This can’t be right. Didn’t we have a separate thread
30 YEARS BACK AT THE VALLEY CELEBRATIONS PLANNED
which slated the idea of celebration and that Steve Sutherland wasn’t a good choice to chair the organising committee and ensure the right people are engaged? 😉
None of Valley Gold, the museum or CAST were invited to join the committee when it was announced. This event did not originate there.
Ok so can you expand then?
My point at the time was the original members may just have been that and did not automatically imply other stakeholders would not be involved - seems to me that may have happened.
See above.
So all good - not blocked / not ignored. Already underway by CAST so need to reinvent the wheel etc.
The club and its committee have no ability to block such events, although I suppose they could stop them being held at The Valley. Not sure why they would do that.
A 25th anniversary event took place upstairs at the White Swan and in 2015 the 25th anniversary of the Valley Party was marked at the player of the year despite Katrien Meire’s attempt to stop that happening because the organisers stood up to her on the night.
You seem determined to take the negative approach to this & I don't really understand why. I did say or 'ignored'.
The message read to me the club were supporting / referencing as part of the overall programme and it seems a good thing.
It also seemed to me to allay some of the previously voiced concerns the event (milestone) wasn't perhaps notable enough to have a committee and programme of events and that some stakeholders would be ignored. As I said earlier - all seems positive to me at this time.
You seem intent on arguing that it was all wonderful all along and this event proves that, even though it doesn’t. I’m not the one going on about it as I really couldn’t care less. 🤷♂️
Not true. I didn't understand the negativity & the assumption it would be poor in some way. That is all.
I think you miss the point that a BTTV committee was formed, once again, with no one of any relevance to BTTV involved or on the committee.
If you think something like this would have been arranged if it wasn't for CAST & Museum arranging it you are sadly mistaken. AFAIK it wasn't the committee that came to those people.
The 'committee' would have, just like last time, arranged things not for most fans, but predominantly to raise money for CACT.
I think you miss my more innocent original point. I observed that the original members and chair need not mean other stakeholders would not be invited/engaged/consulted etc. and evolve over the season.
It was a negative statement initially. This suggests all are happy to work together and it really doesn’t matter where the idea started.
From what those involved with organising this have said, 'other stakeholders' where not invited/engaged/consulted, the impetus came from the 'other stakeholders'.
Anyway, I'm just glad my historic contribution to the life of the club we all support is going to be recognised and I'll take drinks from as many as want to buy them for me. For those who don't know who I am, I was the one who got, if I remember correctly, 107 votes.
Well there's the problem right there in Steve's tweet. CAFC (the club) and CACT, a wonderful organisation which would not have achieved what it has done, had the Club not just returned to the Valley, but been driven forward from then by an impressive collaborative bond between directors at the time and supporters who had previously been at the heart of the insurgent push to bring the club home. Why cannot Steve bring himself to add the third acronym "CAST" there, as the organisation which can most easily engage all the activist fans from the period?
When I saw the original publicity about it, I tried to be charitable and told myself that this is about celebrating what happened in the 30 years since the return, rather than the return itself and all the energy that went into it. In which case, I thought, well good luck with that, not for me. But I live abroad anyway, and those from that time still turning up now, were not so sanguine. And why should they be? On what planet do you involve the Fan Adviser, a young volunteer in an even younger and ill-defined role, but not the 3,000 strong Supporters Trust? Well, its Planet Suthers I'm afraid. Steve isn't a bad guy at all, he loves Charlton and loves football, and has a lot of energy to bring to organising events, but he was always an "establishment" man. You are part of the Club if you are on the payroll, if you are "just" a fan you must turn up, support, and then go home again to your daily life. A conservative, don't rock the boat, kind of guy, for whom the word "insurgent" is an alternative word for "terrorist". I used to see quite a lot of him in the period from 89 up to the return, and he was distinctly ambivalent, as I recall, about the Valley Party. He's a guy you definitely want in a committee like this, but as chair you needed someone collaborative with no past grievances who could bring together people from both inside and well outside the current Club organisation. This silly false start, happily now resolved is the result of not choosing such a person.
We can’t even have a jolly up about old times without falling out because certain people weren’t involved in the organising of the cucumber sarnies.
How on earth did we EVER manage to get back I will never know.
I’m just grateful that in those days all I cared about was the football team. I went to Sellout, joined Valley Gold & told anyone & everyone who’d listen about our fight to return home. I didn’t know anyone at the top table, I couldn’t care less who they were. I just wanted to get home.
Everyone played there part, everyone.
Go if you want to go, stay away if you don’t.
I wish I could be there to share a jar with a few old players.
We can’t even have a jolly up about old times without falling out because certain people weren’t involved in the organising of the cucumber sarnies.
How on earth did we EVER manage to get back I will never know.
I’m just grateful that in those days all I cared about was the football team. I went to Sellout, joined Valley Gold & told anyone & everyone who’d listen about our fight to return home. I didn’t know anyone at the top table, I couldn’t care less who they were. I just wanted to get home.
Everyone played there part, everyone.
Go if you want to go, stay away if you don’t.
I wish I could be there to share a jar with a few old players.
Hope it’s a great night 👍🏼
PragueAddick is coming over in his private jet. I'm sure he'd be happy to make a minor diversion to pick you up.
We can’t even have a jolly up about old times without falling out because certain people weren’t involved in the organising of the cucumber sarnies.
How on earth did we EVER manage to get back I will never know.
I’m just grateful that in those days all I cared about was the football team. I went to Sellout, joined Valley Gold & told anyone & everyone who’d listen about our fight to return home. I didn’t know anyone at the top table, I couldn’t care less who they were. I just wanted to get home.
Everyone played there part, everyone.
Go if you want to go, stay away if you don’t.
I wish I could be there to share a jar with a few old players.
Hope it’s a great night 👍🏼
PragueAddick is coming over in his private jet. I'm sure he'd be happy to make a minor diversion to pick you up.
What a great idea,tickets cheap as well. Have so many memories of helping out and was lucky enough to be in the town hall that evening in May 1990. So many friends that I got to know over this period have now passed away and I will take the time to think of them once again this December.
Comments
Anyway, I'm just glad my historic contribution to the life of the club we all support is going to be recognised and I'll take drinks from as many as want to buy them for me. For those who don't know who I am, I was the one who got, if I remember correctly, 107 votes.
When I saw the original publicity about it, I tried to be charitable and told myself that this is about celebrating what happened in the 30 years since the return, rather than the return itself and all the energy that went into it. In which case, I thought, well good luck with that, not for me. But I live abroad anyway, and those from that time still turning up now, were not so sanguine. And why should they be? On what planet do you involve the Fan Adviser, a young volunteer in an even younger and ill-defined role, but not the 3,000 strong Supporters Trust? Well, its Planet Suthers I'm afraid. Steve isn't a bad guy at all, he loves Charlton and loves football, and has a lot of energy to bring to organising events, but he was always an "establishment" man. You are part of the Club if you are on the payroll, if you are "just" a fan you must turn up, support, and then go home again to your daily life. A conservative, don't rock the boat, kind of guy, for whom the word "insurgent" is an alternative word for "terrorist". I used to see quite a lot of him in the period from 89 up to the return, and he was distinctly ambivalent, as I recall, about the Valley Party. He's a guy you definitely want in a committee like this, but as chair you needed someone collaborative with no past grievances who could bring together people from both inside and well outside the current Club organisation. This silly false start, happily now resolved is the result of not choosing such a person.
We can’t even have a jolly up about old times without falling out because certain people weren’t involved in the organising of the cucumber sarnies.
How on earth did we EVER manage to get back I will never know.
I’m just grateful that in those days all I cared about was the football team. I went to Sellout, joined Valley Gold & told anyone & everyone who’d listen about our fight to return home. I didn’t know anyone at the top table, I couldn’t care less who they were. I just wanted to get home.
Everyone played there part, everyone.
Go if you want to go, stay away if you don’t.
I wish I could be there to share a jar with a few old players.
Hope it’s a great night 👍🏼
Have so many memories of helping out and was lucky enough to be in the town hall that evening in May 1990.
So many friends that I got to know over this period have now passed away and I will take the time to think of them once again this December.
https://www.castrust.org/2022/09/there-will-be-cake/
Nearly £100, wow.
https://www.castrust.org/2022/11/complimentary-dinner-tickets-for-valley-party-people/