Just received a reply to my email that I sent three days ago to this new address. Polite and informative reply. Congratulations to the Comms team. Some of the cynicism on this thread has proved unfounded in my case.
Was it more than the automated reply? Did it answer any of your questions or was it the standard 'we will get back to you later'? I have had two replies to my emails but they were all polite acknowledgements, that's all.
Just received a reply to my email that I sent three days ago to this new address. Polite and informative reply. Congratulations to the Comms team. Some of the cynicism on this thread has proved unfounded in my case.
Was it more than the automated reply? Did it answer any of your questions or was it the standard 'we will get back to you later'? I have had two replies to my emails but they were all polite acknowledgements, that's all.
No., I got the automated response almost immediately then three days later i got a full, polite and informative response.
Just received a reply to my email that I sent three days ago to this new address. Polite and informative reply. Congratulations to the Comms team. Some of the cynicism on this thread has proved unfounded in my case.
Was it more than the automated reply? Did it answer any of your questions or was it the standard 'we will get back to you later'? I have had two replies to my emails but they were all polite acknowledgements, that's all.
No., I got the automated response almost immediately then three days later i got a full, polite and informative response.
Oh, I await mine then as I have only had the automated so far. I was very polite and therefore hope for an answer,
Just received a reply to my email that I sent three days ago to this new address. Polite and informative reply. Congratulations to the Comms team. Some of the cynicism on this thread has proved unfounded in my case.
Was it more than the automated reply? Did it answer any of your questions or was it the standard 'we will get back to you later'? I have had two replies to my emails but they were all polite acknowledgements, that's all.
No., I got the automated response almost immediately then three days later i got a full, polite and informative response.
Oh, I await mine then as I have only had the automated so far. I was very polite and therefore hope for an answer,
Snap. Awaiting a response to my searching but polite points in my email.
My email to CAFC and their response in (my) bold. Sadly they did not respond to all my points; selective response!
RE: Communication CA Charlton Athletic Football Club Reply| To: peter gage ; Sat 19/03/2016 14:29 Dear Peter,
Thank you for taking the time to write to us.
With regard to the points raised in your email we will try and address these and your concerns as much as possible.
1. Total lack of understanding of the need to engage and work with supporters. It is a fact that the general football public change their wives more frequently than they change club allegiance, such is the importance of the football relationship. We fully agree. We have been very bad in communication with fans for more than two years now.
2. Your experiment of running a group of European clubs from a centralised base in Belgium is a total failure. Such an approach has led to a regular flow of inexperienced managers, the recruiting of players who not have the skills-base to play in the Championship, and therefore seemingly an inadequate group of scouting staff to identify the right players. Our current league position, despite your previous statement of a huge hike in the playing budget, is testament to the failure of this strategy.
The club is not run from Belgium and it is not run by Roland Duchatelet. The latter has a controlling interest in firms totalling 7,000 employees worldwide. He therefore relies heavily on the management in the relevant organisations. With regard to the strategy, other football clubs as well have started to realise that it makes sense to have football clubs in several countries. We are being frequently approached by owners of other (UK) football clubs to give more insight and information about the strategy as they're are as well looking for opportunities to buy football clubs outside the UK. The Pozzo family was one of the first to test this strategy and one could say that currently the Watford fans are seeing and experiencing the benefits of this strategy.
3. What company, in their right mind, would recruit a CEO with no experience of this industry and who has demonstrated on many occasions, that she is totally inadequate and out of her depth for the important role of running the day-to-day business of a football club. She has demonstrated that her understanding of the important role of "customers" is naive. Her PR gaffs, such as yesterday's statement, smacks of a complete lack of understanding of the current issues which are dogging our once great club.
You quote that our CEO had no experience in the "football economy" is incorrect. But to be fair it was not so extensive as for many others. However, this sector is in transition, due to two important new factors: globalisation and the disruption in the media business. This is the reason why Roland Duchatelet decided to look for a combination of adequate experience, legal knowledge, dedication, multilingual and an open view to the world.
My email to CAFC and their response in (my) bold. Sadly they did not respond to all my points; selective response!
RE: Communication CA Charlton Athletic Football Club Reply| To: peter gage ; Sat 19/03/2016 14:29 Dear Peter,
Thank you for taking the time to write to us.
With regard to the points raised in your email we will try and address these and your concerns as much as possible.
1. Total lack of understanding of the need to engage and work with supporters. It is a fact that the general football public change their wives more frequently than they change club allegiance, such is the importance of the football relationship. We fully agree. We have been very bad in communication with fans for more than two years now.
2. Your experiment of running a group of European clubs from a centralised base in Belgium is a total failure. Such an approach has led to a regular flow of inexperienced managers, the recruiting of players who not have the skills-base to play in the Championship, and therefore seemingly an inadequate group of scouting staff to identify the right players. Our current league position, despite your previous statement of a huge hike in the playing budget, is testament to the failure of this strategy.
The club is not run from Belgium and it is not run by Roland Duchatelet. The latter has a controlling interest in firms totalling 7,000 employees worldwide. He therefore relies heavily on the management in the relevant organisations. With regard to the strategy, other football clubs as well have started to realise that it makes sense to have football clubs in several countries. We are being frequently approached by owners of other (UK) football clubs to give more insight and information about the strategy as they're are as well looking for opportunities to buy football clubs outside the UK. The Pozzo family was one of the first to test this strategy and one could say that currently the Watford fans are seeing and experiencing the benefits of this strategy.
3. What company, in their right mind, would recruit a CEO with no experience of this industry and who has demonstrated on many occasions, that she is totally inadequate and out of her depth for the important role of running the day-to-day business of a football club. She has demonstrated that her understanding of the important role of "customers" is naive. Her PR gaffs, such as yesterday's statement, smacks of a complete lack of understanding of the current issues which are dogging our once great club.
You quote that our CEO had no experience in the "football economy" is incorrect. But to be fair it was not so extensive as for many others. However, this sector is in transition, due to two important new factors: globalisation and the disruption in the media business. This is the reason why Roland Duchatelet decided to look for a combination of adequate experience, legal knowledge, dedication, multilingual and an open view to the world.
Best regards,
CAFC Supporter Relations
Tell me someone made these answers up, please...
If this is genuine, are they seriously telling you that other club owners are asking for advice (the only reason I'd look at the Charlton model would be to do the polar opposite)?
Shockingly poor English, and shockingly poor responses.
My email to CAFC and their response in (my) bold. Sadly they did not respond to all my points; selective response!
RE: Communication CA Charlton Athletic Football Club Reply| To: peter gage ; Sat 19/03/2016 14:29 Dear Peter,
Thank you for taking the time to write to us.
With regard to the points raised in your email we will try and address these and your concerns as much as possible.
1. Total lack of understanding of the need to engage and work with supporters. It is a fact that the general football public change their wives more frequently than they change club allegiance, such is the importance of the football relationship. We fully agree. We have been very bad in communication with fans for more than two years now.
2. Your experiment of running a group of European clubs from a centralised base in Belgium is a total failure. Such an approach has led to a regular flow of inexperienced managers, the recruiting of players who not have the skills-base to play in the Championship, and therefore seemingly an inadequate group of scouting staff to identify the right players. Our current league position, despite your previous statement of a huge hike in the playing budget, is testament to the failure of this strategy.
The club is not run from Belgium and it is not run by Roland Duchatelet. The latter has a controlling interest in firms totalling 7,000 employees worldwide. He therefore relies heavily on the management in the relevant organisations. With regard to the strategy, other football clubs as well have started to realise that it makes sense to have football clubs in several countries. We are being frequently approached by owners of other (UK) football clubs to give more insight and information about the strategy as they're are as well looking for opportunities to buy football clubs outside the UK. The Pozzo family was one of the first to test this strategy and one could say that currently the Watford fans are seeing and experiencing the benefits of this strategy.
3. What company, in their right mind, would recruit a CEO with no experience of this industry and who has demonstrated on many occasions, that she is totally inadequate and out of her depth for the important role of running the day-to-day business of a football club. She has demonstrated that her understanding of the important role of "customers" is naive. Her PR gaffs, such as yesterday's statement, smacks of a complete lack of understanding of the current issues which are dogging our once great club.
You quote that our CEO had no experience in the "football economy" is incorrect. But to be fair it was not so extensive as for many others. However, this sector is in transition, due to two important new factors: globalisation and the disruption in the media business. This is the reason why Roland Duchatelet decided to look for a combination of adequate experience, legal knowledge, dedication, multilingual and an open view to the world.
Best regards,
CAFC Supporter Relations
There's something quirky about the English they've used in their replies - it's nowhere near s bad as 'the statement' - but it doesn't trip of the tongue.. I reckon they must have compiled 30 or so 'authorised' paragraphs that can be slotted in - maybe I'm wrong, but the interference of a non-English pen in there seems pretty obvious to me.
I don't know whether to laugh or cry at that response, Peter!! 'We are doing everything right' strikes me as well as the laughable comments about our CEO: she has a 'combination of adequate experience' meaning she has once watched a football match; 'legal knowledge', despite her giving ludicrous player contracts to all and sundry; 'dedication', as in she rocks up at 1.30pm on a match day and who knows what time in the week; 'multilingual', well her use of 'weird' is definitely not from English so must be from one of her other languages; and as for her 'open view of the world', does that mean that anybody (players and managers) are better if they are from abroad, i.e. Belgium? Totally open view. I await my reply from them.
Thank you for your email and questions which we will try to answer to the best of ability.
1. Why does the club not publicly acknowledge the real reasons for the protests as given by the protesters instead of making up reasons intended to deflect from their failings.
We have no problems with the fans protesting. That is part of the life of a football club. Last Sunday, a pitch invasion was planned by some fans (and executed by two) . These kind of actions have severe repercussions not only for the individuals themselves but also a pitch invasion can have a deduction of points as a consequence. Either the organisers of that pitch invasion were aware of consequences, which we tend to believe, hence our statement. We cannot accept that some individuals would deliberately try to get a points deduction and would think that relegation to League one can be a solution to try to change ownership. Either these individuals were not aware of the consequences, in which case the statement is also appropriate. Moreover in that case the mainstream fans must wonder if they have not been misguided on other matters by the lack of knowledge of those individuals creating disorder.
3. Can you confirm that you understand the difference between the "club" failing and the "management" failing.
We do not have a problem to acknowledge when we make mistakes. However, very few clubs have a perfect management in place during decades. Former owners made mistakes and future owners will make mistakes too.
4. Will you issue an apology that recognises that the fans want to save the club and the protesters believe that is only possible with a change of owner and CEO.
With regard to the fans' perception of the management, the communication of the club failed to address biased or untrue information diffused in social media. Via this fans' email we will provide the fans with as much information as possible which will give fans more insight as to rightfulness or wrongfulness of some of the club's decisions . However, as said before, we made some real mistakes too.
5. Will you then ensure that any further statement which seeks to challenges the protests begins by challenging the reasons articulated by protesters instead of untruthful reasons made up by management.
We are not challenging the protests. The aim of the statement was to make fans aware that the actions of the individuals on Sunday could have had severe consequences with regard to the competitiveness of the team. Something we think the majority of the fans would not agree with and something we should avoid during the remaining games.
Thank you for your email and questions which we will try to answer to the best of ability.
1. Why does the club not publicly acknowledge the real reasons for the protests as given by the protesters instead of making up reasons intended to deflect from their failings.
We have no problems with the fans protesting. That is part of the life of a football club. Last Sunday, a pitch invasion was planned by some fans (and executed by two) . These kind of actions have severe repercussions not only for the individuals themselves but also a pitch invasion can have a deduction of points as a consequence. Either the organisers of that pitch invasion were aware of consequences, which we tend to believe, hence our statement. We cannot accept that some individuals would deliberately try to get a points deduction and would think that relegation to League one can be a solution to try to change ownership. Either these individuals were not aware of the consequences, in which case the statement is also appropriate. Moreover in that case the mainstream fans must wonder if they have not been misguided on other matters by the lack of knowledge of those individuals creating disorder.
3. Can you confirm that you understand the difference between the "club" failing and the "management" failing.
We do not have a problem to acknowledge when we make mistakes. However, very few clubs have a perfect management in place during decades. Former owners made mistakes and future owners will make mistakes too.
4. Will you issue an apology that recognises that the fans want to save the club and the protesters believe that is only possible with a change of owner and CEO.
With regard to the fans' perception of the management, the communication of the club failed to address biased or untrue information diffused in social media. Via this fans' email we will provide the fans with as much information as possible which will give fans more insight as to rightfulness or wrongfulness of some of the club's decisions . However, as said before, we made some real mistakes too.
5. Will you then ensure that any further statement which seeks to challenges the protests begins by challenging the reasons articulated by protesters instead of untruthful reasons made up by management.
We are not challenging the protests. The aim of the statement was to make fans aware that the actions of the individuals on Sunday could have had severe consequences with regard to the competitiveness of the team. Something we think the majority of the fans would not agree with and something we should avoid during the remaining games.
Best regards,
CAFC Supporter Relations
The response to your first question is incomprehensable drivel. The replies to 3 & 4 have Squirrel Face's paranoid defensive hallmarks all over them.
So the major takeaway so far is that they've made mistakes, but so have other people - ergo it's acceptable?
Other than that, some very questionable statements about other clubs turning to them for advice - something which would appear incredibly unlikely given the current circumstances.
Whilst there have been some positive remarks - notably admission of mistakes - but they still defend the indefensible with regards to The Statement.
All those club responses again ungrammatical, and clearly the work of someone who doesn't speak English as a first language. So the answer to the question 'what does Katie do all day?'...
I am loving the new email address, I find it quite cathartic. I have sent 4 so far all polite by critical and have yet to have anything other than the automated response.
For anyone who missed it on the RD rant thread, it is when non-native English speakers, often Dutch, assume they do not need the benefit of a native speaker reviewing/tweaking what they write.
For anyone who missed it on the RD rant thread, it is when non-native English speakers, often Dutch, assume they do not need the benefit of a native speaker reviewing/tweaking what they write.
Ate these really genuine replies?!
If they are, it's yet another wow ... I think this is all part of a Roald Dahl story ...so surreal
For anyone who missed it on the RD rant thread, it is when non-native English speakers, often Dutch, assume they do not need the benefit of a native speaker reviewing/tweaking what they write.
Ate these really genuine replies?!
If they are, it's yet another wow ... I think this is all part of a Roald Dahl story ...so surreal
It's clear the replies are coming from over the water, who knows, maybe that was why our Head of Comms left, was RD saying his people over there would deal with this?
My only highlight was the fact the response said future owners would make mistakes.......
Comments
RE: Communication
CA
Charlton Athletic Football Club
Reply|
To:
peter gage ; Sat 19/03/2016 14:29
Dear Peter,
Thank you for taking the time to write to us.
With regard to the points raised in your email we will try and address these and your concerns as much as possible.
1. Total lack of understanding of the need to engage and work with supporters. It is a fact that the general football public change their wives more frequently than they change club allegiance, such is the importance of the football relationship.
We fully agree. We have been very bad in communication with fans for more than two years now.
2. Your experiment of running a group of European clubs from a centralised base in Belgium is a total failure. Such an approach has led to a regular flow of inexperienced managers, the recruiting of players who not have the skills-base to play in the Championship, and therefore seemingly an inadequate group of scouting staff to identify the right players. Our current league position, despite your previous statement of a huge hike in the playing budget, is testament to the failure of this strategy.
The club is not run from Belgium and it is not run by Roland Duchatelet. The latter has a controlling interest in firms totalling 7,000 employees worldwide. He therefore relies heavily on the management in the relevant organisations.
With regard to the strategy, other football clubs as well have started to realise that it makes sense to have football clubs in several countries. We are being frequently approached by owners of other (UK) football clubs to give more insight and information about the strategy as they're are as well looking for opportunities to buy football clubs outside the UK. The Pozzo family was one of the first to test this strategy and one could say that currently the Watford fans are seeing and experiencing the benefits of this strategy.
3. What company, in their right mind, would recruit a CEO with no experience of this industry and who has demonstrated on many occasions, that she is totally inadequate and out of her depth for the important role of running the day-to-day business of a football club. She has demonstrated that her understanding of the important role of "customers" is naive. Her PR gaffs, such as yesterday's statement, smacks of a complete lack of understanding of the current issues which are dogging our once great club.
You quote that our CEO had no experience in the "football economy" is incorrect. But to be fair it was not so extensive as for many others. However, this sector is in transition, due to two important new factors: globalisation and the disruption in the media business.
This is the reason why Roland Duchatelet decided to look for a combination of adequate experience, legal knowledge, dedication, multilingual and an open view to the world.
Best regards,
CAFC Supporter Relations
If this is genuine, are they seriously telling you that other club owners are asking for advice (the only reason I'd look at the Charlton model would be to do the polar opposite)?
Shockingly poor English, and shockingly poor responses.
Comparing Premier league Watford with League 1 bound Charlton is laughable.
I await my reply from them.
1. Why does the club not publicly acknowledge the real reasons for the protests as given by the protesters instead of making up reasons intended to deflect from their failings.
We have no problems with the fans protesting. That is part of the life of a football club.
Last Sunday, a pitch invasion was planned by some fans (and executed by two) . These kind of actions have severe repercussions not only for the individuals themselves but also a pitch invasion can have a deduction of points as a consequence.
Either the organisers of that pitch invasion were aware of consequences, which we tend to believe, hence our statement.
We cannot accept that some individuals would deliberately try to get a points deduction and would think that relegation to League one can be a solution to try to change ownership.
Either these individuals were not aware of the consequences, in which case the statement is also appropriate. Moreover in that case the mainstream fans must wonder if they have not been misguided on other matters by the lack of knowledge of those individuals creating disorder.
3. Can you confirm that you understand the difference between the "club" failing and the "management" failing.
We do not have a problem to acknowledge when we make mistakes. However, very few clubs have a perfect management in place during decades. Former owners made mistakes and future owners will make mistakes too.
4. Will you issue an apology that recognises that the fans want to save the club and the protesters believe that is only possible with a change of owner and CEO.
With regard to the fans' perception of the management, the communication of the club failed to address biased or untrue information diffused in social media. Via this fans' email we will provide the fans with as much information as possible which will give fans more insight as to rightfulness or wrongfulness of some of the club's decisions . However, as said before, we made some real mistakes too.
5. Will you then ensure that any further statement which seeks to challenges the protests begins by challenging the reasons articulated by protesters instead of untruthful reasons made up by management.
We are not challenging the protests. The aim of the statement was to make fans aware that the actions of the individuals on Sunday could have had severe consequences with regard to the competitiveness of the team. Something we think the majority of the fans would not agree with and something we should avoid during the remaining games.
Best regards,
CAFC Supporter Relations
Other than that, some very questionable statements about other clubs turning to them for advice - something which would appear incredibly unlikely given the current circumstances.
Whilst there have been some positive remarks - notably admission of mistakes - but they still defend the indefensible with regards to The Statement.
"We are not challenging the protests.." "We" Obviously doesn't include King Rat.
Clearly Roland's A-team is now involved.
Neither was written by a first language is English drafts person.
From where we are now, the minimum is KM leaving.
RD's loyalty and stupidity has made it clear to many that even if this occurs, it is not enough. He needs to sell and sell soon.
For anyone who missed it on the RD rant thread, it is when non-native English speakers, often Dutch, assume they do not need the benefit of a native speaker reviewing/tweaking what they write.
Are these really genuine replies?!
My only highlight was the fact the response said future owners would make mistakes.......