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NEW ARTICLE: Why I Tried to Give you a Leaflet (Nov 2015)

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  • edited December 2015
    I Want AFKA Charlton Back.

    Good words, written from the Cerebral part of the brain.

    MOM.

  • shirty5 said:

    shirty5 said:

    Well put and sadly on the money
    I took the " easier" option of spending time with my kids, although I watched the game on telly with my sons , whose interest soon disappeared and we made an earlier than expected visit to poxy Bluewater
    I wrote a couple of emails to people yesterday at Charlton explaining the reasons why I'm not gonna be involved in match sponsorship or my sons being mascots further down the season as we had earlier indicated and previously done in the past
    I cc'd the CEO in on it , will she read it , will she care , who knows but the joke of a club we have become is linked firmly to this regime because even in previous worse footballing times it never felt anywhere near this bad or sad

    If people like yourself take this action, then she will have to take notice when the money is not coming into the club.
    I hope to be proved wrong but I doubt he'll even get a response from the CEO. Why should he, he's only a fan?
    Then report the club to the Football League for Not following its own club charter.
    Immediate response and acknowledgement from Ravi and nothing from mascot person or CEO
    Top bloke is Ravi as are most the staff. Feel sorry for them
  • Only just read your article AFKA, You are one hell of a writer, yep sums up how I feel 100%, but I could never articulate like that.

    Glad to have met you on Saturday. As has already been posted on here, if we stick together and support each other we can come through these times -however long.

    COYR!!
  • Come on, don't get too despairing. The protest began something. Let it continue and the only thing that can be achieved is the actions that are taken on our part. After all hope rather than expectation is still rather enjoyable when you remember no-one is going to die over this and certainly not the club. I on reflection will get a black and white scarf for the next home game; yes not much of an action I know but someone like me is more likely to follow some kind of rational plan of campaign which is discussed reasonably and acted on wholeheartedly. So let's continue but how?
  • Most enjoyable read.
  • Badger said:

    Most enjoyable read.

    For a Millwall fan maybe.
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  • I keep swinging from apathy to anger. I renewed our STs for family reasons but feel that is unlikely next season. At the moment I am in an anger phase, though - I'm not going to let them ruin my club without a fight - but how long can I keep the apathy at bay ?
  • Grapevine you're like my Mrs in that you just go on and on.

    You're unlike my Mrs because it actually means something... :-)

    Nice one. Some great posts here summing everything up.
  • razil said:

    Most of the the things that made our club special have gone, for some of us those were a lot of the reasons we loved it.

    This. I started going to The Valley in 1997 (good timing, eh?) and was given an old copy of Battle for The Valley by a family friend. I read it cover to cover, and it convinced me that the club I was falling in love with was something special, that it meant all the more to the fans because of how hard people fought to save it and put it on the track to stability and success.

    If we lose what made Charlton special, I must admit my bond to the club is loosened. I'll never stop loving Charlton, but I no longer have the zeal of a true believer, someone who knows deep down that there is something that sets us apart from the rest. It's very sad.
  • A great and very well written piece. I agree on most points and have the same sad feelings of losing interest which I never thought would happen but one of the points I completely disagree with is that the protest was anything like successful. I would like to bet that KM was over the moon that she got off so lightly and her disdain for the fans could only have been enhanced.
  • Brunello said:

    A great and very well written piece. I agree on most points and have the same sad feelings of losing interest which I never thought would happen but one of the points I completely disagree with is that the protest was anything like successful. I would like to bet that KM was over the moon that she got off so lightly and her disdain for the fans could only have been enhanced.

    what do you think was missing?
  • Looking at a couple of the Man City numbers this morning - £351m revenue (Commercial £173m + Broadcasting £135m + TV £43m) and selling 13% of the club for £265m is indicative of the size of prize available, at the top end, for an established Premier club.
    That's the prize RD has his eye on.
    He doesn't care about Charlton or anyone involved with the club, he's taking a money shot and trying to (relatively) do it on the cheap.
    The problem is he isn't succeeding.
    My guess is that if he tried to sell a significant proportion of the club to another investor (on the basis of him remaining in control and maintaining the current trajectory), he wouldn't find anyone who would put up serious money. They would look at what has been done, what has been achieved and where things are headed and would turn away from any proposition. His record of developing football clubs as a business is abysmal.

    Target 20,000 might as well be Target 2 million, neither have a snowballs.
    A spiffing Fans Forum won't change his strategy or business model and we can all see his current model is useless.

    I feel sorry for KM in one way. She's the front person for a pretty crappy business who is being asked by her customers to engage in open and constructive dialogue, the problem is the business is so rotten there isn't much she can say which doesn't show it up for what it really is and if she tries to spin a story there's enough customer knowledge to discredit her spin immediately. The further she's pulled into customer engagement the more apparent to rotten-ness becomes. With customer engagement, she simply can't win. Her best option is to keep the engagement to a minimum and to be as slow as possible, which is what we're seeing.

    For my blood there are 2 practical alternative ways forward, one is to turn my back and wait for it all to go away (the boycott option let's call it), the other is to try to get rid of the current regime. The third option, dialogue, Target 20k, Fans Forum etc. I believe are dead in the water as far as effecting meaningful change.

    For what it's worth, I'm not ready to give up on my club yet, I want them gone.
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  • Looking at a couple of the Man City numbers this morning - £351m revenue (Commercial £173m + Broadcasting £135m + TV £43m) and selling 13% of the club for £265m is indicative of the size of prize available, at the top end, for an established Premier club.

    That's the prize RD has his eye on.

    That's the thing. I really don't think that is his driver

    None of us can know for sure what is driving him but his personal lack of involvement smacks of a money play somehow, what else is there? What do you think it is?

    Really, his effect on the club is what's at stake for us isn't it? I guess we each decide what that means to us and what we intend to do or not to do about it.
  • Looking at a couple of the Man City numbers this morning - £351m revenue (Commercial £173m + Broadcasting £135m + TV £43m) and selling 13% of the club for £265m is indicative of the size of prize available, at the top end, for an established Premier club.

    That's the prize RD has his eye on.

    That's the thing. I really don't think that is his driver

    None of us can know for sure what is driving him but his personal lack of involvement smacks of a money play somehow, what else is there? What do you think it is?
    .
    I think it is / was some form of happy-clappy utopian self-sufficiency model providing stability by drawing on pooled resources across a network, utilizing cross-border tax / financial efficiencies, and in time sees funding covered by the development and sale of young players, or buying cheap and selling high.

    I'm not saying he doesn't want the Club to advance, I just don't think that would have been his driver.

  • Looking at a couple of the Man City numbers this morning - £351m revenue (Commercial £173m + Broadcasting £135m + TV £43m) and selling 13% of the club for £265m is indicative of the size of prize available, at the top end, for an established Premier club.
    That's the prize RD has his eye on.
    He doesn't care about Charlton or anyone involved with the club, he's taking a money shot and trying to (relatively) do it on the cheap.
    The problem is he isn't succeeding.
    My guess is that if he tried to sell a significant proportion of the club to another investor (on the basis of him remaining in control and maintaining the current trajectory), he wouldn't find anyone who would put up serious money. They would look at what has been done, what has been achieved and where things are headed and would turn away from any proposition. His record of developing football clubs as a business is abysmal.

    Target 20,000 might as well be Target 2 million, neither have a snowballs.
    A spiffing Fans Forum won't change his strategy or business model and we can all see his current model is useless.

    I feel sorry for KM in one way. She's the front person for a pretty crappy business who is being asked by her customers to engage in open and constructive dialogue, the problem is the business is so rotten there isn't much she can say which doesn't show it up for what it really is and if she tries to spin a story there's enough customer knowledge to discredit her spin immediately. The further she's pulled into customer engagement the more apparent to rotten-ness becomes. With customer engagement, she simply can't win. Her best option is to keep the engagement to a minimum and to be as slow as possible, which is what we're seeing.

    For my blood there are 2 practical alternative ways forward, one is to turn my back and wait for it all to go away (the boycott option let's call it), the other is to try to get rid of the current regime. The third option, dialogue, Target 20k, Fans Forum etc. I believe are dead in the water as far as effecting meaningful change.

    For what it's worth, I'm not ready to give up on my club yet, I want them gone.

    I fear you are right. As a Trust member I would still like them to proceed with dialogue BUT it must be time-limited and I mean limited. I know @Rikofold as said it's only 2 weeks but I do believe KM is playing for time and her bluff needs to be called. If KM can dismiss and appoint head coaches in the blink of an eye then tangible progress, including a change of direction on and off the field, can certainly be made/announced in weeks and definitely BEFORE Christmas. Anything else will leave us cast adrift as a club. For me it is very important that the Trust take this onboard as we need them to be free to take a leading role in the protests as soon as possible. KM knows this hence her need to prevaricate.
  • Looking at a couple of the Man City numbers this morning - £351m revenue (Commercial £173m + Broadcasting £135m + TV £43m) and selling 13% of the club for £265m is indicative of the size of prize available, at the top end, for an established Premier club.

    That's the prize RD has his eye on.

    That's the thing. I really don't think that is his driver

    None of us can know for sure what is driving him but his personal lack of involvement smacks of a money play somehow, what else is there? What do you think it is?
    .
    I think it is / was some form of happy-clappy utopian self-sufficiency model providing stability by drawing on pooled resources across a network, utilizing cross-border tax / financial efficiencies, and in time sees funding covered by the development and sale of young players, or buying cheap and selling high.

    I'm not saying he doesn't want the Club to advance, I just don't think that would have been his driver.

    You may be right about that @AFKABartram , I think what you outline reflects his failed political aspirations.
    The people of Belgium were able to democratically reject his attempt at leadership, unfortunately we're not blessed to be able to reject him so effectively and unequivocally.
  • razil said:

    Brunello said:

    A great and very well written piece. I agree on most points and have the same sad feelings of losing interest which I never thought would happen but one of the points I completely disagree with is that the protest was anything like successful. I would like to bet that KM was over the moon that she got off so lightly and her disdain for the fans could only have been enhanced.

    what do you think was missing?
    People. You either need a full ground or an empty one be heard
  • .
    Hex said:

    Looking at a couple of the Man City numbers this morning - £351m revenue (Commercial £173m + Broadcasting £135m + TV £43m) and selling 13% of the club for £265m is indicative of the size of prize available, at the top end, for an established Premier club.
    That's the prize RD has his eye on.
    He doesn't care about Charlton or anyone involved with the club, he's taking a money shot and trying to (relatively) do it on the cheap.
    The problem is he isn't succeeding.
    My guess is that if he tried to sell a significant proportion of the club to another investor (on the basis of him remaining in control and maintaining the current trajectory), he wouldn't find anyone who would put up serious money. They would look at what has been done, what has been achieved and where things are headed and would turn away from any proposition. His record of developing football clubs as a business is abysmal.

    Target 20,000 might as well be Target 2 million, neither have a snowballs.
    A spiffing Fans Forum won't change his strategy or business model and we can all see his current model is useless.

    I feel sorry for KM in one way. She's the front person for a pretty crappy business who is being asked by her customers to engage in open and constructive dialogue, the problem is the business is so rotten there isn't much she can say which doesn't show it up for what it really is and if she tries to spin a story there's enough customer knowledge to discredit her spin immediately. The further she's pulled into customer engagement the more apparent to rotten-ness becomes. With customer engagement, she simply can't win. Her best option is to keep the engagement to a minimum and to be as slow as possible, which is what we're seeing.

    For my blood there are 2 practical alternative ways forward, one is to turn my back and wait for it all to go away (the boycott option let's call it), the other is to try to get rid of the current regime. The third option, dialogue, Target 20k, Fans Forum etc. I believe are dead in the water as far as effecting meaningful change.

    For what it's worth, I'm not ready to give up on my club yet, I want them gone.

    I fear you are right. As a Trust member I would still like them to proceed with dialogue BUT it must be time-limited and I mean limited. I know @Rikofold as said it's only 2 weeks but I do believe KM is playing for time and her bluff needs to be called. If KM can dismiss and appoint head coaches in the blink of an eye then tangible progress, including a change of direction on and off the field, can certainly be made/announced in weeks and definitely BEFORE Christmas. Anything else will leave us cast adrift as a club. For me it is very important that the Trust take this onboard as we need them to be free to take a leading role in the protests as soon as possible. KM knows this hence her need to prevaricate.
    Steve Clarke is taking the lead on this and his last public statement said that change was necessary. I think we need to be realistic in terms of whether a complete change of direction on and off the field is likely be achievable before Christmas (if ever - KM isn't in control of every aspect of the club). That's not to say that we aren't aiming for significant action, but you can't ask for dialogue then go in with a monologue and an ultimatum.

    Joe's proved that protests don't need the Supporters' Trust to be leading them. Someone else made the sage observation that at the moment we have a two-pronged approach, and I think that's probably what's needed right now - in which case we'll take the lead on the dialogue, and others can continue leading the protests. The Trust doesn't need to be at the forefront of everything, there are very capable people not on the Trust board too. :smile:
  • I thought the empty seats complimented the protesters as did the lethargic apathy. This is RDs bleak club.
  • RobRob
    edited December 2015

    Looking at a couple of the Man City numbers this morning - £351m revenue (Commercial £173m + Broadcasting £135m + TV £43m) and selling 13% of the club for £265m is indicative of the size of prize available, at the top end, for an established Premier club.

    That's the prize RD has his eye on.

    That's the thing. I really don't think that is his driver

    None of us can know for sure what is driving him but his personal lack of involvement smacks of a money play somehow, what else is there? What do you think it is?
    .
    I think it is / was some form of happy-clappy utopian self-sufficiency model providing stability by drawing on pooled resources across a network, utilizing cross-border tax / financial efficiencies, and in time sees funding covered by the development and sale of young players, or buying cheap and selling high.

    I'm not saying he doesn't want the Club to advance, I just don't think that would have been his driver.

    I think that is a very good question posed by @WrightCharlie and certainly is food for thought. Who knows what is driving him. The most bizarre decision, in my opinion, was turning his back on the proven partnership of Jose Riga and Karel Fraeye and replacing them with Bob Peeters. In JR and KF he had the ideal partnership. It was proven (at least there was something to build on), there was the old wise head and the young pretender syndrome. He choose to rip that apart, appoint Peeters and yet go back eventually to Fraeye. What was the point of that? For me that is what is concerning - the lack of rationale behind our owner's decisions. Who knows what will happen next.
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