It is as frustrating as hell right now, but we are where we are:
1. A very small number of idiots and sycophants still think that Duchatelet and Meire are good for the club 2. A considerably larger number think that they are bad for the club, but "we are stuck with them, so get used to it" 3. Even more hate them but are sick of fighting and still love their club and just want to watch football again without thinking about the deeper malaise 4. A large number hate them, are still going to some games, are participating in the low level type of protests that have been happening 5. A large number hate them and are staying away until they are gone
If CARD or anyone else calls a boycott, a sizeable number would ignore it - a visible and public failure.
If CARD or anyone else organises a substantial, disruptive protest (like last seasons') at this stage substantially fewer protesters would come and take part, the people who just want to watch football would be against it and we give the regime the biggest win of all - fighting between fan factions.
So, right now it's about keeping the protest flame alive. Taking advantage of the club's frequent cock-ups; continuing to communicate about the damage they are doing; mounting small scale reminders that the protests haven't gone (and will not go) away; targeting Duchatelet, Meire and Keohane when the chance arises. Sooner or later, the pendulum will swing back. The momentum will again be with the protests. That's when we have to be ready to push again.
It hurts. But they are hurting too. It's a long game. Our time will come.
Pretty accurate summary Davo of where we are now in my book. But I just can't understand how we went from all out protest and sofa carnage against Burnley to this. I can't believe the appointment of an English manager was solely responsible. It was Russel bloody Slade for gawd's sake. Something happened over the summer but I must've missed it.
Protest fatigue + new manager/season/signings optimism = give it a chance
Failure to make him sell (so far) despite throwing a lot at him = despair
It is as frustrating as hell right now, but we are where we are:
1. A very small number of idiots and sycophants still think that Duchatelet and Meire are good for the club 2. A considerably larger number think that they are bad for the club, but "we are stuck with them, so get used to it" 3. Even more hate them but are sick of fighting and still love their club and just want to watch football again without thinking about the deeper malaise 4. A large number hate them, are still going to some games, are participating in the low level type of protests that have been happening 5. A large number hate them and are staying away until they are gone
If CARD or anyone else calls a boycott, a sizeable number would ignore it - a visible and public failure.
If CARD or anyone else organises a substantial, disruptive protest (like last seasons') at this stage substantially fewer protesters would come and take part, the people who just want to watch football would be against it and we give the regime the biggest win of all - fighting between fan factions.
So, right now it's about keeping the protest flame alive. Taking advantage of the club's frequent cock-ups; continuing to communicate about the damage they are doing; mounting small scale reminders that the protests haven't gone (and will not go) away; targeting Duchatelet, Meire and Keohane when the chance arises. Sooner or later, the pendulum will swing back. The momentum will again be with the protests. That's when we have to be ready to push again.
It hurts. But they are hurting too. It's a long game. Our time will come.
Good post. But I think everyone should be encouraged to come to the £5 Rochdale game.
20,000 in the ground singing and standing "stand up if you want them out", will demonstrate that the vast majority want them gone. They can't stop this because, it doesn't require banners or placards.
Would love that. Sadly, I think the large majority of the "stay-aways" wouldn't come and half of the crowd would, consequently, stay seated and silent.
You may be right, but if CARD recommend it, I see no reason why we can't get a minimum of 12,000 fans in there standing & singing & hopefully more. Failing that I don't see where we go from here.
We need to show the strength of feeling and if it's no longer there, at least we'll know where we stand.
It is as frustrating as hell right now, but we are where we are:
1. A very small number of idiots and sycophants still think that Duchatelet and Meire are good for the club 2. A considerably larger number think that they are bad for the club, but "we are stuck with them, so get used to it" 3. Even more hate them but are sick of fighting and still love their club and just want to watch football again without thinking about the deeper malaise 4. A large number hate them, are still going to some games, are participating in the low level type of protests that have been happening 5. A large number hate them and are staying away until they are gone
If CARD or anyone else calls a boycott, a sizeable number would ignore it - a visible and public failure.
If CARD or anyone else organises a substantial, disruptive protest (like last seasons') at this stage substantially fewer protesters would come and take part, the people who just want to watch football would be against it and we give the regime the biggest win of all - fighting between fan factions.
So, right now it's about keeping the protest flame alive. Taking advantage of the club's frequent cock-ups; continuing to communicate about the damage they are doing; mounting small scale reminders that the protests haven't gone (and will not go) away; targeting Duchatelet, Meire and Keohane when the chance arises. Sooner or later, the pendulum will swing back. The momentum will again be with the protests. That's when we have to be ready to push again.
It hurts. But they are hurting too. It's a long game. Our time will come.
Good post. But I think everyone should be encouraged to come to the £5 Rochdale game.
20,000 in the ground singing and standing "stand up if you want them out", will demonstrate that the vast majority want them gone. They can't stop this because, it doesn't require banners or placards.
Would love that. Sadly, I think the large majority of the "stay-aways" wouldn't come and half of the crowd would, consequently, stay seated and silent.
I really don't think that anyone at the club, sponsors or advertisers will be looking at the crowd numbers and thinking "they" have won.
I wasnt thinking of 'numbers' - just that protests have now stopped, because the protestors have become the boycotters.
Why was that woman who was behind you yelling "your sort isn't welcome here" at the bloke who was leaving shouting back? What on earth was that about?
Sorta explained in the Wimbledon fans kicked out thread, but essentially a Charlton (lady) fan was sitting in the row behind us with her Wimbledon (lady) supporting friend - who promptly got a bit excited when the Wombles scored - the bloke a few rows down basically told her to sit down and-( its getting a bit like Millwall and next thing is we will be fighting each other with protestors v non-protestors).shut up and get in the away end - to which her Charlton mate took exception (rightly) and told him where he could get off. He soon left the ground with stewards looking a bit bemused !. Thats just another example of how toxic this place has become.
Let's face it RD is not going anywhere we are stuck with him as our terrible owner!! I did support the protests but it's got us nowhere! It just seems it to is killing Charlton as a club, toxic atmospheres fans staying away ( I'm not going at moment due to no job) but I would be there if I could! Team needs support! Yes RD and KM are not doing our club any good but either are we really to be totally honest! I watched Palace today on Sky and yes I know if gonna get abuse for saying this but there atmosphere was amazing as is Portsmouth's in league two and the Wimbledon fans sounded brilliant too! I'm very sad and angry that our once great club is falling apart!
I don't understand why people think low numbers in attendance is affecting the players?
This is league one, and we still have one of the highest attendances in the league - forgetting the fact that the majority of the team are used to playing in front of only a few thousand if they're playing in league one!
Agree that the atmosphere was shocking, but I don't think that is affecting the team either -not down to people staying away (as the previous few home games have had a decent atmosphere!) but actually due to boring football on show and naff weather!
I agree of what I've seen that the football on show is terrible and so easy to defend! ! And Ajose's form is suffering because of it! We was warned that Slade's side don't play football! !.
Let's face it RD is not going anywhere we are stuck with him as our terrible owner!! I did support the protests but it's got us nowhere! It just seems it to is killing Charlton as a club, toxic atmospheres fans staying away ( I'm not going at moment due to no job) but I would be there if I could! Team needs support! Yes RD and KM are not doing our club any good but either are we really to be totally honest! I watched Palace today on Sky and yes I know if gonna get abuse for saying this but there atmosphere was amazing as is Portsmouth's in league two and the Wimbledon fans sounded brilliant too! I'm very sad and angry that our once great club is falling apart!
3 sets of fans who are proud of their club. Even though I am going I am not proud of our club and when I talk to fans of other clubs it is hard not to be honest. It is a journey of pain and sadness. A few years ago I was encouraging people to come with me because I thought they might enjoy. Now I say stay away because it is a placve of sadness and despair. One day it will end. I hope it is before me!
I wouldn't say the protests have got us nowhere. If nobody had said nary a contrary word about anything since this regime took over, would that have been better?
Calling a boycott of one game and a mass turn up to one game, with plenty of support for the team, (Football For A Fiver?) would be a good idea I think. Show them we're still fighting and show them what they could have had with just a little investment in the squad. To say the protests have made no difference is a pretty simplistic view on things in my humble opinion, I doubt we'd have a manger who's experience goes beyond the Belgian Sunday League and English players without them. Meire remains completely inept, running away from opposition directors who clearly view her as a laughing stock. She thinks she's doing a good job, standing resilient against all those nasty men shouting at her and now she's weathered that storm she can go back to free lunches and playing at being a CEO. Personally, I've said I won't be doing home games this season and instead doing aways, because to me the withdrawal of my money will hit them harder than any vocal confrontation. If Meire labels us as customers, I will treat her business as one; I'm not satisfied with her product and until there's vast improvements, different management, or very cheap prices to see if anythings changed I will be withholding my cash.
This isnt the Charlton i have grown up supporting - the club that was known as a nice family club, friendly fans, friendly staff, and a team that i was proud to say i supported-and a club that other clubs and fans used to use as their role-model.
At the moment, i get the feeling that KM may believe that she has 'won', in view that there are no longer any protests.
That is the very reason why the protests and boycott should continue. Continue until Roland is out.
No defeat, no surrender!
If Katrien thinks in any way that she has "won," then she is even more deluded than everyone thinks. Whenever she looks out out the empty seats and checks the bottom line, the only sane conclusion is that she is a big loser.
I understand people's concerns but I seem to recall hearing some very wise words recently. "People need to be patient......you see how patient they were there".
There are two primary issues in play here. One is the intent of the executive of the club. Two is the competence of the executive to deliver to that intent. Even if some have been seduced by the hint of a changed agenda by the executive the ability to deliver to such an agenda will remain an outstanding issue for the foreseeable future.
There is nothing to be gained from forcing the issue. Forcing the issue will force people to decide which many are quite simply not yet prepared to do. They will not thank you for such intervention. Sometimes you just have to wait for the next bad delivery to hit the ball out of the ground. By all means offer the odd skirmish or two to keep the issues fresh but every day the club falls short of any meaningful progress the pressure will mount.
The latest revelations concerning monetary funding will cause the pressure to mount.
There has never been a campaign for a boycott of the club. The campaign was "to not buy season tickets" to register a protest against the executive of the club.
Some have chosen to boycott the Valley, for a variety of reasons and indeed some have urged others to do the same. It is and has always been a matter of personal choice. It is a personal choice we should respect.
In truth thousands had walked away long before any formal protests had even begun. We all know by now the attendance figures from last season were distorted by thousands who had previously purchased season tickets simply choosing not to turn up.
Our own eyes inform us the current attendances, even considering the multitude of complimentary tickets apparently on offer, reflect the true dissatisfaction with the club as it is today.
Such attendances will over time bring even greater pressure.
Can we be clear here. No one individual supporter is accountable for our circumstances today. There is only one set of people to blame our current situation.
It is not the clubs supporters.
I understand the hope for some positivity but those hanging their hopes on the efforts made for the start of this season miss the point. The damage has been done.
The club infrastructure has been damaged to the point it is no longer able to operate as a viable professional football club. I fully recognise the challenge facing the club executive. Managing any organisation in decline is immensely difficult. It very often requires a very different and very specific skill set and approach.
With an executive which has displayed a glaring lack of acumen in meeting even the basic corporate needs there can be no confidence this regime is in anyway up to the task of rebuilding the club.
It is true many had argued to this point the atmosphere this season, in the absence of any fully fledged protest, had been better. Now with the first home league defeat it is the actions of the protestors who have chosen to stay away which are called into question.
What about the actions of those who have chosen to stay? Where was the full support for the players and the manager from those in the stands? Where was the attempt to lift the mood and performance of the players to greater heights?
When is there ever a call to arms from the club, the CEO, the Chairman, the Owner, the Communications team, the Senior Management Team? Where is the drive and ambition from these people to bring people together to secure a bright and positive future for the club? Where is the vision beyond the cinema and/ or restaurant analogy?
Saturday was really only a matter of time. Encapsulated by the Fraeye plea to ".... not make Charlton a team that needs to go everywhere and win everything" it is a place for people to come and spend time with friends and families, enjoy a few drinks, watch a bit of football, hopefully enjoy a few decent results and/or commiserate when the game did not go well.
So does it really matter? Not if you do not have any ambition. Not if ultimately you only came for the beer. Does it really matter if the stadium is 2/3rds empty? Not if ultimately you only came for the beer. Does it really matter if the crowd sits in silence as the players struggle to perform? Not if ultimately you only came for the beer. Does it matter thousands have walked away? Not if ultimately you only came for the beer.
The glaring failure here is one I have tried to allude to several times before. The culture of any organisation, it's tempo, it's values, it's operational standards, it's drive, it's ambition come from those that run the organisation.
Today the message is no more than "D'ont you dare say anything rude about the owner or the Senior Management Team". Accountable for nothing can ever a group of people be more inappropriately named? SMT? Your having a laugh!
We have no Chairman. We have no board of directors. We have a failed CEO who maybe for unavoidable personal reasons has gone missing for the last two games. The owner has not appeared at a game for over 2yrs. Where is the executive support for the manager and players?
What we do have is lots of security staff and stewards. Who benefits from that?
The club now has no positive profile. It has no spirit. It has no leadership. It has no drive. It has no momentum. While yesterday was an opportunity missed on the field the club in reality is not structured to provide any of the basic elements needed to create and drive a thriving, dynamic, inclusive, ambitious future.
Ultimately there is now nothing there. It is a shadow of what it was just over a decade ago and what it could be again. Take a look at the pictures of the Directors box on Saturday published elsewhere on this board does that look like anything that reflects a driving, committed and ambitious business?
If ever a project had highlighted one mans' chronic failure to communicate, to even understand the need to communicate, a failing highlighted by his own son then the events of the past 32 months in SE7 have writ it large for all to see.
It is writ large in those pictures of Saturday.
The executive had an opportunity to build a new momentum in the close season. It tried but did not quite make it. The executive had an opportunity to build in a new momentum in the pre season it did not quite make it. The club had an opportunity to build a new momentum in early season .....with the weekends' result the club did not make it.
For Saturday we can blame the football management and players for not doing their job properly. It was a bad day at the office. It happens but the problem runs far, far deeper than that.
Still if you are only here for the beer no problems eh?
I understand people's concerns but I seem to recall hearing some very wise words recently. "People need to be patient......you see how patient they were there".
There are two primary issues in play here. One is the intent of the executive of the club. Two is the competence of the executive to deliver to that intent. Even if some have been seduced by the hint of a changed agenda by the executive the ability to deliver to such an agenda will remain an outstanding issue for the foreseeable future.
There is nothing to be gained from forcing the issue. Forcing the issue will force people to decide which many are quite simply not yet prepared to do. They will not thank you for such intervention. Sometimes you just have to wait for the next bad delivery to hit the ball out of the ground. By all means offer the odd skirmish or two to keep the issues fresh but every day the club falls short of any meaningful progress the pressure will mount.
The latest revelations concerning monetary funding will cause the pressure to mount.
There has never been a campaign for a boycott of the club. The campaign was "to not buy season tickets" to register a protest against the executive of the club.
Some have chosen to boycott the Valley, for a variety of reasons and indeed some have urged others to do the same. It is and has always been a matter of personal choice. It is a personal choice we should respect.
In truth thousands had walked away long before any formal protests had even begun. We all know by know the attendance figures from last season were distorted by thousands who had previously purchased season tickets simply choosing not to turn up.
Our own eyes inform us the current attendances, even considering the multitude of complimentary tickets apparently on offer, reflect the true dissatisfaction with the club as it is today.
Such attendances will over time bring even greater pressure.
Can we be clear here. No one individual supporter is accountable for our circumstances today. There is only one set of people to blame our current situation.
It is not the clubs supporters.
I understand the hope for some positivity but those hanging their hopes on the efforts made for the start of this season miss the point. The damage has been done.
The club infrastructure has been damaged to the point it is no longer able to operate as a viable professional football club. I fully recognise the challenge facing the club executive. Managing any organisation in decline is immensely difficult. It very often requires a very different and very specific skill set and approach.
With an executive which has displayed a glaring lack of acumen in meeting even the basic corporate needs there can be no confidence this regime is in anyway up to the task of rebuilding the club.
It is true many had argued to this point the atmosphere this season, in the absence of any fully fledged protest, had been better. Now with the first home league defeat it is the actions of the protestors who have chosen to stay away which are called into question.
What about the actions of those who have chosen to stay? Where was the full support for the players and the manager from those in stands? Where was the attempt to lift the mood and performance of the players to greater heights?
When is there ever a call to arms from the club, the CEO, the Chairman, the Owner, the Communications team, the Senior Management Team? Where is the drive and ambition from these people to bring people together to secure a bright and positive future for the club? Where is the vision beyond the cinema and/ or restaurant analogy?
Saturday was really only a matter of time. Encapsulated by the Fraeye plea to ".... not make Charlton a team that needs to go everywhere and win everything" it is a place for people to come and spend time with friends and families, enjoy a few drinks, watch a bit of football, hopefully enjoy a few decent results and/or commiserate when the game did not go well.
So does it really matter? Not if you do not have any ambition. Not if ultimately you only came for the beer. Does it really matter if the stadium is 2/3rds empty? Not if ultimately you only came for the beer. Does it really matter if the crowd sits in silence as the players struggle to perform? Not if ultimately you only came for the beer. Does it matter thousands have walked away? Not if ultimately you only came for the beer.
The glaring failure here is one I have tried to allude to several times before. The culture of any organisation, it's tempo, it's values, it's operational standards, it's drive, it's ambition come from those that run the organisation.
Today the message is no more than "D'ont you dare say anything rude about the owner or the Senior Management Team". Accountable for nothing can ever a group of people be more inappropriately named? SMT? Your having a laugh!
We have no Chairman. We have no board of directors. We have a failed CEO who maybe for unavoidable personal reasons has gone missing for the last two games. The owner has not appeared at a game for over 2yrs. Where is the executive support for the manager and players?
What we do have is lots of security staff and stewards. Who benefits from that?
The club now has no positive profile. It has no spirit. It has no leadership. It has no drive. It has no momentum. While yesterday was an opportunity missed on the field the club in reality is not structured to provide any of the basic elements needed to create and drive a thriving, dynamic, inclusive, ambitious future.
Ultimately there is now nothing there. It is a shadow of what it was just over a decade ago and what it could be again. Take a look at the pictures of the Directors box on Saturday published elsewhere on this board does that look like anything that reflects a driving, committed and ambitious business?
If ever a project had highlighted one mans' chronic failure to communicate, to even understand the need to communicate, a failing highlighted by his own son then the events of the past 32 months in SE7 have writ it large for all to see.
It is writ large in those pictures of Saturday.
The executive had an opportunity to build a new momentum in the close season. It tried but did not quite make it. The executive had an opportunity to build in a new momentum in the pre season it did not quite make it. The club had an opportunity to build a new momentum in early season .....with the weekends' result the club did not make it.
For Saturday we can blame the football management and players for not doing their job properly. It was a bad day at the office. It happens but the problem runs far, far deeper than that.
Still if you are only here for the beer no problems eh?
Grapevine - that is one top, top post. 100% this, many times over.
I really don't think that anyone at the club, sponsors or advertisers will be looking at the crowd numbers and thinking "they" have won.
I wasnt thinking of 'numbers' - just that protests have now stopped, because the protestors have become the boycotters.
Why was that woman who was behind you yelling "your sort isn't welcome here" at the bloke who was leaving shouting back? What on earth was that about?
Sorta explained in the Wimbledon fans kicked out thread, but essentially a Charlton (lady) fan was sitting in the row behind us with her Wimbledon (lady) supporting friend - who promptly got a bit excited when the Wombles scored - the bloke a few rows down basically told her to sit down and-( its getting a bit like Millwall and next thing is we will be fighting each other with protestors v non-protestors).shut up and get in the away end - to which her Charlton mate took exception (rightly) and told him where he could get off. He soon left the ground with stewards looking a bit bemused !. Thats just another example of how toxic this place has become.
Why bring millwall into it?
Does one need a reason for having a dig at Millwall?
Yes great post @Grapevine49 as always. Nicely sums up why the club is in decline. But what needs to be done to prevent that from becoming terminal? Just sit back and let them destroy themselves?
Grapevine49 says everything that I want to or sorry, if I could be bothered to say, I would say. The club SMT cannot be bothered to make an effort, so myself, my two sons, my wife, my Dad, my Aunt, My Uncle and my two cousins no longer attend Charlton games and collectively I would say we've been fans of this club for about 300 years.
Grapevine49 says everything that I want to or sorry, if I could be bothered to say, I would say. The club SMT cannot be bothered to make an effort, so myself, my two sons, my wife, my Dad, my Aunt, My Uncle and my two cousins no longer attend Charlton games and collectively I would say we've been fans of this club for about 300 years.
I play football on Saturday afternoons so haven't had a season ticket for a while. It is therefore pretty disingenuous of me to claim that I am boycotting this season.
However, my dad has asked me if I want to go to the Oldham game with him on Tuesday evening. It is the first instance this season where we've both been around to meet up for a midweek game, which has become a bit of a tradition since we both traded in our season tickets when I decided to opt for playing as opposed to watching.
Hard to turn down an opportunity to watch the football with my dad if I'm honest as we don't get to see a huge amount of one another.
Grapevine49 says everything that I want to or sorry, if I could be bothered to say, I would say. The club SMT cannot be bothered to make an effort, so myself, my two sons, my wife, my Dad, my Aunt, My Uncle and my two cousins no longer attend Charlton games and collectively I would say we've been fans of this club for about 300 years.
This is not the club I grew up with.
This
And again, this.
Meire, in her L'Echo interview last year, boasted that she had rid the club of those 'older' members of staff which she felt did not fit into her vision of how the club should operate. By a process of attrition (either by design or more likely by blind arrogance coupled with an inability to understand the nature of the the club/fan relationship) she has created a 'new' Charlton Athletic which has disengaged to such an extent that generations of support have now been lost and no I don't subscribe to the view that say 3 wins on the spin would bring people flocking back. The damage has already been done, is long-term and for many is irreparable.
Like the posters above I no longer recognise the current incarnation of Charlton Athletic as my club although I still support the team.
Comments
Failure to make him sell (so far) despite throwing a lot at him = despair
We need to show the strength of feeling and if it's no longer there, at least we'll know where we stand.
Summer spent drinking lemonade,
Fleetwood, Wimbledon, put him in the shade,
Russell Slade, Russell Slade.
Russell Slade never explained,
Why his team were poorly trained,
Never once did he assert,
That none were fit to wear the shirt.
Russell Slade always ignoring
Hoof-ball makes for football boring.
Fans all watch like graveside mourners,
Charlton botch up all their corners.
Russell Slade will never win it,
His team gives up in the tenth minute,
Can't be asked to run and strike it,
Eff of fans, if you don't like it.
Russell Slade, Russell Slade,
Under worked, and overpaid,
Yet when he's sacked, he'll have it made,
Russell Slade, Russell Slade.
We are after all now ruining it for the people who are still bank rolling Roland
Sorry
No defeat, no surrender!
If Katrien thinks in any way that she has "won," then she is even more deluded than everyone thinks. Whenever she looks out out the empty seats and checks the bottom line, the only sane conclusion is that she is a big loser.
#RolandOut, #KatrienOut
There are two primary issues in play here. One is the intent of the executive of the club. Two is the competence of the executive to deliver to that intent. Even if some have been seduced by the hint of a changed agenda by the executive the ability to deliver to such an agenda will remain an outstanding issue for the foreseeable future.
There is nothing to be gained from forcing the issue. Forcing the issue will force people to decide which many are quite simply not yet prepared to do. They will not thank you for such intervention. Sometimes you just have to wait for the next bad delivery to hit the ball out of the ground. By all means offer the odd skirmish or two to keep the issues fresh but every day the club falls short of any meaningful progress the pressure will mount.
The latest revelations concerning monetary funding will cause the pressure to mount.
There has never been a campaign for a boycott of the club. The campaign was "to not buy season tickets" to register a protest against the executive of the club.
Some have chosen to boycott the Valley, for a variety of reasons and indeed some have urged others to do the same. It is and has always been a matter of personal choice. It is a personal choice we should respect.
In truth thousands had walked away long before any formal protests had even begun. We all know by now the attendance figures from last season were distorted by thousands who had previously purchased season tickets simply choosing not to turn up.
Our own eyes inform us the current attendances, even considering the multitude of complimentary tickets apparently on offer, reflect the true dissatisfaction with the club as it is today.
Such attendances will over time bring even greater pressure.
Can we be clear here. No one individual supporter is accountable for our circumstances today. There is only one set of people to blame our current situation.
It is not the clubs supporters.
I understand the hope for some positivity but those hanging their hopes on the efforts made for the start of this season miss the point. The damage has been done.
The club infrastructure has been damaged to the point it is no longer able to operate as a viable professional football club. I fully recognise the challenge facing the club executive. Managing any organisation in decline is immensely difficult. It very often requires a very different and very specific skill set and approach.
With an executive which has displayed a glaring lack of acumen in meeting even the basic corporate needs there can be no confidence this regime is in anyway up to the task of rebuilding the club.
It is true many had argued to this point the atmosphere this season, in the absence of any fully fledged protest, had been better. Now with the first home league defeat it is the actions of the protestors who have chosen to stay away which are called into question.
What about the actions of those who have chosen to stay? Where was the full support for the players and the manager from those in the stands? Where was the attempt to lift the mood and performance of the players to greater heights?
When is there ever a call to arms from the club, the CEO, the Chairman, the Owner, the Communications team, the Senior Management Team? Where is the drive and ambition from these people to bring people together to secure a bright and positive future for the club? Where is the vision beyond the cinema and/ or restaurant analogy?
Saturday was really only a matter of time. Encapsulated by the Fraeye plea to ".... not make Charlton a team that needs to go everywhere and win everything" it is a place for people to come and spend time with friends and families, enjoy a few drinks, watch a bit of football, hopefully enjoy a few decent results and/or commiserate when the game did not go well.
So does it really matter? Not if you do not have any ambition. Not if ultimately you only came for the beer. Does it really matter if the stadium is 2/3rds empty? Not if ultimately you only came for the beer. Does it really matter if the crowd sits in silence as the players struggle to perform? Not if ultimately you only came for the beer. Does it matter thousands have walked away? Not if ultimately you only came for the beer.
The glaring failure here is one I have tried to allude to several times before. The culture of any organisation, it's tempo, it's values, it's operational standards, it's drive, it's ambition come from those that run the organisation.
Today the message is no more than "D'ont you dare say anything rude about the owner or the Senior Management Team". Accountable for nothing can ever a group of people be more inappropriately named? SMT? Your having a laugh!
We have no Chairman. We have no board of directors. We have a failed CEO who maybe for unavoidable personal reasons has gone missing for the last two games. The owner has not appeared at a game for over 2yrs. Where is the executive support for the manager and players?
What we do have is lots of security staff and stewards. Who benefits from that?
The club now has no positive profile. It has no spirit. It has no leadership. It has no drive. It has no momentum. While yesterday was an opportunity missed on the field the club in reality is not structured to provide any of the basic elements needed to create and drive a thriving, dynamic, inclusive, ambitious future.
Ultimately there is now nothing there. It is a shadow of what it was just over a decade ago and what it could be again. Take a look at the pictures of the Directors box on Saturday published elsewhere on this board does that look like anything that reflects a driving, committed and ambitious business?
If ever a project had highlighted one mans' chronic failure to communicate, to even understand the need to communicate, a failing highlighted by his own son then the events of the past 32 months in SE7 have writ it large for all to see.
It is writ large in those pictures of Saturday.
The executive had an opportunity to build a new momentum in the close season. It tried but did not quite make it. The executive had an opportunity to build in a new momentum in the pre season it did not quite make it. The club had an opportunity to build a new momentum in early season .....with the weekends' result the club did not make it.
For Saturday we can blame the football management and players for not doing their job properly. It was a bad day at the office. It happens but the problem runs far, far deeper than that.
Still if you are only here for the beer no problems eh?
I haven't a clue who he is, but I wish in some way he was running the club.
This is not the club I grew up with.
I'll be at the scum game though, I would never miss that.
However, my dad has asked me if I want to go to the Oldham game with him on Tuesday evening. It is the first instance this season where we've both been around to meet up for a midweek game, which has become a bit of a tradition since we both traded in our season tickets when I decided to opt for playing as opposed to watching.
Hard to turn down an opportunity to watch the football with my dad if I'm honest as we don't get to see a huge amount of one another.
Meire, in her L'Echo interview last year, boasted that she had rid the club of those 'older' members of staff which she felt did not fit into her vision of how the club should operate. By a process of attrition (either by design or more likely by blind arrogance coupled with an inability to understand the nature of the the club/fan relationship) she has created a 'new' Charlton Athletic which has disengaged to such an extent that generations of support have now been lost and no I don't subscribe to the view that say 3 wins on the spin would bring people flocking back. The damage has already been done, is long-term and for many is irreparable.
Like the posters above I no longer recognise the current incarnation of Charlton Athletic as my club although I still support the team.