'We have no problems with the fans protesting. That is part of the life of a football club'
That's a lie, and also no it is not. Christ it's like they want to strike nerves of fans. They are adding fuel to the fire with these pre empted, scripted, defensive nonsical responses.
We've only just got started Roland.. you've picked the wrong Club to mess with.
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.
I also sent 4 all polite but all critical - lost count how many days ago. Received 4 automated replies in first instance then a holding reply to one of the e-mails subsequently. To date still nothing further.
Just had a response to my question as to who wrote the infamous rant statement last week.
"Thank you for contacting us, apologies for the delay in replying, you are right we have had a few emails.
We can confirm it was an official statement, from senior officials at the club including Mr Duchâtelet. While he knows fans care deeply about the club, he had concerns that he wanted made public. We know there is a task ahead of us now to rebuild trust with supporters, but there are a lot of staff here who will work hard to try and improve things.
Whoever's writing these e-mails must be an employee of RD and not of Charlton Athletic for a long time, no way anyone who cares for this Club could swallow their pride and e-mail that shite to fans customers
Just had a response to my question as to who wrote the infamous rant statement last week.
"Thank you for contacting us, apologies for the delay in replying, you are right we have had a few emails.
We can confirm it was an official statement, from senior officials at the club including Mr Duchâtelet. While he knows fans care deeply about the club, he had concerns that he wanted made public. We know there is a task ahead of us now to rebuild trust with supporters, but there are a lot of staff here who will work hard to try and improve things.
Best regards
The Supporter Relations Team"
New signature, no longer "CAFC Supporter Relations"... and there's todays most bone observation out of the way.
Interesting to see that Mr. Duchatelet has been confirmed to have played a role in the communication. However, if Katrien herself is rumoured to have disagreed, and the Head of Comms actually resigned as a result of The Statement... surely that only leaves Tony The Testicle and Richard Murray as his accomplices the other senior members of staff?
I can't see anyone who speaks English natively agreeing with his actions.
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?!
Apparently, this is Daisy's personal mission statement:
Whoever's writing these e-mails must be an employee of RD and not of Charlton Athletic for a long time, no way anyone who cares for this Club could swallow their pride and e-mail that shite to fans customers
I think you're most likely correct.
I noticed that the first responses seemed to share more information on Roland than we'd really heard before; i.e the fact he employs 7,000 people in total. Not the work of someone who is working at Charlton, seems more likely to be someone closer to Roland - which leads me to suspect that, if this is the case, he is all too well aware of the failings at Charlton with regards to senior personnel.
Would be interesting to see if anyone can shed some light on where these responses originate from.
'We have no problems with the fans protesting. That is part of the life of a football club'
That's a lie, and also no it is not. Christ it's like they want to strike nerves of fans. They are adding fuel to the fire with these pre empted, scripted, defensive nonsical responses.
We've only just got started Roland.. you've picked the wrong Club to mess with.
Only an absolute handful of clubs in the past two decades have done regular protests like we have this season.
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. {...} 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
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. {...} 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
Yeah, but you're just shit at it.
Pozzo family runs he club differently, and want progression, are prepared to pay for it
Does anyone really think that statement's reference to people wanting the club to fail was only addressed to pitch invaders? If so, why would that not have been made clear? Yet now that is the only protest the club identifies as a problem to it, in which case the statement was wildly disproportionate. Doesn't stack up, I'm afraid.
Does anyone really think that statement's reference to people wanting the club to fail was only addressed to pitch invaders? If so, why would that not have been made clear. Yet now that is the only protest the club identifies as a problem to it. Doesn't stack up.
It would be totally ridiculous to aim a statement at just two people.
I'm sure that statement was related to the beach ball incident, and the press coverage that the funeral got
Let's be honest, The Statement was the act of a very embarrassed 69 year old man who, for most of his professional life, has got things his own way and wasn't prepared for such a wide audience to see how inept some of his businesses are really run. His ego was shattered and he reacted out of anger and desperation.
The wording of The Statement makes it very clear it wasn't aimed at 2 or 3 individuals; and to claim so is merely another act of desperation - this time aimed at clawing his way out of the hole he threw himself in to.
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.
I also sent 4 all polite but all critical - lost count how many days ago. Received 4 automated replies in first instance then a holding reply to one of the e-mails subsequently. To date still nothing further.
I've sent about 6 abusive emails so far and not had one single response.
It's good that people are getting responses. But the quality of English in these replies is awful. Why isn't an English speaking person at least proofreading them?
It's good that people are getting responses. But the quality of English in these replies is awful. Why isn't an English speaking person at least proofreading them?
This is what I sent on Wednesday evening last week:
Dear Charlton.
Do you know your club website has been hacked, and a statement of the absolute worst and most unhelpful kind has been put up there?
It urgently needs to be removed as it is very damaging to the club.
Regards
At first I got an acknowledgement. This is the reply I received today:
Hello Seth
Thank you for getting in contact with the club.
The statement was genuine and am attempt to publicly address the concerns of Mr Duchâtelet. He perceives that there are some people leading the protests who might prefer if the club was relegated. We do of course think that most fans still want us to win even if they dislike the management.
Mr Duchâtelet also understands that he is a custodian of this great club and he is fully aware of the important role that supporters have played in its history. Like all of us he wants an upturn in the fortunes of the club and knows that we will have to work harder to achieve that.
Best regards
Charlton Athletic Supporter Relations Team
First point is there is an effort to reply which is a good thing.
Second point is this one: ' He perceives that there are some people leading the protests who might prefer if the club was relegated.
It is 'some people' leading the protests. They think the majority are being rabble roused by a very few, and that all the protesters can't think for themselves? This fit's in with their view that the protests will crumble if results pick up, which was the message from the November 'power point' meeting.
I just want to say to all you bastard bitter ex employees that you can feck off because you have been using and manipulating me all along, using one of natures innocents like me! Roland is custodian get it, and he is looking after me.
This is what I sent on Wednesday evening last week:
Dear Charlton.
Do you know your club website has been hacked, and a statement of the absolute worst and most unhelpful kind has been put up there?
It urgently needs to be removed as it is very damaging to the club.
Regards
At first I got an acknowledgement. This is the reply I received today:
Hello Seth
Thank you for getting in contact with the club.
The statement was genuine and am attempt to publicly address the concerns of Mr Duchâtelet. He perceives that there are some people leading the protests who might prefer if the club was relegated. We do of course think that most fans still want us to win even if they dislike the management.
Mr Duchâtelet also understands that he is a custodian of this great club and he is fully aware of the important role that supporters have played in its history. Like all of us he wants an upturn in the fortunes of the club and knows that we will have to work harder to achieve that.
Best regards
Charlton Athletic Supporter Relations Team
First point is there is an effort to reply which is a good thing.
Second point is this one: ' He perceives that there are some people leading the protests who might prefer if the club was relegated.
It is 'some people' leading the protests. They think the majority are being rabble roused by a very few, and that all the protesters can't think for themselves? This fit's in with their view that the protests will crumble if results pick up, which was the message from the November 'power point' meeting.
I just want to say to all you bastard bitter ex employees that you can feck off because you have been using and manipulating me all along, using one of natures innocents like me! Roland is custodian get it, and he is looking after me.
So Katrien has told him great stories of the Airman, and the Legend of Henry Irving then?
When these chancers are out of our club, a film needs to be made the capture the farce that was the Duchatelet era
Combined with the fact that they don't appear to be native speakers, it suggests there's currently 3+ individuals in Belgium tasked with replying to these emails. Not entirely a bad response by the club, albeit slightly frustrating that they aren't in SE7 with a good grasp of the situation and the history of the club. This also marks a distinct change in the tone of the communications again - accepting a degree of responsibility and not entirely throwing the blame back on to a supposed small number of fans.
It appears that they're beginning to take things seriously, albeit too late. Despite all the effort in these responses - they still don't seem completely aware of the severity of fan sentiment, still seem to think they can downplay The Statement and still refer to "some people leading the protests".
I can't help but ponder whether there's an ulterior motive behind these email responses - I've only seen them mentioned here on CharltonLife - but I will be incredibly surprised if these emails aren't used in subsequent PR strategies (i.e "Since the protests we've began engaging our fans and opening dialogue via channels specifically created for this purpose.") or are the result of the club being warned that they need to open dialog to prevent further disruption. Constructive dialog seems to be entirely at odds to the attitude that Katrien has previous demonstrated.
This is what I sent on Wednesday evening last week:
Dear Charlton.
Do you know your club website has been hacked, and a statement of the absolute worst and most unhelpful kind has been put up there?
It urgently needs to be removed as it is very damaging to the club.
Regards
At first I got an acknowledgement. This is the reply I received today:
Hello Seth
Thank you for getting in contact with the club.
The statement was genuine and am attempt to publicly address the concerns of Mr Duchâtelet. He perceives that there are some people leading the protests who might prefer if the club was relegated. We do of course think that most fans still want us to win even if they dislike the management.
Mr Duchâtelet also understands that he is a custodian of this great club and he is fully aware of the important role that supporters have played in its history. Like all of us he wants an upturn in the fortunes of the club and knows that we will have to work harder to achieve that.
Best regards
Charlton Athletic Supporter Relations Team
First point is there is an effort to reply which is a good thing.
Second point is this one: ' He perceives that there are some people leading the protests who might prefer if the club was relegated.
It is 'some people' leading the protests. They think the majority are being rabble roused by a very few, and that all the protesters can't think for themselves? This fit's in with their view that the protests will crumble if results pick up, which was the message from the November 'power point' meeting.
I just want to say to all you bastard bitter ex employees that you can feck off because you have been using and manipulating me all along, using one of natures innocents like me! Roland is custodian get it, and he is looking after me.
Mate of mine sent them an email on Tuesday to let them know the website had been hacked. Got an email identical to the above, word for word.
This is what I sent on Wednesday evening last week:
Dear Charlton.
Do you know your club website has been hacked, and a statement of the absolute worst and most unhelpful kind has been put up there?
It urgently needs to be removed as it is very damaging to the club.
Regards
At first I got an acknowledgement. This is the reply I received today:
Hello Seth
Thank you for getting in contact with the club.
The statement was genuine and am attempt to publicly address the concerns of Mr Duchâtelet. He perceives that there are some people leading the protests who might prefer if the club was relegated. We do of course think that most fans still want us to win even if they dislike the management.
Mr Duchâtelet also understands that he is a custodian of this great club and he is fully aware of the important role that supporters have played in its history. Like all of us he wants an upturn in the fortunes of the club and knows that we will have to work harder to achieve that.
Best regards
Charlton Athletic Supporter Relations Team
First point is there is an effort to reply which is a good thing.
Second point is this one: ' He perceives that there are some people leading the protests who might prefer if the club was relegated.
It is 'some people' leading the protests. They think the majority are being rabble roused by a very few, and that all the protesters can't think for themselves? This fit's in with their view that the protests will crumble if results pick up, which was the message from the November 'power point' meeting.
I just want to say to all you bastard bitter ex employees that you can feck off because you have been using and manipulating me all along, using one of natures innocents like me! Roland is custodian get it, and he is looking after me.
"Mr Duchâtelet.....perceives that there are some people leading the protests who might prefer if the club was relegated"
They still don't get it do they. Not one single person wants us relegated, not one. Many just realised a long while ago that this was where we were heading under his ownership hence the concerns expressed and the subsequent protests date back months if not to last years meeting.
This is what I sent on Wednesday evening last week:
Dear Charlton.
Do you know your club website has been hacked, and a statement of the absolute worst and most unhelpful kind has been put up there?
It urgently needs to be removed as it is very damaging to the club.
Regards
At first I got an acknowledgement. This is the reply I received today:
Hello Seth
Thank you for getting in contact with the club.
The statement was genuine and am attempt to publicly address the concerns of Mr Duchâtelet. He perceives that there are some people leading the protests who might prefer if the club was relegated. We do of course think that most fans still want us to win even if they dislike the management.
Mr Duchâtelet also understands that he is a custodian of this great club and he is fully aware of the important role that supporters have played in its history. Like all of us he wants an upturn in the fortunes of the club and knows that we will have to work harder to achieve that.
Best regards
Charlton Athletic Supporter Relations Team
First point is there is an effort to reply which is a good thing.
Second point is this one: ' He perceives that there are some people leading the protests who might prefer if the club was relegated.
It is 'some people' leading the protests. They think the majority are being rabble roused by a very few, and that all the protesters can't think for themselves? This fit's in with their view that the protests will crumble if results pick up, which was the message from the November 'power point' meeting.
I just want to say to all you bastard bitter ex employees that you can feck off because you have been using and manipulating me all along, using one of natures innocents like me! Roland is custodian get it, and he is looking after me.
Mate of mine sent them an email on Tuesday to let them know the website had been hacked. Got an email identical to the above, word for word.
The replies are almost certainly coming from a 3rd party customer service centre, most likely in India or some place where labour is cheap. The company I work for uses similar services - sometimes their replies are hilarious. They will be working to a rough script of answers to likely asked questions. It's easier and cheaper than having a UK-based staff member actually write replies.
Anyone who is bored at work could probably have a bit of fun asking the most obscure questions and seeing what kind of response you get back. They will probably have little understanding of who Charlton are and will treat each question the same.
Credit to them for replying. We'd been slamming them for months for not answering emails and in fairness, they can hardly say "sorry for the Belgian's rant but he's a total tool". Clearly, however, the guff about him understanding the club and fans is bullshit. But it's a start.
However, given that the Head of Communications is no more, wonder who's actually coming up with the replies?
Comments
That's a lie, and also no it is not. Christ it's like they want to strike nerves of fans. They are adding fuel to the fire with these pre empted, scripted, defensive nonsical responses.
We've only just got started Roland.. you've picked the wrong Club to mess with.
Received 4 automated replies in first instance then a holding reply to one of the e-mails subsequently.
To date still nothing further.
"Thank you for contacting us, apologies for the delay in replying, you are right we have had a few emails.
We can confirm it was an official statement, from senior officials at the club including Mr Duchâtelet. While he knows fans care deeply about the club, he had concerns that he wanted made public.
We know there is a task ahead of us now to rebuild trust with supporters, but there are a lot of staff here who will work hard to try and improve things.
Best regards
The Supporter Relations Team"
fanscustomersInteresting to see that Mr. Duchatelet has been confirmed to have played a role in the communication. However, if Katrien herself is rumoured to have disagreed, and the Head of Comms actually resigned as a result of The Statement... surely that only leaves Tony The Testicle and Richard Murray as
his accomplicesthe other senior members of staff?I can't see anyone who speaks English natively agreeing with his actions.
I noticed that the first responses seemed to share more information on Roland than we'd really heard before; i.e the fact he employs 7,000 people in total. Not the work of someone who is working at Charlton, seems more likely to be someone closer to Roland - which leads me to suspect that, if this is the case, he is all too well aware of the failings at Charlton with regards to senior personnel.
Would be interesting to see if anyone can shed some light on where these responses originate from.
Absolutely clueless.
Yeah, but you're just shit at executing it.
I'm sure that statement was related to the beach ball incident, and the press coverage that the funeral got
The wording of The Statement makes it very clear it wasn't aimed at 2 or 3 individuals; and to claim so is merely another act of desperation - this time aimed at clawing his way out of the hole he threw himself in to.
The phrase, "no shit Poirot" springs to mind.
Dear Charlton.
Do you know your club website has been hacked, and a statement of the absolute worst and most unhelpful kind has been put up there?
It urgently needs to be removed as it is very damaging to the club.
Regards
At first I got an acknowledgement. This is the reply I received today:
Hello Seth
Thank you for getting in contact with the club.
The statement was genuine and am attempt to publicly address the concerns of Mr Duchâtelet. He perceives that there are some people leading the protests who might prefer if the club was relegated. We do of course think that most fans still want us to win even if they dislike the management.
Mr Duchâtelet also understands that he is a custodian of this great club and he is fully aware of the important role that supporters have played in its history. Like all of us he wants an upturn in the fortunes of the club and knows that we will have to work harder to achieve that.
Best regards
Charlton Athletic Supporter Relations Team
First point is there is an effort to reply which is a good thing.
Second point is this one: ' He perceives that there are some people leading the protests who might prefer if the club was relegated.
It is 'some people' leading the protests. They think the majority are being rabble roused by a very few, and that all the protesters can't think for themselves?
This fit's in with their view that the protests will crumble if results pick up, which was the message from the November 'power point' meeting.
I just want to say to all you bastard bitter ex employees that you can feck off because you have been using and manipulating me all along, using one of natures innocents like me!
Roland is custodian get it, and he is looking after me.
When these chancers are out of our club, a film needs to be made the capture the farce that was the Duchatelet era
- "CAFC Supporter Relations"
- "The Supporter Relations Team"
- "Charlton Athletic Supporter Relations Team"
Combined with the fact that they don't appear to be native speakers, it suggests there's currently 3+ individuals in Belgium tasked with replying to these emails. Not entirely a bad response by the club, albeit slightly frustrating that they aren't in SE7 with a good grasp of the situation and the history of the club. This also marks a distinct change in the tone of the communications again - accepting a degree of responsibility and not entirely throwing the blame back on to a supposed small number of fans.
It appears that they're beginning to take things seriously, albeit too late. Despite all the effort in these responses - they still don't seem completely aware of the severity of fan sentiment, still seem to think they can downplay The Statement and still refer to "some people leading the protests".
I can't help but ponder whether there's an ulterior motive behind these email responses - I've only seen them mentioned here on CharltonLife - but I will be incredibly surprised if these emails aren't used in subsequent PR strategies (i.e "Since the protests we've began engaging our fans and opening dialogue via channels specifically created for this purpose.") or are the result of the club being warned that they need to open dialog to prevent further disruption. Constructive dialog seems to be entirely at odds to the attitude that Katrien has previous demonstrated.
Mate of mine sent them an email on Tuesday to let them know the website had been hacked. Got an email identical to the above, word for word.
They still don't get it do they. Not one single person wants us relegated, not one. Many just realised a long while ago that this was where we were heading under his ownership hence the concerns expressed and the subsequent protests date back months if not to last years meeting.
Tempted to write my own now.
Anyone who is bored at work could probably have a bit of fun asking the most obscure questions and seeing what kind of response you get back. They will probably have little understanding of who Charlton are and will treat each question the same.
No I haven't got one yet, but I'll have a think
- "CAFC Supporter Relations"
- "The Supporter Relations Team"
- "Charlton Athletic Supporter Relations Team"
However, given that the Head of Communications is no more, wonder who's actually coming up with the replies?