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NEW ARTICLE: Are We Being Suckered In?

I know it's very difficult to wage a campaign in the close-season, but everything's been very quiet for a couple of months. I don't like it when it's quiet. It gives the outward appearance that things are OK when they, most definitely, are not. It gives space for regime sympathisers to pretend they've learned from their mistakes and everything will be different. What we have though is the same absentee owner, the same incompetent chief exec, the same bunch of sycophantic yes-men on the smt, the same structural problems resulting in recruitment and retention problems and an ever widening gap between our real finances and duchats claims around club debt and value.

Recent threads on Charlton Life though have not been about fighting back. They have been about transfers, friendlies and whether the roly-poly laff-a-minute Scouser can cling on for a full nine months thus breaking a record for a manager under this disgusting regime. And tonight there are dozens of posts about a kit launch. That's right the regime that is pulling our club apart is selling an overpriced piece of tat and people are debating it as if it's something that's appeared in the latest fashion catalogue.

Just to remind anyone who thinks things might be ok or that they might have learned their lessons:

- This is a regime whose first public actions were to sack a winning manager and dismantle a winning team; replacing proven high-quality footballers with untried gambles at the behest of an unqualified and inexperienced computer-nerd.
- This is a regime that has consistently (I was going to say systematically, but that credits them with too much organisational ability) lied about what they are doing and why.
- This is a regime that has fired countless managers, claiming the each was better than the last.
- This is a regime that got us relegated and has not got us close to bouncing back.
- This is a regime that is so disinterested in the well being of the club that they put an NHS Call centre where the ticket office was.
- This is a regime that hasn't so much decimated as massacred our home support alienating fans and sending them away in droves.
- This is a regime that thinks CAFC is some sort of social club for people who are as interested in dancing as they are in competitive football.

So what are are plans for protesting next season? My personal belief is that we should not give this regime a penny and should avoid giving them any credibility through attendance at The Valley. Last season's demos were ok but were not as big, original or newsworthy as the preceding season's. I think we need to be opportunistic and to build alliances with other supporters. That said, I think the real battleground should be in Belgium. Roly doesn't like being humiliated in front of his compatriots, and that is exactly where we should hit him.

Then again maybe we should all just buy the new away kit. After all it's a lovely shade of blue and it's got chevrons. Having your club wrecked is surely a small price to pay for such a magnificent garment.
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Comments

  • I hesitate to sound kind of positive, but a lot of problems can be solved by wins.
    The only solution is wins actually, and if we are our usual chite then the gloves are off.
  • Whilst I quite understand your rantings I do have to take you to task on a few issues:

    Yes, the regime has sacked manager after manager, but most, if not all, were necessary (apart, obviously, for SCP). Its not as if they sacked a successful manager that had won match after match & played exciting football, & most supporters were in agreement with those decisions.

    A new kit launch is nothing new & just because fans may be discussing it doesn't mean they are in the wrong. Its a new kit & I, for one, may buy it (I prefer a blue top as I find it more "acceptable" and "non-football" than a red one.

    The club hasn't decimated the home support - every individual can decide for themselves whether they attend matches or not. I have protested, stood up & sang "Roland out", thrown pigs, taxi's & stress balls as well as buying a protest shirt - but all the while I've attended 95% of home games and around 30% of away ones. I may be in a very small minority, but as a non-appeaser I would rather everyone attends The Valley again, getting attendances back to the pre-regime levels - mainly to show them that they can't win, no matter what they do, but also because a packed Valley would help the team (& it looks a lot better than thousands of empty seats)

    I do agree with you on ne point - the protests should be stepped up this season, but in Belguim - at his home ground & his favourite restaurant. Show him that we are not his bastard child that he doesn't want to acknowledge, but a model offspring, that should be looked after, cherished & loved.
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  • se9addick said:

    Things have probably been quiet for a couple of months because Charlton haven't played a match for a couple of months.

    Normal service come the middle of September once the results go tits up.

    Protests at The Valley will not be the same now the 5000 missing supporters are not around.
  • Good & pertinent posts from both @Stig and @Addickted and between them, the posters have pretty much summarised my feelings at this moment in time.

    Yes, I AM Charlton 'til I die. End of.

    Yes, I AM an anti regimer & will continue to protest until they've gone.

    And, yes, this close season has been unlike any other for me.

    Why ?

    Well, I normally spend May, June & July , champing at the bit waiting for the fixtures to be announced, planning the away trips to grounds old & new , scrutinising CL & even the OS for any news of signings and finally , when anticipation reaches fever pitch, welcoming the new season with a sigh of relief amid feelings of nervous excitement .

    Summer 2017 has been somewhat different, viewed from Fanackapan Towers.

    Whilst there is no way I'll be missing from the majority of games both home & away from 5th August onwards ( health permitting ) a numbness has stealthily crept up on me, well, in certain areas above the belt, affecting my ability to feel any emotion regarding the approaching season. I'm honestly unmoved by rumours of potential signings, departures, new kits & expectations over the next 10 months or so. In other words, it's abundantly clear that much as I yearn for success for our club, I just cannot feel the same sense of attachment under this owner. And, like it or not, explain it or not, that's the way it is.

    Call me stubborn; call me unfathomable; call me deluded - I'm possibly all three but don't tell me I'm not a Charlton supporter, through & through , and with all my heart. That in a nutshell is why I shall not rest until OUR club is in the hands of someone who respects us, and who we can respect in turn in the knowledge that he/she will re-install the values that our beloved club epitomises.

    So, when the doors open on another season, marred by the dark shadow that still hangs over our heads, I'll be there, waiting patiently to see how it unfolds and hence, how I may play my part when the time comes. I agree with @Stig that further trips to Belgium may be required in order to remind Roland that we won't go away until he leaves.

    If that is the case, then, as a devoted Addick, I know what I have to do.

    Ditto.
  • seth plum said:

    I hesitate to sound kind of positive, but a lot of problems can be Papered over with wins.
    The only solution is if the Belgians sell.

  • Same as every other summer under this regime. Just over two weeks before kick off and we still don't have a keeper or a left back.

    Kashi returning strengthens the midfield but serious doubts remain over his fitness to get through a whole season. Ceballos looks like he will be gone.

    No real backup for Magennis. Ajose and Vetokele shipped out and not replaced.

    Positives we kept Holmes and the away kit looks nice. And we have kept the same manager.

  • It's been the same every close season since he bought us.

    We'll be told to judge after 10 games and then Christmas, by which time the wheels will have fallen off and we'll spend January to May trying to fix things.

    Every day that Meire is in charge the losing mentality at the club remains acceptable.
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  • Same as every other summer under this regime. Just over two weeks before kick off and we still don't have a keeper or a left back.

    Kashi returning strengthens the midfield but serious doubts remain over his fitness to get through a whole season. Ceballos looks like he will be gone.

    No real backup for Magennis. Ajose and Vetokele shipped out and not replaced.

    Positives we kept Holmes and the away kit looks nice. And we have kept the same manager.

    This is the most accurate post I think. We still haven't secured Dasilva, if it is really happening, and we have one goalkeeper who has never played a full season as number 1. We've made three signings. Considering that this is a team that was seriously thinking about relegation until very late on last season we've hardly looked at the problems and rebuilt. I like the signings we've made but we need more additions, particularly up front if we've going to survive the season.
  • Nug said:

    Of course we're being suckered in. PR from the club, KM keeping her mouth shut and the usual suspects on social media spouting the usual bollocks so they can keep their prawn sandwiches on match days. Roland out, and take that useless CEO with you.

    My sentiments exactly. I will only be attending occasionally for an afternoon out with my son.
  • Davo55 said:

    Great post @Stig and others.

    I hate this regime with all my heart and will never stop campaigning to get them out.

    i think the little bubbles of positivity are because people are judging them against what has gone before and I guess it's fair to say that they have kept a lower profile and made fewer serious screw ups in the past 6 months.

    But we should judge them against how a football club should be run and how it should treat and engage with its fans. On that basis they remain pathetically inadequate.

    Agreed fewer mistakes have been made over the last 6 months and talking to the museum about the new kit shows small efforts are being made. They can’t get away from massive losses and dwindling crowds so budgets are going to be stretched to limit, unless you are serious about getting promoted and spending money, isn't recoverable.

    After the January transfer window KR said research has been done and he knew what players needed recruiting in the summer but obviously that is proving harder than he thought.
    The squad is still looking very thin and lacking quality in depth with two fighting for each position which I believe KR also said.
    Playing a faster tempo (KR likes to do) looks like only being achieved by making the players fitter and not from recruitment. I hope decent signing can be made but I remain sceptical.
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Roland Out Forever!