I must say that I felt privileged to be a foot soldier on this event. Many have already commented on the stunning ingenuity and meticulous preparation which underpinned it and I can only echo that.
It was great to be part of a group of such varied people working with a common purpose, and with each using their own personal skills and attributes to make it work in differing ways.
But hats off particularly to Davo55 who had to concentrate 100% of the time to look after us, keep us in order and make sure we were fulfilling the mission. A Kinsella-like performance..........
I am enjoying an evening with Mrs Davo having not seen her since Thursday. I will be posting more tomorrow. But for now, it was an epic journey spent with (and on behalf of) some very special people. They're called Charlton fans.
Just want to add my thanks to those that took the fight to him. I am astounded that you managed to organise this trip, find him, act with dignity and restraint and get such positive publicity. Keep it up.
I thank you for bringing the fight back to them! As has been said before, myself and others cannot afford to do what you have just done but i for one appreciate the whole idea,planning and effort that you guys put in. My boycott still stands i will not attend a game whilst these clowns are in charge. However, your actions have made me realise i still love charlton...and that love of the club is the one thing that has been draining away from me lately so its good to have been given a reminder how important it is to me.
Me too. We know it's going to be an epic post. She was an emotional Fanny before she left Sunday morning after a moving Remembrance talk from Ben and Clive.
And just when you thought it was safe......ta da !
Fanny "Ultra" Fanackapan is back !
Sadly, with 2 lucifers keeping my drooping peepers open, this could be a small ( but perfectly formed, @Davo55 ) report following 3 days of wine, young men/man & song ( no more RRR, please, @seth plum !)
But what a result ! I left these shores, a mere foot soldier & return a CARD carrying acTOR ! Belgium is indeed a very special country - the Audrey Hepburn legacy lingers on.
Seriously, I feel SO privileged to have been invited to join this wonderful group of supporters & hence to play a minor part in the latest episode of " The Fall " or perhaps more aptly "The Missing". It would have been a coup of momentous proportions had our owner actually crossed the path of our Taxi for Roland but it wasn't something we envisaged happening although karma is a curious concept...
The raison d'etre for our pilgrimage to The Holey Land ( as in duck tape repairs) was to take our protest to his home town & beyond by interacting with his kith & kin in areas pertinent to his life. In doing so, we hoped to learn more about this elusive man whilst explaining the reasons behind our unrest. This, I believe was achieved with some success.
Suffice to say that enlightening chats with Sint Truiden locals reinforced our views that Roland is motivated by filthy lucre. One elderly lady told me that ST is basically HIS town , although he had done little to enhance the life of the average resident. Another stated that he knows nada about football & should leave such pursuits to the experts. No surprise there then. It was crystal clear after several hours of leafletting in the bitter cold that he is unlikely to win any Citizen of the Year award although everyone definitely knew who he is.
Onwards then to his football club where it appears he owns not only the stadium, the hotel, the restaurant & the shops, but the very pavements alongside ! The lack of respect shown to us, the peaceful visitors, was a clear indication that this is a common theme amongst Duchatelet's employees wherever they work. It's likely that the birthday presents so carefully assembled for his pleasure are now residing at the bottom of the nearest wheelie bin but no-one can say we didn't try.
A 6am alarm call this morning to ensure there was ample time for the polyfilla to settle before the expeditionary force made its way to Ypres to introduce ourselves to more RD personnel. We were told that he rarely visits this company but assured us that a copy of our flier would be faxed for his attention. We later learned that he was spending his day in Gay Paree - could that mean PSG is on his shopping list ?
Our tour of duty was brought to a fitting end with our visit to Nobby Nightingale's grave in a peaceful, small cemetery next to a farm house where injuries were treated in WW1. Sadly, some of our brave young soldiers had but a short journey to their final resting place where we stood in quiet contemplation. @SE7toSG3 deserves our heartfelt thanks for his input over the 3 days which educated as well as humbled us with his wealth of knowledge & his dedication to this period of military history.
So, time for a day of R & R and some reflection on the experience I have been so fortunate to share with fellow protesters. Hours at a time were spent travelling, during which we learned more about our colleagues including @Badger's love of Japan, @Arsenetatters hens that love to go on holiday, @Addickted2TheReds ability to survive on 3 hours sleep, @seth plum's hitch hiking skills & @Davo55's stage appearance in Las Vegas. Honest !
What did my newest friends learn about Fanny ?
Well, they know that a gremlin ( affectionately known as Daisy ) resides in my capacious handbag , constantly hiding my ancient mobile phone & ensuring hours of fun locating it when called, that my famous humbugs ARE chewy /teeth destroying sweeties & unlike my female companion, can go for hours without a wee stop. My bladder now has legendary status.
Thank you so much to all concerned in this journey & to you, dear fellow Lifers for ensuring that our exploits were cascaded to all & sundry and for your confidence that we could accomplish everything we set out to do. CARD is a fantastic melting pot of passionate Addicks with a huge array of skills & the generosity to share them in The Cause. We are NOT the only football club with problematical owners but we ARE the most inventive & determined. As @Pico recently stated & was echoed by @Davo55 today on Talksport, the conflict that currently exists in SE7 between the owner & the supporters is irretrievable.
And just when you thought it was safe......ta da !
Fanny "Ultra" Fanackapan is back !
Sadly, with 2 lucifers keeping my drooping peepers open, this could be a small ( but perfectly formed, @Davo55 ) report following 3 days of wine, young men/man & song ( no more RRR, please, @seth plum !)
But what a result ! I left these shores, a mere foot soldier & return a CARD carrying acTOR ! Belgium is indeed a very special country - the Audrey Hepburn legacy lingers on.
Seriously, I feel SO privileged to have been invited to join this wonderful group of supporters & hence to play a minor part in the latest episode of " The Fall " or perhaps more aptly "The Missing". It would have been a coup of momentous proportions had our owner actually crossed the path of our Taxi for Roland but it wasn't something we envisaged happening although karma is a curious concept...
The raison d'etre for our pilgrimage to The Holey Land ( as in duck tape repairs) was to take our protest to his home town & beyond by interacting with his kith & kin in areas pertinent to his life. In doing so, we hoped to learn more about this elusive man whilst explaining the reasons behind our unrest. This, I believe was achieved with some success.
Suffice to say that enlightening chats with Sint Truiden locals reinforced our views that Roland is motivated by filthy lucre. One elderly lady told me that ST is basically HIS town , although he had done little to enhance the life of the average resident. Another stated that he knows nada about football & should leave such pursuits to the experts. No surprise there then. It was crystal clear after several hours of leafletting in the bitter cold that he is unlikely to win any Citizen of the Year award although everyone definitely knew who he is.
Onwards then to his football club where it appears he owns not only the stadium, the hotel, the restaurant & the shops, but the very pavements alongside ! The lack of respect shown to us, the peaceful visitors, was a clear indication that this is a common theme amongst Duchatelet's employees wherever they work. It's likely that the birthday presents so carefully assembled for his pleasure are now residing at the bottom of the nearest wheelie bin but no-one can say we didn't try.
A 6am alarm call this morning to ensure there was ample time for the polyfilla to settle before the expeditionary force made its way to Ypres to introduce ourselves to more RD personnel. We were told that he rarely visits this company but assured us that a copy of our flier would be faxed for his attention. We later learned that he was spending his day in Gay Paree - could that mean PSG is on his shopping list ?
Our tour of duty was brought to a fitting end with our visit to Nobby Nightingale's grave in a peaceful, small cemetery next to a farm house where injuries were treated in WW1. Sadly, some of our brave young soldiers had but a short journey to their final resting place where we stood in quiet contemplation. @SE7toSG3 deserves our heartfelt thanks for his input over the 3 days which educated as well as humbled us with his wealth of knowledge & his dedication to this period of military history.
So, time for a day of R & R and some reflection on the experience I have been so fortunate to share with fellow protesters. Hours at a time were spent travelling, during which we learned more about our colleagues including @Badger's love of Japan, @Arsenetatters hens that love to go on holiday, @Addickted2TheReds ability to survive on 3 hours sleep, @seth plum's hitch hiking skills & @Davo55's stage appearance in Las Vegas. Honest !
What did my newest friends learn about Fanny ?
Well, they know that a gremlin ( affectionately known as Daisy ) resides in my capacious handbag , constantly hiding my ancient mobile phone & ensuring hours of fun locating it when called, that my famous humbugs ARE chewy /teeth destroying sweeties & unlike my female companion, can go for hours without a wee stop. My bladder now has legendary status.
Thank you so much to all concerned in this journey & to you, dear fellow Lifers for ensuring that our exploits were cascaded to all & sundry and for your confidence that we could accomplish everything we set out to do. CARD is a fantastic melting pot of passionate Addicks with a huge array of skills & the generosity to share them in The Cause. We are NOT the only football club with problematical owners but we ARE the most inventive & determined. As @Pico recently stated & was echoed by @Davo55 today on Talksport, the conflict that currently exists in SE7 between the owner & the supporters is irretrievable.
And CARD will not blink first.
Keep the faith.
Sounds like you had a great experience you will remember for a long time. Well done to you and the gang it was brilliant. I know none of you personally but have nothing but respect.
Well done to all who went to Belgium. Hopefully your actions will hasten the sale of the club to someone who will run it properly and with care, unlike RD.
Fantastic effort to all involved. Despite the serious reasons for going to Belgium in the first place, it's been a lot of fun following the various tweets, reports and radio interviews. Clearly many of us could not be there, but I hope you felt the positive thoughts and wishes we've all been sending. You are an amazing set of people, thank you for representing our interests in such a well thought out and well planned project.
If that was his wife he was having lunch with in the video with the banner, I reckon that will have really pissed him off first, as will then the leaflets from the Belgium 20 around the town.
Without any let up, by Taxi for Roland arrives as does huge media coverage in Belgium and the uk. The second lot of leaflets, the trip to melexis, having to text talksport all going to be very annoying.
All in all a lot of grief over his birthday weekend for something that is a supposed to be nothing to him.
Well done all. Better off out of football Duchatelet.
"It is not up to them (supporters/protesters) to decide who takes over the club – I will take that decision myself at the appropriate time."
A glimmer or am I reading too much into it?
Hopefully he is proper browned off with Charlton and how it is blowing back into his real life in Belgium and costing him a fortune too. The cracks are starting to show. I reckon he wants to sell but his natural born stubbornness and the unrealistic price he has in mind is stopping him from getting it done quickly and painlessly.
Rich people hate being told what to do by poor people.
Absolutely spot on. This is now about nothing more than his arrogance, stubbornness and personal pride! Said it before and will say it again; she and he only now have one aim/goal. That's to reek revenge and cause us (the fans) as much hurt and pain as is legally possible before they do one. The issue of course is - just how far are they prepared to go to achieve this?
We really are dealing with a bunch of sadistic big business 'wannabes' here and their bruised pride may well take a long time to heal! They are focused on nothing more than revenge now in my opinion. The money that he ultimately loses will be recouped elsewhere and is no issue to him. We are a mere lowly pawn in his child like game.
One of the reasons that I'm glad that CAST had the foresight to get ACV status for The Valley
Comments
A defining moment on my journey to "Proper Charlton" status.
It was great to be part of a group of such varied people working with a common purpose, and with each using their own personal skills and attributes to make it work in differing ways.
But hats off particularly to Davo55 who had to concentrate 100% of the time to look after us, keep us in order and make sure we were fulfilling the mission. A Kinsella-like performance..........
Top respect mate
Nearly 200 likes for the pic of Taxi on page 1, very impressive stuff.
Well Roland, there is one thing we wouldn't be against...you selling our beloved club! Now jog on.
Me too. We know it's going to be an epic post. She was an emotional Fanny before she left Sunday morning after a moving Remembrance talk from Ben and Clive.
Love our fans.
Fanny "Ultra" Fanackapan is back !
Sadly, with 2 lucifers keeping my drooping peepers open, this could be a small ( but perfectly formed, @Davo55 ) report following 3 days of wine, young men/man & song ( no more RRR, please, @seth plum !)
But what a result ! I left these shores, a mere foot soldier & return a CARD carrying acTOR ! Belgium is indeed a very special country - the Audrey Hepburn legacy lingers on.
Seriously, I feel SO privileged to have been invited to join this wonderful group of supporters & hence to play a minor part in the latest episode of " The Fall " or perhaps more aptly "The Missing". It would have been a coup of momentous proportions had our owner actually crossed the path of our Taxi for Roland but it wasn't something we envisaged happening although karma is a curious concept...
The raison d'etre for our pilgrimage to The Holey Land ( as in duck tape repairs) was to take our protest to his home town & beyond by interacting with his kith & kin in areas pertinent to his life. In doing so, we hoped to learn more about this elusive man whilst explaining the reasons behind our unrest. This, I believe was achieved with some success.
Suffice to say that enlightening chats with Sint Truiden locals reinforced our views that Roland is motivated by filthy lucre. One elderly lady told me that ST is basically HIS town , although he had done little to enhance the life of the average resident. Another stated that he knows nada about football & should leave such pursuits to the experts. No surprise there then. It was crystal clear after several hours of leafletting in the bitter cold that he is unlikely to win any Citizen of the Year award although everyone definitely knew who he is.
Onwards then to his football club where it appears he owns not only the stadium, the hotel, the restaurant & the shops, but the very pavements alongside ! The lack of respect shown to us, the peaceful visitors, was a clear indication that this is a common theme amongst Duchatelet's employees wherever they work. It's likely that the birthday presents so carefully assembled for his pleasure are now residing at the bottom of the nearest wheelie bin but no-one can say we didn't try.
A 6am alarm call this morning to ensure there was ample time for the polyfilla to settle before the expeditionary force made its way to Ypres to introduce ourselves to more RD personnel. We were told that he rarely visits this company but assured us that a copy of our flier would be faxed for his attention. We later learned that he was spending his day in Gay Paree - could that mean PSG is on his shopping list ?
Our tour of duty was brought to a fitting end with our visit to Nobby Nightingale's grave in a peaceful, small cemetery next to a farm house where injuries were treated in WW1. Sadly, some of our brave young soldiers had but a short journey to their final resting place where we stood in quiet contemplation. @SE7toSG3 deserves our heartfelt thanks for his input over the 3 days which educated as well as humbled us with his wealth of knowledge & his dedication to this period of military history.
So, time for a day of R & R and some reflection on the experience I have been so fortunate to share with fellow protesters. Hours at a time were spent travelling, during which we learned more about our colleagues including @Badger's love of Japan, @Arsenetatters hens that love to go on holiday, @Addickted2TheReds ability to survive on 3 hours sleep, @seth plum's hitch hiking skills & @Davo55's stage appearance in Las Vegas. Honest !
What did my newest friends learn about Fanny ?
Well, they know that a gremlin ( affectionately known as Daisy ) resides in my capacious handbag , constantly hiding my ancient mobile phone & ensuring hours of fun locating it when called, that my famous humbugs ARE chewy /teeth destroying sweeties & unlike my female companion, can go for hours without a wee stop. My bladder now has legendary status.
Thank you so much to all concerned in this journey & to you, dear fellow Lifers for ensuring that our exploits were cascaded to all & sundry and for your confidence that we could accomplish everything we set out to do. CARD is a fantastic melting pot of passionate Addicks with a huge array of skills & the generosity to share them in The Cause. We are NOT the only football club with problematical owners but we ARE the most inventive & determined. As @Pico recently stated & was echoed by @Davo55 today on Talksport, the conflict that currently exists in SE7 between the owner & the supporters is irretrievable.
And CARD will not blink first.
Keep the faith.
Great words.
Well done all, you did us proud.
Just wondered if you got any insight as to what tipped him over the edge then?
If that was his wife he was having lunch with in the video with the banner, I reckon that will have really pissed him off first, as will then the leaflets from the Belgium 20 around the town.
Without any let up, by Taxi for Roland arrives as does huge media coverage in Belgium and the uk. The second lot of leaflets, the trip to melexis, having to text talksport all going to be very annoying.
All in all a lot of grief over his birthday weekend for something that is a supposed to be nothing to him.
Well done all. Better off out of football Duchatelet.