As expected those standing front and centre in front of the cameras when the transfer window accolades were being handed out are noticeably absent when the **** hits the fan! Step forward and own your mistakes.
The two boxes at the end give you a chance to get your message across. My response to the best part of the match day experience was, "I managed to avoid the unnecessary assault by Millwall fans on Charlton fans at the Sam Bartram entrance stairs.
Anticipating this outcome and employing police inside the stadium would have stopped this from happening."
My response to the next question was "Stop selling tickets in the home stand to Millwall fans and eject those that make themselves known."
I am convinced that two of the guys next to me were Millwall fans as they just sat there when we scored. They must have got their tickets through their mate sat next to them. To be fair, they didn't cause any trouble and probably inspired me to shout and cheer even louder.
There were 3 other questions that forced me to give an answer even though I didn't use the facility mentioned. A box for a reply of "Not applicable" is necessary.
I responded to one question by ticking the "Season ticket holder" box only to be asked, on the next question, whether or not I intend to attend any more home games.
Does anyone review correspondence before it's sent out? A poorly thought out communication reflects so badly on the sender.
Done. Do you know the email address we should be using to contact the police ? The club mentioned a form that was 'here' on their announcement responding to card yesterday but i can't see it - if you or anybody else knows where that is or what other method i can use to ensure my email ends up at the right police person that would be appreciated. I don't do twitter or anything else like that.
This is what I sent to the club. Feel free to copy and paste and send to fans@cafc.co.uk if the volume of complaints mean so much to the comms department.
------ I would like to register my displeasure at the clubs organisation and safety arrangements for the Charlton vs Millwall match, 13/09/2025
As has been evidenced online (here) the security and safety arrangements provided by CAFC during the game were woefully inadequate, leading to at least 2 Charlton supporters being attacked, just for being in the home stand for which they have every right to be.
The allocation of two junior stewards and one supervisor, without a radio, to a gate which Millwall supporters very easily opened and gained ingress to Charlton home fans is unacceptable, especially as no backup was provided when it was clear the Millwall fans were attempting to gain entry.
I am proud to support Charlton who embrace all facets of society, young and old, but this is a dereliction of duty in regards to security for our vulnerable fans by the club and needs further, urgent investigation, clear communication and actions taken to prevent a repeat with other away fans.
In addition, the acceptance by the club to allow Millwall fans the red carpet treatment after the game and not to be kept in the stadium whilst home fans clear (as happens up and down the country to troublesome fans), is unacceptable and can't be allowed to happen again. There are no other reports of EFL league games being handled in this manner, including those in London, so there is no argument that this was enforced by the MET police and was non-negotiable. CAFC did not try hard enough to either change this proposal and clearly did not communicate the agreement enough prior to the game, except focusing on ticket sales.
Please advise what actions will be taken to protect and assist CAFC fans in the future rather than troublesome away supporters.
when you don't ask the right questions, you allow bland generic bollox like that to be the answer - 'take it up with the police, we're not telling you the reason why we rolled over and allowed our home fans to be fucked over again at the expense of millwall fans and you never asked us that anyway so why would we offer that information up' - cast, your useless.
Why do you keep giving CAST grief for the fuckups of the Police and the club? The obvious answer to why the club "rolled over" and didn't keep the Millwall fans in is that they needed the Police agreement to do that. Or were you expecting the stewards to keep 3000 pissed off Millwall fans in the Jimmy Seed without any police support? Would we even have had a safety certificate for the match if we didn't agree the policing arrangements for the game with the Met? And the club has no control over how the Police decide to deal with fans once they've left the ground.
Given that a similar stupid strategy appears to have been used at Palace v Millwall that seems to indicate that the driving force behind the decision was the Met and not the club. The club has handled (and continues to handle) the communications very poorly, could possibly have done better with stewarding by the gate that got broken through, but the bigger villain of the piece is whichever idiot in the Met decided that this was a good plan.
because nowhere in any of your questions have u asked why they, the police, thought that would be the right solution when iot doesn't happen at any other ground? the club must know the answer to that surely? this wouldn't happen in a rangers celtic, villa birmingham or man utd liverpool match so how the hell has it been allowed to happen here - again ? useless
My questions? I'm only a random supporter not a member of the CAST board, and they have asked the Police why the decision was taken not to hold the visiting supporters back when that's what is usually done. I'm just puzzled by you continually directing your frustration at fellow fans that are trying to get answers on our behalf, rather than the people who made the decisions in the first place.
My mistake re you and cast. But surely its obvious - CAST have a platform, a voice that should be heard and represent us hence my exasperation with them missing the main point- i have sent an email to the club, and am looking for the contact details for the police. I'll also fill out the survey.
I used my recent direct contact with Tom Rubashow to let him know that that tin-eared response has landed very badly on Charlton Life, I highlighted the specific lines that most people find most inadequate, and specifically regarding follow up with the police, I wrote
"It is not enough to just ask fans to use a contact form for the Metropolitan police. There needs to be a frank dialogue with the specific officers who imposed this process on the club, and need to be held accountable for the results. "
I responded to one question by ticking the "Season ticket holder" box only to be asked, on the next question, whether or not I intend to attend any more home games.
Does anyone review correspondence before it's sent out? A poorly thought out communication reflects so badly on the sender.
Perhaps they think some fans might be so disgusted that they'll cut up their season ticket.
I've written to fans@cafc this morning but frankly if this is what club thinks is important they really don't understand us the fans .....surely someone at club SMT & Comms just has to look at Charlton Life with over @ 97,000 views + 1,400 comments (on two threads about Millwall post match reaction) which cover all issues and concerns surrounding Saturdays debacle V Millwall to get the idea we ain't happy and want an explaintation and reassurance that it won't happened again for future fixtures with Millwall & high risk fixtures.
Your opinion can help shape the future of The Valley experience!
Thank you for joining us at The Valley last weekend when we faced off against local rivals Millwall — we hope you enjoyed the occasion and felt the incredible atmosphere of a Charlton matchday!
We’re always looking for ways to make the matchday experience even better, and your thoughts are very important to us.
It only takes a couple of minutes to share your feedback, and it will help us make sure your next visit is even more memorable.
Click here or the 'POST MATCH SURVEY' button below to complete our short survey about your matchday experience.
Click here or the 'F&B SURVEY' button to share your feedback on our matchday Food and Beverage offerings.
We appreciate your time and hope to see you back at The Valley soon!
Unless I am missing something the police in their response to Richard Cawley said they had ‘worked alongside CAFC’. So the decisions were joint ones, and who exactly is the person at the club they ‘worked alongside’? I am assuming that the word ‘worked’ means that someone put time and effort and resources into reaching any decision. Must have taken all of 10 seconds ‘work’ to reach the bad decisions.
Done the post match survey . I said I have been supporting the club for 60 years and a season ticket holder since we returned ro the valley. I then went on to say that not keeping Millwall fan's back for 30 minutes or so, and therefore causing much inconvenience to 20k Charlton fan's was an absolute disgrace and it should never be allowed to happen again.
when you don't ask the right questions, you allow bland generic bollox like that to be the answer - 'take it up with the police, we're not telling you the reason why we rolled over and allowed our home fans to be fucked over again at the expense of millwall fans and you never asked us that anyway so why would we offer that information up' - cast, your useless.
Why do you keep giving CAST grief for the fuckups of the Police and the club? The obvious answer to why the club "rolled over" and didn't keep the Millwall fans in is that they needed the Police agreement to do that. Or were you expecting the stewards to keep 3000 pissed off Millwall fans in the Jimmy Seed without any police support? Would we even have had a safety certificate for the match if we didn't agree the policing arrangements for the game with the Met? And the club has no control over how the Police decide to deal with fans once they've left the ground.
Given that a similar stupid strategy appears to have been used at Palace v Millwall that seems to indicate that the driving force behind the decision was the Met and not the club. The club has handled (and continues to handle) the communications very poorly, could possibly have done better with stewarding by the gate that got broken through, but the bigger villain of the piece is whichever idiot in the Met decided that this was a good plan.
because nowhere in any of your questions have u asked why they, the police, thought that would be the right solution when iot doesn't happen at any other ground? the club must know the answer to that surely? this wouldn't happen in a rangers celtic, villa birmingham or man utd liverpool match so how the hell has it been allowed to happen here - again ? useless
My questions? I'm only a random supporter not a member of the CAST board, and they have asked the Police why the decision was taken not to hold the visiting supporters back when that's what is usually done. I'm just puzzled by you continually directing your frustration at fellow fans that are trying to get answers on our behalf, rather than the people who made the decisions in the first place.
My mistake re you and cast. But surely its obvious - CAST have a platform, a voice that should be heard and represent us hence my exasperation with them missing the main point- i have sent an email to the club, and am looking for the contact details for the police. I'll also fill out the survey.
I realise that I'm probably wasting my time, but hey ho - did you not see the email sent to the police from CAST? What main point was missing from that email? Genuine question.
This survey is a joke...its as if Millwall was a normal match day experience? asks you will you come to next match, Of course i will......nothing specific about what happened apart from 2 comments boxes to allow fans to have their say ....in essence what was bad and what can be improved!
Let’s be honest, if we were in the mental US of A the fan assaulted on the steps between the East and the JS would have already started his litigation against the club and the 5-oh for their negligence and utter bellendedness of the highest order…. Maybe we should start a gofundme for him? Anyone know a good lawyer?
Christ, who wrote that ‘survey’? That wouldn’t pass as an assignment in any Uni on a research methods course. It looks like a ‘first go’ but if it’s a survey on people’s experience of Saturday there’s no way it should be signed off to go out.
Christ, who wrote that ‘survey’? That wouldn’t pass as an assignment in any Uni on a research methods course. It looks like a ‘first go’ but if it’s a survey on people’s experience of Saturday there’s no way it should be signed off to go out.
I'd just skip all the questions and use the box at the end to share your feelings about the game. That survey is actually such a slap in the face and clearly has no intentions of learning anything about what actually happened, it's an insult.
That is a very poor response. Note that it does not say that the police made the decision not to keep the Millwall fans behind. That needs to be interrogated.
One of the coppers outside the club shop told me that it was the club's decision to get the Millwall fans out first and was agreeing with us that it was wrong to inconvenience 20,000 home fans.
It shouldn't actually be hard to find out who's decision it was for each significant feature of the 'crowd management', though so far it seems to be. We were possibly closer to a tragic incident than some people realise. We have reports of a police horse charging around among fans, cars in crowded areas, slow moving congested pedestrian areas, car stuck on level crossing, and other scenarios, all owing to this set of decisions. In any event surely after Hillsborough etc there's a log of decisions so that accountability cannot be evaded.
One of the reasons I left CAST was its apparent inability as a group to “not” accept the first answer from the top table as a reasonable explanation for an incident.
My personal feelings are, I really don’t care if the club or individuals at the top don’t like me pushing for explanations as to why one of our own was attacked on the stairway of the very stand he sits in, amongst all the other incidents on the day.
Had that guy fallen down the stairway and cracked his head they could be answering questions in the courts as a result of his injuries or god forbid a worse outcome.
If the board decide because they won’t attend or allow staff to attend supporters meetings as a result of me pushing on a subject then that says more about them than me.
A Individual on the current board told me personally that no action would be taken on reports of inappropriate behaviour unless the “victim” (I hate that word) comes forward personally and makes a complaint! (I still have the email)
So based on that statement there’s absolutely pointless me reporting Racial, sexual or homophobic comments to the club on the various channels available to me when attending matches at The Valley. Because unless the player/supporter/staff member comes along with me to verify what I’m saying you’ll do nothing!
You draw the big salaries and accept the accolades when we win at Wembley and have a good transfer window, then you front up puff out your chest and show your face when you **** it up.
Is the survey actually specific / uniquely relevant to the Millwall fixture or just a ‘post event’ type thing they may do in this day and age from time to time?
My point being whether created due to issues or just a thing they were planning anyway?
Is the survey actually specific / uniquely relevant to the Millwall fixture or just a ‘post event’ type thing they may do in this day and age from time to time?
My point being whether created due to issues or just a thing they were planning anyway?
Almost certainly generic and only sent to a % of fans.
Comments
Step forward and own your mistakes.
My response to the best part of the match day experience was, "I managed to avoid the unnecessary assault by Millwall fans on Charlton fans at the Sam Bartram entrance stairs.
My response to the next question was "Stop selling tickets in the home stand to Millwall fans and eject those that make themselves known."
I am convinced that two of the guys next to me were Millwall fans as they just sat there when we scored. They must have got their tickets through their mate sat next to them. To be fair, they didn't cause any trouble and probably inspired me to shout and cheer even louder.
There were 3 other questions that forced me to give an answer even though I didn't use the facility mentioned.
A box for a reply of "Not applicable" is necessary.
Does anyone review correspondence before it's sent out?
A poorly thought out communication reflects so badly on the sender.
------
I would like to register my displeasure at the clubs organisation and safety arrangements for the Charlton vs Millwall match, 13/09/2025
2) If you want anything done properly, you have to do it yourself is probably the truest saying in existence
Your opinion can help shape the future of The Valley experience!
Thank you for joining us at The Valley last weekend when we faced off against local rivals Millwall — we hope you enjoyed the occasion and felt the incredible atmosphere of a Charlton matchday!
We’re always looking for ways to make the matchday experience even better, and your thoughts are very important to us.
It only takes a couple of minutes to share your feedback, and it will help us make sure your next visit is even more memorable.
Click here or the 'POST MATCH SURVEY' button below to complete our short survey about your matchday experience.
Click here or the 'F&B SURVEY' button to share your feedback on our matchday Food and Beverage offerings.
We appreciate your time and hope to see you back at The Valley soon!
Up the Addicks,
Charlton Athletic Football Club
THIS IS THE SURVEY CLUB HAVE SENT OUT ON EMAIL THIS MORNING !
SORT OF UNBELEIVABLE BUT BELIEVABLE ?
hopefully the club will get it in neck on this survey for Saturdays debacle....
So the decisions were joint ones, and who exactly is the person at the club they ‘worked alongside’?
I am assuming that the word ‘worked’ means that someone put time and effort and resources into reaching any decision.
Must have taken all of 10 seconds ‘work’ to reach the bad decisions.
I said I have been supporting the club for 60 years and a season ticket holder since we returned ro the valley.
I then went on to say that not keeping Millwall fan's back for 30 minutes or so, and therefore causing much inconvenience to 20k Charlton fan's was an absolute disgrace and it should never be allowed to happen again.
I realise that I'm probably wasting my time, but hey ho - did you not see the email sent to the police from CAST? What main point was missing from that email? Genuine question.
This survey is a joke...its as if Millwall was a normal match day experience?
asks you will you come to next match, Of course i will......nothing specific about what happened apart from 2 comments boxes to allow fans to have their say
....in essence what was bad and what can be improved!
The Fans Advisors have finally put something on X. Unlike the Trust and Jon they have ignored the post I @ to them on Monday.
Why be involved in fan engagement and then not engage?
Maybe we should start a gofundme for him?
Anyone know a good lawyer?
My personal feelings are, I really don’t care if the club or individuals at the top don’t like me pushing for explanations as to why one of our own was attacked on the stairway of the very stand he sits in, amongst all the other incidents on the day.
Had that guy fallen down the stairway and cracked his head they could be answering questions in the courts as a result of his injuries or god forbid a worse outcome.
If the board decide because they won’t attend or allow staff to attend supporters meetings as a result of me pushing on a subject then that says more about them than me.
A Individual on the current board told me personally that no action would be taken on reports of inappropriate behaviour unless the “victim” (I hate that word) comes forward personally and makes a complaint! (I still have the email)
So based on that statement there’s absolutely pointless me reporting Racial, sexual or homophobic comments to the club on the various channels available to me when attending matches at The Valley.
Because unless the player/supporter/staff member comes along with me to verify what I’m saying you’ll do nothing!
You draw the big salaries and accept the accolades when we win at Wembley and have a good transfer window, then you front up puff out your chest and show your face when you **** it up.
My point being whether created due to issues or just a thing they were planning anyway?