I can remember watching Charlton's play off final on the tv as an 11 year old, I was hooked and thankfully a few school mates were also Charlton fans too and we'd go to games together. We went all over the country to away games on the cheap but often cheerful redwing. Same faces every other week, relatively successful team, it was excellent. I had a paper round before school every day to pay for this, as far as I'm aware this shop wasn't owned by Starprix, nor CAFC. Then I left school and worked on woolwich market to fund season ticket and away days, again, no link to CAFC whatsoever I'm afraid Roland. A year of that and I got a job in the city , once more , no link to CAFC, as much as you'd like to believe it, Roland, you old fuck.
I have been a supporter since the early 1970's and my family had a long association with the area and have supported the club since it's inception, now into four generations with my son.
I have never worked for the club, and to the best of my knowledge, neither have any of my family, although my great aunt did recall watching and helping the boys clear the site of The Valley in 1919 but as she was only 11 at the time I don't think that counts.
Unfortunately I cannot meet you on the 4th due to prior family birthday commitments, but I trust my fellow Addicks to represent my views. I will be prepared to travel and meet you in future but I sincerely hope that this will prove unnecessary. Here before you and long after you are gone.
Dear Roland. I helped clear ice from the approaches to the away end for the ill-fated Boxing Day match against Southampton that time. You have me banged to rights.
Hi Roland - I have supported the club for well over 40 years. My son was christened at the Valley and has been a mascot twice, I had Valley Floyd Road played at my wedding, I have Charlton pictures all over the walls of my house, Until last year, my wife son and me were season ticket holders.
I have never worked for Charlton Roland. As well as being a coward, you are a proven liar. You told the Belgian people that the players you brought in were better than Powell's. You said Powell was stupid and the players you brought in kept us up. You know that is a lie. Apart from one player who Powell wanted straight away, the players you brought in were all rubbish failures. You also sold Kermogant and Stephens which speaks for itself! Of course the Belgian people do not have enough interest in Charlton to know the truth, but we know. You and your CEO are LIARS!
I don't mind you calling me stupid - but a club legend like Powell is crossing a line! You are stupid if you don't see that you have to sell now. There is no positive future for you with this club!
I forgot to mention that I have a Charlton tatoo too!
No, I'm not Marilyn Monroe although many fans who know me might say there is a resemblance....
We're both female.
I digress. I'm Fanny and first attended The Valley some 50+ years ago but rejoined the faithful in 1989 when my family of 4 began supporting in earnest. We had season tickets in exile at both Selhurst Park and The Boleyn and started travelling many miles to support our team away from home.
Since those days, our children have flown the nest but we are trying hard to cajole our 2 eldest grandkids to become Addicks...Sadly, that is becoming ever more difficult with Minecraft and other extra curricular activities to tempt them and a half empty, soulless Valley being a poor alternative.
Hubby and me have held season tickets from 1990 until the start of the current season, purchased shares in OUR club and bought 5 year season tickets as well as supporting just about everything connected to CAFC. This, apart from family & friends, is our life ; a life you have torn to shreds over the past 3 years. We refuse to buy season tickets until you sell our club although our weekly support, health permitting, is not in question. Such is our love for our famous football club.
I have "worked" for our club , albeit as an unpaid volunteer by gardening, cleaning seats at the ground, helping to run a once successful Supporters' Group & helping to organise the annual, much loved Player of the Year dinner. I also stood for election as Supporter Director some years ago and came a creditable runner up to the successful candidate.
I am an extremely vociferous protester against your stewardship of our football club & as such will be visiting your home town once again on 4th March , as I did last November in the London taxi which advertised supporters' contempt for you. We encountered many locals in St Truiden that spoke of their feelings about you - most were not very complimentary ....and some will be joining us a week on Saturday.
Although I'm confident that you will not have the "(foot)balls" to meet us in person, I look forward with relish to making my small but perfectly formed contribution to the pilgrimage - not to pay homage to you but to leave you with NO uncertainty that we Addicks will fight you for the future of our beloved club to the bitter end.
Roland - I have been an ardent Charlton supporter since 1977. A season ticket holder throughout until this season. I have trekked all over the country following Charlton Athletic and have spent enough to have bought and paid for a second home in the process. Speaking of which, I moved to Charlton in 1987 purely to be closer to the place where I spent the majority of my social life. I have never worked for the club or received a penny in return for supporting them. Until you bought the club I was always prepared to suffer my lot as an Addick because the owners of the club previously had always had ambitions for the football team, irrespective of their capacity to deliver them (including Slater and Jiminez). Meire's colossal mismanagement of the club has brought sharp focus on your commitment as owner and I could see the fruitlessness of your ambitions back in 2015. You and Meire have gone on to prove it emphatically and the real damage you have done isn't in these words and posts of condemnation but in the vast swathes of empty seats at the Valley on Tuesday evening. That's not a one-off, it's the new reality - I stayed at home by the way and can't be bothered with Bury either. As Yann Kermorgant observed so astutely "they have wasted the club." I can't be in St. Truiden on 4th March but my heart will be there.
We will be rid of you and your clueless countrywomen one day and you will be vilified forever for the long-term damage done to this football and our wider community.
I am Derek. Last year I celebrated 50 years as a Charlton Supporter. I attended my first game at the Valley against Preston in 1966.
I have never been employed or paid by the club. I have, however, supported MY club with a passion which, sadly, does not seem to be shared by the current administration.
Until this season I had a season ticket for the East Stand. Before that My seat was in the covered end. Before that I sat in the main stand while we played at Upton Park. Before that I had a seat in the main stand at Selhurst Park, sitting a few rows behind Lord Grade. During this time I attended nearly 300 consecutive home and away games supporting My team
As I said, I have never been employed. I have spent time campaigning for the Valley Party. An organisation without whom, it can be argued, There would not be a club for you to now own. I took two weeks out from my self employed job to help organise leaflet drops, campaign meetings and was also as one of the party agents who dealt with the Greenwich Borough electoral returning officer.
When the battle for the Valley had been won there was another crisis when it became apparent that there was a need for further financing. I, like thousands of others, purchased shares in the football club to fund the final return to the Valley. I took another week off from working to help get the Valley ready for the homecoming on the 5th of December 1992. I painted walls and fences in the club colours.
All through the years I shared an ambition with the owners for Charlton to return to the top flight of English football. I had been a supporter for over thirty years before this ambition was realised.
I still have the same ambitions for MY club. Unfortunately you, and your C.E.O, don't seem to share the same ambitions. You seem to be happy to see MY club become a feeding ground for other teams. This I find completely unacceptable. You have made investments in the academy (although I'm not sure if these 'investments' are classed as loans on which you charge the football club a high interest rate) but this should be with the ambition of improving Charlton FC, not to become a cash cow supplying players for other clubs
I think it is time for you to relinquish your ownership to a new regime who REALLY want the best for MY club and are capable of employing a senior management team who are competent in running a football club.
Unfortunately I will probably never have the opportunity to discuss this with you directly so I send this message via Charlton Life.
I'll be with the others on the 4th. Football is more than a business, it's part of our lives. We won't let you destroy it.
Roland,I've had a season ticket since 1986/7,followed them everywhere but not this season or ever again with you in charge of the club. I've never worked for the club.I hope you enjoy the protests
I had a similar idea Stig. Perhaps someone with a camera can record as many protesters as possible saying "I am -----, and I have never been employed by the club" or "I am ----- and I was employed by the club, I was not shown the door, I left of my own volition" as part of a future CARD video. Is there actually anyone at all who was dismissed for being rowdy or rebellious? The three people I know who have left, resigned.
As most people know, I was dismissed in 2012. I have a large file of documents from the club which the then ownership was unwilling to put before an employment tribunal judge because they knew they would lose and look ridiculous in the process. Hence they settled my claim for unfair dismissal. Regardless of that, their arguments are very specific and would not fit that description at all. Indeed they go to some lengths to state the opposite case. There is no one else involved, to my knowledge, who has been dismissed by the club.
Could there be anything more ridiculous than RD trying to argue the spivs' flawed case nearly five years later - or for that matter me harbouring a grudge from it against him? I suppose there could - the idea that the thousands of people involved in protests over the last 18 months are motivated or influenced by it in any way whatsoever.
I was of course referring to people who had left since he took over Rick. Even then, as you say, you were unfairly dismissed so do not fit his criteria anyway.
I'm a fan of 30 years. I can categorically say that since you bought the club in December 2013 and instilled an incompetent senior management team in the process, the culture has become rotten and the heart and soul of the club is being slowly eaten away.
I understand you have invested money in the club, but for all intended purposes, you've squandered it through shocking mismanagement and ineptitude from top to bottom. You've had 3 years and things have progressively gotten worse.
If this was your business or part of Melexis, then I doubt very much you would endure or sustain such dismal performance across any metric you care to use, whether that be revenue, profitability, customer satisfaction, success on the pitch. You've failed at every single one and will continue to fail.
You may be rich, successful and have done very well in a number of aspects in life, this is certainly not one of them.
With the greatest of respect, to me I consider you a fool and an idiot for your continued involvement in Charlton Athletic. I am confident this view is shared by 1000s of others.
Thanks for your attempt to run our club, but you and Katrien have failed.
I've been a supporter for over 30 years. I followed the club as a boy, I followed the club to Selhurst Park, I followed them back to The Valley. I had a season ticket for over 20 years and travelled hundreds of miles each week for a number of years as I moved away from the area. I stopped buying a season ticket once you appoint network monkey, Guy Luzon. I have never worked for the club in any capacity and have no interest in doing so in the future. In fact I'm a small business owner where I get little spare time and for most of my life Charlton Athletic has filled any gaps I have between working.
Now, even though I have no season ticket, I still follow the club. I follow them online and I follow them to away games and I have made the long journey from South Gloucestershire to Charlton for every major protest that has been organised. It's unfortunate I can't follow them to Belgium this year as my business year end accounts need tending to and there is lots of work to do, but I will continue to protest in any way I can until you are gone. I hope that's soon.
I'm pbs. I must suffer from amnesia because I can't remember working for cafc. But you or your CEO would never lie. I've checked my finances and can confirm I've received no wages from you. Don't worry, just take it off your asking price for da cloob.
I apologise Roland. I have just remembered that I did work for the club. When we were playing at selhurst there was a request from the club to have our own stewards rather than forking out for the palace ones. Sorry Roland. I admit that I lied. Does that make me a shoe in should a position become available on the SMT?
I know that a football club is a business. But how does somebody "work indirectly" for a business, anyway?. Do you perhaps mean, doing loads of stuff which helps the business, without being paid? If so, OK, I am one of them. 27 years ago I persuaded the boss of arguably the UK's best advertising agency at the time to run a campaign which helped the Club get back home. Failure would have led to the club withering and dying. The agency did all this work for free. Funny enough, Roland, my boss's name was Chris Powell.
The week after we returned home, I started my new life and work in Prague, where I remain now, so obviously it wasn't practical to continue to be "employed", even for nothing. So I tried to continue my support by buying the VIP, buying the shares, and most bizarrely, buying a season ticket even though I could never use it more than 5 times a season. What a business, Roland, customers so loyal they spend shed loads of disposable income on something they can hardly consume!
I expect, Roland, that because the campaign appears in Rick's book, and when I am at the Valley I sit where he and others from that campaign sit, I have been identified to you as one of "them". Maybe not as an employee, but as one of the "hotheads?" Well people tried to describe us that way (or worse) in 1990, but we were just citizens who succeeded in starting a conversation which led those in power to change their minds. Far from being a "hothead", Roland, I've tried to get the conversation going with you through 'correct' channels. You've rebuffed us. You rebuffed us, when we tried to reach you via Richard Murray, via direct approaches, via Belgian journalists, via your Melexis board, via your son and his partner in Budapest.
When we were at Selhurst, people were drifting away. Our campaign then re-energised people reminded them of what Charlton means to them. Now, this last year, I too wondered if there was any point. It didn't feel like the Charlton I was so proud to be part of, any more. But now there is a new generation of fans who are not prepared to let it die. They want a conversation with you, that's all. To persuade you it isn't working for any of us. I don't even know these people. But I recognise them. They are showing the same spirit we did in 1990. They are intelligent, creative and determined. They've gained the respect of the football world and the media both here and in Belgium. Nothing about my club makes me proud to be a Charlton fan. But these people make me feel proud.
So I'm none of the things you think I am Roland. I am not coming back to the UK to live. I am winding down my working life. I'm just an old git now. But loads of old gits supported us in 1990, because we reminded them what it meant to be a Charlton fan. When these new guys ask for support, in numbers,when all else has failed, as we did back then, how could I fail to answer that call?
I'm Rob. My first ever Charlton game was our return to The Valley on 5th December 1992. I was five years old and fell in love with MY club before I'd even entered the ground that day. I no longer attend home games because of you.
I've never worked for the club and I want you out. The same people that have fought bigger fish than you to make that return to The Valley possible, the fans, are the same people that WILL drive you out of OUR club. OUR club that you are deliberately destroying and cashing in on.
We will win and we'll fall back in love with Charlton again.
My friends call me Laurie ,you may call me Lawrence .My first game at the Valley was in 1965,I have supported the Club since, home and way, and I have over1,000 match programmes to prove it.I have never been employed by the Club in any form. I am not a hothead,although I happily celebrate any success that comes to Charlton ,my favourite team.Please do not confuse passion,fervour and desire with Hotheadedness.
I must admire your success as a Businessman but I bitterly abhor your attitude to running a Football Club which is at odds to any accepted logic .I am offended at your arrogance.Along with a majority of fans of CAFC, I am angry and ashamed of the Humiliation you have brought upon My Club.You are the Owner of a Vehicle that has the ability to bring pleasure to many but you delivered the opposite.You have been ultimately responsible for a period of shambolic management which has caused many fans to desert and the team to be relegated.The Spiral of Decline continues.
You are a very Rich Man ,I am certain your arrogance derives from your wealth,the arrogance that means you can say that My Club only takes up 2% of your working time, the arrogance that says you can appoint a grossly incompetent CEO just because you can .The owner of such an important Football Club should devote 100% of his time to its success and appoint properly qualified staff.
I therefore urge you to sell The Club as soon as possible and spend some of your wealth on a top Pyschiatrist as you are utterly deluded and need help
I'm a fan of 30 years. I can categorically say that since you bought the club in December 2013 and instilled an incompetent senior management team in the process, the culture has become rotten and the heart and soul of the club is being slowly eaten away.
I understand you have invested money in the club, but for all intended purposes, you've squandered it through shocking mismanagement and ineptitude from top to bottom. You've had 3 years and things have progressively gotten worse.
If this was your business or part of Melexis, then I doubt very much you would endure or sustain such dismal performance across any metric you care to use, whether that be revenue, profitability, customer satisfaction, success on the pitch. You've failed at every single one and will continue to fail.
You may be rich, successful and have done very well in a number of aspects in life, this is certainly not one of them.
With the greatest of respect, to me I consider you a fool and an idiot for your continued involvement in Charlton Athletic. I am confident this view is shared by 1000s of others.
Thanks for your attempt to run our club, but you and Katrien have failed.
Time to go
Regards,
Cabbles
@cabbles has he actually invested a penny? Isn't it all loans?
Oh yes, I forgot to add I also did some unpaid work for Charlton.... I was steward on the last coach of the 50 YES RD & KM THATS FIFTY COACHES that we had running to Forrest but I don't recall doing such a bad job that I needed to be sacked
Fanny, I think you have left a very important word out, so have amended your excellent post
Although I'm confident that you will not have the "(foot)balls" to meet us in person, I look forward with relish to making my small but perfectly formed contribution to the pilgrimage - not to pay homage to you but to leave you with NO uncertainty that we Addicks will fight you for the future of our beloved club to the bitter end.
I'm Rob. My first ever Charlton game was our return to The Valley on 5th December 1992. I was five years old and fell in love with MY club before I'd even entered the ground that day. I no longer attend home games because of you.
I've never worked for the club and I want you out. The same people that have fought bigger fish than you to make that return to The Valley possible, the fans, are the same people that WILL drive you out of OUR club. OUR club that you are deliberately destroying and cashing in on.
We will win and we'll fall back in love with Charlton again.
BTW Roland, do you have any inkling of the significance of 5th December 1992?
Fanny, I think you have left a very important word out, so have amended your excellent post
Although I'm confident that you will not have the "(foot)balls" to meet us in person, I look forward with relish to making my small but perfectly formed contribution to the pilgrimage - not to pay homage to you but to leave you with NO uncertainty that we Addicks will fight you for the future of our beloved club to the bitter end.
I'm Tom. I've been a season ticket holder for 22 years, come from a family of dedicated Charlton fans, including a family member who was once in your chair Roland....
My Dad started taking me to games at the age of 6, and up until this season we had sat in the exact same seats as season ticket holders that whole time.
It has helped us grow close over the years as we've shared the ups and downs of the club we dearly love.
My Dad decided to stop attending last Summer in protest of you and your contempt for something that is so dear to our hearts. I still attend the games, but won't ever forgive you for breaking a run that my Dad and I held that I previously thought would only be broken by sickness or death.
You must be talking about me. In 1966 I worked as a casual on the North terrace turnstiles. I was dismissed for dereliction of duty when I abandoned my post so I would not miss the first 20 minutes of a relegation decider against Manchester City and calling the supervisor a tosser, or words to that effect.
We had a crap team then, but at least we could always dream of a miracle, with you at the helm we can't even raise the enthusiasm to even dream.
But honestly I don't hold a grudge and am only supporting the protest because you are a senile, demented egomaniac, throttling the life out of my club.
I'm Peter, I've been a Charlton fan as long as I can remember. My Dad had been a Leeds fan prior to moving to London when he was dragged along to Selhurst Park for his first Charlton game. He started bringing me from the age of 2. We went regularly to Selhurst and away games before moving home to Ireland in the early 1990s. I can assure you that I have never once been employed by Charlton or any other football club. I can be a bit of a hot head though to be fair!
I've never done any paid work for the club but I'm given my time for free to Bromley Addicks, target 40k, red, white and black day and for two years as a director, a role I have no interest in returning to by the way under this regime or any other despite what desperate fantastists might say. Been there, done that, still got the tie.
I just want my club run by competent people who care for and have ambition for Charlton and that rules out you and your failed work experience niece.
I'm 19 years old and first went to a Charlton game at Highbury and no, I've never been employed at the club!
My Mum and Dad had separated soon after I was born and I lived with my Mum. That side of the family were all Arsenal fans so I actually supported Arsenal in that game, aged 4. Around the age of 5/6 my parents got back together and my dad soon took care of my footballing allegiances - I have been going to The Valley ever since and am proud to be a 4th generation Addick.
I couldn't care less about being in the Premier League etc. My favourite 2 seasons were winning League 1 and then finishing 9th the following year. Such togetherness, fighting together, a real bond between players, staff and fans.
Success is irrelevant to me. Competence, effort and spirit are what matters and you have disintegrated that completely. There are many things more important than football but what you have done to this club and what you have done to the hearts of the people who care about about it, is nothing short of a disgrace.
I'll be in Belgium, like I have twice before, in the hope that you leave.
Hi, my name is Ray I did work for Charlton, some 40+ years ago I joined the club as a ground staff lad and worked alongside the late Maurice Banham, I thought I was good enough to wear the red shirt on that famous Valley pitch but alas that was not the case. Although in my defence, I would have given some of your network players a run for their money. The fore mentioned Maurice Banham set me on the straight and narrow and made me realise what I wanted from life and later in my life it stood me in good stead, only when I was old enough to realise how those words helped me sadly it was too late late to thank Mr Banham. I took my children from around 6 years of age all round the country following Charlton, at 11 my son had visited 35 away grounds my daughter 16, we went everywhere on the coaches it was a great way to spend time with my children we were season ticket holders until they married and I looked forward to bring my Grandchildren, sadly that has not happened. The Charlton spirit has drained from me, incidentally my boycott started before any protest and at the time I wasn't convinced I was doing the right thing. Im now convinced that my actions were correct. I will be visiting your country, I want to see if this protest will revive the love I had for my club. If it doesn't you will have beaten me and I will walk away. Charlton Athletic is not a rich mans plaything or someones career stepladder its a way of life. Its Charltonlife...........
Hello Roland, I'm h. My first game was at home to Newcastle in 1963. My parents, grandparents, sister, uncles, aunties and sons supported the Addicks as does my wife's family. I've never been employed by Charlton but did the odd Sunday clearing up at the derelict Valley.
You don't even try to understand what our culture is, because to you we are stupid, and you just want our money.
You are the stupid one. Sadly I cant get to STVV otherwise I would tell you in person. So don't think for one minute that only 200 people are upset with you - there's many, many more and we don't back down.
Roly I'm 21 years old, taken to my first game at the age of 3 and had a season ticket from the age of 6. I saw the best of the premier league years and saw the fall to league one. I still followed the boys every week through mid-table league one football. Nothing would make me stop attending. Not even uni. Until you arrived. This season is the first one when I haven't been regularly. This Saturday will be the first football for a fiver I haven't attended.
I have never worked for the club but I used to save every penny of my paper round in order to buy Charlton shirts or tickets when I was a kid. Literally never bought any sweets.
Comments
Were all the SL supporters also of the same ilk?
And all the STVV fans?
Can he not see a pattern emerging?
I've never worked for the club.
Oh yes, there's a pattern, alright...
I had a paper round before school every day to pay for this, as far as I'm aware this shop wasn't owned by Starprix, nor CAFC.
Then I left school and worked on woolwich market to fund season ticket and away days, again, no link to CAFC whatsoever I'm afraid Roland.
A year of that and I got a job in the city , once more , no link to CAFC, as much as you'd like to believe it, Roland, you old fuck.
See you in ST.
I have been a supporter since the early 1970's and my family had a long association with the area and have supported the club since it's inception, now into four generations with my son.
I have never worked for the club, and to the best of my knowledge, neither have any of my family, although my great aunt did recall watching and helping the boys clear the site of The Valley in 1919 but as she was only 11 at the time I don't think that counts.
Unfortunately I cannot meet you on the 4th due to prior family birthday commitments, but I trust my fellow Addicks to represent my views. I will be prepared to travel and meet you in future but I sincerely hope that this will prove unnecessary. Here before you and long after you are gone.
I helped clear ice from the approaches to the away end for the ill-fated Boxing Day match against Southampton that time.
You have me banged to rights.
No, I'm not Marilyn Monroe although many fans who know me might say there is a resemblance....
We're both female.
I digress. I'm Fanny and first attended The Valley some 50+ years ago but rejoined the faithful in 1989 when my family of 4 began supporting in earnest. We had season tickets in exile at both Selhurst Park and The Boleyn and started travelling many miles to support our team away from home.
Since those days, our children have flown the nest but we are trying hard to cajole our 2 eldest grandkids to become Addicks...Sadly, that is becoming ever more difficult with Minecraft and other extra curricular activities to tempt them and a half empty, soulless Valley being a poor alternative.
Hubby and me have held season tickets from 1990 until the start of the current season, purchased shares in OUR club and bought 5 year season tickets as well as supporting just about everything connected to CAFC. This, apart from family & friends, is our life ; a life you have torn to shreds over the past 3 years. We refuse to buy season tickets until you sell our club although our weekly support, health permitting, is not in question. Such is our love for our famous football club.
I have "worked" for our club , albeit as an unpaid volunteer by gardening, cleaning seats at the ground, helping to run a once successful Supporters' Group & helping to organise the annual, much loved Player of the Year dinner. I also stood for election as Supporter Director some years ago and came a creditable runner up to the successful candidate.
I am an extremely vociferous protester against your stewardship of our football club & as such will be visiting your home town once again on 4th March , as I did last November in the London taxi which advertised supporters' contempt for you. We encountered many locals in St Truiden that spoke of their feelings about you - most were not very complimentary ....and some will be joining us a week on Saturday.
Although I'm confident that you will not have the "(foot)balls" to meet us in person, I look forward with relish to making my small but perfectly formed contribution to the pilgrimage - not to pay homage to you but to leave you with NO uncertainty that we Addicks will fight you for the future of our beloved club to the bitter end.
We will be rid of you and your clueless countrywomen one day and you will be vilified forever for the long-term damage done to this football and our wider community.
I am Derek. Last year I celebrated 50 years as a Charlton Supporter. I attended my first game at the Valley against Preston in 1966.
I have never been employed or paid by the club. I have, however, supported MY club with a passion which, sadly, does not seem to be shared by the current administration.
Until this season I had a season ticket for the East Stand. Before that My seat was in the covered end. Before that I sat in the main stand while we played at Upton Park. Before that I had a seat in the main stand at Selhurst Park, sitting a few rows behind Lord Grade. During this time I attended nearly 300 consecutive home and away games supporting My team
As I said, I have never been employed. I have spent time campaigning for the Valley Party. An organisation without whom, it can be argued, There would not be a club for you to now own. I took two weeks out from my self employed job to help organise leaflet drops, campaign meetings and was also as one of the party agents who dealt with the Greenwich Borough electoral returning officer.
When the battle for the Valley had been won there was another crisis when it became apparent that there was a need for further financing. I, like thousands of others, purchased shares in the football club to fund the final return to the Valley. I took another week off from working to help get the Valley ready for the homecoming on the 5th of December 1992. I painted walls and fences in the club colours.
All through the years I shared an ambition with the owners for Charlton to return to the top flight of English football. I had been a supporter for over thirty years before this ambition was realised.
I still have the same ambitions for MY club. Unfortunately you, and your C.E.O, don't seem to share the same ambitions. You seem to be happy to see MY club become a feeding ground for other teams. This I find completely unacceptable. You have made investments in the academy (although I'm not sure if these 'investments' are classed as loans on which you charge the football club a high interest rate) but this should be with the ambition of improving Charlton FC, not to become a cash cow supplying players for other clubs
I think it is time for you to relinquish your ownership to a new regime who REALLY want the best for MY club and are capable of employing a senior management team who are competent in running a football club.
Unfortunately I will probably never have the opportunity to discuss this with you directly so I send this message via Charlton Life.
I'll be with the others on the 4th. Football is more than a business, it's part of our lives. We won't let you destroy it.
Derek
I've never worked for the club.I hope you enjoy the protests
I'm a fan of 30 years. I can categorically say that since you bought the club in December 2013 and instilled an incompetent senior management team in the process, the culture has become rotten and the heart and soul of the club is being slowly eaten away.
I understand you have invested money in the club, but for all intended purposes, you've squandered it through shocking mismanagement and ineptitude from top to bottom. You've had 3 years and things have progressively gotten worse.
If this was your business or part of Melexis, then I doubt very much you would endure or sustain such dismal performance across any metric you care to use, whether that be revenue, profitability, customer satisfaction, success on the pitch. You've failed at every single one and will continue to fail.
You may be rich, successful and have done very well in a number of aspects in life, this is certainly not one of them.
With the greatest of respect, to me I consider you a fool and an idiot for your continued involvement in Charlton Athletic. I am confident this view is shared by 1000s of others.
Thanks for your attempt to run our club, but you and Katrien have failed.
Time to go
Regards,
Cabbles
I've been a supporter for over 30 years. I followed the club as a boy, I followed the club to Selhurst Park, I followed them back to The Valley. I had a season ticket for over 20 years and travelled hundreds of miles each week for a number of years as I moved away from the area. I stopped buying a season ticket once you appoint network monkey, Guy Luzon. I have never worked for the club in any capacity and have no interest in doing so in the future. In fact I'm a small business owner where I get little spare time and for most of my life Charlton Athletic has filled any gaps I have between working.
Now, even though I have no season ticket, I still follow the club. I follow them online and I follow them to away games and I have made the long journey from South Gloucestershire to Charlton for every major protest that has been organised. It's unfortunate I can't follow them to Belgium this year as my business year end accounts need tending to and there is lots of work to do, but I will continue to protest in any way I can until you are gone. I hope that's soon.
WCA
When we were playing at selhurst there was a request from the club to have our own stewards rather than forking out for the palace ones.
Sorry Roland. I admit that I lied. Does that make me a shoe in should a position become available on the SMT?
I've never worked for the club and I want you out. The same people that have fought bigger fish than you to make that return to The Valley possible, the fans, are the same people that WILL drive you out of OUR club. OUR club that you are deliberately destroying and cashing in on.
We will win and we'll fall back in love with Charlton again.
My friends call me Laurie ,you may call me Lawrence .My first game at the Valley was in 1965,I have supported the Club since, home and way, and I have over1,000 match programmes to prove it.I have never been employed by the Club in any form. I am not a hothead,although I happily celebrate any success that comes to Charlton ,my favourite team.Please do not confuse passion,fervour and desire with Hotheadedness.
I must admire your success as a Businessman but I bitterly abhor your attitude to running a Football Club which is at odds to any accepted logic .I am offended at your arrogance.Along with a majority of fans of CAFC, I am angry and ashamed of the Humiliation you have brought upon My Club.You are the Owner of a Vehicle that has the ability to bring pleasure to many but you delivered the opposite.You have been ultimately responsible for a period of shambolic management which has caused many fans to desert and the team to be relegated.The Spiral of Decline continues.
You are a very Rich Man ,I am certain your arrogance derives from your wealth,the arrogance that means you can say that My Club only takes up 2% of your working time, the arrogance that says you can appoint a grossly incompetent CEO just because you can .The owner of such an important Football Club should devote 100% of his time to its success and appoint properly qualified staff.
I therefore urge you to sell The Club as soon as possible and spend some of your wealth on a top Pyschiatrist as you are utterly deluded and need help
My Dad started taking me to games at the age of 6, and up until this season we had sat in the exact same seats as season ticket holders that whole time.
It has helped us grow close over the years as we've shared the ups and downs of the club we dearly love.
My Dad decided to stop attending last Summer in protest of you and your contempt for something that is so dear to our hearts. I still attend the games, but won't ever forgive you for breaking a run that my Dad and I held that I previously thought would only be broken by sickness or death.
We had a crap team then, but at least we could always dream of a miracle, with you at the helm we can't even raise the enthusiasm to even dream.
But honestly I don't hold a grudge and am only supporting the protest because you are a senile, demented egomaniac, throttling the life out of my club.
I've never done any paid work for the club but I'm given my time for free to Bromley Addicks, target 40k, red, white and black day and for two years as a director, a role I have no interest in returning to by the way under this regime or any other despite what desperate fantastists might say. Been there, done that, still got the tie.
I just want my club run by competent people who care for and have ambition for Charlton and that rules out you and your failed work experience niece.
I'm 19 years old and first went to a Charlton game at Highbury and no, I've never been employed at the club!
My Mum and Dad had separated soon after I was born and I lived with my Mum. That side of the family were all Arsenal fans so I actually supported Arsenal in that game, aged 4. Around the age of 5/6 my parents got back together and my dad soon took care of my footballing allegiances - I have been going to The Valley ever since and am proud to be a 4th generation Addick.
I couldn't care less about being in the Premier League etc. My favourite 2 seasons were winning League 1 and then finishing 9th the following year. Such togetherness, fighting together, a real bond between players, staff and fans.
Success is irrelevant to me. Competence, effort and spirit are what matters and you have disintegrated that completely. There are many things more important than football but what you have done to this club and what you have done to the hearts of the people who care about about it, is nothing short of a disgrace.
I'll be in Belgium, like I have twice before, in the hope that you leave.
You don't even try to understand what our culture is, because to you we are stupid, and you just want our money.
You are the stupid one. Sadly I cant get to STVV otherwise I would tell you in person. So don't think for one minute that only 200 people are upset with you - there's many, many more and we don't back down.
Wait wrong place..
Roly I'm 21 years old, taken to my first game at the age of 3 and had a season ticket from the age of 6. I saw the best of the premier league years and saw the fall to league one. I still followed the boys every week through mid-table league one football. Nothing would make me stop attending. Not even uni. Until you arrived. This season is the first one when I haven't been regularly. This Saturday will be the first football for a fiver I haven't attended.
I have never worked for the club but I used to save every penny of my paper round in order to buy Charlton shirts or tickets when I was a kid. Literally never bought any sweets.
#notapennymore