As a non attender please forgive my intrusion. It is obvious that you all displayed a brilliant picture of our Club and its supporters. Well done to all involved. Having said that I am left imagining Roland sitting with his friends saying " thanks for the compliments, under my guidance most Charlton supporters are very pleased with what I am doing, and behave very well. " In other words I am questioning whether you have done anything to worry him, or move him to change his ways. You might have seen from me a demand for action which will hurt him such as a total boycott. He obviously lives for money so you must hit him financially. We have a massive problem with this ignorant individual, if you are not prepared to play legally but unpleasantly to an extreme you might as well give up. Think about how wonderful it would be if we can oust him and his puppet, and then get very very angry !
Thing is, Grumpy, we are not sure it is just the money with him. It seems to be a lot of ego. Did you know he tried politics before he got into football? Total disaster for him, but it was never about money, either way.
It is obvious that in a small town like S-T he is a very big guy. But S-T is a very sleepy place, at least for those of us who were brought up in big cities. It struck me that RD has never lived in any of the great cities. He's used to a small place where everyone knows each other. Well now, you can be sure that everyone in S-T knows us, and knows why we were there. And there has been not one single report of animosity towards us. Even the police decided we were alright. I am convinced that he will have absolutely hated that. He couldn't even go to the dancing that night.
Grumps, i think you'll find that Mr Mametz above has answered all your points - a total boycott is impossible , also money isnt an issue for him at Charlton - he simply has it as a toy for his 'daughter' to play with, and when he wants a bit of dosh he simply sells, Gomez,Cousins.Pope,JBG,Lookman etc. We really embarassed him on saturday (thats the only thing that gets to him) - he was ignored by the Mayor and Police chief, and we have certainly made sure the residents of Sint Truiden know about our dislike for him. All that Belgian folk see is dissention amongst Charlton fans - and that grates him - thats something he wasnt expecting and doesnt like very much. I think the thing is to play on the edge, but legally, and continue to irritate him until such time as he has had enough with us. We continue to add pressure on him, and now knows that this pressure is building, from 20 fans this time last year to 250 a year later.
Grumpy, Who knows what difference it will make? But what else can be done? Speaking to a local on Sunday, he was fairly indifferent towards Duchatelet. He wasn’t a supporter of STVV but could see that he was bad for football, but was doing well for businesses in town as could be observed with his packed out birthday restaurant at 11 in the morning. What struck the local is that 300 or so people will turn up (all of which were well behaved) just to show Duchatelet that we are not going to go away. Like Prague Addick said it is a small quite pretty rural market town, and it amused the local that, the big cheese as he put it, was unable to stop a dignified protest against him. His ego would have been dented. I also like (I think it was said by Seth Plum) “we do it out of love not hate” Yeh Man!
carrying on from PA's post, a couple of things that hasnt really been mentioned before...
1) The B20 did a pitch invasion of Stayen on saturday night before being ushered off the pitch (comically, think Keystone Cops),by stewards. 2) The same group intended to disrupt the after match dance party in the WestStand by singing Charlton songs - this was done (drowned out the music) - but unfortunately RD (unusually) decided not to attend - however, his VIP guests were somewhat surprised and open-mouthed with several renditions of Valley Floyd Road and We Want Roland Out and Just sell the Club blasting out which left our mark - and would certainly have got back to our mate Roly.
As a non attender please forgive my intrusion. It is obvious that you all displayed a brilliant picture of our Club and its supporters. Well done to all involved. Having said that I am left imagining Roland sitting with his friends saying " thanks for the compliments, under my guidance most Charlton supporters are very pleased with what I am doing, and behave very well. " In other words I am questioning whether you have done anything to worry him, or move him to change his ways. You might have seen from me a demand for action which will hurt him such as a total boycott. He obviously lives for money so you must hit him financially. We have a massive problem with this ignorant individual, if you are not prepared to play legally but unpleasantly to an extreme you might as well give up. Think about how wonderful it would be if we can oust him and his puppet, and then get very very angry !
You have posted a similar thought on another thread and the answer is pretty much the same. You are highly unlikely to get a total boycott for a number of reasons. For many people the act of going to the game when Charlton are playing is just such a part of the fabric of their life that they cannot conceive of not doing it. Others " support the team and not the regime" and feel the best way to help the club through this crisis is to support the team whoever actually owns or runs the club. A minority of supporters actually believe in giving the current regime their support and that ultimately under this stewardship the team and the club will once again become something to be proud of. Given this, a "total" boycott is not a realistically feasible proposition.
In your other post you listed a number of other " nasty" actions that you felt ought to be taken and in response I pointed that most of these have already been done in form or another and that most people on this forum would not consider them particularly "nasty".
You are now saying that we ought to behave legally but more "unpleasantly" Can you give specific examples of what you mean by that? Could you also confirm that you would be willing to take an active part in this unpleasantness?
I think the boycott happens as an individual decision. It is very upsetting for fans like my brother and me. Some may be able to suck it in, but to see a stale, lifeless Valley depresses me and chokes me up. My mind turns to Robbo's equaliser against Man Utd, beating Arsenal on new year's day, Chrissy Powell's tunnel jump, the final League One game against Hartlepool. What a fantastic, buzzing place it used to be. One of the most intimidating grounds to visit according to Sir Alex! It will be nothing to do with the protests, they liven the place up a bit, but people have had and will have enough of this sterile crap and stop going!
Even in the bad times - One thing that we sang a lot was 'we want our Charlton back'. We had a manager who understood what that meant. The one the cowardly liar called 'stupid'. This lot will never get it and if we don't get rid of them in time, you have to question whether we will ever regain those days when we had heroes like Rufus, Robbo, Kinsella, Hunt, Superclive, Di CAnio, Class, Jonaton Johansson, Bartlett, Costa, Deano ............
SoundAsa£ I think I was sat behind you in the stadium. Watching the game was such a forgettable experience we all left at half time , if this is the future it is truly a nightmeire
Is the Valley much better anymore?
I heard someone fart in the East last night. I was in the NW Quadrant.
Belated thanks to everyone involved in organising this truly unique get together. Great to meet so many dedicated Addicks and so proud of the way we conducted ourselves. Great crowd in the Holiday Inn Express in Hasselt and much serious planning carried out in case we have to go back
Also special thanks to Clive for organising the visit to Ypres. Truly humbling to visit Nobby Nightingale's resting place and to understand the landscape where all the carnage unfolded.
Huge respect to the day trippers. Real dedication.
Pity not to get to talk to more of my fellow travellers face to face. Maybe next time:-)
For those going to game on Saturday who met up with Marc, @GermanAddick , in Belgium, note that the German Addicks will be at game on Saturday and in Oak before the game. Come and say hello.
As a non attender please forgive my intrusion. It is obvious that you all displayed a brilliant picture of our Club and its supporters. Well done to all involved. Having said that I am left imagining Roland sitting with his friends saying " thanks for the compliments, under my guidance most Charlton supporters are very pleased with what I am doing, and behave very well. " In other words I am questioning whether you have done anything to worry him, or move him to change his ways. You might have seen from me a demand for action which will hurt him such as a total boycott. He obviously lives for money so you must hit him financially. We have a massive problem with this ignorant individual, if you are not prepared to play legally but unpleasantly to an extreme you might as well give up. Think about how wonderful it would be if we can oust him and his puppet, and then get very very angry !
Well, only Duchatelet perhaps could construct a thinking process which would arrive at the conclusion that 'most' Charlton supporters are very pleased with what he is doing based on the numbers protesting in Belgium!
The President and others have in any event commented on your (@Grumpy) posting to great effect and have illustrated the worth of the protests (see above).
For my part, it is and was significant that the Lady Mayor of Sint Truiden stood up to him and refused to be cowed by his threats - he is not going to forget that in a hurry.
The locals we met there (not the fans) were, to a man and woman, opposed to Duchatelet and his clear aspiration to see a 'Stepford Wives'-type community ethos imposed upon the town. At a local level he likes to play God, spreading his peculiar brand of munificence but it is a sterile benefit which borders on Social Engineering.
...and whatever success RD has achieved in his core business he is most certainly not a people person which is why he cannot understand the difference between his Melixis customers who have no decades of emotional attachment to their micro-electronic semi-conductors and his Charlton (customers) who do possess in some cases a lifelong affiliation to their team. All just customers to him no doubt
But I want to pick up on his 'friends'. This is pure hypothesis on my part but I think it unlikely that a clearly flawed individual such as Duchatelet has any genuine friends. He is likely instead to have many sycophants and hangers on who will have done well by him if they stay devoted to his way of doing things and are willing to praise him and blindly accept his claim of never having failed (Driesen and Meire are clear examples). I suspect, and again with no direct evidence, that it would be difficult to engage with a man who will tell you perhaps direct to your face that he has 1.5% of his available time that day to enjoy a beer with you.
Lastly, I totally reject going after Duchatelet in any way which goes beyond the legal. Whilst in Belgium I spoke to a very informed Anderlecht supporter who told me that the Standard Ultras like to make the inflated claim that it was they who drove RD out of Standard when the true story is very much more mundane and was to do with financial propriety.
It was a great weekend. Though must be honest and say I'm glad it wasn't this weekend with all the snow still around yesterday. Just very wet on the March as I remember. Not that it mattered.
Comments
It is obvious that in a small town like S-T he is a very big guy. But S-T is a very sleepy place, at least for those of us who were brought up in big cities. It struck me that RD has never lived in any of the great cities. He's used to a small place where everyone knows each other. Well now, you can be sure that everyone in S-T knows us, and knows why we were there. And there has been not one single report of animosity towards us. Even the police decided we were alright. I am convinced that he will have absolutely hated that. He couldn't even go to the dancing that night.
We really embarassed him on saturday (thats the only thing that gets to him) - he was ignored by the Mayor and Police chief, and we have certainly made sure the residents of Sint Truiden know about our dislike for him.
All that Belgian folk see is dissention amongst Charlton fans - and that grates him - thats something he wasnt expecting and doesnt like very much.
I think the thing is to play on the edge, but legally, and continue to irritate him until such time as he has had enough with us.
We continue to add pressure on him, and now knows that this pressure is building, from 20 fans this time last year to 250 a year later.
Who knows what difference it will make? But what else can be done?
Speaking to a local on Sunday, he was fairly indifferent towards Duchatelet. He wasn’t a supporter of STVV but could see that he was bad for football, but was doing well for businesses in town as could be observed with his packed out birthday restaurant at 11 in the morning. What struck the local is that 300 or so people will turn up (all of which were well behaved) just to show Duchatelet that we are not going to go away. Like Prague Addick said it is a small quite pretty rural market town, and it amused the local that, the big cheese as he put it, was unable to stop a dignified protest against him.
His ego would have been dented.
I also like (I think it was said by Seth Plum) “we do it out of love not hate” Yeh Man!
1) The B20 did a pitch invasion of Stayen on saturday night before being ushered off the pitch (comically, think Keystone Cops),by stewards.
2) The same group intended to disrupt the after match dance party in the WestStand by singing Charlton songs - this was done (drowned out the music) - but unfortunately RD (unusually) decided not to attend - however, his VIP guests were somewhat surprised and open-mouthed with several renditions of Valley Floyd Road and We Want Roland Out and Just sell the Club blasting out which left our mark - and would certainly have got back to our mate Roly.
In your other post you listed a number of other " nasty" actions that you felt ought to be taken and in response I pointed that most of these have already been done in form or another and that most people on this forum would not consider them particularly "nasty".
You are now saying that we ought to behave legally but more "unpleasantly" Can you give specific examples of what you mean by that? Could you also confirm that you would be willing to take an active part in this unpleasantness?
Even in the bad times - One thing that we sang a lot was 'we want our Charlton back'. We had a manager who understood what that meant. The one the cowardly liar called 'stupid'. This lot will never get it and if we don't get rid of them in time, you have to question whether we will ever regain those days when we had heroes like Rufus, Robbo, Kinsella, Hunt, Superclive, Di CAnio, Class, Jonaton Johansson, Bartlett, Costa, Deano ............
Huge respect to the day trippers. Real dedication.
Pity not to get to talk to more of my fellow travellers face to face. Maybe next time:-)
Come and say hello.
The President and others have in any event commented on your (@Grumpy) posting to great effect and have illustrated the worth of the protests (see above).
For my part, it is and was significant that the Lady Mayor of Sint Truiden stood up to him and refused to be cowed by his threats - he is not going to forget that in a hurry.
The locals we met there (not the fans) were, to a man and woman, opposed to Duchatelet and his clear aspiration to see a 'Stepford Wives'-type community ethos imposed upon the town. At a local level he likes to play God, spreading his peculiar brand of munificence but it is a sterile benefit which borders on Social Engineering.
...and whatever success RD has achieved in his core business he is most certainly not a people person which is why he cannot understand the difference between his Melixis customers who have no decades of emotional attachment to their micro-electronic semi-conductors and his Charlton (customers) who do possess in some cases a lifelong affiliation to their team. All just customers to him no doubt
But I want to pick up on his 'friends'. This is pure hypothesis on my part but I think it unlikely that a clearly flawed individual such as Duchatelet has any genuine friends. He is likely instead to have many sycophants and hangers on who will have done well by him if they stay devoted to his way of doing things and are willing to praise him and blindly accept his claim of never having failed (Driesen and Meire are clear examples). I suspect, and again with no direct evidence, that it would be difficult to engage with a man who will tell you perhaps direct to your face that he has 1.5% of his available time that day to enjoy a beer with you.
Lastly, I totally reject going after Duchatelet in any way which goes beyond the legal.
Whilst in Belgium I spoke to a very informed Anderlecht supporter who told me that the Standard Ultras like to make the inflated claim that it was they who drove RD out of Standard when the true story is very much more mundane and was to do with financial propriety.
Its still a little hazy, I must have eaten a doggy chip or something.
A great weekend doing what the Faithful do best .....
.....Whatever it takes to ensure OUR famous football club is there for our children, grandchildren etc , ad infinitum.
Feck off, Roland or we'll be back !
Seriously, The 3 Per Cent were brilliant and the people of St Truiden very welcoming. It felt like something that had to be done.
Edit: Appears from another thread I'm not the only one to be thinking this!
https://charltonlife.vanillaforums.com/discussion/77087/unity-protest-4th-march-accounts-from-those-there/p6https://charltonlife.vanillaforums.com/discussion/81139/date-of-the-st-truiden-election/p1Fuck off Roland!!