Tagged onto the end of the article below. Thought it deserves it's own discussion:
http://www.cafc.co.uk/news/article/charlton-vip-q-and-a-meeting-filmed-shown-2274139.aspx"Meanwhile, Meire recently surprised a young season-ticket holder who wrote to the club with some questions of his own.
Rather than send a reply via email, 15-year-old Ben Rudkin was invited into The Valley to speak with Charlton’s CEO personally, before being presented with a signed home shirt.
A short film documenting the meeting can be seen below."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHaO5Qb2CGQ
Comments
which was probably down to the fact it's a 15 yr old kid that will probably be in awe of the whole situation and won't question any of her answers. Just smacks of a cheap publicity stunt to keep the natives quiet................
The VIP meeting is part of that clarification process and I hope there are people there who are able to ask the questions out side of the written question requirements.
And, of course, for Bromley Addicks there will be 12th March session with KM, where I am sure, if she goes ahead, a lot of poignant questions will be answered.
People bitch that she never responds.
People bitch when she responded to a young fan.
Who cares if it is a PR stunt - this is the sort of stuff the club did in the past and people praised it as the club was connecting with the fans. For fucks sake why can't some people stop trying to twist everything the club does.
If anything the poor boy must have been absolutely rattled, as he looked it, why did it need to be video'd for youtube? It's all bread and butter for KM as of course she wouldn't get phased by a 15 year old boy put in a nerve-wracking position. Publicity stunt at it's finest.
It's not hard, reply to people's e-mails, AT LEAST the long serving fans of our Football Club. Or better that invite EVERYONE to do the same as this young boy, rather than cherry picking the easy target, so to speak, bless him.
I think she is trying to endear herself to "us" I think she has got a very difficult job on her hands. There is no doubt we are better off with Mr Duchatelet in charge and with Ms Meire as his "sidekick" than we was with that last shower of shit in charge. I know people say yes we have a lovely pitch and some lovely shiny red seats but this was something that really had to be sorted, remember last season when we were ALL embarrassed with our pitch, opposition players "forking" "sweeping" the bloody puddles off the mud bath!! I am not for one minute the powers to be but we must be patient, the man has invested a hell of a lot of money in our club, arguably saved us from administration!? We do have some very good players at our club and should definitely be able to compete in this division. I said months ago that the communication from our club was (my exact words) were pants! A lot of people said that we "tweeted" and "posted" more than this club and that club, but I still stand by my words. It is obviously the way Mr Duchatelet works and runs his clubs/ businesses?
We don't really have any choice other than to "stay away" (I'm not sure what good this would do the team?) OR to carry on going and supporting our much loved club, I know which I will be doing, and I will not be chanting any stupid childish "songs" at our manager or our players, I know everyone is entitled to their opinions but I fail to see what good can come of all this negativity. Hopefully Saturday was the start of us going on a little unbeaten run which can only bring confidence to our team. I know the "hardened" fans that remember the 3, 4000 gates we used to get in the old second division and some pretty dire games we had to endure. So I still think we are not in that bad a place in comparison to some famous old clubs.
COYR.........
Further on goes to say she wants to answer the questions as honest and as complete as she can... Hmm.
She frustrates me, because I'm sure she's a lovely lady but even she sometimes doesn't look like she believes what she's saying. For a CEO it's a really poor showing, I wonder if the boy felt he got anything from it because I felt like I was watching a lady repeat answers that are repeated despite being to different questions.
She needs to be careful, otherwise they'll be chants of "Operation Yewtree, it's coming for you".
Sometimes you are left with no alternative, and short term pain leads to long term gain.
Thats not bad, i expected a comment on the hair in the first 5 minutes, given so many of us lifers are challenged in that region.
Until she can answer serious questions from serious people about the current and future running of the club, I'm not buying any of it.
And they need to stop banging on about the lovely new pitch. This HAD to be done or they'd be losing fortunes on cancelled fixtures and getting endless grief from the Football League for an unfit playing surface.
Probably not the best idea in the current climate.
Clearly, yes, the interview must have taken place under fairly controlled circumstances, but that, quite frankly, is the only sane course of action - would it really be better to invite one of the 'what kind of direct action are we going to use to force change' fans, to ask anything they like of her, completely unprepared, when they have an agenda and probably won't believe any of her answers anyway? It would have been a fiasco that would have embarrassed the club.
As I have said before, it does come down to a question of trust - when, for example, KM gives her explanation for the appointment of Guy Luzon, people are entitled to either trust that or not, but that really is all that the club can do. It would not be reasonable, for example, to expect them to go back over the specifics of that decision for a whole host of reasons.
I, for one, believe that the club is being run by the owner in what they believe to be its best interests (which is not to say that every decision made has been correct), so I am inclined to feel that the club is in good hands and that things will improve over time.
He did not even ask if she liked the flowers sent to her by a CL member.
PR stunt which some people will buy into. I am not buying into it though.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, it's just that the negative one is very loud at the moment and, I feel, almost shouting down those of us who have a little more positive view.
Do I feel everything is right in the camp? No. But this is CAFC and the times when everything is right have been few and far between.
I don't agree with the public meeting as a) it is way too early for that reaction which, in my view, was borne just out of a bad run of results, and, b) I struggle to see that the meeting population will be a microcosm of the CAFC fan base. It will be biased to those with the same negative viewpoint and be flawed by groupthink. I hope those present will be able to make an honest assessment as to whether the output represents the views of fans in general.
So why don't I go to the meeting? I've got better things to do tbh, I never asked for a meeting in the first place so why should I or others equally as passive 'defend' the positive line?
The main problem at the moment, I think, is one of communication and expectation setting. The interview with the articulate young lad and the download of the VIP meeting have got to be good things surely? It seems to me KM is reading the mood of some of the fans and trying to do something about it. More open communication channels to the point of overkill would seem to me a good way of helping everybody to feel a little calmer.
What else do you expect? Sacking Luzon ain't gonna happen. Promising never ever to buy a bad player again, cross my heart and hope to die. Perhaps we should turn back time and replace Vetokele, Watt, Gudmundsson, Ben Haim, Johnson and Henderson with Dickson, McCleod, McCormack, Doherty, Crainie and Weaver.