Hi All,
I'm well aware that CARD has already made an announcement but I think that we can make a real damning protest against this regime at our last fixture of this desperate season. I've mentioned before the principle of an 'amnesty' match and I believe that this will be hugely effective in again elevating our disapproval of the present owners and demonstrating to potential owners that they can rely on a loyal fan base.
There are many of us (me included) who have refused to renew our season tickets (4,000 is often quoted) but the fact that we are absent opens the door for the SMT to cite other reasons for the falling attendances. Indeed that despicable grovelling regime stalwart TK has remarked that this might be the case at one meeting with fans, suggesting that some victories on the pitch might allay the supporters concerns. This facile reaction simply betrays their inability to understand what attracts us to CAFC and why we need to feel a sense of belonging for supporting what is a wonderful football club but seldom other than a mediocre performer in the league and cup competitions. These SMT mugs need to understand that most (hopefully all) of us don't support Charlton because we crave footballing success (although it would be nice, on occasions) or that we are not looking to crow about our achievements to other supporters of larger clubs over any given weekend. If you want to support a successful club then there are plenty in London and a few others in Manchester. The participation and pride that we enjoy as supporters of CAFC is on numerous levels few of which are ever related to football trophies. We enjoy a compassionate club that promotes one of the best community schemes in the world, we are proud of our youth teams, we revel in our social initiatives such as The Upbeats as demonstrated by the 200 or so who attended the walk last Saturday. Our strength as a club has always been as a collective, fans and the Club, marching together whether in the Premier League, The Championship, League One or indeed in League Two, although hopefully not next season.
Adversity often brings out our best qualities and such has it been recently. KM has acknowledged a series of errors (as reported by the Trust when summarising a recent Q&A session). These errors have included the alienation of many fans and she seems to have belatedly recognised this however she continues to remain haughty and reluctantly apologetic. In my opinion, despite recent admissions her position remains untenable and she should resign or disappear when RD sells. So how do we emphasise this?
Most of our excellent protests thus far have been direct action by those in and around The Valley, on match days. These have been so successful but there are only so many pall bearers or relevant soft toys that we can choose to throw onto the pitch (excellent tactic but having been done successfully on at least three ocassions is now unlikely to generate many more column inches).
I believe that the most effective protest that still remains available to us is for us to fill The Valley on April 30th. We might still need a point or two (hopefully not) but if so let's provide some real vocal support for the team. Aside from this I think that the principal benefit will our demonstration to any potential owners that there is a loyal fan base who will return if RD sells.
So, to conclude, could I ask that ALL Charlton supporters make a real special attempt to attend the Swindon match on 30th April. I will be contacting many lapsed supporter friends to ask them if they can attend and would suggest that all do likewise.
If we can have 20k or so in attendance then this will surely be a huge embarrassment to KM and RD and we won't get another chance to do something like this for some time so lets go for it!
TARGET 20k vs Swindon 30-04-17
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Comments
Good luck but I will continue my boycott until the new owners are in place.
#notapennymore
Are you saying the Swindon game is more important?
Sorry, we wouldn't get 20,000 in the ground if we had just won the League...
Would be a great statement
But... as you can see... plenty of people are (very reasonably) on a boycott
Would be a monumental effort to fill it even with all fans on board
Proper bloke, proper footballer, proper Captain, proper Charlton.
Love Jacko to bits.
The only way we will get anywhere near 20k is if Roland has departed by then and the new owners make it a Football for a Fiver game and CARD organise a massive street party with music and dancing.
We need to replicate the anger shown at the Burnley game last season.
We can now achieve much with our presence at the last game which can be clearly used as a 'We're only here 'cause we hate you' moment.
It will be so embarrassing for the SMT and a profound rejection of all their efforts to improve attendances.
It will also send a message to potential buyers that the fan base is intact and will return as soon as RD sells up.
We ought to contact everyone we know who is or has been a supporter and try and encourage them to attend.
"Real fans no longer scared of the thuggish 2%"
Or something wankey like that