I can't see how it was executed perfectly. They stood outside the window and sang him a song. What the guy needs is in your face confrontation showing him the utter contempt that supporters feel for him.
Standard Liege fans did it, and it worked.
The point I agree with is singing Happy Birthday. I'd have thought We want Roland Out or Just Sell the Club more pertinent but I'm not going to criticise those who got off their arse and went and did something. Where I disagree is that if they had confronted Roland he would have then used that against us and the media that are on our side might have had far less sympathy for our plight. It's a war and those out there scored another victory on our behalf.
I can't see how it was executed perfectly. They stood outside the window and sang him a song. What the guy needs is in your face confrontation showing him the utter contempt that supporters feel for him.
Standard Liege fans did it, and it worked.
What is stopping you going over and getting in his face then?
I would donate but I don't see the point if the money funds people to go to Belgium, find the bastard, and then sing him Happy Birthday.
What's the point?
There was an opportunity there to finally confront him and put him under pressure. That opportunity wasn't taken.
This is very funny.
In the end, zero funding from CARD was used for the protest you mention.
CARD does not exist in the way that you describe, it is a fund available to all. It has group of key people across the spectrum of supporters and debelops initiatives within that group and financially supports other initiatives as well.
CARD were not involved in funding the initiative you have described.
A group of supporters separately funded that event.
Information from St Truiden gave that group the opportunity to demonstrate in front of Duchetelet in a way that clearly was a massive annoyance to him.
the next time you suggest an opportunity has been missed, why not try saving it from having travelled to Belgium? Then you may have some credibility.
I think the Belgian Happy Birthday celebrations were perfectly executed.
The trick to these stunts are, in my mind, playfulness over aggression. Lets face it, the media love a slightly humorous story and it's very difficult to spin it against our fans. After all, who could say "those nasty aggressive hooligans went to another country to sing him happy birthday, how nasty and outrageous is that?. The same for the flying pigs and the beachballs - it gets attention without the negativity.
Combine that with the flyers, the taxi and the other events over the weekend - and it's clear we got under his skin. Consider something, we sacked Slade shortly after those protests - now his final match sounded awful, but then again we were missing some key players. If you actually looked at our form though.. Slade was actually beginning to turn things around: WDDW[W][D]L. I can't help but think Slade's sacking was more of a backlash than a calculated decision.
Singing 'Happy Birthday',was a great ironic opener to 'confronting' Duchatelet. It caught his attention and he could hardly ask the Police to deal with a small group singing Happy Birthday so he had to endure it. Also, the song 'Happy Birthday' is known worldwide (confirmed by no subtitles on the Belgian media videos) whereas 'We want Roland Out' had to be subtitled
As already pointed out, this episode was just a fraction of events in Belgium that weekend. A lot of time, effort and hard work was put in by a group that dug deep into their own pockets and only the cost of leaflets and taxi wrap was met by the protest fund. I cannot thank them enough.
@cafcfan made an interesting suggestion on another thread of asking for friends and family to make a donation to the protest fund instead of buying socks or toiletries for Christmas.
Donators could mark the donation as Christmas present for XXXX from XXXX and perhaps we could have these listed on a protest fund Christmas present thread. What do you think @Davo55 and @Curb_it ?
I can't see how it was executed perfectly. They stood outside the window and sang him a song. What the guy needs is in your face confrontation showing him the utter contempt that supporters feel for him.
Standard Liege fans did it, and it worked.
What is stopping you going over and getting in his face then?
Yes, and giving the regime a PR victory they probably thought was never coming.
Thanks to everyone who has donated since we started this appeal yesterday.
I would just like to say, however, that no-one should feel under any obligation or pressure to chip in. Or feel they have to justify it on here if they don't want to.
But if anyone thinks that protest fund money has been wasted, please feel free to drop me or @Curb_It a PM. We can clarify what we have (and have not) spent money on and explain our rationale, if needed. Happy to help anyone base decisions on whether or not to donate on facts rather than supposition.
Just a follow up to my post above about "playfulness over aggression"; I was mulling it over on the train this morning, and it occurred to me that from the point of view of the club, this corners them a bit too. How do you respond to playful or funny protests like that?
If you act too harsh then you get negative attention and the press further side with the fans; but if you do nothing then the fans continue to dominate the narrative. The more I think about it, the more CARD (and other groups like B20) play a masterstroke every time they do something like this. Whether it's CARD initiating pigs and beachballs, or B20 singing Happy Birthday, it gets the attention of the press and makes it very difficult for the club to counter.
I'm not going to be able to thank you all personally this time as too many to mention. You are stars. I do like the ROLAND OUT comments on the donations.
Comments
In the end, zero funding from CARD was used for the protest you mention.
CARD does not exist in the way that you describe, it is a fund available to all. It has group of key people across the spectrum of supporters and debelops initiatives within that group and financially supports other initiatives as well.
CARD were not involved in funding the initiative you have described.
A group of supporters separately funded that event.
Information from St Truiden gave that group the opportunity to demonstrate in front of Duchetelet in a way that clearly was a massive annoyance to him.
the next time you suggest an opportunity has been missed, why not try saving it from having travelled to Belgium? Then you may have some credibility.
The trick to these stunts are, in my mind, playfulness over aggression. Lets face it, the media love a slightly humorous story and it's very difficult to spin it against our fans. After all, who could say "those nasty aggressive hooligans went to another country to sing him happy birthday, how nasty and outrageous is that?. The same for the flying pigs and the beachballs - it gets attention without the negativity.
Combine that with the flyers, the taxi and the other events over the weekend - and it's clear we got under his skin. Consider something, we sacked Slade shortly after those protests - now his final match sounded awful, but then again we were missing some key players. If you actually looked at our form though.. Slade was actually beginning to turn things around: WDDW[W][D]L. I can't help but think Slade's sacking was more of a backlash than a calculated decision.
As already pointed out, this episode was just a fraction of events in Belgium that weekend. A lot of time, effort and hard work was put in by a group that dug deep into their own pockets and only the cost of leaflets and taxi wrap was met by the protest fund. I cannot thank them enough.
I would just like to say, however, that no-one should feel under any obligation or pressure to chip in. Or feel they have to justify it on here if they don't want to.
But if anyone thinks that protest fund money has been wasted, please feel free to drop me or @Curb_It a PM. We can clarify what we have (and have not) spent money on and explain our rationale, if needed. Happy to help anyone base decisions on whether or not to donate on facts rather than supposition.
If you act too harsh then you get negative attention and the press further side with the fans; but if you do nothing then the fans continue to dominate the narrative. The more I think about it, the more CARD (and other groups like B20) play a masterstroke every time they do something like this. Whether it's CARD initiating pigs and beachballs, or B20 singing Happy Birthday, it gets the attention of the press and makes it very difficult for the club to counter.
You are stars. I do like the ROLAND OUT comments on the donations.
Wrong club, Roland.
Yes I get it, I'll have to donate again now as penance for my joke
So £2.40 gets you 6 pints