Bit alarming, wasn't it?
Nice sunny Saturday, team had an ok start to the season. Looking round seeing it so empty is pretty demoralising.
Noticeable thing was there was a well publicised £5 offer this week in the North Lower and a supposed flooding of Greenwich Uni students. Yet the North Lower looked no more populated than normal, probably less busy than the other Saturday games.
I know full well it's the Roland / Katrien effect and we 'just have to get used to it', but crowd wise even with some success it's going to be a long haul to getting crowds back up in the future.
Selling just 2k tickets for that Legends game was a real eye-opener to many who thought that 10k fans disillusioned with the regime will just turn up again.
So many lifetime fans of 20,30,40 years have just literally parked it. Makes me so demoralised and angry at what has evolved over the last few years, i fear the impact is going to be so long-lasting.
Thoughts?
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Comments
Until Roland departs I cannot see an upturn in our attendance or anything else I'm afraid.
It was a shame it was a low attendance as the CACT deserved more in terms of numbers.
Didn't go yesterday but that was because I was on a stag do in Liverpool, so didn't get to see the sparcity
The impact of the last 3 years has certainly hit home now. i'll always be there regardless of owners, but for many I feel that it's 'not a penny more' until they're gone
People are told that they are mearly customers and that their ticket income isn't important and they say "ok, if that's the way you think, sod you."
Of our group of 7 who had ST in the most expensive part of the East one now has a ST in the cheapest seats. Others come when there is a spare ticket. It's not all Duchatelet as the kids have gone to uni, got jobs, etc other things to do but they were regular protesters.
The adults were Valley party activists.
It's what happens what the owners don't care about results and don't understand that the fans are their most important marketing tool.
The cheap season tickets for the lower has split up all the singers so the noise from the Covered end is muted.
The verdict on Robinson is still out for a lot of people, so the `Robinsons red army' never seems to get going.
I've got the hump.
Alienate a large section of supporters, underfund the first team, have a revolving door policy on employment, (coaches and backroom), make false statements to the supporters, serve up dross football for three really long seasons, make nonsense comments at group meetings and repeat al of the above again and again.
Result, an empty ground and a club grinding out a draw with the mighty eternal no-hopers Bury.
Yesterday, despite having a season ticket, I decided to stay home and watch it on my iPad - and I’m glad I did. That is going to happen more and more until the quality of football and the atmosphere improves.
It’s not about money and, for me, it’s not a statement against the owners. I just no longer fancy it as much. Charlton used to be such a significant part of my life, and now it is not. I’m not sure what it would take to change that back. I’ll always be a Charlton fan and I’ml Always go to games but I just can’t see me arranging my life around them any more.
Around 9,500 quoted home attendees is about par for the course, I suspect in reality it was more like 8-8,500 there in body.
Didn't really see any difference in the lower north although difficult from my vantage point in there, certainly didn't see any number of 'new' faces i.e. Uni students.
As the season plays out, if we're mid table or worse I suspect the number actually going will reduce further. I wonder how many bought season tickets in the lower north at the cheap rate without intending to go every game. I believe a full priced lower north ticket yesterday was £23 if you rocked up after 1, same as 8 games on the season ticket.
I don't think price is a major factor, but if we're on a bad run and you are a bit on the fence, suspect you'll not bother spending a minimum of £23..........
So many people have reached stage five in the grieving process.
the politics surrounding ownership and management have superseded the sheer pleasure and enjoyment or the despair and annoyance inherent with just watching a game of football
a few on here who once seemed to delight in the fact that attendances were dropping and chose to never turn up to watch are now bemoaning that attendances are indeed declining .. what might be called a self fulfilling prophecy .. it's strange times indeed down SE7 way
even in the 1997/98 season, attendances at the start were only around 10,000 ..
check the attached wiki entry to see how attendances climbed throughout the season .. but against Sheffield United, the figure dropped below 10,000 .. there is nothing new about CAFC 'fans' being fickle in their attendance
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997–98_Charlton_Athletic_F.C._season
My belief is that Duchatalet is something of a sociopath.
We are dealing with a man who has no empathy or understanding of human empathy or emotions, this is often found in highly successful business men, they have no time for such frivolous attachments.
What makes him tick are not normal or rational traits for the average citizen.
Sociopaths can come across as very charming and plausible individuals and function quite happily in society without upsetting too many people along the way, they are not necessarily unpleasant to deal with or be around.....he is a great business man but with his football empire he has stepped outside of his comfort zone and is way way out of his depth.
He thinks only in terms of this empire as a vision of self grandiose achievement, he feels not one jot about the attachment and feelings that us fans have invested over many decades simply because he doesn't have the same natural human instincts, he can't begin to understand it because in him those emotions either simply don't exist or at the very least mean very very little, in short he has a hollow place in his heart.
This football empire is a plaything for him. I say this because he's losing money hand over fist, yet doesn't seem to care that much, ask yourself if he did, then wouldn't he have got rid long ago? Remind me, when was the last time he came to The Valley to actually watch us play....he has no attachment to Charlton as a football club (least ways in the way we all do) and we can do absolutely NOTHING to change that very sad state of affairs, it's deep in his DNA.
I'm no expert in these matters but I think this is the sort of guy we are dealing with(others with more knowledge please feel free to put me straight) and for that reason we have absolutely no idea where he's taking us and more disturbingly.......I don't think he does either, because he doesn't really care!
What depresses me is the fear that he will hang around for years expecting somebody to pay an unrealistic price until we reach a point that we are no longer attractive to any buyer
Fork out for a season ticket and then fork out extra to watch it on a computer at home!
To me RD is loopy but KM has done so, so much damage to our support base it is simply incredible she is now on FA boards.
The problem now being, my son is so into Welling, I don't have a hope in hell of getting to take to Charlton regardless of a takeover.
I am sure I am not alone here, and a substantial amount of kids from my child's generation are not longer viable "customers".
FFS, the entire Welling side came over and shook hands with the supporters yesterday, along with the chairman.
I don't expect that at Charlton, but I think my point is made.
Of course you are right though, in the long term low attendances are not good for the club. People will slip away, some perhaps never to return. The eventual re-build, when it finally comes, will be slower and harder as a result of lower attendances now. But that time is not now. There will never be a rebuild all the time that Duchatelet is the owner. There will never be a rebuild all the time that Meire is the the hobby-honcho. It's no good getting sad or angry or depressed about low attendances. Accept them for what they are, a clear and unwavering signal of defiance to our Belgian overlords. One day we'll rebuild this club. That will be the time to worry about low attendances, not now.
He persisted with his political party and it's eccentric policies for more than 10 years - despite derisory results in elections.
And to remind people of the delusional mentality of the man I attach (again) the transcript of an interview with him by a Belgian journalist in early 2015 that appeared in CAST Trust News 10, where, among other things, Duchatelet compares himself with Alan Turing and says of himself “I‘m a visionary, of course".
However, particularly after the rumours circulating earlier in the year, I think he does want to sell but is unwilling to do so for the (realistic) prices he's probably been offered. He and Night-Meire have been far more 'hands off' this season and he may be hanging on in the hope of promotion and a better price?