From the Trust web article, which is NOT a verbatim report..... Q. As CEO you have presided over a catastrophic three and a half year period for Charlton Athletic. While managers have come and gone you have stayed in your sinecure post where you have been entrusted with enormous responsibility but no accountability whatsoever. You cling to you meaningless mantra of "not doing failure" when all the evidence presents otherwise. If you really had the best interests of this club at heart you should have recognised this level of failure and resigned, shouldn't you?
A: That's your opinion
Q: So relegation to the third tier; the lowest league position since 1926; disaffection of fans; public and in-game protests; loss of 4000 season ticket holders and dwindling crowds are not your responsibility?
A. Yes, that is our responsibility but my resignation is your opinion.
When she made those remarks, my heart did sink to an all time low for my support for the club. Tragic really........
For someone who is supposed to be a lawyer, she couldn't argue her way out of a paper bag. Her most robust defence is, "Yeah - that's what you think."
She really doesn't give a monkey's about hearing from us unwashed peasants. She knows the score and what an utterly hopeless cause 'fan re-engagement' is. She can't even bother her arse to try to justify and explain herself. Just keep collecting the massive salary Daisy, no matter how much you hate it here.
So if "stupid people" was a mis-translation of "domme mensen", I guess she prefers "dumb people", even if that may be offensive to those with a physical disability?
So if "stupid people" was a mis-translation of "domme mensen", I guess she prefers "dumb people", even if that may be offensive to those with a physical disability?
Why would a person with a physical disability be offended by the term 'dumb people'?
So if "stupid people" was a mis-translation of "domme mensen", I guess she prefers "dumb people", even if that may be offensive to those with a physical disability?
Why would a person with a physical disability be offended by the term 'dumb people'?
Because dumb means people who cannot physically speak. At least it did, before it got hijacked to mean stupid on the assumption that non-speakers are stupid, which of course they are not (at least no more so than anyone else).
So if "stupid people" was a mis-translation of "domme mensen", I guess she prefers "dumb people", even if that may be offensive to those with a physical disability?
Why would a person with a physical disability be offended by the term 'dumb people'?
Because dumb means people who cannot physically speak. At least it did, before it got hijacked to mean stupid on the assumption that non-speakers are stupid, which of course they are not (at least no more so than anyone else).
I can see how the term could be considered offensive by people who are unable to physically speak, but the original post wasn't that specific: it referred to '... those with a physical disability ' which is a vast category that lends itself to a very different interpretation. It was an ill-considered comment
From the Trust web article, which is NOT a verbatim report..... Q. As CEO you have presided over a catastrophic three and a half year period for Charlton Athletic. While managers have come and gone you have stayed in your sinecure post where you have been entrusted with enormous responsibility but no accountability whatsoever. You cling to you meaningless mantra of "not doing failure" when all the evidence presents otherwise. If you really had the best interests of this club at heart you should have recognised this level of failure and resigned, shouldn't you?
A: That's your opinion
Q: So relegation to the third tier; the lowest league position since 1926; disaffection of fans; public and in-game protests; loss of 4000 season ticket holders and dwindling crowds are not your responsibility?
A. Yes, that is our responsibility but my resignation is your opinion.
When she made those remarks, my heart did sink to an all time low for my support for the club. Tragic really........
Having asked those questions and tried to take exact notes of her replies I am astonished myself to find that she replied at the end of that the question as she did because I didn't hear (from the opposite side of the room and because her voice trailed off) that she used the word 'opinion' for the third time.
She was more responsive to the same angle of questioning later on (but as mentioned in earlier postings she then went for the 'well I'm still here so must be doing a good job' defence.
The whole thrust if the question was to try to get her accept some personal responsibility as CEO, for the plight the Club finds itself in over a wide area of its operation and for which she shares a heavy burden of responsibilty. We did not get that from her and in fact her off-hand and dismissive 'opinion' replies were not what I was expecting at all.
It would have been possible of course to list a whole legion of things which illustrate the chaotic running and administration of the club under her stewardship but time prevented this.
Even at the end there was no admission of personal responsibility - she used the generic 'our' which really means her and RD clearly but evades that sense of being personally responsible, which 'damn it' she is.
You are either CEO and making executive decisions or you are not. RD gave her that executive role but a combination of arrogance, poor decision making and an inability to work on weaknesses by bringing in experience in those areas where it is required (most notably a football director) has led to a position where she stumbles on almost from crisis to crisis and clueless how to deal with the bigger picture.
Instead she focuses on those areas where she is more comfortable (hence her enthusiasm for the new website as a way to engage with fans who not only become 'customers' but are also reduced to faceless online 'data currency' (currency being her term).
As many have recognised, its all about her - she is not interested in the history/tradition of the club because she is employing a year zero approach to re-inventing it in the RD/St Truiden image.
I don't think it's been mentioned yet but she came out at one stage in the Trust meeting and said (heard it before)................
I have lived and breathed Charlton Athletic for three and a half years.
If that were truly the case then I think she would have made a better job of being CEO
I must admit, I feel a tiny bit sorry for Meire. Only a tiny bit, because I know she has done a lot of damage to the club I love. At this point it is not clear whether we can recover from it, or if we can, how long it will take. But if you take a step back - you have to question why Duchatelet gave her a job in the first place she was hardly qualified to do. She is/was inexperienced in the game over here with no real experience in football managment anywhere. She was young and intelligent, but also very pliable. Duchatelet converted her into a disciple and installed the belief in her that he knew more than anybody else. When she believed that, it becomes more understandable that she made the stupid comments she did which antogonised and undermined fans. Her mouth may have been opening, but it was Duchatelet's words. It is like listening to religious nuts who have lost the ability to question what they say!
If you are a senile old git like Duchatelet, somebody who thinks he knows better than everybody else, you place people around you who don't have the knowledge or life experience to challenge you. This must be the reason she has kept her job when rightly or wrongly she could have been fed to the fans and become a casualty of failure. You can sack a manager and try to bring in a better one, but if you brought in a better CEO than Meire, they would inevitably question your approach. I'm sure his ego likes having a young, female disciple and that explains to me why he has seen it fit to defend her innapropriately and using poor judgment against actions and accusations from fans. On one occasion, so ridiculously, Mel Baroni saw fit to resign! She was a professional woman who realised she had a hopless job in the cult of Duchatelet!
I have often struggled with the stupidity of some of Meire's statements. Why make them? - Even if you believe them, a bit of ballshit here and there can keep the natives sweet. It all points to the unquestioning devotion she has for Duchatelet!
In some ways, Meire is no more to blame than the poor fool who knocks on your door and tries to tell you dinosaurs never existed, they were simply the bones of big people! I am starting to believe that what I have mistaken for her ego, has always been Duchatelet's ego. She is just a victim of this twisted bastard. Ok, a well paid one, but it can't be fun being Meire now and indeed for the last few years! Forgetting my love for this club that they are killing, I point to the final clue that we need to pity her. The fact that Duchatelet hasn't removed her from this toxic post and given her something more comfortable within his empire. Her being at the club is benefitting nobody, and certainly not her and this adds to the point I am making. I suspect he gets off on having that power over her!
The human capacity to be seduced and manipulated is evidenced everywhere. As she clearly is an intelligent woman, I would love to talk to the 50 year old Meire, when she may have realised how she is being exploited by this evil fool, as are we in terms of the damage he is doing to a big part of our life. I suspect he gets a pleasure from that power too although of course his preference would be for his ideas to be proven correct (Fat chance of that though!)
That my lords is the case for the defence of Meire! Her removal from the club would be as good for her as it will be for us, but we should never forget the person who needs removing is the puppet master, not the puppet!
A: He is not blind. He knows that most of the fans are not trouble makers but it was a minority that started the protests.
How can they misjudge it so badly? She was AT the Valley for the protests, where thousands of fans showed their discontent.
Peaceful protesters are 'Trouble makers'? What the f*ck are you, the Stasi?
The word 'delusional' is over-used, but the only one 'blind' to reality is this div.
From day one they have underestimated the intelligence of Charlton fans. Do they seriously still think that this is all happening because of a few rowdy troublemakers? Do they really think that the rest of us are too stupid to see what is going on or to be blindly influenced by these 'troublemakers'?
The words and actions of both Duchatelet and Meire clearly demonstrate that they consider themselves of superior intelligence to us proles. Unfortunately for them, all of the evidence is very much to the contrary.
Still holding the line for Duchatelet that the protests are not protests, there is nothing to protest about, it is trouble making orchestrated by saboteurs.
Minor point, but she's never been a proper lawyer has she? I assumed she was an office junior at PwC?
From LinkedIn
Katrien Meire 3rd degree connection Katrien Meire CEO & Director at Charlton Athletic Football Club The Football Association UCL Brussels Area, Belgium 500+ 500+ connections Pending
Experience FA Council Member The Football Association Dates Employed Jul 2016 – Present Employment Duration10 mos Location United Kingdom
Member of Sports Board University of Greenwich Dates Employed Mar 2016 – Present Employment Duration1 yr 2 mos Location London, United Kingdom
CEO& Director Charlton Athletic Football Club Dates EmployedJan 2014 – Present Employment Duration3 yrs 4 mos Location London, United Kingdom
Legal and International Relations Manager Standard de Liège Dates Employed Sep 2013 – Sep 2014 Employment Duration1 yr 1 mo
Associate Baker & McKenzie Dates Employed Mar 2013 – Oct 2013 Employment Duration8 mos LocationBrussels Area, Belgium
Associate Olswang Dates Employed Mar 2011 – Feb 2013 Employment Duration2 yrs
Trainee White & Case Dates EmployedSep 2010 – Feb 2011 Employment Duration6 mos
Stagiaire Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Dates Employed Apr 2010 – Aug 2010 Employment Duration5 mos
Stagiaire European Commission (DG COMP) Dates Employed Oct 2009 – Feb 2010 Employment Duration5 mos
Stagiaire Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Dates Employed Sep 2008 – Aug 2009 Employment Duration1 yr
Education UCL Degree Name LLM Field Of Study Competition Law Dates attended or expected graduation 2007 – 2008
KU Leuven Degree Name Master, Bachelor Field Of Study Law Dates attended or expected graduation 2002 – 2007
Université René Descartes (Paris V) Field Of Study Law - Erasmus exchange Dates attended or expected graduation 2006 – 2006
Not sure what an associate is in legal terms? Is this a lawyer? If not then no she has never been an actual lawyer, despite being qualified as one.
She's still not the biggest issue at the club. We have a chairman that does not attend games!
Minor point, but she's never been a proper lawyer has she? I assumed she was an office junior at PwC?
From LinkedIn
Katrien Meire 3rd degree connection Katrien Meire CEO & Director at Charlton Athletic Football Club The Football Association UCL Brussels Area, Belgium 500+ 500+ connections Pending
Experience FA Council Member The Football Association Dates Employed Jul 2016 – Present Employment Duration10 mos Location United Kingdom
Member of Sports Board University of Greenwich Dates Employed Mar 2016 – Present Employment Duration1 yr 2 mos Location London, United Kingdom
CEO& Director Charlton Athletic Football Club Dates EmployedJan 2014 – Present Employment Duration3 yrs 4 mos Location London, United Kingdom
Legal and International Relations Manager Standard de Liège Dates Employed Sep 2013 – Sep 2014 Employment Duration1 yr 1 mo
Associate Baker & McKenzie Dates Employed Mar 2013 – Oct 2013 Employment Duration8 mos LocationBrussels Area, Belgium
Associate Olswang Dates Employed Mar 2011 – Feb 2013 Employment Duration2 yrs
Trainee White & Case Dates EmployedSep 2010 – Feb 2011 Employment Duration6 mos
Stagiaire Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Dates Employed Apr 2010 – Aug 2010 Employment Duration5 mos
Stagiaire European Commission (DG COMP) Dates Employed Oct 2009 – Feb 2010 Employment Duration5 mos
Stagiaire Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Dates Employed Sep 2008 – Aug 2009 Employment Duration1 yr
Education UCL Degree Name LLM Field Of Study Competition Law Dates attended or expected graduation 2007 – 2008
KU Leuven Degree Name Master, Bachelor Field Of Study Law Dates attended or expected graduation 2002 – 2007
Université René Descartes (Paris V) Field Of Study Law - Erasmus exchange Dates attended or expected graduation 2006 – 2006
Not sure what an associate is in legal terms? Is this a lawyer? If not then no she has never been an actual lawyer, despite being qualified as one.
She's still not the biggest issue at the club. We have a chairman that does not attend games!
no idea either - interesting that she's got her FA roles on there. That's what's all about for her. Cramming that CV because her days are numbered at Charlton.
Minor point, but she's never been a proper lawyer has she? I assumed she was an office junior at PwC?
From LinkedIn
Katrien Meire 3rd degree connection Katrien Meire CEO & Director at Charlton Athletic Football Club The Football Association UCL Brussels Area, Belgium 500+ 500+ connections Pending
Experience FA Council Member The Football Association Dates Employed Jul 2016 – Present Employment Duration10 mos Location United Kingdom
Member of Sports Board University of Greenwich Dates Employed Mar 2016 – Present Employment Duration1 yr 2 mos Location London, United Kingdom
CEO& Director Charlton Athletic Football Club Dates EmployedJan 2014 – Present Employment Duration3 yrs 4 mos Location London, United Kingdom
Legal and International Relations Manager Standard de Liège Dates Employed Sep 2013 – Sep 2014 Employment Duration1 yr 1 mo
Associate Baker & McKenzie Dates Employed Mar 2013 – Oct 2013 Employment Duration8 mos LocationBrussels Area, Belgium
Associate Olswang Dates Employed Mar 2011 – Feb 2013 Employment Duration2 yrs
Trainee White & Case Dates EmployedSep 2010 – Feb 2011 Employment Duration6 mos
Stagiaire Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Dates Employed Apr 2010 – Aug 2010 Employment Duration5 mos
Stagiaire European Commission (DG COMP) Dates Employed Oct 2009 – Feb 2010 Employment Duration5 mos
Stagiaire Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Dates Employed Sep 2008 – Aug 2009 Employment Duration1 yr
Education UCL Degree Name LLM Field Of Study Competition Law Dates attended or expected graduation 2007 – 2008
KU Leuven Degree Name Master, Bachelor Field Of Study Law Dates attended or expected graduation 2002 – 2007
Université René Descartes (Paris V) Field Of Study Law - Erasmus exchange Dates attended or expected graduation 2006 – 2006
Not sure what an associate is in legal terms? Is this a lawyer? If not then no she has never been an actual lawyer, despite being qualified as one.
She's still not the biggest issue at the club. We have a chairman that does not attend games!
no idea either - interesting that she's got her FA roles on there. That's what's all about for her. Cramming that CV because her days are numbered at Charlton.
More significant is that her day job is listed third. Sums up her contempt for us.
Minor point, but she's never been a proper lawyer has she? I assumed she was an office junior at PwC?
From LinkedIn
Katrien Meire 3rd degree connection Katrien Meire CEO & Director at Charlton Athletic Football Club The Football Association UCL Brussels Area, Belgium 500+ 500+ connections Pending
Experience FA Council Member The Football Association Dates Employed Jul 2016 – Present Employment Duration10 mos Location United Kingdom
Member of Sports Board University of Greenwich Dates Employed Mar 2016 – Present Employment Duration1 yr 2 mos Location London, United Kingdom
CEO& Director Charlton Athletic Football Club Dates EmployedJan 2014 – Present Employment Duration3 yrs 4 mos Location London, United Kingdom
Legal and International Relations Manager Standard de Liège Dates Employed Sep 2013 – Sep 2014 Employment Duration1 yr 1 mo
Associate Baker & McKenzie Dates Employed Mar 2013 – Oct 2013 Employment Duration8 mos LocationBrussels Area, Belgium
Associate Olswang Dates Employed Mar 2011 – Feb 2013 Employment Duration2 yrs
Trainee White & Case Dates EmployedSep 2010 – Feb 2011 Employment Duration6 mos
Stagiaire Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Dates Employed Apr 2010 – Aug 2010 Employment Duration5 mos
Stagiaire European Commission (DG COMP) Dates Employed Oct 2009 – Feb 2010 Employment Duration5 mos
Stagiaire Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Dates Employed Sep 2008 – Aug 2009 Employment Duration1 yr
Education UCL Degree Name LLM Field Of Study Competition Law Dates attended or expected graduation 2007 – 2008
KU Leuven Degree Name Master, Bachelor Field Of Study Law Dates attended or expected graduation 2002 – 2007
Université René Descartes (Paris V) Field Of Study Law - Erasmus exchange Dates attended or expected graduation 2006 – 2006
Not sure what an associate is in legal terms? Is this a lawyer? If not then no she has never been an actual lawyer, despite being qualified as one.
She's still not the biggest issue at the club. We have a chairman that does not attend games!
no idea either - interesting that she's got her FA roles on there. That's what's all about for her. Cramming that CV because her days are numbered at Charlton.
More significant is that her day job is listed third. Sums up her contempt for us.
To be fair to the lying, odious, charlatan witch, you are meant to put most recent first on a CV.
Minor point, but she's never been a proper lawyer has she? I assumed she was an office junior at PwC?
From LinkedIn
Katrien Meire 3rd degree connection Katrien Meire CEO & Director at Charlton Athletic Football Club The Football Association UCL Brussels Area, Belgium 500+ 500+ connections Pending
Experience FA Council Member The Football Association Dates Employed Jul 2016 – Present Employment Duration10 mos Location United Kingdom
Member of Sports Board University of Greenwich Dates Employed Mar 2016 – Present Employment Duration1 yr 2 mos Location London, United Kingdom
CEO& Director Charlton Athletic Football Club Dates EmployedJan 2014 – Present Employment Duration3 yrs 4 mos Location London, United Kingdom
Legal and International Relations Manager Standard de Liège Dates Employed Sep 2013 – Sep 2014 Employment Duration1 yr 1 mo
Associate Baker & McKenzie Dates Employed Mar 2013 – Oct 2013 Employment Duration8 mos LocationBrussels Area, Belgium
Associate Olswang Dates Employed Mar 2011 – Feb 2013 Employment Duration2 yrs
Trainee White & Case Dates EmployedSep 2010 – Feb 2011 Employment Duration6 mos
Stagiaire Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Dates Employed Apr 2010 – Aug 2010 Employment Duration5 mos
Stagiaire European Commission (DG COMP) Dates Employed Oct 2009 – Feb 2010 Employment Duration5 mos
Stagiaire Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Dates Employed Sep 2008 – Aug 2009 Employment Duration1 yr
Education UCL Degree Name LLM Field Of Study Competition Law Dates attended or expected graduation 2007 – 2008
KU Leuven Degree Name Master, Bachelor Field Of Study Law Dates attended or expected graduation 2002 – 2007
Université René Descartes (Paris V) Field Of Study Law - Erasmus exchange Dates attended or expected graduation 2006 – 2006
Not sure what an associate is in legal terms? Is this a lawyer? If not then no she has never been an actual lawyer, despite being qualified as one.
She's still not the biggest issue at the club. We have a chairman that does not attend games!
no idea either - interesting that she's got her FA roles on there. That's what's all about for her. Cramming that CV because her days are numbered at Charlton.
More significant is that her day job is listed third. Sums up her contempt for us.
To be fair to the lying, odious, charlatan witch, you are meant to put most recent first on a CV.
Fair point, but surely only once you have moved on from a job it drops down the list? Current roles should always be list in order of importance.
I have different hats but I always have my main occupation/income first as this is what the person reading it would expect to see I believe.
I must admit, I feel a tiny bit sorry for Meire. Only a tiny bit, because I know she has done a lot of damage to the club I love. At this point it is not clear whether we can recover from it, or if we can, how long it will take. But if you take a step back - you have to question why Duchatelet gave her a job in the first place she was hardly qualified to do. She is/was inexperienced in the game over here with no real experience in football managment anywhere. She was young and intelligent, but also very pliable. Duchatelet converted her into a disciple and installed the belief in her that he knew more than anybody else. When she believed that, it becomes more understandable that she made the stupid comments she did which antogonised and undermined fans. Her mouth may have been opening, but it was Duchatelet's words. It is like listening to religious nuts who have lost the ability to question what they say!
If you are a senile old git like Duchatelet, somebody who thinks he knows better than everybody else, you place people around you who don't have the knowledge or life experience to challenge you. This must be the reason she has kept her job when rightly or wrongly she could have been fed to the fans and become a casualty of failure. You can sack a manager and try to bring in a better one, but if you brought in a better CEO than Meire, they would inevitably question your approach. I'm sure his ego likes having a young, female disciple and that explains to me why he has seen it fit to defend her innapropriately and using poor judgment against actions and accusations from fans. On one occasion, so ridiculously, Mel Baroni saw fit to resign! She was a professional woman who realised she had a hopless job in the cult of Duchatelet!
I have often struggled with the stupidity of some of Meire's statements. Why make them? - Even if you believe them, a bit of ballshit here and there can keep the natives sweet. It all points to the unquestioning devotion she has for Duchatelet!
In some ways, Meire is no more to blame than the poor fool who knocks on your door and tries to tell you dinosaurs never existed, they were simply the bones of big people! I am starting to believe that what I have mistaken for her ego, has always been Duchatelet's ego. She is just a victim of this twisted bastard. Ok, a well paid one, but it can't be fun being Meire now and indeed for the last few years! Forgetting my love for this club that they are killing, I point to the final clue that we need to pity her. The fact that Duchatelet hasn't removed her from this toxic post and given her something more comfortable within his empire. Her being at the club is benefitting nobody, and certainly not her and this adds to the point I am making. I suspect he gets off on having that power over her!
The human capacity to be seduced and manipulated is evidenced everywhere. As she clearly is an intelligent woman, I would love to talk to the 50 year old Meire, when she may have realised how she is being exploited by this evil fool, as are we in terms of the damage he is doing to a big part of our life. I suspect he gets a pleasure from that power too although of course his preference would be for his ideas to be proven correct (Fat chance of that though!)
That my lords is the case for the defence of Meire! Her removal from the club would be as good for her as it will be for us, but we should never forget the person who needs removing is the puppet master, not the puppet!
Muttley, I'm going to agree with your analysis to a large extent (in fact in an earlier posting I think I said that Duchatelet had done her a disservice by putting her into this elevated position with no assistance whatsoever).
What I personally would find difficulty with is affording her any pity. If she is indeed miserable at the the turn of events (and closing off parts of the ground for next season hardly smacks of moving in the right direction or even of having turned a corner!) then believe me she could leave the Duchatelet empire, go back to Brussels, take up Competition Law and have a very good career in so doing - one of the Professors (Robbie Tas) who awarded her the prestigious VRG Alumni award in Belgium has actually said this.
Not pity then, but pure frustration that she has seemingly thrown away any independence of thought, She could have been a good CEO if she had adapted immediately to the change in circumstances brought about by the collapse of FFP and the realisation at that point that Duchatelet's vision wasn't going to work. More importantly, she should have become her own woman, not the tame puppet she so clearly is. and set about making her own mark at the club preferably with a director of football alongside to assist her.
Instead, and has been pointed out above by Muttley and others, we get nothing but a cult-like adherence to the way in which Duchatelet operates (with the comment made by her fairly on in the Regime that the fans would have to get used to the way that the major shareholder runs the club). That alone betrays a total lack of understanding of business let alone the football 'business' - you just don't talk to people like that and certainly not your customers.
I despair of the situation. I heard nothing at the QandA which presented me with any confidence that Meire could break free of RD and actually make a difference. I came out thinking worse of her than went I went in because she has become an empty vessel - there really is nothing left to offer from Meire other than the solace she now seems to find in exploring the latest digital marketing techniques.
Hello, Katrien, wake up, you need a good 'product' first before you market it. You and RD,in the space of 3.5 years, have devalued the Charlton 'product' across multiple areas with the end result now that you are closing parts of the ground for next season - hardly a credible endorsement in the world of marketing.
I don't pity you, I don't hate you, but please just go for all our sakes and yours.
Comments
Q. As CEO you have presided over a catastrophic three and a half year period for Charlton Athletic. While managers have come and gone you have stayed in your sinecure post where you have been entrusted with enormous responsibility but no accountability whatsoever. You cling to you meaningless mantra of "not doing failure" when all the evidence presents otherwise. If you really had the best interests of this club at heart you should have recognised this level of failure and resigned, shouldn't you?
A: That's your opinion
Q: So relegation to the third tier; the lowest league position since 1926; disaffection of fans; public and in-game protests; loss of 4000 season ticket holders and dwindling crowds are not your responsibility?
A. Yes, that is our responsibility but my resignation is your opinion.
When she made those remarks, my heart did sink to an all time low for my support for the club. Tragic really........
She really doesn't give a monkey's about hearing from us unwashed peasants. She knows the score and what an utterly hopeless cause 'fan re-engagement' is. She can't even bother her arse to try to justify and explain herself. Just keep collecting the massive salary Daisy, no matter how much you hate it here.
http://www.openculture.com/2014/12/john-cleese-on-stupidity-and-a-cornell-study.html
It was an ill-considered comment
She was more responsive to the same angle of questioning later on (but as mentioned in earlier postings she then went for the 'well I'm still here so must be doing a good job' defence.
The whole thrust if the question was to try to get her accept some personal responsibility as CEO, for the plight the Club finds itself in over a wide area of its operation and for which she shares a heavy burden of responsibilty. We did not get that from her and in fact her off-hand and dismissive 'opinion' replies were not what I was expecting at all.
It would have been possible of course to list a whole legion of things which illustrate the chaotic running and administration of the club under her stewardship but time prevented this.
Even at the end there was no admission of personal responsibility - she used the generic 'our' which really means her and RD clearly but evades that sense of being personally responsible, which 'damn it' she is.
You are either CEO and making executive decisions or you are not. RD gave her that executive role but a combination of arrogance, poor decision making and an inability to work on weaknesses by bringing in experience in those areas where it is required (most notably a football director) has led to a position where she stumbles on almost from crisis to crisis and clueless how to deal with the bigger picture.
Instead she focuses on those areas where she is more comfortable (hence her enthusiasm for the new website as a way to engage with fans who not only become 'customers' but are also reduced to faceless online 'data currency' (currency being her term).
As many have recognised, its all about her - she is not interested in the history/tradition of the club because she is employing a year zero approach to re-inventing it in the RD/St Truiden image.
I don't think it's been mentioned yet but she came out at one stage in the Trust meeting and said (heard it before)................
I have lived and breathed Charlton Athletic for three and a half years.
If that were truly the case then I think she would have made a better job of being CEO
But then - that's just my opinion!
If you are a senile old git like Duchatelet, somebody who thinks he knows better than everybody else, you place people around you who don't have the knowledge or life experience to challenge you. This must be the reason she has kept her job when rightly or wrongly she could have been fed to the fans and become a casualty of failure. You can sack a manager and try to bring in a better one, but if you brought in a better CEO than Meire, they would inevitably question your approach. I'm sure his ego likes having a young, female disciple and that explains to me why he has seen it fit to defend her innapropriately and using poor judgment against actions and accusations from fans. On one occasion, so ridiculously, Mel Baroni saw fit to resign! She was a professional woman who realised she had a hopless job in the cult of Duchatelet!
I have often struggled with the stupidity of some of Meire's statements. Why make them? - Even if you believe them, a bit of ballshit here and there can keep the natives sweet. It all points to the unquestioning devotion she has for Duchatelet!
In some ways, Meire is no more to blame than the poor fool who knocks on your door and tries to tell you dinosaurs never existed, they were simply the bones of big people! I am starting to believe that what I have mistaken for her ego, has always been Duchatelet's ego. She is just a victim of this twisted bastard. Ok, a well paid one, but it can't be fun being Meire now and indeed for the last few years! Forgetting my love for this club that they are killing, I point to the final clue that we need to pity her. The fact that Duchatelet hasn't removed her from this toxic post and given her something more comfortable within his empire. Her being at the club is benefitting nobody, and certainly not her and this adds to the point I am making. I suspect he gets off on having that power over her!
The human capacity to be seduced and manipulated is evidenced everywhere. As she clearly is an intelligent woman, I would love to talk to the 50 year old Meire, when she may have realised how she is being exploited by this evil fool, as are we in terms of the damage he is doing to a big part of our life. I suspect he gets a pleasure from that power too although of course his preference would be for his ideas to be proven correct (Fat chance of that though!)
That my lords is the case for the defence of Meire! Her removal from the club would be as good for her as it will be for us, but we should never forget the person who needs removing is the puppet master, not the puppet!
A: He is not blind. He knows that most of the fans are not trouble makers but it was a minority that started the protests.
How can they misjudge it so badly? She was AT the Valley for the protests, where thousands of fans showed their discontent.
Peaceful protesters are 'Trouble makers'? What the f*ck are you, the Stasi?
The word 'delusional' is over-used, but the only one 'blind' to reality is this div.
The words and actions of both Duchatelet and Meire clearly demonstrate that they consider themselves of superior intelligence to us proles. Unfortunately for them, all of the evidence is very much to the contrary.
Katrien Meire
3rd degree connection
Katrien Meire
CEO & Director at Charlton Athletic Football Club
The Football Association UCL
Brussels Area, Belgium 500+ 500+ connections
Pending
Experience
FA Council Member
The Football Association
Dates Employed
Jul 2016 – Present Employment Duration10 mos
Location
United Kingdom
Member of Sports Board
University of Greenwich
Dates Employed
Mar 2016 – Present Employment Duration1 yr 2 mos
Location
London, United Kingdom
CEO& Director
Charlton Athletic Football Club
Dates EmployedJan 2014 – Present Employment Duration3 yrs 4 mos
Location
London, United Kingdom
Legal and International Relations Manager
Standard de Liège
Dates Employed
Sep 2013 – Sep 2014 Employment Duration1 yr 1 mo
Associate
Baker & McKenzie
Dates Employed
Mar 2013 – Oct 2013 Employment Duration8 mos
LocationBrussels Area, Belgium
Associate
Olswang
Dates Employed
Mar 2011 – Feb 2013 Employment Duration2 yrs
Trainee
White & Case
Dates EmployedSep 2010 – Feb 2011 Employment Duration6 mos
Stagiaire
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
Dates Employed
Apr 2010 – Aug 2010 Employment Duration5 mos
Stagiaire
European Commission (DG COMP)
Dates Employed
Oct 2009 – Feb 2010 Employment Duration5 mos
Stagiaire
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
Dates Employed
Sep 2008 – Aug 2009 Employment Duration1 yr
Education
UCL
Degree Name LLM Field Of Study Competition Law
Dates attended or expected graduation 2007 – 2008
KU Leuven
Degree Name Master, Bachelor Field Of Study Law
Dates attended or expected graduation 2002 – 2007
Université René Descartes (Paris V)
Field Of Study Law - Erasmus exchange
Dates attended or expected graduation 2006 – 2006
Not sure what an associate is in legal terms? Is this a lawyer? If not then no she has never been an actual lawyer, despite being qualified as one.
She's still not the biggest issue at the club. We have a chairman that does not attend games!
I have different hats but I always have my main occupation/income first as this is what the person reading it would expect to see I believe.
What I personally would find difficulty with is affording her any pity.
If she is indeed miserable at the the turn of events (and closing off parts of the ground for next season hardly smacks of moving in the right direction or even of having turned a corner!) then believe me she could leave the Duchatelet empire, go back to Brussels, take up Competition Law and have a very good career in so doing - one of the Professors (Robbie Tas) who awarded her the prestigious VRG Alumni award in Belgium has actually said this.
Not pity then, but pure frustration that she has seemingly thrown away any independence of thought, She could have been a good CEO if she had adapted immediately to the change in circumstances brought about by the collapse of FFP and the realisation at that point that Duchatelet's vision wasn't going to work.
More importantly, she should have become her own woman, not the tame puppet she so clearly is. and set about making her own mark at the club preferably with a director of football alongside to assist her.
Instead, and has been pointed out above by Muttley and others, we get nothing but a cult-like adherence to the way in which Duchatelet operates (with the comment made by her fairly on in the Regime that the fans would have to get used to the way that the major shareholder runs the club). That alone betrays a total lack of understanding of business let alone the football 'business' - you just don't talk to people like that and certainly not your customers.
I despair of the situation. I heard nothing at the QandA which presented me with any confidence that Meire could break free of RD and actually make a difference. I came out thinking worse of her than went I went in because she has become an empty vessel - there really is nothing left to offer from Meire other than the solace she now seems to find in exploring the latest digital marketing techniques.
Hello, Katrien, wake up, you need a good 'product' first before you market it. You and RD,in the space of 3.5 years, have devalued the Charlton 'product' across multiple areas with the end result now that you are closing parts of the ground for next season - hardly a credible endorsement in the world of marketing.
I don't pity you, I don't hate you, but please just go for all our sakes and yours.