I'm not holding them up as a model, but Udders are a club whose history was closely interwoven with ours until recently. LBTF is cooing over the quality of football they're now playing, they're top of the Championship for now and declared gates are now up to about 20,000 (they were about 13,000 a few years ago).
They haven't done much different to us and they haven't splurged huge amounts of cash recently. I don't see why we can't aspire to equal what they are doing, with sensible and dynamic owners who understand that getting new generations through the turnstiles is not about wittering a few meaningless slogans and then thoroughly pissing off your established fan base. I don't think demographics are that important.
Season tickets were £179 across the ground, and Wagner's had a freedom in signing players that I don't think Chris Powell ever had. They're taking a gamble in a one-club town that defines itself by not being Leeds.
Good luck to them, it's great watching an old club revive itself - but it's a different set of circumstances there.
There's always been movement, always been comings and goings, always been uptake of support, always been those departing to the glittering lights of the top league. My family moved into the area shortly before I was born and I'm a season ticket holder now. Admittedly, I started supporting Charlton when they got good in the late 90s, but in mitigation I was like 11, the age when many kids decide who to support.
I agree with you that a more productive response would have been to ask how we engage newcomers to the area to support Charlton, and I agree that it represents a challenge, especially with attendance costing a lot more than it did back in the days when everyone piled into the terraces and we had 60k every home game. I think our relatively low prices are one thing the Belgians have gotten right, in fact, and I think that this is the first step. A team we can get behind is the next. But after that, there has to be outreach, community participation, freebies...all things that we've historically done well.
So I suppose I was reacting angrily to what I saw as a defeatist howl of despair, with immigration subtly implied as a cause of the death of Charlton. It seems to be shorthand for an attitude of parochialism that believes in 'proper Charlton', families who've grown up Charlton for generations, British families, never missed a game in forty years, and now the new folks next-door, they don't want to know! I've seen their kid, he wears a United shirt. It's the end.
But it isn't the end. Where there's quality entertainment and sporting drama, people will come. The problem is less Roland and Katie (althooooough - they've made lots of mistakes) and more Sky Sports, the EPL, the sheer imbalance of resources in the world game. So CAFC have to keep engaging with the community, have to keep existing above all.
I have sympathy with much of Goonerhater's opening post, but I really don't think that sighingly looking around at all the foreign faces is the right way to approach this. Sure, everyone needs persuasion, but the problem isn't them, it's fucking Arsenal. Clue's in your username, pal!
Why mention foreign faces ? The original post states people that are new to London and England. It doesn't mention immigration at all. I'd wager that the majority of the white middle class people moving into the Woolwich Arsenal site are from other parts of England but still have no historical attachment to Charlton. Neither would they have much interest in watching is at the moment.
Getting kids of any race, creed or colour off their arses to do anything other than gaze at a screen of some kind (phone, computer, TV) is the first challenge. Then persuading them to have the cajones to go against the swarm of gutless Chelarsepool United "supporters" is just as hard. Add in a failing team that don't entertain and a poisonous atmosphere, you have no chance.
The X Factor generation that Pinocchio adores just ain't interested.
When you look at the 111 year history, the past 4 years will be seen as one of numerous blips along the way. It wouldn't take much to turn our fortunes around again. With success on the pitch comes, publicity, money and inevitably increased crowds. We mustn't get too depressed, we could wake up one morning to an event that totally changes the dynamics of the situation.
Impending nuclear armageddon?
The only 'event' that will prevent our club from dying is for the Belgian mafia to announce they are selling up and frecking off .. . nothing else will suffice. If you believe anything else you must be living in la-la land!! Just what does it take for people to wake and smell the coffee!!!!!
Eh? Is that aimed at me?
I think you've misunderstood me mate. The bloke I quoted seemed to be saying "you never know, we might wake up tomorrow and something changes our outlook on the current situation".
So I said, "Impending nuclear Armageddon?" as in, that might make our situation not seem so bad after all.
When you look at the 111 year history, the past 4 years will be seen as one of numerous blips along the way. It wouldn't take much to turn our fortunes around again. With success on the pitch comes, publicity, money and inevitably increased crowds. We mustn't get too depressed, we could wake up one morning to an event that totally changes the dynamics of the situation.
Impending nuclear armageddon?
The only 'event' that will prevent our club from dying is for the Belgian mafia to announce they are selling up and frecking off .. . nothing else will suffice. If you believe anything else you must be living in la-la land!! Just what does it take for people to wake and smell the coffee!!!!!
Eh? Is that aimed at me?
I think you've misunderstood me mate. The bloke I quoted seemed to be saying "you never know, we might wake up tomorrow and something changes our outlook on the current situation".
So I said, "Impending nuclear Armageddon?" as in, that might make our situation not seem so bad after all.
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Good luck to them, it's great watching an old club revive itself - but it's a different set of circumstances there.
The X Factor generation that Pinocchio adores just ain't interested.
So I said, "Impending nuclear Armageddon?" as in, that might make our situation not seem so bad after all.
Not a lot "optimistic" in that!