club.
We know it. And he's only just beginning to see it, because he's quite obviously a slow learner.