Have been with family all day & only just home so, briefly, want to say a huge thanks to those that have posted , whether their views on the evening were positive or not....fortunately most were in the former category.
A couple of things I'd like to comment on :
Children are allowed to attend but at the full price. I made the point when this was questioned a couple of months ago that the dinner is primarily organised with adults in mind , with the Club's junior section( name keeps changing!) having various parties throughout the season to cater for the young 'uns. Last night, I believe there was a total of 4 children present, none of those younger than 9 , and 2 of them being our eldest grandkids who were pleading to attend since last year's event. NONE of these children ran around, spoiled anyone's evening or were out of place at the dinner, hence I see no reason whatsoever to change the policy next time...
The question of pricing has been done to death on here and although I understand the opinions of some, the only venue for an event where current players are asked to attend is The Valley. And all events held here have to use DNC catering.End of. There is little, if any, scope for negotiation regarding meal prices, and as such we chose to go with a 2 course option for the 2nd year running otherwise the cost per person would have increased by several pounds. Our "profit" margin , as last time, was negligible and unless the raffle was a stupendous money maker ( and I believe guests were VERY generous last night ) we are looking at a loss for the first time in 6 years. These facts are purely to illustrate to those who question the cost/venue/ quality of meal etc what we have to work with. And, TBH, I thought last night's dinner was a definite improvement on last year's.
As always, I found the majority of our players to be happy to engage with guests, have pics taken & to give autographs. There was a couple of no shows but that is par for the course and for various reasons. EVERY table had one if not two players in attendance and I tried hard to spread evenly those with a high profile. The players at our table were happy to chat throughout the meal but if memory serves me right, few questions were asked about next season....mainly because we are more than usually aware that most are as in the dark as ourselves at this moment in time. I honestly have NO tidbits to share with you unless you're keen to know where they are holidaying , whether they live locally or what time they arrived home from Leeds. Sorry to disappoint but this is not bullsh*t.
Regarding KM's attendance, we did not know for sure whether she would come or not until the last minute as I guess she wanted it that way. We usually have the names of those seated at the "Directors' Table" in advance but not this time. For the 6 years that Ian & I have been involved in the dinner, Directors have never been seated at the Top Table- this is always set up for the Head Coach/Manager, his assistant, Head Physio, Head of the Academy and similar personnel, and this year was no exception. There was quite a lot of laughter and general hilarity from KM's table, at least whilst we were awaiting the arrival of a few latecoming players and I did see our CEO engaging with one of our club sponsors sitting close by but apart from that, I had no reason to notice what she did or didn't do during the evening. In fact, we didn't speak or make eye contact in the whole 4 hours...However, our grandkids did return to our table after the presentations were over, both with her autograph which I believe they thought was hilarious and basically did for a joke !
Think that's all I need to say at this point so I hope we can put this to bed now and all look forward to a real celebration next May , with a sell out event once again. In a rare Gwyneth Paltrow moment, I'd like to thank everyone present last night that made a point of coming to say hello and , in the main, to say how much they had enjoyed their evening...it does make it all worthwhile. But, it is always a team run event with Ian taking on most of the responsibilities on the day and with the lovely Marilyn assisting us this time making life much less stressful. The circumstances were not ideal this year as you're all well aware but we are indebted to Joe & Fizz for their invaluable help beforehand and to Olly & his team on the night. And finally, many thanks for the congrats coming my way for the award which was a total surprise to me ( thanks, Ian !) and which I shall treasure especially as it was presented by an undoubtedly decent man who, sadly we may not see in SE 7 again. He's one manager that "gets" us and our great club and because of this may be walking out of the door, unable to work under our unique owner. Sad times indeed...
Maybe he'd agree to put up a banner on the home dugout next Saturday....
These facts are purely to illustrate to those who question the cost/venue/ quality of meal etc what we have to work with. And, TBH, I thought last night's dinner was a definite improvement on last year's.
Congratulations Fanny, well deserved. Sorry you don't support the right cricket team though, Compton and Edrich, what a pair !!!
A couple of things stand out for me on this thread. 3 bodyguards and a bag search. So if Tony Soprano came to the dinner with a pistol down the back of his pants he would be ok, but his partner having a stress ball in her handbag would be thrown out. Very odd.
3 bodyguards is either overkill or underkill. To surround your self with more than one person to protect you at a function where people are dressed for a dinner, and in a place of work seems to imply that you are terrified of something bad happening. If something did happen would 3 bodyguards be able to stop it. I'm guessing that of the 200 odd people there, 70% would be men, that's 140 to 3. Now I know that's not a true reflection, a lot of elderly people would be there, but if I were a betting man I'd be on the side of the majority. I really can't understand the logic of all this, but then I'm a man..............
These were probably just three blokes there for show, simply guest performers on The Katrien Miere Show. Presumably untrained and cheap just like everyone else the Belgian's have employed.
Just another prop to cast the illusion of being in control, untouchable and content. Nothing more than her nice dress and snide smirks.
These were probably just three blokes there for show, simply guest performers on The Katrien Miere Show. Presumably untrained and cheap just like everyone else the Belgian's have employed.
Just another prop to cast the illusion of being in control, untouchable and content. Nothing more than her nice dress and snide smirks.
If it's the geezers I've seen in some of the recent photos and videos, my niece would walk straight through them and she's only 6
Just to add regarding children being present, that I am usually one who hates kids being at events meant for adults as mostly they make a noise and run around with parents making no attempt to control them. However, at POTY, FF's grandchildren were not only well behaved but also invaluable showing people to their tables as they arrived, as well as helping to sell tickets and collect money for raffle. I didn't even know there were two others there, so must have been equally well behaved. Not a problem at all.
These were probably just three blokes there for show, simply guest performers on The Katrien Miere Show. Presumably untrained and cheap just like everyone else the Belgian's have employed.
Just another prop to cast the illusion of being in control, untouchable and content. Nothing more than her nice dress and snide smirks.
If that's her real reasoning (it wouldn't surprise me) it shows just how out of control she is. Because there is far more to notice than just the dress and the snide smirks; that's why we are discussing the bodyguard overkill. Being in control means having the ability to calmly chat over dinner with some of your best customers. It means not feeling the need for any more security than you'd normally expect a functioning business to have. It means being able to go about your duties unfettered from the worry of what people might do or say, because you know that they are on your side.
That's not the case for Meire though. She knows she's made cock-up after cock-up. She knows that the most momentous one was to get us relegated. She knows that 2% is the proportion of fans who just about tolerate her and that the vast majority absolutely hate her. Whatever it is that she's trying to project, the fact is that she is not in control at all. The Met Police statement was the last throw of the dice for her. CARD called her bluff and the world could see that she had no more control over this situation than a worm in the beak of a robin. That's why she had to jet off to Dubai, because there was nothing else for her to do here but suffer the ignominy of being the most incompetent CEO in English football. Since then we've had the west stand protest and with Burnley on the horizon, things are only going to get worse for her.
Katrien isn't in control, she's in a tailspin and tumbling towards the ground at a rapid rate of knots. I can't wait for her to hit the deck because I think that in typical Merde manner, we could see a huge fireball that will keep us entertained for years. Most of all though, because that crash will be the surest sign to Roly that he has to go too.
These were probably just three blokes there for show, simply guest performers on The Katrien Miere Show. Presumably untrained and cheap just like everyone else the Belgian's have employed.
Just another prop to cast the illusion of being in control, untouchable and content. Nothing more than her nice dress and snide smirks.
christ, 3 bodyguards to an event like that.....she's a freak. Taking a train home from watford when we just lost 5-0...she's a freak.
She doesn't mind approaching fans in Floyd road and asking them if they are scared of her though.
It was worth taking 3 bodyguards to an event like that when she could have stayed at home. Was it really worth it? She has the class of a hillbilly, I knew should would attend this event. She can't resist even though it would do her no favour. She really is embarrassing.
Even in the ground, if people were in close proximity to her, I doubt anyone would actually physically attack her. No one would stoop that low. She would and should just get the verbal abuse.
3 heavies may lead people to believe she is someone important...probably her understanding of it.
The implications are there to make clear enough assumptions that the players can probably casually slag off the regime without much giving of a shit and fear of outcome it will get em in trouble. If anything they would probably want them to hear it out of anger and frustration due to the utter disrespect.
If no one wants to give specifics I have absolutely no problem with that myself. I suppose if your listening to a person open up and that person is trusting you and buying drinks whilst you converse, you may feel guilty by going home and writing the conversation all up on a message board.
Of course though as fans it's interesting to know what the players perception is of the regime.
I'd like to see the look on Meire face if she was showed the evidence from a number of players that they thought she is a twat and that they back the protests.
"Bodyguards" so if on par with all her and their other signings the first time they are fronted two will run around screaming and then disappear with some sort of imagined injury for 6 months. The other will come out swinging like a mad man but fold in a nano second after being spoken to harshly----- jobs a good un.
In fairness, she can't really win, she's being slagged off on here for having the nerve to attend, she would be equally criticised on here if she hadn't attended. Murrays absence speaks more to me about his current feelings then her attendance.
In fairness, she can't really win, she's being slagged off on here for having the nerve to attend, she would be equally criticised on here if she hadn't attended. Murrays absence speaks more to me about his current feelings then her attendance.
If any normal person had to be accompanied to their works Christmas party by 3 bodyguards surely at some point they would ask themselves "What the hell am I doing to myself?"
It would seem dear Katrien isn't blessed with any degree of self-awareness or self-respect.
In fairness, she can't really win, she's being slagged off on here for having the nerve to attend, she would be equally criticised on here if she hadn't attended. Murrays absence speaks more to me about his current feelings then her attendance.
If any normal person had to be accompanied to their works Christmas party by 3 bodyguards surely at some point they would ask themselves "What the hell am I doing to myself?"
It would seem dear Katrien isn't blessed with any degree of self-awareness or self-respect.
She has made her deal with the devil, she has to deal with it, but my point stands if she had not shown up.
No, you're right. She's damned if she does and damned if she doesn't. She frames all her interactions with the fans in terms of a fight now. Sunday was her act of defiance. She was defying a room full of people who were basically happy to ignore her all night. Its so wrong-headed it would be laughable if it wasn't so sad.
Comments
A couple of things I'd like to comment on :
Children are allowed to attend but at the full price. I made the point when this was questioned a couple of months ago that the dinner is primarily organised with adults in mind , with the Club's junior section( name keeps changing!) having various parties throughout the season to cater for the young 'uns. Last night, I believe there was a total of 4 children present, none of those younger than 9 , and 2 of them being our eldest grandkids who were pleading to attend since last year's event. NONE of these children ran around, spoiled anyone's evening or were out of place at the dinner, hence I see no reason whatsoever to change the policy next time...
The question of pricing has been done to death on here and although I understand the opinions of some, the only venue for an event where current players are asked to attend is The Valley. And all events held here have to use DNC catering.End of. There is little, if any, scope for negotiation regarding meal prices, and as such we chose to go with a 2 course option for the 2nd year running otherwise the cost per person would have increased by several pounds. Our "profit" margin , as last time, was negligible and unless the raffle was a stupendous money maker ( and I believe guests were VERY generous last night ) we are looking at a loss for the first time in 6 years. These facts are purely to illustrate to those who question the cost/venue/ quality of meal etc what we have to work with. And, TBH, I thought last night's dinner was a definite improvement on last year's.
As always, I found the majority of our players to be happy to engage with guests, have pics taken & to give autographs. There was a couple of no shows but that is par for the course and for various reasons. EVERY table had one if not two players in attendance and I tried hard to spread evenly those with a high profile. The players at our table were happy to chat throughout the meal but if memory serves me right, few questions were asked about next season....mainly because we are more than usually aware that most are as in the dark as ourselves at this moment in time. I honestly have NO tidbits to share with you unless you're keen to know where they are holidaying , whether they live locally or what time they arrived home from Leeds. Sorry to disappoint but this is not bullsh*t.
Regarding KM's attendance, we did not know for sure whether she would come or not until the last minute as I guess she wanted it that way. We usually have the names of those seated at the "Directors' Table" in advance but not this time. For the 6 years that Ian & I have been involved in the dinner, Directors have never been seated at the Top Table- this is always set up for the Head Coach/Manager, his assistant, Head Physio, Head of the Academy and similar personnel, and this year was no exception. There was quite a lot of laughter and general hilarity from KM's table, at least whilst we were awaiting the arrival of a few latecoming players and I did see our CEO engaging with one of our club sponsors sitting close by but apart from that, I had no reason to notice what she did or didn't do during the evening. In fact, we didn't speak or make eye contact in the whole 4 hours...However, our grandkids did return to our table after the presentations were over, both with her autograph which I believe they thought was hilarious and basically did for a joke !
Think that's all I need to say at this point so I hope we can put this to bed now and all look forward to a real celebration next May , with a sell out event once again. In a rare Gwyneth Paltrow moment, I'd like to thank everyone present last night that made a point of coming to say hello and , in the main, to say how much they had enjoyed their evening...it does make it all worthwhile. But, it is always a team run event with Ian taking on most of the responsibilities on the day and with the lovely Marilyn assisting us this time making life much less stressful. The circumstances were not ideal this year as you're all well aware but we are indebted to Joe & Fizz for their invaluable help beforehand and to Olly & his team on the night. And finally, many thanks for the congrats coming my way for the award which was a total surprise to me ( thanks, Ian !) and which I shall treasure especially as it was presented by an undoubtedly decent man who, sadly we may not see in SE 7 again. He's one manager that "gets" us and our great club and because of this may be walking out of the door, unable to work under our unique owner. Sad times indeed...
Maybe he'd agree to put up a banner on the home dugout next Saturday....
You really do epitomise the spirit of the "real" Charlton, if I may be so bold.
A couple of things stand out for me on this thread. 3 bodyguards and a bag search. So if Tony Soprano came to the dinner with a pistol down the back of his pants he would be ok, but his partner having a stress ball in her handbag would be thrown out. Very odd.
3 bodyguards is either overkill or underkill. To surround your self with more than one person to protect you at a function where people are dressed for a dinner, and in a place of work seems to imply that you are terrified of something bad happening. If something did happen would 3 bodyguards be able to stop it. I'm guessing that of the 200 odd people there, 70% would be men, that's 140 to 3. Now I know that's not a true reflection, a lot of elderly people would be there, but if I were a betting man I'd be on the side of the majority. I really can't understand the logic of all this, but then I'm a man..............
These were probably just three blokes there for show, simply guest performers on The Katrien Miere Show. Presumably untrained and cheap just like everyone else the Belgian's have employed.
Just another prop to cast the illusion of being in control, untouchable and content. Nothing more than her nice dress and snide smirks.
That's not the case for Meire though. She knows she's made cock-up after cock-up. She knows that the most momentous one was to get us relegated. She knows that 2% is the proportion of fans who just about tolerate her and that the vast majority absolutely hate her. Whatever it is that she's trying to project, the fact is that she is not in control at all. The Met Police statement was the last throw of the dice for her. CARD called her bluff and the world could see that she had no more control over this situation than a worm in the beak of a robin. That's why she had to jet off to Dubai, because there was nothing else for her to do here but suffer the ignominy of being the most incompetent CEO in English football. Since then we've had the west stand protest and with Burnley on the horizon, things are only going to get worse for her.
Katrien isn't in control, she's in a tailspin and tumbling towards the ground at a rapid rate of knots. I can't wait for her to hit the deck because I think that in typical Merde manner, we could see a huge fireball that will keep us entertained for years. Most of all though, because that crash will be the surest sign to Roly that he has to go too.
She doesn't mind approaching fans in Floyd road and asking them if they are scared of her though.
It was worth taking 3 bodyguards to an event like that when she could have stayed at home. Was it really worth it? She has the class of a hillbilly, I knew should would attend this event. She can't resist even though it would do her no favour.
She really is embarrassing.
Even in the ground, if people were in close proximity to her, I doubt anyone would actually physically attack her. No one would stoop that low. She would and should just get the verbal abuse.
3 heavies may lead people to believe she is someone important...probably her understanding of it.
And IIIIIIII-e-III will al-ways Haaaattteee you
The implications are there to make clear enough assumptions that the players can probably casually slag off the regime without much giving of a shit and fear of outcome it will get em in trouble. If anything they would probably want them to hear it out of anger and frustration due to the utter disrespect.
If no one wants to give specifics I have absolutely no problem with that myself. I suppose if your listening to a person open up and that person is trusting you and buying drinks whilst you converse, you may feel guilty by going home and writing the conversation all up on a message board.
Of course though as fans it's interesting to know what the players perception is of the regime.
I'd like to see the look on Meire face if she was showed the evidence from a number of players that they thought she is a twat and that they back the protests.
"It got so bad I couldn't even attend our annual player of the year award without having to hire people to protect me blah blah blah"
Murrays absence speaks more to me about his current feelings then her attendance.
It would seem dear Katrien isn't blessed with any degree of self-awareness or self-respect.