We are screwed next season if Roland and KM are still running the gaff, they stumble from one disaster to another, without an ounce of apology or responsibility, grow up Katrien.
L2 here we come, brace yourselves for AFC Charlton and if the Douchbag won't budge, the sooner the better.
I'd say that I would be shocked if somebody at a conference where tickets were over a grand used the word shit. Totally disrespectful and inappropriate. If I used it in a work meeting it wouldn't go down well
October 2015 Luzon sacked. 10 days later, no new head coach/manager but our CEO is at a media conference in Dublin doing her best version of Rabbit by Chas n Dave
May 2016 Riga Resigns. 11 days later, no new head coach/manager but our CEO is at another media conference this time near to St Paul's Cathedral once again doing her best version of Rabbit by Chas n Dave.
I am wondering if this 'outburst' was actually well planned and quite deliberate rather than her just shooting her mouth off again. It avoided her having to answer questions and sought to deflect the news story off her running of the club and onto the behaviour of supporters, a line swallowed unquestioningly by some newspapers (inevitably starting with the Daily Mail). So some will now see her as a victim of a baying mob and she can play the bullied female card she so loves.
Look at the timing of this and then an immediate interview with PA. End of the season (where she has said nothing) so she has three months without protests to distract the media, three months to engage with them and re-build relationships ahead of the new season. Expect a charm offensive from Meire in the coming weeks, and expect a lot more coverage/interviews in the press. If we thought the season was bad, having to put up with the crap likely to be coming out of The Valley between now an August could tip some over the edge.
This is an interesting point. If you put aside the utter nonsense she came up with about blaming fans, etc., the content is "the football hasn't been good, but look at all these fantastic things we are doing away from the pitch"
This has been a theme throughout the tenure of this regime, but I have noticed over the last few weeks a heightening of the message.
I paraphrase, but things I have heard recently: "we know the football has been bad and we have hit rock bottom there, but look at all of these fantastic things we are doing away from the football" "Aren't we good at community projects?" "look at how we want to support kids in our community in lots of ways" "look at all of the investment we are putting into the training ground which will also support the local community". There has been other stuff of a similar nature. Behind the scenes, they know that the football has been an unmitigated disaster this year. But rather than properly acknowledge that, accept the blame for what has gone on, and present a plan of how things will improve, they seem to be trying to distract people. They think a concerted effort to focus people outside of Charlton on all of these fabulous things they are doing in the community will stop everyone seeing the reality of the situation.
They also had pinned a lot on getting Wilder because they thought that would make a difference. Late on Tuesday afternoon there was much trumpeting of his arrival on Wednesday. "everything starts again tomorrow at 10.30" was the line. They were also making much of the "Wilder is his own man and will be making the decisions around the team and selection" view. Then, as we know, he walked away. Come Wednesday morning and everything is very subdued and almost a denial that a press conference might have been taking place that morning.
The thing that mystifies me is how you can continue to be so naive and continue to make the same mistakes over such a long time. I don't mind someone new coming in and getting things wrong, so long as they learn and change behaviour to something more suitable. But, 30 months in, the current regime still seem to totally believe in their own ability, continue to not listen to any advice given which might help, and firmly hold on to the idea that they are doing a good job, despite the world collapsing around them.
At some point it will have to stop, but I fear it is not any time soon.
Exactly. If it wasn't for that pesky league table it would be bonuses all round.
Yesterday highlighted exactly why the Rat continues to employ her. Why sack her, when she deflects all the hate, vitriol and ridicule away from the Great Leader himself.
Totally agree. While we should also be targeting her, Roland doesn't give a shit. Look what happens when he's directly targeted and embarrassed in his homeland. He goes apeshit.
Ik laak in jouw richting - I fart in your direction.
Or put together:
Leeghoofd Katrien, kus mijn kont, Kus mijn kont Kus mijn kont Leeghoofd Katrien, kus mijn kont Ik laak in jouw richting.
I was trying to keep it fairly clean so I omitted another insult from the website I looked at for this:
Val dood vuile kankerhuer - translated probably incorrectly as drop dead stupid cancer whore. I would have thought 'fall dead vile diseased whore' would have been a more accurate translation but not the sort of insult I agree with.
Yesterday highlighted exactly why the Rat continues to employ her. Why sack her, when she deflects all the hate, vitriol and ridicule away from the Great Leader himself.
Totally agree. While we should also be targeting her, Roland doesn't give a shit. Look what happens when he's directly targeted and embarrassed in his homeland. He goes apeshit.
Both have reacted very badly when their cages have been rattled in their homeland. Highly embarrassing for them. Reputations soiled.
TBF the team may be a disaster under Katrien, but she has completely turned around the reputation of the supporters. Before she arrived, we were affectionately known as a peaceful set of train spotters. But, the last game at the Valley required the normal stewards, extra beefed up security in blue, a huge presence of the local police and there was even a special baton bearing snatch squad drafted in from the city of London. You couldn’t move in Harvey Gardens for meat wagons. Wow what a gal!
SD - I appreciate you live in a different part of the world but "lost in translation" seems to have a new meaning;
Katrien Meire's comments were silly, and misjudged
No, they were self serving and defamatory
but that does not excuse sexism.
Where has any anyone asserted it does?
Your position diminishes the work of the equal opportunities industry, where women still struggle to be paid anywhere near their male counterparts.
It offends the vast majority of the supporters who support our club with a passion.
That a minority on occasion have acted inappropriately is very regrettable. I have never condoned such excess but nor is it my right to impose my values on such minority. It is the price of living in a democracy where people have the right to protest, within the law, as they see fit.
I have been constant in my approach in addressing the failures of this regime. No issue of gender, no issue of nationality just a factual assessment of their performance.
I remind you our CEO chose yesterday to stand at a public forum to denigrate, defame and insult vast numbers of people who have nothing more than the best interests of the club close to their heart. She indiscriminately labelled supporters, a club community which has been at the forefront of the battle against racism, as criminals and sexist equating their crimes to a that of being racist.
Silly? Misjudged?
Do you seek to draw parallels between the travails of a CEO who happens to be female and the struggles of ethnic and social minorities. If so your position does not stand scrutiny.
Did the club sack 6 head coaches, Did the club fail to engage with supporter groups, Did the club create season ticket chaos, Did the executive disrespect the clubs history, Did the executive alienate swathes of supporters due to ill advised Dublin comments, Did the club insult the memory of a former player, Did the club debt increase to £38mn+, Did the club player recruitment strategy abysmally fail, Did the club Head of Communications resign after 6 weeks, Have attendances plummeted, Were the club relegated, Will season ticket sales collapse, Are club sponsors walking away, Will supporters no longer engage with the CEO, Has there been not a shred of leadership in 30months, Has there been not an iota of accountability ......because the CEO is a woman? No
The above issues arose because the CEO is arrogantly & belligerently incompetent.
I liked the Jon Stewart clip who...spoke very well to political correctness and inclusion in society. I'll defer to this as I don't know that I can add anything nuanced.
As a former resident of Dallas with a daughter in New York, a long time fan, I am familiar with his work. He is an articulate satirist but suggest there is any amount of his material more appropriate to our situation. You may note the man is not averse to using profanity to a mixed gender audience. I assume you seek to draw a correlation to the Trump "their America nostalgia" campaign to the white republican community and my reference to the origins of professional football.
I don't doubt you struggle to find any nuance. None is to be found because no such correlation exists.
You really seek to draw parallels between barring of millions of Muslims? Or the abuse of thousands of Mexicans who desperate for work stand on street corners of cities across the American south where white middle class bible belt citizens pay them a pittance for work a normal contractor will charge thousands?
Seldom can a passage have ever been so misinterpreted to spawn ..
The origins of the game don't matter if someone is being abused in a sexist fashion. The origins of the game were also in all-male bording schools to be a form of "Muscular Christianity," and in part to avoid masturbation. I don't see what that has to do with the game as funded and branded by Sky and owned by a diverse group of peoples in the 21st century.
I spoke to the origins & development of the professional game (nothing to do with public school rules football - how many schoolboys headed from the factory floors on a Saturday afternoon?) which were/ are and will remain crucial to growth of the game. The family ties forged in those early days have continued over decades. Without such ties the game would be nowhere near a Sky TV screen.
You have just trotted out well written versions of the sentiment that have kept blacks, gays, foreigners, and women from being allowed into the game for over a century.
The working class origins of the professional game bore no more bias against ethnic, gender or sexual minorities than the society of the day. To argue such values were particularly prevalent within the working class background of the game is arrant insulting and ignorant nonsense.
You are seriously wish to link the travails of a failed CEO to the struggles of millions of black people over the centuries? If so it is little short of perversion.
As an active participant in team sport for 30yrs I am proud it has long been recognised as one shining light in breaking down the barriers in society. I played football and cricket with and against people of every background and ethnicity without a second thought. Sporting competition was/is and hopefully always will be the common bond. Race, background, sexual preferences were never even a consideration.
If you can't be in a public place in 2016 without calling someone a "c*nt" or a "slapper," then you're wrong. And whatever era or social standard you're nostalgic for was wrong as well.
Where has anyone asserted calling anyone a slapper or a "c**t" is acceptable? Where have I asserted any nostalgia for anything? I referenced profanity is part & parcel of professional football and sport. It comes with the territory.
For the avoidance of doubt I repeat it comes with territory.
As a former player, coach and manager at the bottom of the football pyramid I can assure you not only on the field, on the touchline, in the changing room but in the clubhouse I was subject to any amount of abuse. Was it nice? Was it fair? Was it reasonable? No but so what - if you love the game and love being involved in the game at the highest level you can it is the price you have to be prepared to pay.
Was it upsetting? Only if I took it personally but anyone with an ounce of experience and common sense knows it is about people's emotions, it is about their venting their frustration, it is rarely if ever personal. It is about your performance or the job you are doing. Nothing more nothing less.
It is your choice. If you are remunerated for the performance/ job the opinions of those who buy the tickets come with the pay. Don't like it, don't take the money.
It is one reason this regime struggles so badly. They are so inexperienced, so out of their depth, every challenge to their competence, every question for which they have no answer is seen as a minefield so for them it is personal, from the CEO playing the gender card to the COO imposing security which would have once graced Northern Ireland.
Of course chants and abuse of a sexual nature are unacceptable but outside of the workplace they rarely constitute a legal offence.
To draw attention to such minority actions in such a manner simply reinforces her inexperience, her ineptitude and her complete misunderstanding of the industry in which she chose to work. A misunderstanding you apparently share.
Ultimately the truth is there is only one person who is making this an issue about gender. It is the CEO herself. At best it is a barren argument with nowhere to go because there is minimal substance behind it. At worst she is perpetuating her efforts to distract from the abject failure of her performance.
What it boils down to is that women have as much right to be useless and incompetent as men. If you strive for equality, which is the right thing to do of course, it something you have to accept or you weaken your cause.
I'd say that I would be shocked if somebody at a conference where tickets were over a grand used the word shit. Totally disrespectful and inappropriate. If I used it in a work meeting it wouldn't go down well
She said 'shit' but actually it means 'unique'. English is not her first language, after all.
Yesterday highlighted exactly why the Rat continues to employ her. Why sack her, when she deflects all the hate, vitriol and ridicule away from the Great Leader himself.
Totally agree. While we should also be targeting her, Roland doesn't give a shit. Look what happens when he's directly targeted and embarrassed in his homeland. He goes apeshit.
Let's hope he has more cause to go apeshit over the summer break.
Three months to come to that decision, typical wtf do they do all day long? They certainly don't seem to want to get their hands dirty. Glad the Trust are not leaving it there.
I am not sure any of us expected anything other than this outcome. The establishment always backs itself however much they claim to be open and honest. I imagine this was a two-minute conversation with much laughing at the end of a committee meeting before they all headed to the bar and told each other how much hard work they all do for the good of the game.
I am not sure any of us expected anything other than this outcome. The establishment always backs itself however much they claim to be open and honest. I imagine this was a two-minute conversation with much laughing at the end of a committee meeting before they all headed to the bar and told each other how much hard work they all do for the good of the game.
I'm afraid that the outcome is the same from the more peripheral complaint perhaps made to Meire's former University who honoured her with a prestigious award without looking into her sinecure appointment as CEO by Roland Duchatelet -
this is part of the reply received yesterday:
Pursuant to a decision based on a secret vote within the board of directors of VRG-Alumni (taken with a very large majority of votes). The award of the prize is therefore final and irrevocable and hence we see no reason to organise a hearing regarding this matter. Furthermore, we outline that the VRG-Alumni Prize crowns an alumnus/alumna who has made a remarkable career or who has distinguished him/herself in another way. In this respect, we outline that the board of directors was at the time well aware of the ongoing discussions between Mss. Meire and a part of the Charlton supporters, as well of the criticism articulated by the latter towards the Charlton CEO. It is obvious that VRG-Alunmi takes no position whatsoever in this discussion. Apparently however, the majority of our board members were of the opinion that the existing controversy was no impediment to the award of the prize to Mss Meire.
I am not sure any of us expected anything other than this outcome. The establishment always backs itself however much they claim to be open and honest. I imagine this was a two-minute conversation with much laughing at the end of a committee meeting before they all headed to the bar and told each other how much hard work they all do for the good of the game.
I'm afraid that the outcome is the same from the more peripheral complaint perhaps made to Meire's former University who honoured her with a prestigious award without looking into her sinecure appointment as CEO by Roland Duchatelet -
this is part of the reply received yesterday:
Pursuant to a decision based on a secret vote within the board of directors of VRG-Alumni (taken with a very large majority of votes). The award of the prize is therefore final and irrevocable and hence we see no reason to organise a hearing regarding this matter. Furthermore, we outline that the VRG-Alumni Prize crowns an alumnus/alumna who has made a remarkable career or who has distinguished him/herself in another way. In this respect, we outline that the board of directors was at the time well aware of the ongoing discussions between Mss. Meire and a part of the Charlton supporters, as well of the criticism articulated by the latter towards the Charlton CEO. It is obvious that VRG-Alunmi takes no position whatsoever in this discussion. Apparently however, the majority of our board members were of the opinion that the existing controversy was no impediment to the award of the prize to Mss Meire.
Incredible isn't it?
Good work anyway @Coyotejohn1947 and tbh expected. Large organisations like the FA and this uni are never going to publicly admit they've cocked up by rewarding her unless they absolutely have nowhere else to go. At the very least you've embarrassed her in front of her old uni.
I am not sure any of us expected anything other than this outcome. The establishment always backs itself however much they claim to be open and honest. I imagine this was a two-minute conversation with much laughing at the end of a committee meeting before they all headed to the bar and told each other how much hard work they all do for the good of the game.
I'm afraid that the outcome is the same from the more peripheral complaint perhaps made to Meire's former University who honoured her with a prestigious award without looking into her sinecure appointment as CEO by Roland Duchatelet -
this is part of the reply received yesterday:
Pursuant to a decision based on a secret vote within the board of directors of VRG-Alumni (taken with a very large majority of votes). The award of the prize is therefore final and irrevocable and hence we see no reason to organise a hearing regarding this matter. Furthermore, we outline that the VRG-Alumni Prize crowns an alumnus/alumna who has made a remarkable career or who has distinguished him/herself in another way. In this respect, we outline that the board of directors was at the time well aware of the ongoing discussions between Mss. Meire and a part of the Charlton supporters, as well of the criticism articulated by the latter towards the Charlton CEO. It is obvious that VRG-Alunmi takes no position whatsoever in this discussion. Apparently however, the majority of our board members were of the opinion that the existing controversy was no impediment to the award of the prize to Mss Meire.
Incredible isn't it?
Good work anyway @Coyotejohn1947 and tbh expected. Large organisations like the FA and this uni are never going to publicly admit they've cocked up by rewarding her unless they absolutely have nowhere else to go. At the very least you've embarrassed her in front of her old uni.
Thanks Bournemouth. It took a lot of letters and e-mails to get this response but it seemed grossly unfair that they awarded her this prize addition to her CV without evidently knowing about her 'don't care about the history of the club' comments made in a national Belgian newspaper. It's telling that they don't refer to this and other matters brought to their attention just to the 'discussion' between her and some fans.
It matters little in the greater scheme of things now but yes they will know that academically they made an unsound judgement and I feel sorry for the runner-up for the prize who may have been a far more worthy recipient of the award than Katrien Meire and who lost out because the Profs and other members of the award committee didn't do due diligence. The Belgian newspaper gaff came long before the presentation. It was a terribly unprofessional thing to say and one which should have at least been given consideration. As was pointed out to them - would they have been so forgiving if she had said the same thing about the 400 year history of the University which nurtured her?
Comments
May 2016 Riga Resigns. 11 days later, no new head coach/manager but our CEO is at another media conference this time near to St Paul's Cathedral once again doing her best version of Rabbit by Chas n Dave.
Coincidence!
Kus mijn kont - kiss my ass.
Ik laak in jouw richting - I fart in your direction.
Or put together:
Leeghoofd Katrien, kus mijn kont,
Kus mijn kont
Kus mijn kont
Leeghoofd Katrien, kus mijn kont
Ik laak in jouw richting.
I was trying to keep it fairly clean so I omitted another insult from the website I looked at for this:
Val dood vuile kankerhuer - translated probably incorrectly as drop dead stupid cancer whore. I would have thought 'fall dead vile diseased whore' would have been a more accurate translation but not the sort of insult I agree with.
Katrien Meire's comments were silly, and misjudged
No, they were self serving and defamatory
but that does not excuse sexism.
Where has any anyone asserted it does?
Your position diminishes the work of the equal opportunities industry, where women still struggle to be paid anywhere near their male counterparts.
It offends the vast majority of the supporters who support our club with a passion.
That a minority on occasion have acted inappropriately is very regrettable. I have never condoned such excess but nor is it my right to impose my values on such minority. It is the price of living in a democracy where people have the right to protest, within the law, as they see fit.
I have been constant in my approach in addressing the failures of this regime. No issue of gender, no issue of nationality just a factual assessment of their performance.
I remind you our CEO chose yesterday to stand at a public forum to denigrate, defame and insult vast numbers of people who have nothing more than the best interests of the club close to their heart. She indiscriminately labelled supporters, a club community which has been at the forefront of the battle against racism, as criminals and sexist equating their crimes to a that of being racist.
Silly? Misjudged?
Do you seek to draw parallels between the travails of a CEO who happens to be female and the struggles of ethnic and social minorities. If so your position does not stand scrutiny.
Did the club sack 6 head coaches, Did the club fail to engage with supporter groups, Did the club create season ticket chaos, Did the executive disrespect the clubs history, Did the executive alienate swathes of supporters due to ill advised Dublin comments, Did the club insult the memory of a former player, Did the club debt increase to £38mn+, Did the club player recruitment strategy abysmally fail, Did the club Head of Communications resign after 6 weeks, Have attendances plummeted, Were the club relegated, Will season ticket sales collapse, Are club sponsors walking away, Will supporters no longer engage with the CEO, Has there been not a shred of leadership in 30months, Has there been not an iota of accountability ......because the CEO is a woman? No
The above issues arose because the CEO is arrogantly & belligerently incompetent.
I liked the Jon Stewart clip who...spoke very well to political correctness and inclusion in society. I'll defer to this as I don't know that I can add anything nuanced.
As a former resident of Dallas with a daughter in New York, a long time fan, I am familiar with his work. He is an articulate satirist but suggest there is any amount of his material more appropriate to our situation. You may note the man is not averse to using profanity to a mixed gender audience. I assume you seek to draw a correlation to the Trump "their America nostalgia" campaign to the white republican community and my reference to the origins of professional football.
I don't doubt you struggle to find any nuance. None is to be found because no such correlation exists.
You really seek to draw parallels between barring of millions of Muslims? Or the abuse of thousands of Mexicans who desperate for work stand on street corners of cities across the American south where white middle class bible belt citizens pay them a pittance for work a normal contractor will charge thousands?
Seldom can a passage have ever been so misinterpreted to spawn ..
The origins of the game don't matter if someone is being abused in a sexist fashion. The origins of the game were also in all-male bording schools to be a form of "Muscular Christianity," and in part to avoid masturbation. I don't see what that has to do with the game as funded and branded by Sky and owned by a diverse group of peoples in the 21st century.
I spoke to the origins & development of the professional game (nothing to do with public school rules football - how many schoolboys headed from the factory floors on a Saturday afternoon?) which were/ are and will remain crucial to growth of the game. The family ties forged in those early days have continued over decades. Without such ties the game would be nowhere near a Sky TV screen.
You have just trotted out well written versions of the sentiment that have kept blacks, gays, foreigners, and women from being allowed into the game for over a century.
The working class origins of the professional game bore no more bias against ethnic, gender or sexual minorities than the society of the day. To argue such values were particularly prevalent within the working class background of the game is arrant insulting and ignorant nonsense.
You are seriously wish to link the travails of a failed CEO to the struggles of millions of black people over the centuries? If so it is little short of perversion.
As an active participant in team sport for 30yrs I am proud it has long been recognised as one shining light in breaking down the barriers in society. I played football and cricket with and against people of every background and ethnicity without a second thought. Sporting competition was/is and hopefully always will be the common bond. Race, background, sexual preferences were never even a consideration.
If you can't be in a public place in 2016 without calling someone a "c*nt" or a "slapper," then you're wrong. And whatever era or social standard you're nostalgic for was wrong as well.
Where has anyone asserted calling anyone a slapper or a "c**t" is acceptable? Where have I asserted any nostalgia for anything? I referenced profanity is part & parcel of professional football and sport. It comes with the territory.
For the avoidance of doubt I repeat it comes with territory.
As a former player, coach and manager at the bottom of the football pyramid I can assure you not only on the field, on the touchline, in the changing room but in the clubhouse I was subject to any amount of abuse. Was it nice? Was it fair? Was it reasonable? No but so what - if you love the game and love being involved in the game at the highest level you can it is the price you have to be prepared to pay.
Was it upsetting? Only if I took it personally but anyone with an ounce of experience and common sense knows it is about people's emotions, it is about their venting their frustration, it is rarely if ever personal. It is about your performance or the job you are doing. Nothing more nothing less.
It is your choice. If you are remunerated for the performance/ job the opinions of those who buy the tickets come with the pay. Don't like it, don't take the money.
It is one reason this regime struggles so badly. They are so inexperienced, so out of their depth, every challenge to their competence, every question for which they have no answer is seen as a minefield so for them it is personal, from the CEO playing the gender card to the COO imposing security which would have once graced Northern Ireland.
Of course chants and abuse of a sexual nature are unacceptable but outside of the workplace they rarely constitute a legal offence.
To draw attention to such minority actions in such a manner simply reinforces her inexperience, her ineptitude and her complete misunderstanding of the industry in which she chose to work. A misunderstanding you apparently share.
Ultimately the truth is there is only one person who is making this an issue about gender. It is the CEO herself. At best it is a barren argument with nowhere to go because there is minimal substance behind it. At worst she is perpetuating her efforts to distract from the abject failure of her performance.
She has nothing else to say.
I missed this first time round, not been online today, logged on and seen this thread with nearly 400 comments and thought she'd resigned.
this is part of the reply received yesterday:
Pursuant to a decision based on a secret vote within the board of directors of VRG-Alumni (taken with a very large majority of votes). The award of the prize is therefore final and irrevocable and hence we see no reason to organise a hearing regarding this matter.
Furthermore, we outline that the VRG-Alumni Prize crowns an alumnus/alumna who has made a remarkable career or who has distinguished him/herself in another way. In this respect, we outline that the board of directors was at the time well aware of the ongoing discussions between Mss. Meire and a part of the Charlton supporters, as well of the criticism articulated by the latter towards the Charlton CEO. It is obvious that VRG-Alunmi takes no position whatsoever in this discussion. Apparently however, the majority of our board members were of the opinion that the existing controversy was no impediment to the award of the prize to Mss Meire.
Incredible isn't it?
It took a lot of letters and e-mails to get this response but it seemed grossly unfair that they awarded her this prize addition to her CV without evidently knowing about her 'don't care about the history of the club' comments made in a national Belgian newspaper. It's telling that they don't refer to this and other matters brought to their attention just to the 'discussion' between her and some fans.
It matters little in the greater scheme of things now but yes they will know that academically they made an unsound judgement and I feel sorry for the runner-up for the prize who may have been a far more worthy recipient of the award than Katrien Meire and who lost out because the Profs and other members of the award committee didn't do due diligence. The Belgian newspaper gaff came long before the presentation. It was a terribly unprofessional thing to say and one which should have at least been given consideration. As was pointed out to them - would they have been so forgiving if she had said the same thing about the 400 year history of the University which nurtured her?