I'm with you pal, sometimes I sit in my seat and feel no connection to the XI on the field save for JJ, Solly and JC. But for now what happens on the pitch is irrelevant. We must focus on the real challenge and that is forcing RD to sell "our" club!
The bit in Dreke's post about RD's staff telling bare faced lies to supporters was the bit that most chilled me. RD's blueprint for running a football club for The Sole Benefit of Mr RD seems to have been thoroughly tested out before he rocked up to SE7. He's hard not to call him a complete **** because that is surely what this man is.
I couldn't find the correct word, but you have: "blueprint". That's been the clearest observation that I've made since revisiting these posts - he has an identical plan that he appears to put in to action at each of his clubs.
Now we're still quite a new member of the family, this gives us the opportunity to look elsewhere in the network and see exactly how this plan operates... which leads to one simple question - how can we cause maximum disruption to that plan?
Which Clubs does he own ? (Officially or with "family" members). Where are these Clubs ? Have these Clubs got Forums ? Have these Clubs got contact details ? Will all of these Clubs welcome our Supporters ?* Are they as p*ssed off as we are ? Anyone got fixture lists for these Clubs ?
*I am still in amazement about how we were accepted in St T on Saturday.
Which Clubs does he own ? (Officially or with "family" members). Where are these Clubs ? Have these Clubs got Forums ? Have these Clubs got contact details ? Will all of these Clubs welcome our Supporters ?* Are they as p*ssed off as we are ? Anyone got fixture lists for these Clubs ?
*I am still in amazement about how we were accepted in St T on Saturday.
Will also be worth remembering that despite selling Standard Liege they still hate him as they believe he's still involved behind the scenes.
I can almost see the vision now League 2, Flats at each corner,Top flight academy feeding local boys into higher leagues and no ambition outside of a profit
I can almost see the vision now League 2, Flats at each corner,Top flight academy feeding local boys into higher leagues and no ambition outside of a profit
I can almost see the vision now League 2, Flats at each corner,Top flight academy feeding local boys into higher leagues and no ambition outside of a profit
Plus sofas at each corner not just one, cheerleaders at half-time and, as at Sell-Out Park, a bird flying the length of the pitch prior to Kick-off - in our case not an Eagle but a Vulture.
My emotions are all over the place, sometimes i feel angry, sometimes i feel i do not care anymore, sometimes i laugh at our situation because is so ridiculous and after reading drekes post again it has made me fecking angry again. Think the time is coming for me to take my anger at roland to his fecking pitch. Rather have a mud field and a honest owner than a Lovely pitch.
That's the thing. The previous owners were cowboys and couldn't pay bills so we had a muddy field. But when they could they threw in good things to appease us, like giving Chris Powell the job. They knew that would get us back on side.
This knob really doesn't give a shit about us so doesn't even throw us a bone.
Which Clubs does he own ? (Officially or with "family" members). Where are these Clubs ? Have these Clubs got Forums ? Have these Clubs got contact details ? Will all of these Clubs welcome our Supporters ?* Are they as p*ssed off as we are ? Anyone got fixture lists for these Clubs ?
*I am still in amazement about how we were accepted in St T on Saturday.
Much of this information is already around on various threads (and of course on the web) but Ujpest has his son in a senior position there and what I believe is a French lawyer Valerie Gys (in a similar role to Nightmeire but with a different title?). They are based in Budapest where I'm going on holiday in June and although the close season I intend to leave some CARD presents at the ground. At the start of the regime here I looked closely at the website of Alcorcan in Spain and came across some pics of Roland in a bar talking to fans. I get the impression they were wary of him. He managed to get in on a photo-op on the pitch there as the captain Rubin Sanz was celebrating 400 games for the club. It is perhaps the Club Forums of all the pyramid teams which should be contacted but maybe someone is already doing that behind the scenes. It is worth noting that Alcorcan have a mission statement issued under the RD ownership which reads: 'This operation (the RD Ownership) strengthens the future of the project Alcorcan and highlights the potential of our club values'
What exactly does that mean? And the're not even a club they are a Project!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We need help not just from the fans of his other clubs but from the Football Authorities (Football League and UEFA?) to save us from the raving lunatic.
An owner who is anti everything a football club means to its supporters. Reading Dreke's post you realise it is all deliberate,folks. That miserable expressionless face of his in that recent picture of him at the Valley perfectly shows him for what he is. In it for Roland and fuck everyone else.
An owner who is anti everything a football club means to its supporters. Reading Dreke's post you realise it is all deliberate,folks. That miserable expressionless face of his in that recent picture of him at the Valley perfectly shows him for what he is. In it for Roland and fuck everyone else.
Well, he is a businessman after all; and we are his customers
Beware belgians, I know a lot of them and they can be an unpredictable bunch.
Remember the Exeter pitch invader a few years ago?
Belgian.
The scout movement in Belgium is very different to the one over here. One of the last times I was there they were out on the lash dressed in paper suits and ended up crashing a car into a house.
I'm a fan of one of Roland Duchatelet's teams: K Sint-Truidense VV.
STVV is a club that played for years in the Belgian top flight. In search for extra money (let's say 10 years ago) our Commercial Manager wrote a letter to the top-100 richest Belgians. That's how RD got involved in our club in a sponsordeal. As years went by RD became the president of our club. He managed to buy the football ground and the grounds around it. A few years ago he built a new stand with shops, offices, a hotel etc. The year of the construction we were relegated but got promoted after one year in the second division. Our goalkeeper that year was Simon Mignolet. Yep, now at Liverpool FC.
He took over Ujpest in Hungaria. His son Roderick is president over there.
When Standard Liège was for sale, he jumped on that wagon. Since you can not own two teams in one flight, he "gave" STVV to his wife Marieke Hofte. We got relegated due to a lack of investment and now still play in the second division. A new stand is being built at the moment. Google on "Stayen".
He took over another second division team (Tubize) and a few weeks ago Jena as you all know.
To round up. He owns (or is involved in): - Standard de Liège - Sint-Truiden VV - Tubize AFC - Carl Zeiss Jena - Ujpest FC
That is a brief (and incomplete) round up of his history in football.
What I think you all should know: - He bought the grounds around Staaien for peanuts from the city council. He's transforming the ground into something multifunctional. The benefits go straight into his pockets. No bennefit for the club. - After huge protest against him in Liège, he announced he would put the club up for sale. Nothing happened since. Of course the results of Standard (first in the league) helps him with that. - Between Sint-Truiden, Tubize and Standard players switch very often. It's no exception when there are 4 to 5 five players on loan from Standard at Sint-Truiden. None are of real added value. - The president of STVV is a close friend and businesspartner of Duchatelet.
What I want to warn you for: - Charlton will be just one link in his football club imperium. - Duchatelet is often seen as an idiot in football matters. But no one can deny he is a genious in businesses. - At first, we were delighted to see him arrive at our club. 10 years later, he is the worst thing that could have happened to us. We don't own our own ground any more (it's like a bird locked up in a golden cage), we got relegated to second devision thanks to his policy and now he still has his shadow hanging over us. I honestly believe he wants us to stay there because that's better for him. - He got me that far that I am doubting to buy a season ticket in the future. I'm disgusted by him and his accomplices who don't fear lieing straight in the fans' faces at supporters meetings.
What I would like to know from you: - Are there any plans for a new ground at Charlton? Because that's what is importent for him in Sint-Truiden and Liège. I can not speak for Ujpest, Zena and Tubize.
A fiew last remarks: - I have the feeling that the bigger part of the Sint-Truiden fans have the same view as me. Altough I'm not sure. But there are also people who believe he has saved our club. - This is only a very brief round up. It is far more complicated than this. So if you have questions, just ask them. I'll try to visit your forum on a regular basis. - Maybe he brings you back to the Premier League, maybe he destroys you completely. No one knows. Maybe we will see Charlton players in Sint-Truiden, Zena, Liège and Tubize. Or the other way around. No one knows. - With this post, I only want to prevent you guys from (potentially) misplaced euforia. - I did my best to express myself in English. That's what we do. :-) Please don't botter on general remarks about Belgians like the ones in a post in this treath. They are short-sighted.
Woah, forgotten about this. @Dreke373 pretty much predicted our future.
A fail safe way of opening the eyes of those still blinkered fans would be to reproduce this prophetic piece in VOTV ....especially if it was a free issue !
Woah, forgotten about this. @Dreke373 pretty much predicted our future.
A fail safe way of opening the eyes of those still blinkered fans would be to reproduce this prophetic piece in VOTV ....especially if it was a free issue !
If you have a copy take a look also at VOTV issue 112 of May 2014 pages 33-34.
I thought I couldn't get any more depressed.......
That's a bit how I feel tbh Bing. Because, having re-read Dreke's post, in light of what has been happening here, you can catch a grim glimpse of what the future will hold for CAFC. I think this has hardened my view to a much more militant one. The gloves are off now, we know what he is about, the plan is there for all to see. If they are going to sink us and the club, as they surely are, let's make it as hard for them as we can. It's OUR club, it will never be theirs.
It would be interesting to see what @Dreke373 and @STVVfan have to say now that Charlton fans have gone to Belgium to demonstrate against Duchatelet. Has it given Belgian fans an appetite to protest? What scope might there be for some joint international anti-Duchatelet action?
I've tagged them here in the hope that they might get a prompt and come back to Charlton Life.
Re links to other clubs, this is what we have in the Trust (and mainly my responsibility to maintain)
Standard. We are still very much in touch with the Socios, and privately they encourage us to protest, and applaud the STVV 20. Publicly they have a problem. They despise RD, but it is becoming clear that Venanzi, whom they support, is effectively paying RD for Standard in instalments. Socios would make Charlton fans very welcome, but since RD is not official owner, its difficult to see the point of going there
Ujpest. We have some links but have yet to find an organised group. There's a suggestion that apart from the Ultras, they are currently less hostile as the team is dong well. Anyway they have gates of around 2,000. As for Valerie Gys, I already wrote @Coyotejohn1947 that she is Roderick D's wife, and as far as I know is Belgian. We were given a link to her and asked her and her husband to mediate a meeting with Roland. To our surprise her initial response was almost immediate and sympathetic. But what then happened is that they passed our request on to Roland but he just chucked it, and Steve Clarkes's direct mail to him, back to Katrien. This was one reason why the Trust has given up on ' seeking engagement'.
Jena. Thanks to @GlassHalfFull we have links to Club managers who are also fans. They are not employees of RD but of the 51% owner (the members). But engagement is their strategy (or was 12 months ago). We will try to get an update
Alcorcon. Nothing. Nix. Nada. Again, they only get around 2,000 to their games.
Obviously the Trust is part of the wider protest group, and we co-operate with the others., eg. the Belgian journo database was in use last weekend. We also have plans of our own, but as with STVV-20, they have to stay under the radar.
I thought I couldn't get any more depressed.......
That's a bit how I feel tbh Bing. Because, having re-read Dreke's post, in light of what has been happening here, you can catch a grim glimpse of what the future might hold for CAFC. I think this has hardened my view to a much more militant one. The gloves are off now, we know what he is about, the plan is there for all to see. If they are going to sink us and the club, as they surely are, let's make it as hard for them as we can. It's OUR club, it will never be theirs.
The above sums up how I feel. I'm more than ever ready for what lies ahead now and from a position a few weeks ago where I hardly ever posted on this site I am now so angry that I post 3 or 4 times a day. Will try not to lose a sense of humour though as this provides a safety valve when faced with these intransigent idiots who think they have some Turing-given right to use this Club for their own ill-judged experiments. In a way I'm more cross with Meire because Duchatelet is clearly mad whilst Meire is calculating, unrepentant and feeding of RDs delusions at the expense of the club. She will never apologise, never admit mistakes - just PR her way through it and deal with any criticism by saying as she did to that guy in the West Stand 'You're not helping'.
Listen Meire: its you that isn't helping - in fact you are destroying a football club and eventually you will walk away leaving others to pick up the pieces. You should be ashamed of yourself. Er, ok what did I say about humour?
My views towards the regime have hardened considerably in the past few months. In my view, anyone who now chooses to renew season-tickets or Valley Gold or any form of sponsorship, is offering tacit approval to those who will destroy Charlton Athletic FC as we know it. I will attend away games, demonstrate, go on marches etc etc, but I will not give these people a penny. Withholding our cash is the strongest and most effective statement we can make to the arrogant, duplicitous scum who are ruining our club.
Is Roland still owner, directly or indirectly, of Tubize AFC?
Can't tell from an on line search.
Looks like he sold Standard Liege after Sint Truiden got promoted because he wasn't allowed to own 2 x clubs in the Belgium Premier League. Ergo: he wasn't forced out by protests.
The 2014 comments from Dreke 373 look spot on and quite fair.
I've got alarm bells going off inside my head....I get a lot of free time here and spend much of it looking at and thinking about Charlton related things.
Any sensible owner would at this point be wondering how to prevent crowds from plummeting once we go back into League one and would be redoubling efforts to assure the fans that everything was being done to prepare a team capable of promotion back to the Championship whilst not ruling out the possibility of survival...we are getting nothing but half hearted attempts from the comms people mainly via FB.
I was on the fans forum back in its early stages when we got relegated before. The FF team we had back then put in a lot of effort and met a lot more often and without club employees in attendance all the time. We discussed how to boost season ticket revenue way before we were mathmatically down along with measures on how to keep people motivated to come to the Valley in League One along with other promotional things to encourage fan participation....nothing like the Fans Forum set up of today I hasten to add.
My point is this and Iam not advocating putting money anywhere near Douchebag and Co but I wonder if in cutting revenue we are in fact playing right into this clowns hands?
I'm absolutely certain he has ulterior motives for the way he is running the club into the ground...its a gut feeling but Im at an age now where I tend to trust my gut.
I have nothing concrete to support this but it just doesnt make sense and I dont buy into the crazy old senile git scenario...this bloke knows exactly what he is doing and the early reports from our Belgian cousins seem to back this up.
We now need to dig deep and find out what what his motives are before its too late. The only thing that makes sense is real estate...The Valley and Sparrows Lane make much more sense from a business mans point of view on making money and I know the latter is virtually untouchable, but he may have other plans for SL outside of football but still sports related. Food for thought.
Comments
Now we're still quite a new member of the family, this gives us the opportunity to look elsewhere in the network and see exactly how this plan operates... which leads to one simple question - how can we cause maximum disruption to that plan?
Which Clubs does he own ? (Officially or with "family" members).
Where are these Clubs ?
Have these Clubs got Forums ?
Have these Clubs got contact details ?
Will all of these Clubs welcome our Supporters ?*
Are they as p*ssed off as we are ?
Anyone got fixture lists for these Clubs ?
*I am still in amazement about how we were accepted in St T on Saturday.
League 2, Flats at each corner,Top flight academy feeding local boys into higher leagues and no ambition outside of a profit
This knob really doesn't give a shit about us so doesn't even throw us a bone.
At the start of the regime here I looked closely at the website of Alcorcan in Spain and came across some pics of Roland in a bar talking to fans. I get the impression they were wary of him. He managed to get in on a photo-op on the pitch there as the captain Rubin Sanz was celebrating 400 games for the club.
It is perhaps the Club Forums of all the pyramid teams which should be contacted but maybe someone is already doing that behind the scenes.
It is worth noting that Alcorcan have a mission statement issued under the RD ownership which reads:
'This operation (the RD Ownership) strengthens the future of the project Alcorcan and highlights the potential of our club values'
What exactly does that mean? And the're not even a club they are a Project!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We need help not just from the fans of his other clubs but from the Football Authorities (Football League and UEFA?) to save us from the raving lunatic.
That miserable expressionless face of his in that recent picture of him at the Valley perfectly shows him for what he is. In it for Roland and fuck everyone else.
A fail safe way of opening the eyes of those still blinkered fans would be to reproduce this prophetic piece in VOTV ....especially if it was a free issue !
If you have a copy take a look also at VOTV issue 112 of May 2014 pages 33-34.
I'm sure Airman could reproduce the article together with pertinent comments to show its relevance today.
I think this has hardened my view to a much more militant one. The gloves are off now, we know what he is about, the plan is there for all to see.
If they are going to sink us and the club, as they surely are, let's make it as hard for them as we can. It's OUR club, it will never be theirs.
I've tagged them here in the hope that they might get a prompt and come back to Charlton Life.
Standard. We are still very much in touch with the Socios, and privately they encourage us to protest, and applaud the STVV 20. Publicly they have a problem. They despise RD, but it is becoming clear that Venanzi, whom they support, is effectively paying RD for Standard in instalments. Socios would make Charlton fans very welcome, but since RD is not official owner, its difficult to see the point of going there
Ujpest. We have some links but have yet to find an organised group. There's a suggestion that apart from the Ultras, they are currently less hostile as the team is dong well. Anyway they have gates of around 2,000. As for Valerie Gys, I already wrote @Coyotejohn1947 that she is Roderick D's wife, and as far as I know is Belgian. We were given a link to her and asked her and her husband to mediate a meeting with Roland. To our surprise her initial response was almost immediate and sympathetic. But what then happened is that they passed our request on to Roland but he just chucked it, and Steve Clarkes's direct mail to him, back to Katrien. This was one reason why the Trust has given up on ' seeking engagement'.
Jena. Thanks to @GlassHalfFull we have links to Club managers who are also fans. They are not employees of RD but of the 51% owner (the members). But engagement is their strategy (or was 12 months ago). We will try to get an update
Alcorcon. Nothing. Nix. Nada. Again, they only get around 2,000 to their games.
Obviously the Trust is part of the wider protest group, and we co-operate with the others., eg. the Belgian journo database was in use last weekend. We also have plans of our own, but as with STVV-20, they have to stay under the radar.
In a way I'm more cross with Meire because Duchatelet is clearly mad whilst Meire is calculating, unrepentant and feeding of RDs delusions at the expense of the club. She will never apologise, never admit mistakes - just PR her way through it and deal with any criticism by saying as she did to that guy in the West Stand 'You're not helping'.
Listen Meire: its you that isn't helping - in fact you are destroying a football club and eventually you will walk away leaving others to pick up the pieces. You should be ashamed of yourself. Er, ok what did I say about humour?
In my view, anyone who now chooses to renew season-tickets or Valley Gold or any form of sponsorship, is offering tacit approval to those who will destroy Charlton Athletic FC as we know it.
I will attend away games, demonstrate, go on marches etc etc, but I will not give these people a penny. Withholding our cash is the strongest and most effective statement we can make to the arrogant, duplicitous scum who are ruining our club.
Can't tell from an on line search.
Looks like he sold Standard Liege after Sint Truiden got promoted because he wasn't allowed to own 2 x clubs in the Belgium Premier League. Ergo: he wasn't forced out by protests.
The 2014 comments from Dreke 373 look spot on and quite fair.
Any sensible owner would at this point be wondering how to prevent crowds from plummeting once we go back into League one and would be redoubling efforts to assure the fans that everything was being done to prepare a team capable of promotion back to the Championship whilst not ruling out the possibility of survival...we are getting nothing but half hearted attempts from the comms people mainly via FB.
I was on the fans forum back in its early stages when we got relegated before. The FF team we had back then put in a lot of effort and met a lot more often and without club employees in attendance all the time. We discussed how to boost season ticket revenue way before we were mathmatically down along with measures on how to keep people motivated to come to the Valley in League One along with other promotional things to encourage fan participation....nothing like the Fans Forum set up of today I hasten to add.
My point is this and Iam not advocating putting money anywhere near Douchebag and Co but I wonder if in cutting revenue we are in fact playing right into this clowns hands?
I'm absolutely certain he has ulterior motives for the way he is running the club into the ground...its a gut feeling but Im at an age now where I tend to trust my gut.
I have nothing concrete to support this but it just doesnt make sense and I dont buy into the crazy old senile git scenario...this bloke knows exactly what he is doing and the early reports from our Belgian cousins seem to back this up.
We now need to dig deep and find out what what his motives are before its too late. The only thing that makes sense is real estate...The Valley and Sparrows Lane make much more sense from a business mans point of view on making money and I know the latter is virtually untouchable, but he may have other plans for SL outside of football but still sports related. Food for thought.
2014.08 AFC Tubize acquired by the Korean sports marketing firm, Sportizen
He sold them to a Korean sports marketing firm.