“Coming together is a beginning.
Keeping together is progress.
Working together is success” – Henry Ford
Word of potential disharmony behind the scenes at Charlton has been circulating on this forum and elsewhere since May. The wall of silence it has been greeted with has only helped to fuel the rumours further, and over the last couple of weeks related snippets have started cropping up in the nationals. If we have learnt anything it’s that if the current status quo continues, the rumours are unlikely to silently disappear overnight. The disillusionment and concern of some has been met with exasperation and perceived as unjust by others due the lack of hard facts, which has the potential to lead to an unwelcome and unhelpful rift amongst our fanbase.
I’d like to make clear I've got absolutely no interest in simply slagging off the hierarchy for the sake of it. Most will remember the series of articles I published on here less than six months ago in full praise of the board. However, If you are keen to publish praise, then it is only right to treat concerns with the same approach. Given the rumours and known events that have happened over the past few months, it is completely natural that some people will start asking questions on how the club is being run and more importantly, where it is heading.
So no mud-slinging from me. I just simply want to know that those that hold the powers at my club are doing what they can to attempt to move it forward and be progressive on and off the pitch. History has shown that this always works best with everyone, Club and supporters, working in harmony and doing what can be done to try and grow support, reach out to current support and foster an unified approach.
For one reason or another, I don't think that is happening at the moment. But that does not automatically mean I want to pillorise the people currently involved in decision making and communications.
I just want everyone to make a better job of it.
Having a Chairman that reportedly does not want to be chairman, is a concern.
Having a silent lead owner that that seems to rub people up the wrong way and refuses to speak to supporters or press, is a concern. If his relationship with the manager is a fractured one as some suggest, that’s a bigger concern.
Not knowing how the club is being financed, how much debt it is accumulating, or what the short / medium / long-term plans are for it, is a concern.
Having a Vice Chairman, reportedly working part-time, with no experience of working at a football club, who sacks key staff by proxy email, and who like the chairman has rejected invites from supporters groups, is a concern.
Having no Chief Executive, for nearly four months now with no sign of a replacement being appointed, is a concern.
Having a number of experienced club staff leaving under a cloud without even a thank you, is a concern.
Not knowing whether those important positions in our club development will be replaced, is a concern.
I’ve no doubt that it will not concern all of you, but it certainly concerns me.
Because supporting Charlton has never really been fully about what happens on the pitch. If so, most of us over the years would have been Man U, Liverpool, Arsenal, Spurs or Chelsea. Charlton has always had a cosy uniqueness strengthened by the fact a fair chunk of our fanbase were not simply those who turned up every fortnight, but lived and breathed their club to the extent that they want to work with the club, help the club in leading to progress. The connected relationship between fans and the board was highlighted elsewhere in the football world on how a Club should work in tandem with supporters, and was used as the blueprint for others to follow.
That is no longer there, and of late the polar opposite has been occurring as the Clubs’ board have become increasingly insular; rejecting supporters groups invites, cancelling Fan Forums and 5-year season ticket holder meetings, and increasingly terrified of rumours leaking out of the club, despite the fact that rumours leak out of every single football club like a sieve (It is the nature of the business).
If the planned funding / boardroom agreements fell apart over the summer than I’m annoyed. I’m annoyed that a consortium’s plans for structuring and financing a club were only robust and cohesive enough to last 16 months, and the lack of accountability through the complex and evasive composition of the Club’s true ownership and financing makes it difficult to ascertain responsibilities.
But I’m much more interested in the now and the future.
The Chairman was at pains last summer to highlight that we would start that season "with financial security and proper foundations for the future". If that security and those foundations are still in place 12 months on, then the Club would benefit from re-iterating that point.
And if they are not, then the Club desperately needs not just to be doing what it can behind the scenes to address that, but equally to start utilising supporters as allies, and an asset, again, not viewing them as a potential enemy. It may be for differing reasons, but we should all want the same things.
Slater also said last summer “As fans, the minimum you should expect from players is commitment”. He is right of course, but we also equally expect the same commitment from Chairman, Owners and Executives.
Our team on the pitch is showing indifferent form and is being hit by key injuries. That happens in football, but it could result in being a difficult season where the small margins have a huge impact. Everyone involved with the Club should be doing everything they can to keep the supporters onside. We need that 12th man fully focussed on getting behind our manager and players, because it could well make the difference.
It is time to start reaching out again, raising the communication, and getting everyone singing from the same songsheet.
Come on you Addicks !
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Comments
I would love the current owners to communicate with us but it ain't going to happen and the sooner we realise that the better, which is why this forum is so important as it acts as a conduit for the little information that some Lifers can glean.
He's likely to be having some difficulty with the training ground redevelopment, because the person who planned it and was supposed to be helping him is being sued by the club and seems unlikely to assist on that basis.
Prothero has told virtually the whole staff that he was asked to be chairman and refused because of other commitments and approaches. He also likes to tell people that he is not an "executive", despite his title. I think on that point we should take him at his word.
Quite proper to question the job he is or isn't doing but that goes too far IMO.
Would it be OK for people to say it was a good idea to sack Airman because he was paid £xxxx PA or would that be a private matter.
What this leads to is "Prothoro earns £XXX! how much?" Rather than "Prothero does a good/bad job"
I would add that he is clearly experienced at running a business and his "compensation" would probably reflect his market value if he was employed full-time as chief executive to run the club, but as he has made very clear he isn't and won't be.
I think we have been spoilt over the years, can you honestly see TJ coming along to a city addicks, necking a few pints and taking the piss out of palace like other directors have?
That said I don't necessarily think silence is totally a bad thing if there is a genuine plan in place, and certain parts of that plan arent going as envisaged but I would agree to an extent that there should be more openness with the supporters.
What we dont need though is idle gossip and stirring and we have seen threads started by site moderators telling us solly is definitely going, Powell is the next one out of the door, club employees telling us we'll be lucky to start the season etc etc
I stand by my reasons why I dont think that is right
I look back to march 2011 when we looked a league 2 side and where we are now drawing at Leeds and Wolves and they have a bit of credit in the bank as far as I am concerned and whilst employing Paul Elliott as chairman might be seen as a good thing, if there really are massive financial issues and TJ and Powell dont get on which is constantly said then I dont think he is going to make a massive difference unless he is minted.
More interested in who was planning the training ground building, what the training ground building plans are and why are the Club suing them.
Very well-written piece, AFKA, and sums up the concerns succinctly.
Lancs Lad - all I'd say is look where that period of non-communication got us: almost going bankrupt and under, then leaving for Selhurst! Surely better to be proactive if we sense such history repeating itself?
Perhaps all employees current and former should post all of their salaries earned so we can judge if they were value for money.
What can we do ? For us, the real Charlton and Football lovers it is a priority that we get behind Chris Powell and the team in strength, to protect our place in the Championship. By doing this we can also make this Club look a better proposition to prospective buyers. Get off your seats tomorrow, and show that we care, about the Club, the manager, and our team. To hell with the owners.
This is the first time I've seen this training ground issue crop up or have I been missing something??? What's that all about?
Yes maybe we were spoiled by the post 92 board and staff but it seems we have now gone from feast to famine.
We have also seen Slater practically disappear in terms of programme articles or public appearances after being quite visable.
And no just beating Boro is not all that matters imho. The long term future of the Club matters far more than one game. I'm sure CP and the players will be totally focused on the job in hand but we can and must not just look at one game at a time.
Good piece AFKA btw.
Know what I have preferred.
In an ideal world we would have great success on the pitch and regular thorough communication or at least a balance and all of us pulling together as a unit as we march onwards an upwards as Afka points out.
Unforunately for most fans, myself included, it is what happens on the pitch that counts. If you are successful on the pitch and win cups and leagues I very much doubt many fans care about the board's communication with them too much unless major things like pricing them out/changing tradition/ moving grounds/ put the going concern of the club in jeopardy etc occur.
: - )
Lanc Lad - You are comparing to a completely different era. You can't compare football in the 40s/50s to modern day. On a random Thursday night (last night) just as an example, the Millwall Chairman phoned in from America for an hour long interview on Lions Live radio, talking about where the club is positioned and where it is going, the chairman of QPR gave a similar interview with QPRs fans radio on where they are and where they are going, the Crystal Palace chairman and directors contribute actively to their two main internet forums and have their own sections for fans to ask questions and respond. This is the how things are done nowadays, football, and those that govern it, is a 24/7 relationship with media and their key customers, the supporters. We are currently going at odds with that.
Prothero's Salary: Not particularly something i would have shared, but perhaps WSS has a point, particularly when you consider if accurate, its a sizeable wedge. We are more than happy on here talking about the need to get Racon, Semedo and Youga etc 'off the wage bill' and how much they earn, what is the difference between a suit in the boardroom ? Does it make you wonder if that is what the vice-chairman is earning part-time, how much is the chairman paying himself part time ? Some think its none of our business, but your own ST money is going towards paying that.
Southend - You are right to a certain extent, though I never said Solly was definately going. I don't work in football, but i would expect that when a player and his agent gets given the green light to talk to another club to agree terms, then 9 times out of 10 that's only going to end up one way. However, once Baldock had moved to Bristol City, I was pretty convinced that it would not happen then and was relaxed about Solly staying in the run up to the window closing. I'm absolutely delighted he is still here.
- do you know I have rewritten this about 3 times and I just can't be bothered to argue with you both, we all support CAFC and want them win the rest is just "nice to haves" which we don't at the moment.
think I'll stick to the stats and leave this lot to you lot
over and out.
Yes