I'd rather see an empty ground. Bollocks to them and their fiver scheme. I won't be going along pretending everything is normal. If there are demonstrations planned, I'd be tempted to do a 100mile round trip to join in before and/or after, but I don't want the regime to have a penny of my money.
I'd rather see an empty ground. Bollocks to them and their fiver scheme. I won't be going along pretending everything is normal. If there are demonstrations planned, I'd be tempted to do a 100mile round trip to join in before and/or after, but I don't want the regime to have a penny of my money.
I still think we need to keep people engaged with the CLUB at some level.
The Charlton that was so very close to peoples hearts is drifting away at an alarming level. Roland is in this for the long haul. It's apparent that large swathes of our support are not.
I was going to go to this but enough is enough. Already. I don't want to give any money to Duchatelet but on top of that the football is very poor. It is as bad as the end of the Parkinson era. Parkinson's excuse was that he had no money to spend. What's the excuse of Duchatelet & Meire for the ongoing travesty on the pitch ? There is no excuse for thinking the current central midfield was ever going to be sufficient. Add in that no one decent will manage under them and Charlton could only get the very negative Slade. The only chance of recovery is Duchatelet selling the club.
I was going to go to this but enough is enough. Already. I don't want to give any money to Duchatelet but on top of that the football is very poor. It is as bad as the end of the Parkinson era. Parkinson's excuse was that he had no money to spend. What's the excuse of Duchatelet & Meire for the ongoing travesty on the pitch ? There is no excuse for thinking the current central midfield was ever going to be sufficient. Add in that no one decent will manage under them and Charlton could only get the very negative Slade. The only chance of recovery is Duchatelet selling the club.
I still think we need to keep people engaged with the CLUB at some level.
The Charlton that was so very close to peoples hearts is drifting away at an alarming level. Roland is in this for the long haul. It's apparent that large swathes of our support are not.
I think this is a good point and something I really worry about.
But how do we encourage people to stay engaged when the owner and his mob are driving them away and the football is abysmal?
Christ, this is depressing. Could everyone staying away please forget their morals and principles and just come back? Pretty please. Pretty pretty please.
I was persuaded by my son to renew and last night, which was one of the most depressing evenings of my Charlton supporting 30+ years (and there have been plenty!), reminded me of a reserve game with everyone sat in silence with little interest in proceedings; some serious protesting would at least bring some energy back to the Valley and maybe even galvanise the team who are currently terrible.
Christ, this is depressing. Could everyone staying away please forget their morals and principles and just come back? Pretty please. Pretty pretty please.
I was persuaded by my son to renew and last night, which was one of the most depressing evenings of my Charlton supporting 30+ years (and there have been plenty!), reminded me of a reserve game with everyone sat in silence with little interest in proceedings; some serious protesting would at least bring some energy back to the Valley and maybe even galvanise the team who are currently terrible.
Whilst I understand your sentiment, protesting will do no good. He doesn't care, sitting in his bunker of evil back in Belgium he will just ignore everything. Paying money to get through the turnstiles just prolongs the suffering, we have to starve the club and hope he sells before it dies. I honestly think if he stays and I honestly think he has no intention of selling, the club will die.
Can't be bothered. Sorry. Too many things to do this weekend before going off on holiday to waste an entire afternoon watching shite football surrounded (yeah right!) by tourists. Agree with the sentiment though.
Those protesting have taken months of abuse from others telling them to keep their poison outside the ground and not spoil their matchday.
Protesters stay away, matchdays are shit, and now people say please come back and protest?
Can only speak for myself but such a small percentage of why I protested heavily last season was based on results. I'm gutted that for what seems like the majority it is, and still is.
Those protesting have taken months of abuse from others telling them to keep their poison outside the ground and not spoil their matchday.
Protesters stay away, matchdays are shit, and now people say please come back and protest?
Can only speak for myself but such a small percentage of why I protested heavily last season was based on results. I'm gutted that for what seems like the majority it is, and still is.
Exactly we could be winning three nil every week and I would still feel totally disenfranchised, it just doesn't feel like my club anymore.
I'm just as gutted as the next man and was at as many protests as I could attend last season so don't think there's anything hypocritical about my plea above as there may have been if I was pro Regime.
To clarify, my morals and principles comment was tongue in cheek and I do understand completely people staying away. In fact a part of me wishes I had stuck to mine and left the home games alone this season but I just couldn't do it particularly as my boy wanted to get back down there.
What I would say though to those staying away is that I wouldn't be banking on coming back-you will soon slip into other habits at the weekends and, if he does sell up in three, four or 10 years time your passion for Charlton will be long gone and you'll potentially be lost for good. Although I appreciate the blame for that lies with that Belgian tosser, at the moment the prospect of that for me is even more depressing although too many more evenings like last night make it seem an inevitability.
I still think we need to keep people engaged with the CLUB at some level.
The Charlton that was so very close to peoples hearts is drifting away at an alarming level. Roland is in this for the long haul. It's apparent that large swathes of our support are not.
Therein lies the dilemma.
The emotional connection to the club (for many over the course of decades and often generational) has been comprehensively stripped away by a combination of woeful misunderstanding of the football culture by Duchatelet and the downright arrogant disrespect for Charlton fans exhibited by Meire who simply cannot accept, as she herself articulated, that fans 'don't see themselves as customers'.
So, like many others who have posted, after 54 years of attendance I no longer feel as if I belong at The Valley and would now feel a sense of alienation if I did attend (and this has nothing to do with the football on offer) but the underlying toxic effect of over two years of ownership by a regime of which Meire (again) stated that 'we would have to get used to the owner doing things his way.'
Writing this I have just realised that it is exactly one year to the day that Meire, in an interview in Belgium said that she didn't care about the history of the club. She can now add that she didn't care about its fans either as she has graphically proved by word and deed over the course of the past two and a half years.
It is difficult to imagine how much more damage could have been inflicted in such a short space of time by those in charge who seemingly and against all rational perception still appear not to recognise that they have dismantled the old Charlton Athletic and destroyed its fanbase and no doubt doggedly hold on to the flawed belief that they can capture new generations of customers in the long-term.
I will of course continue to support Charlton Athletic despite the machinations of Meire and Duchatelet but it is no longer a club with a warm and welcoming football heart and soul in residence at its own home ground.
Had planned to take my 3 yr old son to his first Charlton game. If he didn't like it/sit still etc I'd have only wasted a tenner. But I can't justify even spending a tenner to sit in a soul less valley watching shit tactics and ultra defensive displays. Gutted to be honest.
HandG I understand your comments and I was a season ticket holder for over 47 years until this season. I and a group of us would meet up at the anchor every home game for years, but this season NONE of us are going and we all miss it like mad. I did sneak back for the Wimbledon game but it didn't feel the same at all. I sat in north lower and it was souless and didn't feel like my club anymore .
Some of our crowd have been going away matches and I will be at gillingham , but as you say this won't last and we will do other things on a Saturday .
we need to keep the pressure up and start protesting again outside the ground .
It is awful not going but I wouldn't go back if we were winning every week unless these bastards sell up and go
I'm starting to think Roland's winning this battle. He's already stated the income from CAFC is minimal compared to his gross wealth. I'm guessing that this was his plan all along. Rip the heart out. The masses will leave and I'm free to do what I want.
Where as people were outraged at the start of this. That rage is slowly turning into a shrug of the shoulders. Give it another couple of years and that shrug of the shoulders will become complete disinterest and nobody will care one jot as their lives will have moved on with Charlton not being part of that change.
Mick Collins said some months back that he could see a club going completely to the wall and his money was on us. The way things are going,its hard not to agree with him.
Does anyone have any idea what the sales are like for this game? Seems to have been little in the way of active promotion. Assume it will be the smallest £5 attendance by some distance.
Those who believe that the reduction in ticket income will influence RD are mistaken. I believe for him it is no longer about making money from the club but a point of principle. he has dug his heels in and will stay no matter what the losses, which is why no attending games is futile. The lost revenue of 1-1/2 million now means nothing to him. Whereas turning up and protesting inside the ground week after week might have made a difference, now it is to late.
Stop giving them money ffs people, no matter what amount. By being in the stadium you are vindicating these scumbags.
I was planning on coming up on Saturday with my Dad and kids as I was hoping it would be a focal point for restarting the protests (regardless of results).
From the above, and the silence from CARD, I'm guessing it looks like there won't be much in-stadium protesting going on. We've made a conscious effort to stay away despite how miserable that makes us but I'm not sure whether to go now - I don't want to put money in Roland's pocket just to sit in silence while we watch 90 minutes of dire football. I don't think it's fair of me to drag my kids up from Brighton for an hours chanting in the car park at 5pm either.
Dilemma.
I'm still hoping there'll be a CARD/CAST led #protestforafiver with organised in stadium protests planned and that they were waiting for last night's game to get out the way!
I'd have come with Idle Jr but only to join a protest, as that is the sole reason for being at the Valley now, and the only thing that has sparked our enthusiasm the last few times we've been (not this season). We're taking Katriens advice and treating it like a restaurant. The food has been awful for ages, so we aren't shouting at the owner, we simply aren't coming back.
Those who believe that the reduction in ticket income will influence RD are mistaken. I believe for him it is no longer about making money from the club but a point of principle. he has dug his heels in and will stay no matter what the losses, which is why no attending games is futile. The lost revenue of 1-1/2 million now means nothing to him. Whereas turning up and protesting inside the ground week after week might have made a difference, now it is to late.
I think you undersestimate how miserly Duchatelet is with his money. He hates losses. His business model at Charlton is losing money but he still expects it to stand alone. It is arrogant delusional and has some weird selective thinking. He hires inept people, supports them to make crap decisions on top of his own misdirections and expects the business to stand alone despite the failure being the result of his terrible strategy.
Duchatelet has a philosophy for football that he thinks is right. If it fails it is because of poor implementation by employees, the resistance of the football business generally and Charlton supporters in particular, in not accepting his obvious Alan Turing size genius intellect. There is a worry that he may test his idea to destruction, or by some punitive revenge but Duchatelet did not become rich by not being pragmatic, when it comes to money & business, where it is needed.
Duchatelet will not like the haemorrhaging of money, (even if he is receiving a notional 3% interest on the debt). Duchatelet will sell, he can blame brexit, the resistance of the British football establishment and supporters, the madness of the British football business. Duchatelet will sell, it is inevitable. Just don't expect him to signal it, in advance. My guess is that it will be sooner rather than later.
Imagine how embarrassing it will be for them if they can't even get 10,000 at £5. I suspect there will be another batch of freebies distributed so they can be counted in the gate even if they are not there just to bump up figures again.
Comments
Stop giving them money ffs people, no matter what amount. By being in the stadium you are vindicating these scumbags.
The Charlton that was so very close to peoples hearts is drifting away at an alarming level.
Roland is in this for the long haul.
It's apparent that large swathes of our support are not.
But how do we encourage people to stay engaged when the owner and his mob are driving them away and the football is abysmal?
I was persuaded by my son to renew and last night, which was one of the most depressing evenings of my Charlton supporting 30+ years (and there have been plenty!), reminded me of a reserve game with everyone sat in silence with little interest in proceedings; some serious protesting would at least bring some energy back to the Valley and maybe even galvanise the team who are currently terrible.
Those protesting have taken months of abuse from others telling them to keep their poison outside the ground and not spoil their matchday.
Protesters stay away, matchdays are shit, and now people say please come back and protest?
Can only speak for myself but such a small percentage of why I protested heavily last season was based on results. I'm gutted that for what seems like the majority it is, and still is.
To clarify, my morals and principles comment was tongue in cheek and I do understand completely people staying away. In fact a part of me wishes I had stuck to mine and left the home games alone this season but I just couldn't do it particularly as my boy wanted to get back down there.
What I would say though to those staying away is that I wouldn't be banking on coming back-you will soon slip into other habits at the weekends and, if he does sell up in three, four or 10 years time your passion for Charlton will be long gone and you'll potentially be lost for good. Although I appreciate the blame for that lies with that Belgian tosser, at the moment the prospect of that for me is even more depressing although too many more evenings like last night make it seem an inevitability.
The emotional connection to the club (for many over the course of decades and often generational) has been comprehensively stripped away by a combination of woeful misunderstanding of the football culture by Duchatelet and the downright arrogant disrespect for Charlton fans exhibited by Meire who simply cannot accept, as she herself articulated, that fans 'don't see themselves as customers'.
So, like many others who have posted, after 54 years of attendance I no longer feel as if I belong at The Valley and would now feel a sense of alienation if I did attend (and this has nothing to do with the football on offer) but the underlying toxic effect of over two years of ownership by a regime of which Meire (again) stated that 'we would have to get used to the owner doing things his way.'
Writing this I have just realised that it is exactly one year to the day that Meire, in an interview in Belgium said that she didn't care about the history of the club. She can now add that she didn't care about its fans either as she has graphically proved by word and deed over the course of the past two and a half years.
It is difficult to imagine how much more damage could have been inflicted in such a short space of time by those in charge who seemingly and against all rational perception still appear not to recognise that they have dismantled the old Charlton Athletic and destroyed its fanbase
and no doubt doggedly hold on to the flawed belief that they can capture new generations of customers in the long-term.
I will of course continue to support Charlton Athletic despite the machinations of Meire and Duchatelet but it is no longer a club with a warm and welcoming football heart and soul in residence at its own home ground.
I understand your comments and I was a season ticket holder for over 47 years until this season. I and a group of us would meet up at the anchor every home game for years, but this season NONE of us are going and we all miss it like mad.
I did sneak back for the Wimbledon game but it didn't feel the same at all. I sat in north lower and it was souless and didn't feel like my club anymore .
Some of our crowd have been going away matches and I will be at gillingham , but as you say this won't last and we will do other things on a Saturday .
we need to keep the pressure up and start protesting again outside the ground .
It is awful not going but I wouldn't go back if we were winning every week unless these bastards sell up and go
He's already stated the income from CAFC is minimal compared to his gross wealth.
I'm guessing that this was his plan all along. Rip the heart out. The masses will leave and I'm free to do what I want.
Where as people were outraged at the start of this. That rage is slowly turning into a shrug of the shoulders. Give it another couple of years and that shrug of the shoulders will become complete disinterest and nobody will care one jot as their lives will have moved on with Charlton not being part of that change.
Mick Collins said some months back that he could see a club going completely to the wall and his money was on us.
The way things are going,its hard not to agree with him.
Seem to remember over 20k for defeat against Exeter.
Whereas turning up and protesting inside the ground week after week might have made a difference, now it is to late.
From the above, and the silence from CARD, I'm guessing it looks like there won't be much in-stadium protesting going on. We've made a conscious effort to stay away despite how miserable that makes us but I'm not sure whether to go now - I don't want to put money in Roland's pocket just to sit in silence while we watch 90 minutes of dire football. I don't think it's fair of me to drag my kids up from Brighton for an hours chanting in the car park at 5pm either.
Dilemma.
I'm still hoping there'll be a CARD/CAST led #protestforafiver with organised in stadium protests planned and that they were waiting for last night's game to get out the way!
We're taking Katriens advice and treating it like a restaurant. The food has been awful for ages, so we aren't shouting at the owner, we simply aren't coming back.
Duchatelet has a philosophy for football that he thinks is right. If it fails it is because of poor implementation by employees, the resistance of the football business generally and Charlton supporters in particular, in not accepting his obvious Alan Turing size genius intellect. There is a worry that he may test his idea to destruction, or by some punitive revenge but Duchatelet did not become rich by not being pragmatic, when it comes to money & business, where it is needed.
Duchatelet will not like the haemorrhaging of money, (even if he is receiving a notional 3% interest on the debt). Duchatelet will sell, he can blame brexit, the resistance of the British football establishment and supporters, the madness of the British football business. Duchatelet will sell, it is inevitable. Just don't expect him to signal it, in advance. My guess is that it will be sooner rather than later.