The Sint Truiden-ification of Charlton?

Didnt St. Truiden go up to the top flight this season...

I read the article as a statement of complete lack of ambition. There was a time not very long ago when West Ham were equals with us.

Southbank said:

I read the article as a statement of complete lack of ambition. There was a time not very long ago when West Ham were equals with us.

There was a time not so very long ago when Oldham Athletic and Manchester City were keen local rivals

Henry Irving said:

ForeverAddickted said:

Didnt St. Truiden go up to the top flight this season...

And currently 8th from 16.

Didn't realise RD was a St Truiden fan. Knew it was the first club he bought. Isn't he from Antwerp?

He is from Antwerp but shows no affiliation with the city or region. For that matter: Royal Antwerp FC, after the European Cup Winner's Final at Wembley (against Parma in 1993) got into a downspin. A couple of years later they got relegated and were in trouble ever since. Different owners, 123 managers, not a nice story ...
However, half a year ago they got an new owner ... with money. And they bought an almost complete new team consisting of talented and/or 1st tier experienced players. They started as a favourite for promotion immediately and lead the ranking as we speak. For the cup they managed to beat the No 1 of the 1st tier Jupiler league (Ostend- unbeaten untill then). When promotion will happen ... they plan to build a new stadion (we desperately need one in Belgium's biggest city). Fans who didn't fancy attending miserable games during the last decade again flock to the club , resulting in almost sold out home games !
Just to say ... RD now sees this is possible on a short term ... and it only takes a bit of money. He stated he was in owning football clubs for a limited amount of years : what's he waiting for ?

Weren't we already that kind of club anyway?

Create apathy, get rid of the fans that care and will take action and then use the club as a window for crap players. That's the real Duchatelet model.

The steak frites was pretty good at the restaurant iirc, which is about all Duchatelet owns round there any more, sold the club many years ago which is probably why they are now having some success.

sam3110 said:

Owned by Japanese investors, I think? Certainly half their team is Japanese, including a 6'3 striker as their top scorer

He could work well with 6'10" Leaburn

Is this the same club we had a pre season friendly with 15 -20 years ago?

Not sure if that’s right, I think it was between 2004-2012?
Memorable for me because I met my then German lady partner on the coast, drove over to the ground through some very dark Turkish areas and was stopped by an army APC with the officer’s head out the top (mainly because of my large Charlton car sticker) and he asked me if I was going to the football ground? Yes, ok so he said follow me. He led me through the most deprived areas I’ve seen since going to Millwall, into a car park next to the ground.
There was a group of what looked like a mix of army and police in the car park and they waved for me to come over. One asked me ‘How many Charlton supporters are coming’
I said between 3 and 4,000.
His face was a picture . . . 

m_2 said:

Not sure if that’s right, I think it was between 2004-2012?
Memorable for me because I met my then German lady partner on the coast, drove over to the ground through some very dark Turkish areas and was stopped by an army APC with the officer’s head out the top (mainly because of my large Charlton car sticker) and he asked me if I was going to the football ground? Yes, ok so he said follow me. He led me through the most deprived areas I've seen since going to Millwall, into a car park next to the ground.
There was a group of what looked like a mix of army and police in the car park and they waved for me to come over. One asked me ‘How many Charlton supporters are coming’
I said between 3 and 4,000.
His face was a picture . . . 

Anyway, I counted 76 Charlton in our pen!

Have you been to Gillingham before?

CaptainRobbo said:

Num_2 said:

Not sure if that’s right, I think it was between 2004-2012?
Memorable for me because I met my then German lady partner on the coast, drove over to the ground through some very dark Turkish areas and was stopped by an army APC with the officer’s head out the top (mainly because of my large Charlton car sticker) and he asked me if I was going to the football ground? Yes, ok so he said follow me. He led me through the most deprived areas I've seen since going to Millwall, into a car park next to the ground.
There was a group of what looked like a mix of army and police in the car park and they waved for me to come over. One asked me ‘How many Charlton supporters are coming’
I said between 3 and 4,000.
His face was a picture . . . 

Anyway, I counted 76 Charlton in our pen!

Have you been to Gillingham before?

Yes I have……and Redcar as well, unfortunately.😩

PragueAddick said:

I don’t think this is right about a pre-season friendly with Sint-Truiden. Aren’t people thinking of Roda Kerkrade ( who are Dutch) ? AFAIK we didnt play S-T ever, however loads of Charlton went there one weekend to protest Duchatelet, and some of us took in the match there in the evening. The description @m-2 gives doesn’t fit anything we saw in Sint-Truiden which AFAIK is a prosperous place, albeit they say Douchebag owns too much of it. It was a cracking weekend though. Another unique Charlton fan initiative for the ages. 

@Lewis Coaches can probably sort it out, he lives somewhere in benelux as I recall, and was in the same B&B as me for the invasion weekend. 

I was there with Addicked.👊