I've not yet written, but what concerns me most about these answers (except the ludicrous one about the Royal Mail from the oft-misinterpretated Mandy) is that there is absolutely nothing about plans to change the future. What's the point of acknowledging mistakes when they continue to do the same thing regardless? Who cares if they hope things will be better? Tell us what you're going to do, otherwise it's just platitudes.
My response above did refer to judging them on actions rather than statements and went on to cite affordable football and family activities...
I wrote the following e-mail on Friday and received this reply this afternoon. They still seem to be blaming Royal Mail for the season ticket debacle. Only replying to part of the e-mail.
Dear Sirs
I originally wrote to you on 16th March(see below) and I received a reply from Mandy Anderson-Myers(also see below), as yet the renewal form has not arrived, it would appear to me the glitch the club had at the time when this year’s season tickets were processed still exists. I was informed by Ms Anderson-Myers at that time that it was all the fault of Royal Mail as to why my season ticket had not arrived, this later turned out to be untrue, and the club had to make an apology, as it was the system at fault. Does this glitch still exist? as I would have expected the ticketing office staff would have worked very hard to ensure that the same debacle does not occur this year. Could you please check as to why I have not been sent an renewal form, or is it that Ms Meire no longer wants my patronage, being that I am the wrong side of 60, which I believe she stated in one of her press interviews.
Could you also advise if there will be a reduction in the season ticket prices in form of a rebate to those who renew before the deadline, if as it seem likely that the club will be relegated to Division 1, like Norwich City did a few years ago, to reward their loyal fans when they were in the same situation, as I do not see myself renewing at the prices on offer at the moment, to watch inferior football in a lower league.
Regards
Dear Mr
Thank you for your email. It has been confirmed by the mailing house that season ticket brochures have been posted, if you have not received a copy I will gladly send you one today. Regarding your comment regarding the loss of season cards for the 2015/16 season tickets. Charlton Athletic apologised as it was the correct and professional thing to do. All season cards left these premises with the appropriate post marking and time to be delivered. Royal Mail were unable to supply a suitable report to the lack of cards being delivered.
Regards
Mandy Anderson-Myers (Mrs) Ticket Office Manager
If Mandy believes that she's even stupider than I thought.
I've not yet written, but what concerns me most about these answers (except the ludicrous one about the Royal Mail from the oft-misinterpretated Mandy) is that there is absolutely nothing about plans to change the future. What's the point of acknowledging mistakes when they continue to do the same thing regardless? Who cares if they hope things will be better? Tell us what you're going to do, otherwise it's just platitudes.
I have been a Charlton fan since February 1981, when my Uncle took me to my first game. Since then I have introduced my school friends, various family members and work colleagues to Charlton. As a father of two daughters I never thought I'd get to experience the joy of sharing a matchday with my child. To my extreme delight, my (then) 8 year old daughter, wanted to come to a game with me. She enjoyed it that much, that I bought her a season ticket last summer, which changed my matchday experience as I have always had a pre-match beer & banter with the boys....two of which are good life-long friends in fact.
However, I've had to break my daughter's heart by telling her that we won't be renewing our season tickets for the 2016-17 season. I simply will not pay any further money to CAFC whilst Duchatelet & Meire are at the helm. Last week's statement, or should I say rant, was the final straw. What an absolutely disgraceful piece of work to publish - poorly written, inaccurate, rude and baffling. How on earth do you expect to attract people to the club with garbage like that?
Yes Duchatelet has paid for a new pitch and he paid for the stadium to have a lick of paint and yes he has plans to improve the training facilities. But the most important thing is the first team!!! Potential fans will ONLY be interested in coming to The Valley if the first team is playing attractive football.....they won't care if the seats have recently been replaced at The Valley, they won't care about the training facilities. Duchatelet & Meire have made mistake after mistake and are making matters worse.....the club is a laughing stock on & off the pitch. In the two years they have been here they have taken us backwards....5 Head Coaches in that period speaks volumes of their incompetence and Meire's insistence that they were all proven to be good appointments is simply an insult. But she seems to take joy in doing this, as it's a regular occurrence.
I speak to dozens of fans every matchday and I have yet to meet anybody that agrees with Duchatelet's running of the club. I am fed up with the dross being served up on & off the pitch and like many many others have no desire to be any further part of this mad man's pathetic experiment.....IT IS NOT WORKING!!! He has not improved the team, we are about to be relegated to League One and they have lost a large chunk of fans with no chance of recovering them.
Why on earth was that statement issued in such poor English? Why has it not been explained since? Especially given the negative media attention it received. Why employ a Head of Communications to then completely undermine them with the issuing of such a terrible PR own goal? (We have to assume that is why Mel Baroni resigned.) Why did nobody at the club put their name to this statement? Why should I pay Duchatelet any further money so that he can destroy what is left of MY club? Why will he not meet with fans? If he doesn't have the time, why did he buy the club? Let somebody who can dedicate their time to us takeover.
I expect you'll send some template answer claiming everything is fine and the owner can do what he wants, if you reply at all.....not holding my breath! But things need to change - Duchatelet & Meire have to go......they have caused too much damage that they cannot rectify.
Their reply, received 13 days later;
Thank you for your email.
We understand your concerns and value the fact of the huge part our supporters play in the running of the club. We obviously are disappointed to hear that you and your family will not be renewing your season tickets, but we understand. And we know we have a major job to do to bring back fans like yourself to The Valley, and the staff here are trying hard to improve things at the club for the future.
The statement was a public attempt to address the concerns of Mr Duchatelet. We are working towards building a better future therefore positive things are happening at the club to try and move forward such as recruiting a new chief scout to improve recruitment, the development of the academy as we benefit from strong players from our academy. This is a major investment programme taking place at the training ground which will be complete in around 18 months time. This is an important commitment in the future of the Academy and will help ensure that we will continue to attract the best young talent from across London and the South East.
We are working hard to work closer with fans. Plans have started on that already but in light of recent events we will need to put in place plans that can help repair trust between now and the start of the new season.
The Community Trust will ensure that the club remains an important community hub and at the club we are working on initiatives that will see us connect more with the local community. Again, we hope fans will play a role here.
Mr Duchatelet also met with some partners during his visit in February. These are all people who are first and foremost fans and a full and frank discussion about the direction of the club was had with this group.
Hope this helps.
Thank you for your support.
Kind Regards
The Supporter Relations Team
What a pile of crap and a complete and utter waste of time.
I have been a Charlton fan since February 1981, when my Uncle took me to my first game. Since then I have introduced my school friends, various family members and work colleagues to Charlton. As a father of two daughters I never thought I'd get to experience the joy of sharing a matchday with my child. To my extreme delight, my (then) 8 year old daughter, wanted to come to a game with me. She enjoyed it that much, that I bought her a season ticket last summer, which changed my matchday experience as I have always had a pre-match beer & banter with the boys....two of which are good life-long friends in fact.
However, I've had to break my daughter's heart by telling her that we won't be renewing our season tickets for the 2016-17 season. I simply will not pay any further money to CAFC whilst Duchatelet & Meire are at the helm. Last week's statement, or should I say rant, was the final straw. What an absolutely disgraceful piece of work to publish - poorly written, inaccurate, rude and baffling. How on earth do you expect to attract people to the club with garbage like that?
Yes Duchatelet has paid for a new pitch and he paid for the stadium to have a lick of paint and yes he has plans to improve the training facilities. But the most important thing is the first team!!! Potential fans will ONLY be interested in coming to The Valley if the first team is playing attractive football.....they won't care if the seats have recently been replaced at The Valley, they won't care about the training facilities. Duchatelet & Meire have made mistake after mistake and are making matters worse.....the club is a laughing stock on & off the pitch. In the two years they have been here they have taken us backwards....5 Head Coaches in that period speaks volumes of their incompetence and Meire's insistence that they were all proven to be good appointments is simply an insult. But she seems to take joy in doing this, as it's a regular occurrence.
I speak to dozens of fans every matchday and I have yet to meet anybody that agrees with Duchatelet's running of the club. I am fed up with the dross being served up on & off the pitch and like many many others have no desire to be any further part of this mad man's pathetic experiment.....IT IS NOT WORKING!!! He has not improved the team, we are about to be relegated to League One and they have lost a large chunk of fans with no chance of recovering them.
Why on earth was that statement issued in such poor English? Why has it not been explained since? Especially given the negative media attention it received. Why employ a Head of Communications to then completely undermine them with the issuing of such a terrible PR own goal? (We have to assume that is why Mel Baroni resigned.) Why did nobody at the club put their name to this statement? Why should I pay Duchatelet any further money so that he can destroy what is left of MY club? Why will he not meet with fans? If he doesn't have the time, why did he buy the club? Let somebody who can dedicate their time to us takeover.
I expect you'll send some template answer claiming everything is fine and the owner can do what he wants, if you reply at all.....not holding my breath! But things need to change - Duchatelet & Meire have to go......they have caused too much damage that they cannot rectify.
Their reply, received 13 days later;
Thank you for your email.
We understand your concerns and value the fact of the huge part our supporters play in the running of the club. We obviously are disappointed to hear that you and your family will not be renewing your season tickets, but we understand. And we know we have a major job to do to bring back fans like yourself to The Valley, and the staff here are trying hard to improve things at the club for the future.
The statement was a public attempt to address the concerns of Mr Duchatelet. We are working towards building a better future therefore positive things are happening at the club to try and move forward such as recruiting a new chief scout to improve recruitment, the development of the academy as we benefit from strong players from our academy. This is a major investment programme taking place at the training ground which will be complete in around 18 months time. This is an important commitment in the future of the Academy and will help ensure that we will continue to attract the best young talent from across London and the South East.
We are working hard to work closer with fans. Plans have started on that already but in light of recent events we will need to put in place plans that can help repair trust between now and the start of the new season.
The Community Trust will ensure that the club remains an important community hub and at the club we are working on initiatives that will see us connect more with the local community. Again, we hope fans will play a role here.
Mr Duchatelet also met with some partners during his visit in February. These are all people who are first and foremost fans and a full and frank discussion about the direction of the club was had with this group.
Hope this helps.
Thank you for your support.
Kind Regards
The Supporter Relations Team
What a pile of crap and a complete and utter waste of time.
The annexation of CACT into the Duchatelet version of reality continues.
All they needed to say was "Our continued support for the Community Trust..."
I have been a Charlton fan since February 1981, when my Uncle took me to my first game. Since then I have introduced my school friends, various family members and work colleagues to Charlton. As a father of two daughters I never thought I'd get to experience the joy of sharing a matchday with my child. To my extreme delight, my (then) 8 year old daughter, wanted to come to a game with me. She enjoyed it that much, that I bought her a season ticket last summer, which changed my matchday experience as I have always had a pre-match beer & banter with the boys....two of which are good life-long friends in fact.
However, I've had to break my daughter's heart by telling her that we won't be renewing our season tickets for the 2016-17 season. I simply will not pay any further money to CAFC whilst Duchatelet & Meire are at the helm. Last week's statement, or should I say rant, was the final straw. What an absolutely disgraceful piece of work to publish - poorly written, inaccurate, rude and baffling. How on earth do you expect to attract people to the club with garbage like that?
Yes Duchatelet has paid for a new pitch and he paid for the stadium to have a lick of paint and yes he has plans to improve the training facilities. But the most important thing is the first team!!! Potential fans will ONLY be interested in coming to The Valley if the first team is playing attractive football.....they won't care if the seats have recently been replaced at The Valley, they won't care about the training facilities. Duchatelet & Meire have made mistake after mistake and are making matters worse.....the club is a laughing stock on & off the pitch. In the two years they have been here they have taken us backwards....5 Head Coaches in that period speaks volumes of their incompetence and Meire's insistence that they were all proven to be good appointments is simply an insult. But she seems to take joy in doing this, as it's a regular occurrence.
I speak to dozens of fans every matchday and I have yet to meet anybody that agrees with Duchatelet's running of the club. I am fed up with the dross being served up on & off the pitch and like many many others have no desire to be any further part of this mad man's pathetic experiment.....IT IS NOT WORKING!!! He has not improved the team, we are about to be relegated to League One and they have lost a large chunk of fans with no chance of recovering them.
Why on earth was that statement issued in such poor English? Why has it not been explained since? Especially given the negative media attention it received. Why employ a Head of Communications to then completely undermine them with the issuing of such a terrible PR own goal? (We have to assume that is why Mel Baroni resigned.) Why did nobody at the club put their name to this statement? Why should I pay Duchatelet any further money so that he can destroy what is left of MY club? Why will he not meet with fans? If he doesn't have the time, why did he buy the club? Let somebody who can dedicate their time to us takeover.
I expect you'll send some template answer claiming everything is fine and the owner can do what he wants, if you reply at all.....not holding my breath! But things need to change - Duchatelet & Meire have to go......they have caused too much damage that they cannot rectify.
Their reply, received 13 days later;
Thank you for your email.
We understand your concerns and value the fact of the huge part our supporters play in the running of the club. We obviously are disappointed to hear that you and your family will not be renewing your season tickets, but we understand. And we know we have a major job to do to bring back fans like yourself to The Valley, and the staff here are trying hard to improve things at the club for the future.
The statement was a public attempt to address the concerns of Mr Duchatelet. We are working towards building a better future therefore positive things are happening at the club to try and move forward such as recruiting a new chief scout to improve recruitment, the development of the academy as we benefit from strong players from our academy. This is a major investment programme taking place at the training ground which will be complete in around 18 months time. This is an important commitment in the future of the Academy and will help ensure that we will continue to attract the best young talent from across London and the South East.
We are working hard to work closer with fans. Plans have started on that already but in light of recent events we will need to put in place plans that can help repair trust between now and the start of the new season.
The Community Trust will ensure that the club remains an important community hub and at the club we are working on initiatives that will see us connect more with the local community. Again, we hope fans will play a role here.
Mr Duchatelet also met with some partners during his visit in February. These are all people who are first and foremost fans and a full and frank discussion about the direction of the club was had with this group.
Hope this helps.
Thank you for your support.
Kind Regards
The Supporter Relations Team
What a pile of crap and a complete and utter waste of time.
The annexation of CACT into the Duchatelet version of reality continues.
All they needed to say was "Our continued support for the Community Trust..."
I have been a Charlton fan since February 1981, when my Uncle took me to my first game. Since then I have introduced my school friends, various family members and work colleagues to Charlton. As a father of two daughters I never thought I'd get to experience the joy of sharing a matchday with my child. To my extreme delight, my (then) 8 year old daughter, wanted to come to a game with me. She enjoyed it that much, that I bought her a season ticket last summer, which changed my matchday experience as I have always had a pre-match beer & banter with the boys....two of which are good life-long friends in fact.
However, I've had to break my daughter's heart by telling her that we won't be renewing our season tickets for the 2016-17 season. I simply will not pay any further money to CAFC whilst Duchatelet & Meire are at the helm. Last week's statement, or should I say rant, was the final straw. What an absolutely disgraceful piece of work to publish - poorly written, inaccurate, rude and baffling. How on earth do you expect to attract people to the club with garbage like that?
Yes Duchatelet has paid for a new pitch and he paid for the stadium to have a lick of paint and yes he has plans to improve the training facilities. But the most important thing is the first team!!! Potential fans will ONLY be interested in coming to The Valley if the first team is playing attractive football.....they won't care if the seats have recently been replaced at The Valley, they won't care about the training facilities. Duchatelet & Meire have made mistake after mistake and are making matters worse.....the club is a laughing stock on & off the pitch. In the two years they have been here they have taken us backwards....5 Head Coaches in that period speaks volumes of their incompetence and Meire's insistence that they were all proven to be good appointments is simply an insult. But she seems to take joy in doing this, as it's a regular occurrence.
I speak to dozens of fans every matchday and I have yet to meet anybody that agrees with Duchatelet's running of the club. I am fed up with the dross being served up on & off the pitch and like many many others have no desire to be any further part of this mad man's pathetic experiment.....IT IS NOT WORKING!!! He has not improved the team, we are about to be relegated to League One and they have lost a large chunk of fans with no chance of recovering them.
Why on earth was that statement issued in such poor English? Why has it not been explained since? Especially given the negative media attention it received. Why employ a Head of Communications to then completely undermine them with the issuing of such a terrible PR own goal? (We have to assume that is why Mel Baroni resigned.) Why did nobody at the club put their name to this statement? Why should I pay Duchatelet any further money so that he can destroy what is left of MY club? Why will he not meet with fans? If he doesn't have the time, why did he buy the club? Let somebody who can dedicate their time to us takeover.
I expect you'll send some template answer claiming everything is fine and the owner can do what he wants, if you reply at all.....not holding my breath! But things need to change - Duchatelet & Meire have to go......they have caused too much damage that they cannot rectify.
Their reply, received 13 days later;
Thank you for your email.
We understand your concerns and value the fact of the huge part our supporters play in the running of the club. We obviously are disappointed to hear that you and your family will not be renewing your season tickets, but we understand. And we know we have a major job to do to bring back fans like yourself to The Valley, and the staff here are trying hard to improve things at the club for the future.
The statement was a public attempt to address the concerns of Mr Duchatelet. We are working towards building a better future therefore positive things are happening at the club to try and move forward such as recruiting a new chief scout to improve recruitment, the development of the academy as we benefit from strong players from our academy. This is a major investment programme taking place at the training ground which will be complete in around 18 months time. This is an important commitment in the future of the Academy and will help ensure that we will continue to attract the best young talent from across London and the South East.
We are working hard to work closer with fans. Plans have started on that already but in light of recent events we will need to put in place plans that can help repair trust between now and the start of the new season.
The Community Trust will ensure that the club remains an important community hub and at the club we are working on initiatives that will see us connect more with the local community. Again, we hope fans will play a role here.
Mr Duchatelet also met with some partners during his visit in February. These are all people who are first and foremost fans and a full and frank discussion about the direction of the club was had with this group.
Hope this helps.
Thank you for your support.
Kind Regards
The Supporter Relations Team
What a pile of crap and a complete and utter waste of time.
The annexation of CACT into the Duchatelet version of reality continues.
All they needed to say was "Our continued support for the Community Trust..."
Sorry if I missed this, but has anybody who met Duchatelet in February actually come forward or been identified yet?
Q. 1. Who scouts our signings? I suspect it two guys in Belgium using 'statistics' please tell them it isn't working. Why did we start season with only 1 right back who we all know has injury issues?
A. In terms of scouting, our previous scout was Phil Chappell and he departed last autumn. We are currently interviewing for a new chief scout. We have acknowledged that we made errors in terms of recruitment in the summer transfer window. Those that have come through in the January transfer window have provided more stability in the second half of the season.
Q. 2. Who on earth gave Rodger Johnson 18 month contract!? Was it our 'glorious' CEO?
A. In terms of contracts for the players and manager it is the directors of the club who makes these decisions.
Q. 3. Why is club being filled with consultants at expense of staff who know what their doing! Consultants tend to tell you what you want to hear! I suspect this has led to many of issues facing club.
A. The club isn't filled with consultants
Q. 4. What experience does Katrien Meire have in football? She's clearly out of her depth and only got job and I quote her "Because I studied in London"
A. No answer
Q. 5. Who decided to give Karel Fraye managers job and why was he kept on for so long? Whoever made that decision created a first in football the 4-1-1-4 formation.
A. No answer
Q. 6. Is chairman Roland aware how much relegation will cost? £7 million gone from TV rights, very low income from season tickets & very low gates with hardly any support. His going to have to cover a huge loss, plus a few players on long contracts.
A. the owner is fully aware of the associated costs of relegation.
Q. 7. The bizarre thing is with modest investment and correct managerial choice we could be mid table team occasionally challenging for play offs.
A. We were also a mid-table team at the end of last season.
Q. 8. Why was Varney approach ignored? If club wasn't for sale why organize meetings with him & cancel at last minute, this is very unprofessional behavior. He offered to meet Roland or Katrien in London/Belgium so he tried his best to accommodate CAFC why wasn't same respect showed?
A. In terms of Mr Varney. The club was aware that he had approached us in relation to a consortium. On August 19th 2015 he wrote to us saying: “I have an interesting investment proposal to discuss with you in relation to Charlton Athletic.” This is however a very different message than “I have a buyer for your club”. The club agreed then that there was not a need for anybody else to provide additional financial investment. On Jan 6th 2016 it became clear what Mr Varney meant when he wrote: “I met in London today with the overseas investor interested in acquiring Charlton Athletic FC.” All that said, currently, Mr Duchâtelet has no intention of selling the club.
Q. 9. Please tell Roland to sell up for benefit of everyone. For someone who doesn't do failure his really good at it!
A. All that said, currently, Mr Duchâtelet has no intention of selling the club
I leave you with this JFK quote: Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
Q. 1. Who scouts our signings? I suspect it two guys in Belgium using 'statistics' please tell them it isn't working. Why did we start season with only 1 right back who we all know has injury issues?
A. In terms of scouting, our previous scout was Phil Chappell and he departed last autumn. We are currently interviewing for a new chief scout. We have acknowledged that we made errors in terms of recruitment in the summer transfer window. Those that have come through in the January transfer window have provided more stability in the second half of the season.
Q. 2. Who on earth gave Rodger Johnson 18 month contract!? Was it our 'glorious' CEO?
A. In terms of contracts for the players and manager it is the directors of the club who makes these decisions.
Q. 3. Why is club being filled with consultants at expense of staff who know what their doing! Consultants tend to tell you what you want to hear! I suspect this has led to many of issues facing club.
A. The club isn't filled with consultants
Q. 4. What experience does Katrien Meire have in football? She's clearly out of her depth and only got job and I quote her "Because I studied in London"
A. No answer
Q. 5. Who decided to give Karel Fraye managers job and why was he kept on for so long? Whoever made that decision created a first in football the 4-1-1-4 formation.
A. No answer
Q. 6. Is chairman Roland aware how much relegation will cost? £7 million gone from TV rights, very low income from season tickets & very low gates with hardly any support. His going to have to cover a huge loss, plus a few players on long contracts.
A. the owner is fully aware of the associated costs of relegation.
Q. 7. The bizarre thing is with modest investment and correct managerial choice we could be mid table team occasionally challenging for play offs.
A. We were also a mid-table team at the end of last season.
Q. 8. Why was Varney approach ignored? If club wasn't for sale why organize meetings with him & cancel at last minute, this is very unprofessional behavior. He offered to meet Roland or Katrien in London/Belgium so he tried his best to accommodate CAFC why wasn't same respect showed?
A. In terms of Mr Varney. The club was aware that he had approached us in relation to a consortium. On August 19th 2015 he wrote to us saying: “I have an interesting investment proposal to discuss with you in relation to Charlton Athletic.” This is however a very different message than “I have a buyer for your club”. The club agreed then that there was not a need for anybody else to provide additional financial investment. On Jan 6th 2016 it became clear what Mr Varney meant when he wrote: “I met in London today with the overseas investor interested in acquiring Charlton Athletic FC.” All that said, currently, Mr Duchâtelet has no intention of selling the club.
Q. 9. Please tell Roland to sell up for benefit of everyone. For someone who doesn't do failure his really good at it!
A. All that said, currently, Mr Duchâtelet has no intention of selling the club
I leave you with this JFK quote: Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
Nice to see their version of how to spell Phil Chapple
I have been a Charlton fan since February 1981, when my Uncle took me to my first game. Since then I have introduced my school friends, various family members and work colleagues to Charlton. As a father of two daughters I never thought I'd get to experience the joy of sharing a matchday with my child. To my extreme delight, my (then) 8 year old daughter, wanted to come to a game with me. She enjoyed it that much, that I bought her a season ticket last summer, which changed my matchday experience as I have always had a pre-match beer & banter with the boys....two of which are good life-long friends in fact.
However, I've had to break my daughter's heart by telling her that we won't be renewing our season tickets for the 2016-17 season. I simply will not pay any further money to CAFC whilst Duchatelet & Meire are at the helm. Last week's statement, or should I say rant, was the final straw. What an absolutely disgraceful piece of work to publish - poorly written, inaccurate, rude and baffling. How on earth do you expect to attract people to the club with garbage like that?
Yes Duchatelet has paid for a new pitch and he paid for the stadium to have a lick of paint and yes he has plans to improve the training facilities. But the most important thing is the first team!!! Potential fans will ONLY be interested in coming to The Valley if the first team is playing attractive football.....they won't care if the seats have recently been replaced at The Valley, they won't care about the training facilities. Duchatelet & Meire have made mistake after mistake and are making matters worse.....the club is a laughing stock on & off the pitch. In the two years they have been here they have taken us backwards....5 Head Coaches in that period speaks volumes of their incompetence and Meire's insistence that they were all proven to be good appointments is simply an insult. But she seems to take joy in doing this, as it's a regular occurrence.
I speak to dozens of fans every matchday and I have yet to meet anybody that agrees with Duchatelet's running of the club. I am fed up with the dross being served up on & off the pitch and like many many others have no desire to be any further part of this mad man's pathetic experiment.....IT IS NOT WORKING!!! He has not improved the team, we are about to be relegated to League One and they have lost a large chunk of fans with no chance of recovering them.
Why on earth was that statement issued in such poor English? Why has it not been explained since? Especially given the negative media attention it received. Why employ a Head of Communications to then completely undermine them with the issuing of such a terrible PR own goal? (We have to assume that is why Mel Baroni resigned.) Why did nobody at the club put their name to this statement? Why should I pay Duchatelet any further money so that he can destroy what is left of MY club? Why will he not meet with fans? If he doesn't have the time, why did he buy the club? Let somebody who can dedicate their time to us takeover.
I expect you'll send some template answer claiming everything is fine and the owner can do what he wants, if you reply at all.....not holding my breath! But things need to change - Duchatelet & Meire have to go......they have caused too much damage that they cannot rectify.
Their reply, received 13 days later;
Thank you for your email.
We understand your concerns and value the fact of the huge part our supporters play in the running of the club. We obviously are disappointed to hear that you and your family will not be renewing your season tickets, but we understand. And we know we have a major job to do to bring back fans like yourself to The Valley, and the staff here are trying hard to improve things at the club for the future.
The statement was a public attempt to address the concerns of Mr Duchatelet. We are working towards building a better future therefore positive things are happening at the club to try and move forward such as recruiting a new chief scout to improve recruitment, the development of the academy as we benefit from strong players from our academy. This is a major investment programme taking place at the training ground which will be complete in around 18 months time. This is an important commitment in the future of the Academy and will help ensure that we will continue to attract the best young talent from across London and the South East.
We are working hard to work closer with fans. Plans have started on that already but in light of recent events we will need to put in place plans that can help repair trust between now and the start of the new season.
The Community Trust will ensure that the club remains an important community hub and at the club we are working on initiatives that will see us connect more with the local community. Again, we hope fans will play a role here.
Mr Duchatelet also met with some partners during his visit in February. These are all people who are first and foremost fans and a full and frank discussion about the direction of the club was had with this group.
Hope this helps.
Thank you for your support.
Kind Regards
The Supporter Relations Team
What a pile of crap and a complete and utter waste of time.
The annexation of CACT into the Duchatelet version of reality continues.
All they needed to say was "Our continued support for the Community Trust..."
Sorry if I missed this, but has anybody who met Duchatelet in February actually come forward or been identified yet?
After some drama last week, and an emergency retraction to an email amongst a few apologies - the individuals who met with Duchatelet are still being referred to as "Partners" and no one has been identified or volunteered themselves to be identified.
When I re-iterated the question, despite having a previous response within 25 minutes and responding directly to Phil, neither the club nor Phil responded.
I have been a Charlton fan since February 1981, when my Uncle took me to my first game. Since then I have introduced my school friends, various family members and work colleagues to Charlton. As a father of two daughters I never thought I'd get to experience the joy of sharing a matchday with my child. To my extreme delight, my (then) 8 year old daughter, wanted to come to a game with me. She enjoyed it that much, that I bought her a season ticket last summer, which changed my matchday experience as I have always had a pre-match beer & banter with the boys....two of which are good life-long friends in fact.
However, I've had to break my daughter's heart by telling her that we won't be renewing our season tickets for the 2016-17 season. I simply will not pay any further money to CAFC whilst Duchatelet & Meire are at the helm. Last week's statement, or should I say rant, was the final straw. What an absolutely disgraceful piece of work to publish - poorly written, inaccurate, rude and baffling. How on earth do you expect to attract people to the club with garbage like that?
Yes Duchatelet has paid for a new pitch and he paid for the stadium to have a lick of paint and yes he has plans to improve the training facilities. But the most important thing is the first team!!! Potential fans will ONLY be interested in coming to The Valley if the first team is playing attractive football.....they won't care if the seats have recently been replaced at The Valley, they won't care about the training facilities. Duchatelet & Meire have made mistake after mistake and are making matters worse.....the club is a laughing stock on & off the pitch. In the two years they have been here they have taken us backwards....5 Head Coaches in that period speaks volumes of their incompetence and Meire's insistence that they were all proven to be good appointments is simply an insult. But she seems to take joy in doing this, as it's a regular occurrence.
I speak to dozens of fans every matchday and I have yet to meet anybody that agrees with Duchatelet's running of the club. I am fed up with the dross being served up on & off the pitch and like many many others have no desire to be any further part of this mad man's pathetic experiment.....IT IS NOT WORKING!!! He has not improved the team, we are about to be relegated to League One and they have lost a large chunk of fans with no chance of recovering them.
Why on earth was that statement issued in such poor English? Why has it not been explained since? Especially given the negative media attention it received. Why employ a Head of Communications to then completely undermine them with the issuing of such a terrible PR own goal? (We have to assume that is why Mel Baroni resigned.) Why did nobody at the club put their name to this statement? Why should I pay Duchatelet any further money so that he can destroy what is left of MY club? Why will he not meet with fans? If he doesn't have the time, why did he buy the club? Let somebody who can dedicate their time to us takeover.
I expect you'll send some template answer claiming everything is fine and the owner can do what he wants, if you reply at all.....not holding my breath! But things need to change - Duchatelet & Meire have to go......they have caused too much damage that they cannot rectify.
Their reply, received 13 days later;
Thank you for your email.
We understand your concerns and value the fact of the huge part our supporters play in the running of the club. We obviously are disappointed to hear that you and your family will not be renewing your season tickets, but we understand. And we know we have a major job to do to bring back fans like yourself to The Valley, and the staff here are trying hard to improve things at the club for the future.
The statement was a public attempt to address the concerns of Mr Duchatelet. We are working towards building a better future therefore positive things are happening at the club to try and move forward such as recruiting a new chief scout to improve recruitment, the development of the academy as we benefit from strong players from our academy. This is a major investment programme taking place at the training ground which will be complete in around 18 months time. This is an important commitment in the future of the Academy and will help ensure that we will continue to attract the best young talent from across London and the South East.
We are working hard to work closer with fans. Plans have started on that already but in light of recent events we will need to put in place plans that can help repair trust between now and the start of the new season.
The Community Trust will ensure that the club remains an important community hub and at the club we are working on initiatives that will see us connect more with the local community. Again, we hope fans will play a role here.
Mr Duchatelet also met with some partners during his visit in February. These are all people who are first and foremost fans and a full and frank discussion about the direction of the club was had with this group.
Hope this helps.
Thank you for your support.
Kind Regards
The Supporter Relations Team
What a pile of crap and a complete and utter waste of time.
The annexation of CACT into the Duchatelet version of reality continues.
All they needed to say was "Our continued support for the Community Trust..."
Sorry if I missed this, but has anybody who met Duchatelet in February actually come forward or been identified yet?
After some drama last week, and an emergency retraction to an email amongst a few apologies - the individuals who met with Duchatelet are still being referred to as "Partners" and no one has been identified or volunteered themselves to be identified.
When I re-iterated the question, despite having a previous response within 25 minutes and responding directly to Phil, neither the club nor Phil responded.
Thanks. I wouldn't bother wasting any more time trying to get an answer as they are IMO referring to an internal meeting he had with staff which makes no difference at all to what most people want.
I have been a Charlton fan since February 1981, when my Uncle took me to my first game. Since then I have introduced my school friends, various family members and work colleagues to Charlton. As a father of two daughters I never thought I'd get to experience the joy of sharing a matchday with my child. To my extreme delight, my (then) 8 year old daughter, wanted to come to a game with me. She enjoyed it that much, that I bought her a season ticket last summer, which changed my matchday experience as I have always had a pre-match beer & banter with the boys....two of which are good life-long friends in fact.
However, I've had to break my daughter's heart by telling her that we won't be renewing our season tickets for the 2016-17 season. I simply will not pay any further money to CAFC whilst Duchatelet & Meire are at the helm. Last week's statement, or should I say rant, was the final straw. What an absolutely disgraceful piece of work to publish - poorly written, inaccurate, rude and baffling. How on earth do you expect to attract people to the club with garbage like that?
Yes Duchatelet has paid for a new pitch and he paid for the stadium to have a lick of paint and yes he has plans to improve the training facilities. But the most important thing is the first team!!! Potential fans will ONLY be interested in coming to The Valley if the first team is playing attractive football.....they won't care if the seats have recently been replaced at The Valley, they won't care about the training facilities. Duchatelet & Meire have made mistake after mistake and are making matters worse.....the club is a laughing stock on & off the pitch. In the two years they have been here they have taken us backwards....5 Head Coaches in that period speaks volumes of their incompetence and Meire's insistence that they were all proven to be good appointments is simply an insult. But she seems to take joy in doing this, as it's a regular occurrence.
I speak to dozens of fans every matchday and I have yet to meet anybody that agrees with Duchatelet's running of the club. I am fed up with the dross being served up on & off the pitch and like many many others have no desire to be any further part of this mad man's pathetic experiment.....IT IS NOT WORKING!!! He has not improved the team, we are about to be relegated to League One and they have lost a large chunk of fans with no chance of recovering them.
Why on earth was that statement issued in such poor English? Why has it not been explained since? Especially given the negative media attention it received. Why employ a Head of Communications to then completely undermine them with the issuing of such a terrible PR own goal? (We have to assume that is why Mel Baroni resigned.) Why did nobody at the club put their name to this statement? Why should I pay Duchatelet any further money so that he can destroy what is left of MY club? Why will he not meet with fans? If he doesn't have the time, why did he buy the club? Let somebody who can dedicate their time to us takeover.
I expect you'll send some template answer claiming everything is fine and the owner can do what he wants, if you reply at all.....not holding my breath! But things need to change - Duchatelet & Meire have to go......they have caused too much damage that they cannot rectify.
Their reply, received 13 days later;
Thank you for your email.
We understand your concerns and value the fact of the huge part our supporters play in the running of the club. We obviously are disappointed to hear that you and your family will not be renewing your season tickets, but we understand. And we know we have a major job to do to bring back fans like yourself to The Valley, and the staff here are trying hard to improve things at the club for the future.
The statement was a public attempt to address the concerns of Mr Duchatelet. We are working towards building a better future therefore positive things are happening at the club to try and move forward such as recruiting a new chief scout to improve recruitment, the development of the academy as we benefit from strong players from our academy. This is a major investment programme taking place at the training ground which will be complete in around 18 months time. This is an important commitment in the future of the Academy and will help ensure that we will continue to attract the best young talent from across London and the South East.
We are working hard to work closer with fans. Plans have started on that already but in light of recent events we will need to put in place plans that can help repair trust between now and the start of the new season.
The Community Trust will ensure that the club remains an important community hub and at the club we are working on initiatives that will see us connect more with the local community. Again, we hope fans will play a role here.
Mr Duchatelet also met with some partners during his visit in February. These are all people who are first and foremost fans and a full and frank discussion about the direction of the club was had with this group.
Hope this helps.
Thank you for your support.
Kind Regards
The Supporter Relations Team
What a pile of crap and a complete and utter waste of time.
The annexation of CACT into the Duchatelet version of reality continues.
All they needed to say was "Our continued support for the Community Trust..."
Sorry if I missed this, but has anybody who met Duchatelet in February actually come forward or been identified yet?
After some drama last week, and an emergency retraction to an email amongst a few apologies - the individuals who met with Duchatelet are still being referred to as "Partners" and no one has been identified or volunteered themselves to be identified.
When I re-iterated the question, despite having a previous response within 25 minutes and responding directly to Phil, neither the club nor Phil responded.
Thanks. I wouldn't bother wasting any more time trying to get an answer as they are IMO referring to an internal meeting he had with staff which makes no difference at all to what most people want.
I agree completely, short of giving someone something to ignore in their inbox - it's clear that any further emails on the matter are pointless.
I was very much trying to convey to them the same point you've just made; it means absolutely nothing what these people said if they weren't a representative sample of our support. Funnily enough, it's quite clear that this wasn't the case, but at least it gave Roly a quick PR point to put in his statement..
Q. 1. Who scouts our signings? I suspect it two guys in Belgium using 'statistics' please tell them it isn't working. Why did we start season with only 1 right back who we all know has injury issues?
A. In terms of scouting, our previous scout was Phil Chappell and he departed last autumn. We are currently interviewing for a new chief scout. We have acknowledged that we made errors in terms of recruitment in the summer transfer window. Those that have come through in the January transfer window have provided more stability in the second half of the season.
Q. 2. Who on earth gave Rodger Johnson 18 month contract!? Was it our 'glorious' CEO?
A. In terms of contracts for the players and manager it is the directors of the club who makes these decisions.
Q. 3. Why is club being filled with consultants at expense of staff who know what their doing! Consultants tend to tell you what you want to hear! I suspect this has led to many of issues facing club.
A. The club isn't filled with consultants
Q. 4. What experience does Katrien Meire have in football? She's clearly out of her depth and only got job and I quote her "Because I studied in London"
A. No answer
Q. 5. Who decided to give Karel Fraye managers job and why was he kept on for so long? Whoever made that decision created a first in football the 4-1-1-4 formation.
A. No answer
Q. 6. Is chairman Roland aware how much relegation will cost? £7 million gone from TV rights, very low income from season tickets & very low gates with hardly any support. His going to have to cover a huge loss, plus a few players on long contracts.
A. the owner is fully aware of the associated costs of relegation.
Q. 7. The bizarre thing is with modest investment and correct managerial choice we could be mid table team occasionally challenging for play offs.
A. We were also a mid-table team at the end of last season.
Q. 8. Why was Varney approach ignored? If club wasn't for sale why organize meetings with him & cancel at last minute, this is very unprofessional behavior. He offered to meet Roland or Katrien in London/Belgium so he tried his best to accommodate CAFC why wasn't same respect showed?
A. In terms of Mr Varney. The club was aware that he had approached us in relation to a consortium. On August 19th 2015 he wrote to us saying: “I have an interesting investment proposal to discuss with you in relation to Charlton Athletic.” This is however a very different message than “I have a buyer for your club”. The club agreed then that there was not a need for anybody else to provide additional financial investment. On Jan 6th 2016 it became clear what Mr Varney meant when he wrote: “I met in London today with the overseas investor interested in acquiring Charlton Athletic FC.” All that said, currently, Mr Duchâtelet has no intention of selling the club.
Q. 9. Please tell Roland to sell up for benefit of everyone. For someone who doesn't do failure his really good at it!
A. All that said, currently, Mr Duchâtelet has no intention of selling the club
I leave you with this JFK quote: Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
I honestly don't know what other responses you expect to question like those.
For comparison, an example of how to treat customers who are not even your regular clients..
CatJnr has made his own 'We want our Charlton Back' banner and is considering taking it to Loftus Road on Saturday. To check this was ok, I found the Operations Manager's email address on the QPR website and emailed her direct on Tuesday afternoon (whilst she could very well have been travelling with the team) with details of the banner. She replied last night a whole 29hrs later (for which she apologised) - my bold type..
Hi Cat
Apologies for the delay in coming back to you.
Not a problem but please liaise with stewards if you want to display it anywhere. If you are just keeping hold of it no problem.
I know you guys have had a tough season so fingers crossed you can pick up some points in the last few games.
Kind regards
Jenny.
Sent from my iPhone
See, it's not difficult to make it personal. I'm sure there are some QPR ground regs she could have easily cut'n'pasted. Downside is that this has unfortunately made QPR as a club go up in my estimation :-(
Yippee! I got my reply today and thought I'd share. Edited for brevity and key points of note...
"Sorry it has taken us longer than we would have hoped to reply to you.....Fans being sad at not renewing their season ticket is not something we want to hear of and we hope you change your mind......We don't believe it's the case that the club is being run down. As you point out we do have one of the lowest wage budgets and we do try to operate within our means - and for good reason. Only last week we saw two Championship teams announce triple figure debt. The club has been in a perilous state because of its financial situation in recent memory and we will not risk the future of the club again....Recruitment has been a key issue, and the errors in this area is something that the club has acknowledged. Perhaps we were lulled into a false sense of security from a mid-table last season, when injuries did not take their toll in the way they have this season. The advantages of a settled team, with players coming back from injury, has been there to see recently in us picking up 10 points from 15......Regards the Academy players, first and foremost we want those players to be having long and distinguished careers with Charlton Athletic.....We remain ambitious. Like all clubs in the Championship we want to get into the Premier League, but it's first about being competitive in the Championship. Patently that has not been the case this season and we have to learn the lessons from it.....
Very polite and diplomatic. Acknowledging errors but no mention of any changes. Boasting of having one of the lowest wages bills in the division when you are going down is a bit hollow and it's lame blaming relegation on injuries. Good to hear about those Academy starlets of the future enjoying long and distinguished careers with us. Not sure that's quite how Katrien framed it. I wonder what action will be taken to make us competitive in the Championship next season?
What! On what planet precisely is loading up the club with Staprix debt not risking the future of the club again?
It's hilarious how they expect to be praised for recruiting a Chief Scout. We haven't had one for months, so of course they should be bloody recruiting. They don't get points for it! What's next, telling us they water the grass
Comments
THEY DONT HAVE A CLUE WHAT TO DO TO FIX IT
you probably already know that though lol
I have been a Charlton fan since February 1981, when my Uncle took me to my first game. Since then I have introduced my school friends, various family members and work colleagues to Charlton. As a father of two daughters I never thought I'd get to experience the joy of sharing a matchday with my child. To my extreme delight, my (then) 8 year old daughter, wanted to come to a game with me. She enjoyed it that much, that I bought her a season ticket last summer, which changed my matchday experience as I have always had a pre-match beer & banter with the boys....two of which are good life-long friends in fact.
However, I've had to break my daughter's heart by telling her that we won't be renewing our season tickets for the 2016-17 season. I simply will not pay any further money to CAFC whilst Duchatelet & Meire are at the helm. Last week's statement, or should I say rant, was the final straw. What an absolutely disgraceful piece of work to publish - poorly written, inaccurate, rude and baffling. How on earth do you expect to attract people to the club with garbage like that?
Yes Duchatelet has paid for a new pitch and he paid for the stadium to have a lick of paint and yes he has plans to improve the training facilities. But the most important thing is the first team!!! Potential fans will ONLY be interested in coming to The Valley if the first team is playing attractive football.....they won't care if the seats have recently been replaced at The Valley, they won't care about the training facilities. Duchatelet & Meire have made mistake after mistake and are making matters worse.....the club is a laughing stock on & off the pitch. In the two years they have been here they have taken us backwards....5 Head Coaches in that period speaks volumes of their incompetence and Meire's insistence that they were all proven to be good appointments is simply an insult. But she seems to take joy in doing this, as it's a regular occurrence.
I speak to dozens of fans every matchday and I have yet to meet anybody that agrees with Duchatelet's running of the club. I am fed up with the dross being served up on & off the pitch and like many many others have no desire to be any further part of this mad man's pathetic experiment.....IT IS NOT WORKING!!! He has not improved the team, we are about to be relegated to League One and they have lost a large chunk of fans with no chance of recovering them.
Why on earth was that statement issued in such poor English?
Why has it not been explained since? Especially given the negative media attention it received.
Why employ a Head of Communications to then completely undermine them with the issuing of such a terrible PR own goal? (We have to assume that is why Mel Baroni resigned.)
Why did nobody at the club put their name to this statement?
Why should I pay Duchatelet any further money so that he can destroy what is left of MY club?
Why will he not meet with fans? If he doesn't have the time, why did he buy the club? Let somebody who can dedicate their time to us takeover.
I expect you'll send some template answer claiming everything is fine and the owner can do what he wants, if you reply at all.....not holding my breath! But things need to change - Duchatelet & Meire have to go......they have caused too much damage that they cannot rectify.
Their reply, received 13 days later;
Thank you for your email.
We understand your concerns and value the fact of the huge part our supporters play in the running of the club. We obviously are disappointed to hear that you and your family will not be renewing your season tickets, but we understand. And we know we have a major job to do to bring back fans like yourself to The Valley, and the staff here are trying hard to improve things at the club for the future.
The statement was a public attempt to address the concerns of Mr Duchatelet. We are working towards building a better future therefore positive things are happening at the club to try and move forward such as recruiting a new chief scout to improve recruitment, the development of the academy as we benefit from strong players from our academy. This is a major investment programme taking place at the training ground which will be complete in around 18 months time. This is an important commitment in the future of the Academy and will help ensure that we will continue to attract the best young talent from across London and the South East.
We are working hard to work closer with fans. Plans have started on that already but in light of recent events we will need to put in place plans that can help repair trust between now and the start of the new season.
The Community Trust will ensure that the club remains an important community hub and at the club we are working on initiatives that will see us connect more with the local community. Again, we hope fans will play a role here.
Mr Duchatelet also met with some partners during his visit in February. These are all people who are first and foremost fans and a full and frank discussion about the direction of the club was had with this group.
Hope this helps.
Thank you for your support.
Kind Regards
The Supporter Relations Team
What a pile of crap and a complete and utter waste of time.
All they needed to say was "Our continued support for the Community Trust..."
Hi please explain below:
Q. 1. Who scouts our signings? I suspect it two guys in Belgium using 'statistics' please tell them it isn't working. Why did we start season with only 1 right back who we all know has injury issues?
A. In terms of scouting, our previous scout was Phil Chappell and he departed last autumn. We are currently interviewing for a new chief scout. We have acknowledged that we made errors in terms of recruitment in the summer transfer window. Those that have come through in the January transfer window have provided more stability in the second half of the season.
Q. 2. Who on earth gave Rodger Johnson 18 month contract!? Was it our 'glorious' CEO?
A. In terms of contracts for the players and manager it is the directors of the club who makes these decisions.
Q. 3. Why is club being filled with consultants at expense of staff who know what their doing! Consultants tend to tell you what you want to hear! I suspect this has led to many of issues facing club.
A. The club isn't filled with consultants
Q. 4. What experience does Katrien Meire have in football? She's clearly out of her depth and only got job and I quote her "Because I studied in London"
A. No answer
Q. 5. Who decided to give Karel Fraye managers job and why was he kept on for so long? Whoever made that decision created a first in football the 4-1-1-4 formation.
A. No answer
Q. 6. Is chairman Roland aware how much relegation will cost? £7 million gone from TV rights, very low income from season tickets & very low gates with hardly any support. His going to have to cover a huge loss, plus a few players on long contracts.
A. the owner is fully aware of the associated costs of relegation.
Q. 7. The bizarre thing is with modest investment and correct managerial choice we could be mid table team occasionally challenging for play offs.
A. We were also a mid-table team at the end of last season.
Q. 8. Why was Varney approach ignored? If club wasn't for sale why organize meetings with him & cancel at last minute, this is very unprofessional behavior. He offered to meet Roland or Katrien in London/Belgium so he tried his best to accommodate CAFC why wasn't same respect showed?
A. In terms of Mr Varney. The club was aware that he had approached us in relation to a consortium. On August 19th 2015 he wrote to us saying: “I have an interesting investment proposal to discuss with you in relation to Charlton Athletic.”
This is however a very different message than “I have a buyer for your club”. The club agreed then that there was not a need for anybody else to provide additional financial investment. On Jan 6th 2016 it became clear what Mr Varney meant when he wrote: “I met in London today with the overseas investor interested in acquiring Charlton Athletic FC.” All that said, currently, Mr Duchâtelet has no intention of selling the club.
Q. 9. Please tell Roland to sell up for benefit of everyone. For someone who doesn't do failure his really good at it!
A. All that said, currently, Mr Duchâtelet has no intention of selling the club
I leave you with this JFK quote:
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
When I re-iterated the question, despite having a previous response within 25 minutes and responding directly to Phil, neither the club nor Phil responded.
I was very much trying to convey to them the same point you've just made; it means absolutely nothing what these people said if they weren't a representative sample of our support. Funnily enough, it's quite clear that this wasn't the case, but at least it gave Roly a quick PR point to put in his statement..
CatJnr has made his own 'We want our Charlton Back' banner and is considering taking it to Loftus Road on Saturday. To check this was ok, I found the Operations Manager's email address on the QPR website and emailed her direct on Tuesday afternoon (whilst she could very well have been travelling with the team) with details of the banner. She replied last night a whole 29hrs later (for which she apologised) - my bold type..
Hi Cat
Apologies for the delay in coming back to you.
Not a problem but please liaise with stewards if you want to display it anywhere. If you are just keeping hold of it no problem.
I know you guys have had a tough season so fingers crossed you can pick up some points in the last few games.
Kind regards
Jenny.
Sent from my iPhone
See, it's not difficult to make it personal. I'm sure there are some QPR ground regs she could have easily cut'n'pasted. Downside is that this has unfortunately made QPR as a club go up in my estimation :-(
What is it you want to know ?
How to get the cancerous RD out of this club is the main thing I want to know...