Dear Roland and Katrien,
I understand that as business people, you wish to run Charlton Athletic, like any other business.
You wish to run your business at a profit if possible, or at break even.
I understand this.
You wish to do this by planning for the medium to long term, making improvements to the stadium and building a new academy.
This is all good business practice and is very sensible for any normal business.
However, this is the crazy world of football. It is not and will not ever be a normal business.
We are fans as well as customers. You do not seem able to understand this simple concept.
We do not turn up randomly, like a customer choosing to go to the cinema or a restaurant.
We are fans, we truly love “our” club.
Some of us love “our” club, nearly as much as our own families.
We love, yes we truly love our club, as much as our husbands and wives, sons and daughters, mothers and fathers.
Many of us have made the bi weekly pilgrimage to The Valley with our loved ones and friends for decades and our fathers and grandfathers did so, even before we were born.
You say that you want to make it an entertaining and great day out coming to The Valley.
Do you not understand that you are doing precisely the opposite ?
We are not entertained by DJ’s blasting out music at midday, when you want to talk to your friends and family.
We are not entertained by you placing a sofa by the corner flag.
In fact many are insulted.
Do you not understand that you are making our lives empty and miserable ?
Do you not understand, that you have to spend on an adequate first team SQUAD, as well as on The Academy ?
No fan, enjoys watching the team that they adore, being outplayed and losing week in week out, because you have not provided adequate resources.
This no doubt does not effect you, as you do not love Charlton like we love Charlton. It is akin to one of our family be ill or deliberately mistreated by you. Yet when we complain, you just laugh at us. Do you have any feelings for Charlton and the fans, other than scorn ?
Your plan cannot and will not work, unless you make Charlton’s first team squad strong enough, to at the very least, remain in The Championship, without having to fight relegation every season.
Your plan cannot work, because you are presiding over a football club that has no football ambition.
Your plan cannot work, because you care not whether Charlton win games.
Your plan cannot work, because your customers (we are actually fans) are deserting you in their thousands and will not return, unless your plan changes, to run this football club like a football club and give us a decent team (you would call it product) to watch.
No business will survive by treating their customers/fans as appallingly, as you have treated your customers/fans.
You treat us with contempt and laugh at us. Shame on you.
If this was a normal business, you would likely already have lost, the vast majority of your customers/fans. You shop would be closed.
As it is, you have lost around 50% and this will continue to increase.
Please, please, please understand, that you are killing this football club.
There can be no medium to long term, if there is no short term.
We love our club. We do not wish to be simply a feeder club for The Premierrship and a football swap shop.
We want a proper manager/coach that knows how to manage/coach. We want to get to know and love our players. We do not want them shipped out annually.
How can you run a business with a £12M turnover and put a succession of under qualified coaches in charge ?
Well, we know the reason. It is because they will go along with your crazy plan and not tell you that you are wrong.
You do not care about the first team. If you did you would provide them with adequate numbers and a suitably qualified coach to lead them.
Well you are wrong and everyone knows it. I suspect that possibly Katrien even knows it.
If you change your ways, it is not too late.
Charlton fans, yes fans, are the finest in the country and I believe the vast majority will forgive you, if you amend your plan to one that will provide entertainment as you promise. If you provide a team that is enjoyable to watch. A team that we can be proud of.
If you don't amend your plan, then we all lose. The team will continue losing, we will continue to be miserable and NOT ENTERTAINED and you will lose more and more money. If Katrien is unhappy at the way she is being treated at the moment, then she better be prepared, for another Battle of The Valley, because she hasn't seen anything yet.
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Comments
In the light of recent revelations, I would add that they (the club) do not really consider us to be their customers, or at least, not their primary customers. The people who buy their products are Premiership clubs who pay transfer fees. Our patronage is trivial by comparison.
Fuck off Roland, fuck off Katrien. We don't need you. take your poxy circus and your endless shit managers and shove it all up your Belgian Bums.
Rant over - I knew I shouldn't have cracked open my cans of beer so early this morning.
poor form tbh
I was laying on bed thinking about these bastards during the night.
Still a long way to go.
Finish with an appropriate idiom. Try and make it clean or the abuse police will be on to you!
I'll try first:
Katrien, you're as welcome as a hole in a condom.
Oops!
Edit - sorry, forgot to add Roland.
The Queen,
The Pope,
Archbishop of Canterbury,
Your speeches are poor compared to the above.
Amen to Covered End, (Even thou i'm a Humanist and Atheist)
So my Christmas message to RD is one of advice. Though I have seen enough to know he is too proud and arrogant, with a good helping of foolish to heed any of it. His path is a downward one, but I think he will walk it where it takes him and he'll walk away with a big loss and leave us with a massively damaged club. Merry Christmas!
I want them out more than ever and even if they did change tack and became humble and admitted they were complete arse holes in their approach , I personally still wouldn't properly enjoy any success ,we may have under them , in a way I would a different set of owners .
They are taking the piss beyond a joke and deserve nothing .
It makes no sense that he is willing to burn so much money on us ,when he has no affinity whatsoever, for some massive ego trip when there are plenty of worthy causes round the world deserving of help , I can only come to the conclusion that he is stark raving mad or a complete and utter tool , prolly a mixture of both