KM may have the title of CEO but she is nothing more than a glorified post box between RD and the fans. If you want to complain to your boss you don't book an hour long meeting to speak to his PA.
I'm sure John Commberford won't mind me posting this on here as I'm sure Bromley Addicks will get a similar invite soon.
"Dear Member,
All Members of East Kent Addicks have been invited to meet Katrien Meire and other Senior Club Personnel in the North Stand at the Valley from 1.00pm on Saturday 27th August, 2016 prior to the Bolton game. The intention is for those in attendance to address their questions to the Club in a respectful way to enable a free and valuable exchange of views. Refreshments will be provided.
It is appreciated that a number of our Members travel to Charlton via the Valley Express Service and the Club have agreed to provide an additional coach departing from Ashford at 11.30am and Faversham at 11.50am. Priority to travel on this extra coach will be given to Valley Express Season Ticket Holders and those who regularly utilise the Valley Express Service with the normal match-day price of £11 applying. It should be stressed that there are no restrictions in attending this event for those who travel independently to the Valley.
Whilst this invitation has been extended by C.A.F.C. to all East Kent Addicks Members, those wishing to attend must reserve their place in advance by contacting East Kent Addicks either by email at ekaddicks@talktalk.net or by telephoning #############. Please note that admission will be restricted solely to those who meet this criteria and that there can be no exceptions.
Those wishing to travel via the additional Valley Express Service should also contact East Kent Addicks, who will liaise with the Club to make the necessary arrangements.
Kindest regards,
East Kent Addicks."
Now we'll see what Big Tony Southstand is all about.
What's more likely to get national media coverage and put pressure on them? Katrien Meire being given an easy time at a supporter's meeting or supporter groups turning her down?
This, definitely.
She wants to be able to say she consults with supporters. Nothing more, nothing less. If EKA turn her down she cannot go to the media and say she has tried but the supporters won't talk because she knows the next question will be "Why?".
EKA need to be strong and say that they will not attend until the Trust, as the largest supporter group, decide it's time to re-engage.
Delaware North refreshments are a major reason not to attend as their catering whenever I have sampled it is vile in the extreme...and just as well it is free even though free Delaware North refreshments remain way overpriced.
Has anyone ever attended a supporters' branch meeting where the club was challenged by the questioning? I'm not sure I have. The nature of the audience tends to be that people are grateful for the opportunity just to listen to people from the club saying whatever they want to say.
The best thing to do would be arrange the meeting, then everybody boycotts it.
Again. She would love that.
Do you honestly think squirrel face will take anything on board?
No I don't . but if we turn down dialogue it plays into her hands and she can tell the press that dialogue was refused. It's a bit of a chess game at this stage and you have to think of the consequences of each move.
She can tell the press what she likes. The ones that matter are behind us on this. What's a bigger story 'Katrien Meire meets with fans groups' or 'All CAFC fan groups refuse to meet with Katrien Meire'?
This woman is a confirmed and compulsive liar. Nothing she says can be believed. Meeting with her gives her and the regime more credibility. All fans groups should refuse meetings and actively protest until the regime are gone.
The best thing to do would be arrange the meeting, then everybody boycotts it.
Again. She would love that.
Do you honestly think squirrel face will take anything on board?
No I don't . but if we turn down dialogue it plays into her hands and she can tell the press that dialogue was refused. It's a bit of a chess game at this stage and you have to think of the consequences of each move.
She can tell the press what she likes. The ones that matter are behind us on this. What's a bigger story 'Katrien Meire meets with fans groups' or 'All CAFC fan groups refuse to meet with Katrien Meire'?
This woman is a confirmed and compulsive liar. Nothing she says can be believed. Meeting with her gives her and the regime more credibility. All fans groups should refuse meetings and actively protest until the regime are gone.
Just my thoughts.
Wouldn't it be better to meet her and ask targeted, difficult (but polite) questions and give her a chance to embarrass herself again, which she will.
Has anyone ever attended a supporters' branch meeting where the club was challenged by the questioning? I'm not sure I have. The nature of the audience tends to be that people are grateful for the opportunity just to listen to people from the club saying whatever they want to say.
One question worth asking is whatmakes Katrien Meire more qualified to sit on the FA council than Seb Lewis, or Les Turner or Betty Hutchings or Kevin Nolan or Derek Hales. Or ask how she is going to garner the views of all the other clubs she represents.
The best thing to do would be arrange the meeting, then everybody boycotts it.
Again. She would love that.
Do you honestly think squirrel face will take anything on board?
No I don't . but if we turn down dialogue it plays into her hands and she can tell the press that dialogue was refused. It's a bit of a chess game at this stage and you have to think of the consequences of each move.
She can tell the press what she likes. The ones that matter are behind us on this. What's a bigger story 'Katrien Meire meets with fans groups' or 'All CAFC fan groups refuse to meet with Katrien Meire'?
This woman is a confirmed and compulsive liar. Nothing she says can be believed. Meeting with her gives her and the regime more credibility. All fans groups should refuse meetings and actively protest until the regime are gone.
Just my thoughts.
Wouldn't it be better to meet her and ask targeted, difficult (but polite) questions and give her a chance to embarrass herself again, which she will.
Personally I think that she should be completely shunned. It would send out a firmer message in my opinion. It is clear a huge number of fans have absolutely no faith in her ability to do her job, so meeting with her and allowing her to spread her message of the new dawn would be ridiculous. They aren't interested in hearing complaints, they will just say how they have changed policy, learned lessons and that we should give them yet another chance to implement their latest half arsed ideas. It's nonsense.
The best thing to do would be arrange the meeting, then everybody boycotts it.
Again. She would love that.
Do you honestly think squirrel face will take anything on board?
No I don't . but if we turn down dialogue it plays into her hands and she can tell the press that dialogue was refused. It's a bit of a chess game at this stage and you have to think of the consequences of each move.
She can tell the press what she likes. The ones that matter are behind us on this. What's a bigger story 'Katrien Meire meets with fans groups' or 'All CAFC fan groups refuse to meet with Katrien Meire'?
This woman is a confirmed and compulsive liar. Nothing she says can be believed. Meeting with her gives her and the regime more credibility. All fans groups should refuse meetings and actively protest until the regime are gone.
Just my thoughts.
Wouldn't it be better to meet her and ask targeted, difficult (but polite) questions and give her a chance to embarrass herself again, which she will.
Personally I think that she should be completely shunned. It would send out a firmer message in my opinion. It is clear a huge number of fans have absolutely no faith in her ability to do her job, so meeting with her and allowing her to spread her message of the new dawn would be ridiculous. They aren't interested in hearing complaints, they will just say how they have changed policy, learned lessons and that we should give them yet another chance to implement their latest half arsed ideas. It's nonsense.
It wouldn't though.
If the East Kent Addicks were part of CARD then I would agree with you as CARD have the apparatus to control the message.
In this instance however we'd be hanging Katrien the opportunity to control the message that goes beyond a couple hundred people on an internet forum and that message would definitely portray the victim that she wants herself to be seen as. Some people in the media might even believe it.
KM may have the title of CEO but she is nothing more than a glorified post box between RD and the fans. If you want to complain to your boss you don't book an hour long meeting to speak to his PA.
Maybe this is the way to go for all supporter groups, including East Kent Addicks. Reply and say you'll accept the meeting as long as Duchatelet is there.
The best thing to do would be arrange the meeting, then everybody boycotts it.
Again. She would love that.
Do you honestly think squirrel face will take anything on board?
No I don't . but if we turn down dialogue it plays into her hands and she can tell the press that dialogue was refused. It's a bit of a chess game at this stage and you have to think of the consequences of each move.
She can tell the press what she likes. The ones that matter are behind us on this. What's a bigger story 'Katrien Meire meets with fans groups' or 'All CAFC fan groups refuse to meet with Katrien Meire'?
This woman is a confirmed and compulsive liar. Nothing she says can be believed. Meeting with her gives her and the regime more credibility. All fans groups should refuse meetings and actively protest until the regime are gone.
Just my thoughts.
Wouldn't it be better to meet her and ask targeted, difficult (but polite) questions and give her a chance to embarrass herself again, which she will.
Personally I think that she should be completely shunned. It would send out a firmer message in my opinion. It is clear a huge number of fans have absolutely no faith in her ability to do her job, so meeting with her and allowing her to spread her message of the new dawn would be ridiculous. They aren't interested in hearing complaints, they will just say how they have changed policy, learned lessons and that we should give them yet another chance to implement their latest half arsed ideas. It's nonsense.
It wouldn't though.
If the East Kent Addicks were part of CARD then I would agree with you as CARD have the apparatus to control the message.
In this instance however we'd be hanging Katrien the opportunity to control the message that goes beyond a couple hundred people on an internet forum and that message would definitely portray the victim that she wants herself to be seen as. Some people in the media might even believe it.
As I said, they are only looking to spread the word of their new dawn, they aren't interested in anything the fans say. As usual it will be a completely controlled environment where KM is surrounded by irrelevant people so as to be able to deflect any questions she doesn't like.
If there is to be a dialogue then maybe it's for CARD or someone else to send KM an invitation to attend a meeting in a place of the organiser's choosing, in an environment that cannot be controlled by the regime, with attendees that cannot be controlled by the regime, with questions that cannot be controlled by the regime and the meeting video recorded and put out for all to see. Any other way would just be an exercise in futility.
@kingshilladdick there are plenty of people here criticising the fact that East Kent members were keeping things 'in house' although I of course notice your excellent blog article but the fact remains, imo, that they would much rather keep matters off social media, for what reason I don't know, but I'd assume they don't want to upset the apple cart and affect them being able to have guests from the Club at future meetings.
One question worth asking is whatmakes Katrien Meire more qualified to sit on the FA council than Seb Lewis, or Les Turner or Betty Hutchings or Kevin Nolan or Derek Hales. Or ask how she is going to garner the views of all the other clubs she represents.
I disagree. It's irrelevant whether she sits on some FA panel. The only thing that matters is the future of Charlton Athletic. The fact that she sits on that panel is a distraction from the real issue, which is the state of the football club under her and RD's tenure.
The best thing to do would be arrange the meeting, then everybody boycotts it.
Again. She would love that.
Do you honestly think squirrel face will take anything on board?
No I don't . but if we turn down dialogue it plays into her hands and she can tell the press that dialogue was refused. It's a bit of a chess game at this stage and you have to think of the consequences of each move.
She can tell the press what she likes. The ones that matter are behind us on this. What's a bigger story 'Katrien Meire meets with fans groups' or 'All CAFC fan groups refuse to meet with Katrien Meire'?
This woman is a confirmed and compulsive liar. Nothing she says can be believed. Meeting with her gives her and the regime more credibility. All fans groups should refuse meetings and actively protest until the regime are gone.
Just my thoughts.
Credibility? The outlets for her nonsense are swiftly diminishing mostly due to the credit we have with the sports media, most of whom are on board even the shockingly lazy Clem was put right swiftly. Credibility for the supporters' cause can be lost if we act foolishly and reject the opportunity to put individuals under the microscope by increasing their engagement with supporters. If anything there should demands for public appearances and meetings 24/7. Far better for us that the regime is shown to refuse to meet with supporters than supporters cast in a negative light.
1) Bank Holiday weekend so many fans will be away ( even East Kent Fans go to other places than Margate for their holidays:-) ) 2) Last Saturday of the protest truce. 3) Transfer window closes in a couple of days. (so they still have a chance to say "we are hoping to get a couple of players over the line") 4) Only four league matches into the season. (I hope we do not lose the next two otherwise I can see the meeting being cancelled). 5) Before a game where we could potentially lose against a relegated team. (This game against Bolton will gives us an indication who is likely to fair better during the season, given we both have had majors changes over the summer).
Unfortunately i'm not going to the meeting, but can someone who is going please ask Katrian why she hasn't done the decent thing and resigned already , or ask her what it will take for her to resign?
I do believe in continued dialogue, at worst it schieves nothing, at best it schieves a lot. That said this is a divide and rule exercise. If the club were truly interested in dialogue they would pull in the Trust, nominees from each supporters branch and would offer an invite to CARD, which I would hope they would accept.
If this was serious it would be a representative body of all geographic locations.
But this is basically what the Fans' Forum is, Kap.
They're just trying to re invent the wheel ....
....and making an extremely poor job of it.
thanks Jean who nominates who sits on the ff
Edit ff = fans forum not fanny fannackapan
Historically, all existing SGs that held meetings for members & an annual AGM were invited to form the FF.
Since then, additional groups have been invited to join, including CAST.
I'll dig out the original bits & bobs to clarify the situation as my memory ain't wot it usta be although Airman will have the information to hand , I'm sure .
Has anyone ever attended a supporters' branch meeting where the club was challenged by the questioning? I'm not sure I have. The nature of the audience tends to be that people are grateful for the opportunity just to listen to people from the club saying whatever they want to say.
Actually I have. Richard Murray was given quite a tough time at a Bromley meeting I attended just after Wendy Perfect had left the club. From memory your name might have come up too Airman.
I've also seen KM get quite a grilling at Bromley too. She became very defensive and, in my view, looked like she was going to cry at one point.
I do agree with your assessment though Airman. Logically though we all know that if we don't behave when we are 'invited' somewhere we run the risk of not being asked back. The same applies if we behave in an unpleasant manner to guests they might decline out invitation to come again.
On the subject of EKA being told that they must decline an invitation and/or be told what they can and cannot ask if they do go I think this is unfair and unrealistic.
I also think that questions that are, in reality, rhetorical and spiteful are pointless and probably play into her hands.
Has anyone ever attended a supporters' branch meeting where the club was challenged by the questioning? I'm not sure I have. The nature of the audience tends to be that people are grateful for the opportunity just to listen to people from the club saying whatever they want to say.
There's always a first time. Especially if you go?
The mess she has caused and the continual joke tune she has the club running to at the moment has me believing this will be nothing more than the same old KM. Empty promises, defensive responses to questions etc.
There are certain people she would hate to grill her and have it recorded. Imo she has cherry picked this situation.
The time for nice get togethers is gone, we are in a mess, her deflections of 'only 2% are unhappy' shite has blown up in her face. A few sarneys and a cup of tea should not disguise the fact they have fucked up and should answer for what they have done.
Has anyone ever attended a supporters' branch meeting where the club was challenged by the questioning? I'm not sure I have. The nature of the audience tends to be that people are grateful for the opportunity just to listen to people from the club saying whatever they want to say.
Maybe it is time for that to change - does Kings Hill think EKA are capable of asking the challenging questions that might make this of interest?
Big ego in play who will view this as a personal triumph and a coup for the 'old boys' way of conducting matters. It will do nothing other than puff up an already inflated chest and hand Meire a PR point IMO.
Comments
Next one inside the North Stand at the Valley from 1.00pm on Saturday 27th August?
Just asking ☺
KM may have the title of CEO but she is nothing more than a glorified post box between RD and the fans. If you want to complain to your boss you don't book an hour long meeting to speak to his PA.
She wants to be able to say she consults with supporters. Nothing more, nothing less. If EKA turn her down she cannot go to the media and say she has tried but the supporters won't talk because she knows the next question will be "Why?".
EKA need to be strong and say that they will not attend until the Trust, as the largest supporter group, decide it's time to re-engage.
a) it's for the members of the East Kent Addicks to decide if they want to attend
b) as Meire is completely incapable of saying anything positive with any sort of sincerity I don't see how she can benefit from this
c) the meeting will almost certainly be an absolute farce, like a scaled down version of the infamous q&a session a year or so ago
Makes me cringe every time I think about it !
This woman is a confirmed and compulsive liar. Nothing she says can be believed. Meeting with her gives her and the regime more credibility. All fans groups should refuse meetings and actively protest until the regime are gone.
Just my thoughts.
Or ask how she is going to garner the views of all the other clubs she represents.
If the East Kent Addicks were part of CARD then I would agree with you as CARD have the apparatus to control the message.
In this instance however we'd be hanging Katrien the opportunity to control the message that goes beyond a couple hundred people on an internet forum and that message would definitely portray the victim that she wants herself to be seen as. Some people in the media might even believe it.
If there is to be a dialogue then maybe it's for CARD or someone else to send KM an invitation to attend a meeting in a place of the organiser's choosing, in an environment that cannot be controlled by the regime, with attendees that cannot be controlled by the regime, with questions that cannot be controlled by the regime and the meeting video recorded and put out for all to see. Any other way would just be an exercise in futility.
http://forum.charltonlife.com/discussion/66752/east-kent-addicks-meeting-with-km-on-26th-feb/p1
1) Bank Holiday weekend so many fans will be away ( even East Kent Fans go to other places than Margate for their holidays:-) )
2) Last Saturday of the protest truce.
3) Transfer window closes in a couple of days. (so they still have a chance to say "we are hoping to get a couple of players over the line")
4) Only four league matches into the season. (I hope we do not lose the next two otherwise I can see the meeting being cancelled).
5) Before a game where we could potentially lose against a relegated team. (This game against Bolton will gives us an indication who is likely to fair better during the season, given we both have had majors changes over the summer).
I've also seen KM get quite a grilling at Bromley too. She became very defensive and, in my view, looked like she was going to cry at one point.
I do agree with your assessment though Airman. Logically though we all know that if we don't behave when we are 'invited' somewhere we run the risk of not being asked back. The same applies if we behave in an unpleasant manner to guests they might decline out invitation to come again.
On the subject of EKA being told that they must decline an invitation and/or be told what they can and cannot ask if they do go I think this is unfair and unrealistic.
I also think that questions that are, in reality, rhetorical and spiteful are pointless and probably play into her hands.
There are certain people she would hate to grill her and have it recorded. Imo she has cherry picked this situation.
The time for nice get togethers is gone, we are in a mess, her deflections of 'only 2% are unhappy' shite has blown up in her face. A few sarneys and a cup of tea should not disguise the fact they have fucked up and should answer for what they have done.