Charlton v Barnsley - GAME OFF!! - ABSOLUTE JOKE

cabbles said:

Danny Addick said:

cabbles said:

ValleyGary said:

cabbles said:

Fanny Fanackapan said:

micks1950 said:

ValleyGary said:

ShootersHillGuru said:

I imagine the new Sporting Director is as we speak having someone strung up by the bollox.

That's one lucky guy.

The oxford game on Tuesday May as well be changed to their ground. It's the FA cup, they can do it. If a clubs too small they can change the fixture to an away tie. Same if your pitch is too shit.
If we go out, then it won't be a bad thing as we are gonna have a fixture pile up at this rate anyway.

In terms of the drainage, surely there's something we can do about it over the next few weeks with a bit of investment?? It's the 21st century ffs.

If they definitely know that the drains have collapsed (as has been stated) then presumably it’s been confirmed by using a cctv ‘drain cam’? In which case it would almost certainly have been done by a professional drain company who I would hope have also advised whether the broken pipes can be remotely relined (involving ‘blowing’ a new resin impregnated lining into the pipe which then sets hard).

However, if the collapse is due to movement (sudsidence?) of the enlarged North Stand (as I think has been suggested) then it’s possible that this might even need some sort of underpinning to effect a proper solution?

I'd like to believe that this form of advice /investigation was undertaken some time ago, and if not, certainly as soon as the Oxford game was postponed last Saturday.

I'd also like to think that a meeting was held from 1.30pm today to discuss the way forward with this predicament - one which would appease both the FL, Oxford, our opponents at home in the near future and the paying customers of our Club- US .

Whether there is a short term solution ( or rather "band aid ") to take us successfully to May or whether that scenario is out of the question (ie no guarantees it would continue to work in light of the winter months ahead) a decision has to be made NOW. Otherwise we will continue to lurch from one match to the next, worrying about what Michael Fish has to say each evening , about a pile up of fixtures which could well be detrimental to our survival in the Championship, about losing much needed home fans and finally about the match fitness of our squad of players. Serious considerations all.

If there is one item at the top of RD's agenda tonight, it has to be this. And it has to be fixed at whatever the cost.

Agree that the pitch now has to be a priority for RD alongside getting CP and the likes of Yann new contracts. Unfortunately for RD the likelihood of this being in the due diligence he carried out were slim to none, but buyer beware and all that. Long term, I don't think we can rectify this until the summer (god knows at what cost). Short term, I hope the club work with the FA and football league to let them know how bad it is to avoid any punishment. As for today, quite clearly a lot of poor decisions/communications that have pissed a lot of people off. I'm guessing the club have obviously known about it for a long time, what with everything that's gone on it's been completely overlooked. Call it incompetence or whatever you want, we've hoped for the best, turns out we've got the worst. I have to believe the club thought that the measures they took this week were adequate. Rewind the clock a month ago, going into administration was probably the biggest fear. Cash/TJ had decided to pull their money, any questions about the pitch and stumping up money to fix it would've just been dismissed. I'm not excusing anything, and feel bad for all fans who have lost out financially today. What I am saying is I've seen muppets like Adrian Durham of talksport re-tweeting that we should be docked points etc. I don't like the fact that idiots like him outside the club are ready to put the boot in without knowing all the facts surrounding how perilous our financial situation has been. I do think everything that has gone on in the run up to the takeover has adversely affected us in this situation. I hope that we can all put the anger and frustration behind us, like we do a shocking performance.

The problem with the Durham tweet is that it originally come from a Charlton fan!!!

Seriously, we don't do ourselves any favours sometimes. Calling for us to be docked points??? Absolutely mental.

Ha! Mental. One of our own fans tweeting we should be docked points. That's disappointing. Like I said, completely understand the anger/frustration, but publicly would want us to put on a united front. Behind closed doors, on forums like this and as customers of the club we've got every right to say what we feel.

He was a Millwall fan.

The other chap said he was a Charlton fan....

Covered End said:

Steve Bradshaw is The Chief Operations Officer. He is responsible for the stadium.

It is evident that the pitch has major problems due to collapsed drainage & capped/sealed drains (allegedly).

Therefore any water will not drain away properly.

Any COO worthy of his position, would surely, have personally inspected the pitch, together with the ground staff on a regular basis this week.

Following these inspections, then there should have been regular updates, to say that there was doubt over the Barnsley game proceeding.

There should have been a local referee called in yesterday, to inspect and to announce his view.

If the referee decided that a further inspection would be required on Saturday, then this should have been communicated & the inspection should have taken place at 9am this morning.

Unless, someone can explain why the above is factually incorrect or was not possible, then I believe Mr Bradshaw is at fault for this debacle.

If I'm wrong, I apologise, but this is the way I see it & it doesn't come as a great surprise.

JonnyK said:

Covered End said:

Steve Bradshaw is The Chief Operations Officer. He is responsible for the stadium.

It is evident that the pitch has major problems due to collapsed drainage & capped/sealed drains (allegedly).

Therefore any water will not drain away properly.

Any COO worthy of his position, would surely, have personally inspected the pitch, together with the ground staff on a regular basis this week.

Following these inspections, then there should have been regular updates, to say that there was doubt over the Barnsley game proceeding.

There should have been a local referee called in yesterday, to inspect and to announce his view.

If the referee decided that a further inspection would be required on Saturday, then this should have been communicated & the inspection should have taken place at 9am this morning.

Unless, someone can explain why the above is factually incorrect or was not possible, then I believe Mr Bradshaw is at fault for this debacle.

If I'm wrong, I apologise, but this is the way I see it & it doesn't come as a great surprise.

I have met on holiday 5 years or so ago the guy who was responsible for the Reebok Stadium - he made it crystal clear that he was responsible for all aspects of the stadium EXCEPT the pitch which was strictly the responsibility of the Head Groundsman!

Now we may have a different set up but with some highly emotive charges being made I think that Moderators may be happier if comments were accurate!!!

Airman Brown said:

Rob62 said:

seriously_red said:

Covered End said:

Steve Bradshaw is The Chief Operations Officer. He is responsible for the stadium.

It is evident that the pitch has major problems due to collapsed drainage & capped/sealed drains (allegedly).

Therefore any water will not drain away properly.

Any COO worthy of his position, would surely, have personally inspected the pitch, together with the ground staff on a regular basis this week.

Following these inspections, then there should have been regular updates, to say that there was doubt over the Barnsley game proceeding.

There should have been a local referee called in yesterday, to inspect and to announce his view.

If the referee decided that a further inspection would be required on Saturday, then this should have been communicated & the inspection should have taken place at 9am this morning.

Unless, someone can explain why the above is factually incorrect or was not possible, then I believe Mr Bradshaw is at fault for this debacle.

If I'm wrong, I apologise, but this is the way I see it & it doesn't come as a great surprise.

You forgot two things!
He manages the comms team who released the statement today
He would be responsible for the budgets in this area - both spending them and negotiating them in the first place

It has been stated that today's debacle was as a result of the failure to spend £28K over the summer. This in a club which spends £17M per annum on staff, players and operations. If true then this is rediculous considering costs today, risks to the future programme and the aspirations of this club to push on with this squad and climb the league.

The comms team will have released the statement they were instructed to.

Of course. And those who didn't get as far as the ground today may not be aware that there is a page in the programme by Mr Bradshaw telling us about all the work on the pitch - clearly he is responsible for it when it suits.

Dazzler21 said:

Airman Brown said:

Rob62 said:

seriously_red said:

Covered End said:

Steve Bradshaw is The Chief Operations Officer. He is responsible for the stadium.

It is evident that the pitch has major problems due to collapsed drainage & capped/sealed drains (allegedly).

Therefore any water will not drain away properly.

Any COO worthy of his position, would surely, have personally inspected the pitch, together with the ground staff on a regular basis this week.

Following these inspections, then there should have been regular updates, to say that there was doubt over the Barnsley game proceeding.

There should have been a local referee called in yesterday, to inspect and to announce his view.

If the referee decided that a further inspection would be required on Saturday, then this should have been communicated & the inspection should have taken place at 9am this morning.

Unless, someone can explain why the above is factually incorrect or was not possible, then I believe Mr Bradshaw is at fault for this debacle.

If I'm wrong, I apologise, but this is the way I see it & it doesn't come as a great surprise.

You forgot two things!
He manages the comms team who released the statement today
He would be responsible for the budgets in this area - both spending them and negotiating them in the first place

It has been stated that today's debacle was as a result of the failure to spend £28K over the summer. This in a club which spends £17M per annum on staff, players and operations. If true then this is rediculous considering costs today, risks to the future programme and the aspirations of this club to push on with this squad and climb the league.

The comms team will have released the statement they were instructed to.

Of course. And those who didn't get as far as the ground today may not be aware that there is a page in the programme by Mr Bradshaw telling us about all the work on the pitch - clearly he is responsible for it when it suits.

More sour grapes from the sacked man.

Dazzler21 said:

Airman Brown said:

Rob62 said:

seriously_red said:

Covered End said:

Steve Bradshaw is The Chief Operations Officer. He is responsible for the stadium.

It is evident that the pitch has major problems due to collapsed drainage & capped/sealed drains (allegedly).

Therefore any water will not drain away properly.

Any COO worthy of his position, would surely, have personally inspected the pitch, together with the ground staff on a regular basis this week.

Following these inspections, then there should have been regular updates, to say that there was doubt over the Barnsley game proceeding.

There should have been a local referee called in yesterday, to inspect and to announce his view.

If the referee decided that a further inspection would be required on Saturday, then this should have been communicated & the inspection should have taken place at 9am this morning.

Unless, someone can explain why the above is factually incorrect or was not possible, then I believe Mr Bradshaw is at fault for this debacle.

If I'm wrong, I apologise, but this is the way I see it & it doesn't come as a great surprise.

You forgot two things!
He manages the comms team who released the statement today
He would be responsible for the budgets in this area - both spending them and negotiating them in the first place

It has been stated that today's debacle was as a result of the failure to spend £28K over the summer. This in a club which spends £17M per annum on staff, players and operations. If true then this is rediculous considering costs today, risks to the future programme and the aspirations of this club to push on with this squad and climb the league.

The comms team will have released the statement they were instructed to.

Of course. And those who didn't get as far as the ground today may not be aware that there is a page in the programme by Mr Bradshaw telling us about all the work on the pitch - clearly he is responsible for it when it suits.

More sour grapes from the sacked man.

vff said:

It is not about blame at this stage. It is about the club coming up with a proper plan of what to do about the pitch for the rest of the season. The club need to pull together. There is plenty of time for a post mortem after.

Can the pitch be dug up now to sort the drainage, is that is feasible in Winter ? Buy / rent some top equipment to help keep the pitch going. Will the pitch last the next 2 months, will the club be forced to play elsewhere ? Some leadership is badly needed. Honest, up front and no bullshit communication.

Does the club really think that the Oxford game is going to go ahead ? Sort that out by playing at Oxford. Charlton used to be such a well run and model of a club. What the feck happened ?

Airman Brown said:

The statement, which should have been forthcoming at least two hours earlier, is a disgrace.

"The ground staff this", "the ground staff that". Ultimately, senior management are responsible for whatever the ground staff say and do. And the ground staff are hardly responsible for communication, with Barnsley or supporters, whatever their view about the pitch.

If the club believes the ref was wrong, say that publicly and take the consequences. Otherwise accept that responsibility belongs at the top and goes with preening yourself in the directors box on matchdays.

If you listen to the Barnsley audio and watch the video, it's quite clear they thought the pitch wasn't playable and couldn't have been yesterday.

Given the recent history of the pitch any senior manager with any sense of responsibility would have been out there first thing this morning and satisfied himself that there weren't going to be any problems. Certainly PV and SK would have been, and they would have acted with caution both in the public messages and dealings with the ref.

I don't compare the current set-up with them, because the comparison would be completely laughable. And in fairness you get what you pay for, which in this case is not much. But blaming subordinates in anonymous public statements is simply contemptible in any organisation.

northstandsteve said:

ct_addick said:

You all the say the ground staff are not to blame but I was at the Doncaster game ( my first game in 4 years) in August and the efforts of the ground staff to clear the water were pathetic. They looked very amateurish. This is not a public park playing field. If they knew there was a major problem they should have pushed for the work to be done in the summer. Sorry but this is down to the ground staff. Just taking off the top layer and reseeding in the summer in no way addressed the issue and I can't see the owners not agreeing to the work for the sake of a few thousand pounds if they were pressured by the ground staff. I am back in 2 weeks for Bournemouth game and now fear for that game.

You must have been the only one against Donny who wanted the groundstaff to make a difference

Henry Irving said:

The ground staff suggested what was needed and costed it at 28k.

The management said "no, do the cheapest 20k option".