If you want to know who made the decision to change the after match routes then they will be documented and kept in either minutes or an email trail. So a FOI application to the Met will sort that out. I think CAST should be the ones to do that personally but anyone can apply for it. It may take awhile but the decision will be in black and white somewhere and if it isn’t then that really is a very bad look and not something anyone will want pointing out…….just saying.
Its CAST role & fans advisers to take stock now and challenge the club and not be brushed off by a generic survey...Find out who was in charge, get reassurances this won't happen again and work with club on high risk matches so there is a clear plan to ensure home fans are the priority & safety first with policing and stewards. Millwall in future 1500 max in the away end & charge them £40-£50+ ticket to offset lost revenue by not selling whole JS. The club are doing a textboard, don't admit anything went wrong as then your guilty.... i'm surprised they haven't just said "NO COMMENT".
SO many views above mine that echo my thoughts today, but especially one highlighting an issue that I've been harping on about for more than just the last 2 seasons .
Communication issues...or rather the lack of such.
When they DO appear, the information "given" is often misleading/unclear and sometimes even incorrect ! I don't need to trawl through the annals but I'm sure most on here know where I'm coming from. Proof reading seems to be a thing of the past at our club too.
Such misinformation /lack of clarity will have one of two responses from those who read it.
Shrug shoulders, muttering " What a waste of time " whilst deleting with haste.
Or, muttering ( again) " What the feck? ", grabbing their phone or consulting the OS for the relevant number to make a complaint or send a strongly worded email....
But who to contact ? And can you get through to someone who will take responsibility for said issue ?
The fact that a Lifer had to ask who is Head of Comms earlier says it all.
When TS was in charge ( or thought he was ...) the contact details on the relevant OS page were reduced to a mere handful, presumably because his tight knit ship ( consisting of him & his partner) didn't want the phone ringing or emails received to potentially be answered.
It appears to me that this is still the case.
Regardless of the platitudes from the club, IMO, the communication between staff & supporters is an afterthought. And lack of this essential component played a huge part in what came to pass last Saturday. NO-ONE will put their name to anything - that's a fact.
Back in the "good old days" of decent relationships between fans and staff who cared ( such as Ravi, Olly Groome & Alan Telfer ) it was a pleasure to deal with them because you knew they wouldn't talk down to you & would deal with any issues brought to their attention.
Not so these days in my experience....The club requests that fans should contact other fans, such as CAST, members of the Advisory Board, Fan Advocates, Supporter Liaison Officer, Fans' Group representatives at Bi-annual Supporter Forums . I have the pleasure of knowing several of the fans who give their time to be part of this network but to be able to address a member of the SMT directly or via their deputy on certain matters was always a valuable way of gaining a satisfactory outcome of a problem.
Currently, no names appear on the link to "Staff" on the Club section of the website. And it follows that responses to emails regarding the Millwall match will not be "signed ".
We know that Gavin Carter made it his job to ensure that G & G stepped up to the plate "big time" following complaints around the catering/bars after the Watford match and as a result , improvements were made ( although menus are still MIA re matchday food in Crossbars...)
But there is a limit as to what we should expect our Directors to deal with - surely these kind of issues should be the remit of the SMT ?
The two boxes at the end give you a chance to get your message across. My response to the best part of the match day experience was, "I managed to avoid the unnecessary assault by Millwall fans on Charlton fans at the Sam Bartram entrance stairs.
Anticipating this outcome and employing police inside the stadium would have stopped this from happening."
My response to the next question was "Stop selling tickets in the home stand to Millwall fans and eject those that make themselves known."
I am convinced that two of the guys next to me were Millwall fans as they just sat there when we scored. They must have got their tickets through their mate sat next to them. To be fair, they didn't cause any trouble and probably inspired me to shout and cheer even louder.
There were 3 other questions that forced me to give an answer even though I didn't use the facility mentioned. A box for a reply of "Not applicable" is necessary.
Same here. You have to fill in a score for facilities even if you didn't use them. I sit in the East Stand and use Lansdowne Mews. I detailed the storming of Gate 21 by Millwall, assault on one innocent Charlton Fan, the fact that the two Stewards were lucky they did not receive serious physical injury and no Police presence. I also said best bit was getting a point and getting out of ground in once piece.
SO many views above mine that echo my thoughts today, but especially one highlighting an issue that I've been harping on about for more than just the last 2 seasons .
Communication issues...or rather the lack of such.
When they DO appear, the information "given" is often misleading/unclear and sometimes even incorrect ! I don't need to trawl through the annals but I'm sure most on here know where I'm coming from. Proof reading seems to be a thing of the past at our club too.
Such misinformation /lack of clarity will have one of two responses from those who read it.
Shrug shoulders, muttering " What a waste of time " whilst deleting with haste.
Or, muttering ( again) " What the feck? ", grabbing their phone or consulting the OS for the relevant number to make a complaint or send a strongly worded email....
But who to contact ? And can you get through to someone who will take responsibility for said issue ?
The fact that a Lifer had to ask who is Head of Comms earlier says it all.
When TS was in charge ( or thought he was ...) the contact details on the relavent OS page were reduced to a mere handful, presumably because his tight knit ship ( consisting of him & his partner) didn't want the phone ringing or emails received to potentially be answered.
It appears to me that this is still the case.
Regardless of the platitudes from the club, IMO, the communication between staff & supporters is an afterthought. And lack of this essential component played a huge part in what came to pass last Saturday. NO-ONE will put their name to anything - that's a fact.
Back in the "good old days" of decent relationships between fans and staff who cared ( such as Ravi, Olly Groome & Alan Telfer ) it was a pleasure to deal with them because you knew they wouldn't talk down to you & would deal with any issues brought to their attention.
Not so these days in my experience....The club requests that fans should contact other fans, such as CAST, members of the Advisory Board, Fan Advocates, Supporter Liaison Officer, Fans' Group representatives at Bi-annual Supporter Forums . I have the pleasure of knowing several of the fans who give their time to be part of this network but to be able to address a member of the SMT directly or via their deputy on certain matters was always a valuable way of gaining a satisfactory outcome of a problem.
Currently, no names appear on the link to "Staff" on the Club section of the website. And it follows that responses to emails regarding the Millwall match will not be "signed ".
We know that Gavin Carter made it his job to ensure that G & G stepped up to the plate "big time" following complaints around the catering/bars after the Watford match and as a result , improvements were made ( although menus are still MIA re matchday food in Crossbars...)
But there is a limit as to what we should expect our Directors to deal with - surely these kind of issues should be the remit of the SMT ?
If only we knew who they are ...
Rant over.
I don’t understand. How much clearer does it need to be than this !!?? 😉😉😆
when you don't ask the right questions, you allow bland generic bollox like that to be the answer - 'take it up with the police, we're not telling you the reason why we rolled over and allowed our home fans to be fucked over again at the expense of millwall fans and you never asked us that anyway so why would we offer that information up' - cast, your useless.
Why do you keep giving CAST grief for the fuckups of the Police and the club? The obvious answer to why the club "rolled over" and didn't keep the Millwall fans in is that they needed the Police agreement to do that. Or were you expecting the stewards to keep 3000 pissed off Millwall fans in the Jimmy Seed without any police support? Would we even have had a safety certificate for the match if we didn't agree the policing arrangements for the game with the Met? And the club has no control over how the Police decide to deal with fans once they've left the ground.
Given that a similar stupid strategy appears to have been used at Palace v Millwall that seems to indicate that the driving force behind the decision was the Met and not the club. The club has handled (and continues to handle) the communications very poorly, could possibly have done better with stewarding by the gate that got broken through, but the bigger villain of the piece is whichever idiot in the Met decided that this was a good plan.
because nowhere in any of your questions have u asked why they, the police, thought that would be the right solution when iot doesn't happen at any other ground? the club must know the answer to that surely? this wouldn't happen in a rangers celtic, villa birmingham or man utd liverpool match so how the hell has it been allowed to happen here - again ? useless
My questions? I'm only a random supporter not a member of the CAST board, and they have asked the Police why the decision was taken not to hold the visiting supporters back when that's what is usually done. I'm just puzzled by you continually directing your frustration at fellow fans that are trying to get answers on our behalf, rather than the people who made the decisions in the first place.
My mistake re you and cast. But surely its obvious - CAST have a platform, a voice that should be heard and represent us hence my exasperation with them missing the main point- i have sent an email to the club, and am looking for the contact details for the police. I'll also fill out the survey.
I realise that I'm probably wasting my time, but hey ho - did you not see the email sent to the police from CAST? What main point was missing from that email? Genuine question.
Yes. The fact it (home team being held back, not the away team) happens at no other game in the country? Isn't that the key point? Its not just unusual, its unique to us!!! and it shouldn't happen and we need to point that fact out and expose the decision for the 'path of least resistance bollox that it is - we shouldn't put up with it - no other club does!! Strewth.
when you don't ask the right questions, you allow bland generic bollox like that to be the answer - 'take it up with the police, we're not telling you the reason why we rolled over and allowed our home fans to be fucked over again at the expense of millwall fans and you never asked us that anyway so why would we offer that information up' - cast, your useless.
Why do you keep giving CAST grief for the fuckups of the Police and the club? The obvious answer to why the club "rolled over" and didn't keep the Millwall fans in is that they needed the Police agreement to do that. Or were you expecting the stewards to keep 3000 pissed off Millwall fans in the Jimmy Seed without any police support? Would we even have had a safety certificate for the match if we didn't agree the policing arrangements for the game with the Met? And the club has no control over how the Police decide to deal with fans once they've left the ground.
Given that a similar stupid strategy appears to have been used at Palace v Millwall that seems to indicate that the driving force behind the decision was the Met and not the club. The club has handled (and continues to handle) the communications very poorly, could possibly have done better with stewarding by the gate that got broken through, but the bigger villain of the piece is whichever idiot in the Met decided that this was a good plan.
because nowhere in any of your questions have u asked why they, the police, thought that would be the right solution when iot doesn't happen at any other ground? the club must know the answer to that surely? this wouldn't happen in a rangers celtic, villa birmingham or man utd liverpool match so how the hell has it been allowed to happen here - again ? useless
My questions? I'm only a random supporter not a member of the CAST board, and they have asked the Police why the decision was taken not to hold the visiting supporters back when that's what is usually done. I'm just puzzled by you continually directing your frustration at fellow fans that are trying to get answers on our behalf, rather than the people who made the decisions in the first place.
My mistake re you and cast. But surely its obvious - CAST have a platform, a voice that should be heard and represent us hence my exasperation with them missing the main point- i have sent an email to the club, and am looking for the contact details for the police. I'll also fill out the survey.
I realise that I'm probably wasting my time, but hey ho - did you not see the email sent to the police from CAST? What main point was missing from that email? Genuine question.
Yes. The fact it (home team being held back, not the away team) happens at no other game in the country? Isn't that the key point? Its not just unusual, its unique to us!!! and it shouldn't happen and we need to point that fact out and expose the decision for the 'path of least resistance bollox that it is - we shouldn't put up with it - no other club does!! Strewth.
You will put up with it though. Same as quite a few other posters on this thread. @Covered End has had a season ticket for 60 years and will continue to do so no matter what the club .does.
The Police overruled the club in their decision to
change the egress points for the home and away fans. This was a decision based
off intel of spontaneous clashes between both sets of fans. Please us the link
below for any questions regarding the Police involvement.
I can assure you that the
safety team will learn from the mistakes made on Saturday and will endeavor to
make The Valley a safer place for games of this threat level.
So do other local rivals throughout the country not have spontaneous clashes ? Yes. Do they have the home fans held back / inconvenienced as a result? No. - its utter bollox and the police and club and cast need to be made to take a look at themselves and make sure this never happens again.
The Police overruled the club in their decision to
change the egress points for the home and away fans. This was a decision based
off intel of spontaneous clashes between both sets of fans. Please us the link
below for any questions regarding the Police involvement.
I can assure you that the
safety team will learn from the mistakes made on Saturday and will endeavor to
make The Valley a safer place for games of this threat level.
So do other local rivals throughout the country not have spontaneous clashes ? Yes. Do they have the home fans held back / inconvenienced as a result? No. - its utter bollox and the police and club and cast need to be made to take a look at themselves and make sure this never happens again.
Why should CAST be made to take a look at themselves? The club and police are responsible for the safety of fans. CAST are responsible for sharing fan views and concerns.
The Police overruled the club in their decision to
change the egress points for the home and away fans. This was a decision based
off intel of spontaneous clashes between both sets of fans. Please us the link
below for any questions regarding the Police involvement.
I can assure you that the
safety team will learn from the mistakes made on Saturday and will endeavor to
make The Valley a safer place for games of this threat level.
So do other local rivals throughout the country not have spontaneous clashes ? Yes. Do they have the home fans held back / inconvenienced as a result? No. - its utter bollox and the police and club and cast need to be made to take a look at themselves and make sure this never happens again.
How can you have pre match intelligence of spontaneous clashes? It’s either, ‘intelligence of pre planned meet ups between rival risk groups’ or ‘ there is no pre planned meet up scheduled’ and therefore if it happens it’s spontaneous. If it was based on ‘historical spontaneous clashes’ it should say that and they should be able to provide evidence. Sounds like a made up load of nonsense to me.
The club would have had the emails of all online purchasers of a ticket for the game. Was an email sent to all those purchasers (and season ticket holders) regarding the police arrangements? Sorry if this question has been asked before
The club would have had the emails of all online purchasers of a ticket for the game. Was an email sent to all those purchasers (and season ticket holders) regarding the police arrangements? Sorry if this question has been asked before
No, the only communication from the club regarding rerouting supporters after the game was on the website hidden via a link under a heading of guide to the game, unlike Millwall where it was prominently placed on their website, there was also hardly any audible announcements on the 'Tannoy' before, during or after the game.
Agree with FF post...... I initally felt anger that Millwall attacked Charlton fans as I exited, then annoyness that club said nothing, now I feel sadness that the club who i have supported for 55yrs, has so little respect for us fans and clearly don't care when all that has been asked for is a clear explaination. All fans have asked is that we aren't subjected to being treated like the villians by being rerouted and AWAY fans given special treatment rather than at every other ground kept back. The SMT & Comms have deliberately kept us in the dark with no pre warning. Likewise its inexcusable the survey which was issued, it is at best a joke at worst an insult to try and brush this total mess under the carpet by not addressing, the issues ie No 1 that our fans were attacked because of inadequate policing and stewarding. Its a shame we don't have anymore VOTV & Airman Brown tearing into them along with other fanzines which were always so good at being the voice of us fans.
The Police overruled the club in their decision to
change the egress points for the home and away fans. This was a decision based
off intel of spontaneous clashes between both sets of fans. Please us the link
below for any questions regarding the Police involvement.
I can assure you that the
safety team will learn from the mistakes made on Saturday and will endeavor to
make The Valley a safer place for games of this threat level.
So do other local rivals throughout the country not have spontaneous clashes ? Yes. Do they have the home fans held back / inconvenienced as a result? No. - its utter bollox and the police and club and cast need to be made to take a look at themselves and make sure this never happens again.
I am sure that the police would have held the fans back should we have asked for a greater police prescence in the ground. I wonder if the club were not too happy with what the costs would have been.
An inadequate response by Charlton’s management team and as a result I have written an email this evening highlighting my safety concerns from Saturday and would encourage other posters to do the same.
If you want to know who made the decision to change the after match routes then they will be documented and kept in either minutes or an email trail. So a FOI application to the Met will sort that out. I think CAST should be the ones to do that personally but anyone can apply for it. It may take awhile but the decision will be in black and white somewhere and if it isn’t then that really is a very bad look and not something anyone will want pointing out…….just saying.
If only. That's what I did in 2013. Twice (there were two home games that year). They were redacted to within an inch of their lives, and in full public view, as I use the excellent WhatDoTheyKnow.com site
You can read them both here. Possibly someone closer to these match processes, such as you, might still have gleaned something useful from them, but I couldn't conclude anything from them:
when you don't ask the right questions, you allow bland generic bollox like that to be the answer - 'take it up with the police, we're not telling you the reason why we rolled over and allowed our home fans to be fucked over again at the expense of millwall fans and you never asked us that anyway so why would we offer that information up' - cast, your useless.
Why do you keep giving CAST grief for the fuckups of the Police and the club? The obvious answer to why the club "rolled over" and didn't keep the Millwall fans in is that they needed the Police agreement to do that. Or were you expecting the stewards to keep 3000 pissed off Millwall fans in the Jimmy Seed without any police support? Would we even have had a safety certificate for the match if we didn't agree the policing arrangements for the game with the Met? And the club has no control over how the Police decide to deal with fans once they've left the ground.
Given that a similar stupid strategy appears to have been used at Palace v Millwall that seems to indicate that the driving force behind the decision was the Met and not the club. The club has handled (and continues to handle) the communications very poorly, could possibly have done better with stewarding by the gate that got broken through, but the bigger villain of the piece is whichever idiot in the Met decided that this was a good plan.
because nowhere in any of your questions have u asked why they, the police, thought that would be the right solution when iot doesn't happen at any other ground? the club must know the answer to that surely? this wouldn't happen in a rangers celtic, villa birmingham or man utd liverpool match so how the hell has it been allowed to happen here - again ? useless
My questions? I'm only a random supporter not a member of the CAST board, and they have asked the Police why the decision was taken not to hold the visiting supporters back when that's what is usually done. I'm just puzzled by you continually directing your frustration at fellow fans that are trying to get answers on our behalf, rather than the people who made the decisions in the first place.
My mistake re you and cast. But surely its obvious - CAST have a platform, a voice that should be heard and represent us hence my exasperation with them missing the main point- i have sent an email to the club, and am looking for the contact details for the police. I'll also fill out the survey.
I realise that I'm probably wasting my time, but hey ho - did you not see the email sent to the police from CAST? What main point was missing from that email? Genuine question.
Yes. The fact it (home team being held back, not the away team) happens at no other game in the country? Isn't that the key point? Its not just unusual, its unique to us!!! and it shouldn't happen and we need to point that fact out and expose the decision for the 'path of least resistance bollox that it is - we shouldn't put up with it - no other club does!! Strewth.
You will put up with it though. Same as quite a few other posters on this thread. @Covered End has had a season ticket for 60 years and will continue to do so no matter what the club .does.
The police imposed the exit routes. They are responsible for any safety risk in using Charlton Lane. I am 100% confident of that, but the club has other questions to answer.
when you don't ask the right questions, you allow bland generic bollox like that to be the answer - 'take it up with the police, we're not telling you the reason why we rolled over and allowed our home fans to be fucked over again at the expense of millwall fans and you never asked us that anyway so why would we offer that information up' - cast, your useless.
Why do you keep giving CAST grief for the fuckups of the Police and the club? The obvious answer to why the club "rolled over" and didn't keep the Millwall fans in is that they needed the Police agreement to do that. Or were you expecting the stewards to keep 3000 pissed off Millwall fans in the Jimmy Seed without any police support? Would we even have had a safety certificate for the match if we didn't agree the policing arrangements for the game with the Met? And the club has no control over how the Police decide to deal with fans once they've left the ground.
Given that a similar stupid strategy appears to have been used at Palace v Millwall that seems to indicate that the driving force behind the decision was the Met and not the club. The club has handled (and continues to handle) the communications very poorly, could possibly have done better with stewarding by the gate that got broken through, but the bigger villain of the piece is whichever idiot in the Met decided that this was a good plan.
because nowhere in any of your questions have u asked why they, the police, thought that would be the right solution when iot doesn't happen at any other ground? the club must know the answer to that surely? this wouldn't happen in a rangers celtic, villa birmingham or man utd liverpool match so how the hell has it been allowed to happen here - again ? useless
My questions? I'm only a random supporter not a member of the CAST board, and they have asked the Police why the decision was taken not to hold the visiting supporters back when that's what is usually done. I'm just puzzled by you continually directing your frustration at fellow fans that are trying to get answers on our behalf, rather than the people who made the decisions in the first place.
My mistake re you and cast. But surely its obvious - CAST have a platform, a voice that should be heard and represent us hence my exasperation with them missing the main point- i have sent an email to the club, and am looking for the contact details for the police. I'll also fill out the survey.
I realise that I'm probably wasting my time, but hey ho - did you not see the email sent to the police from CAST? What main point was missing from that email? Genuine question.
Yes. The fact it (home team being held back, not the away team) happens at no other game in the country? Isn't that the key point? It’s not just unusual, it’s unique to us!!! and it shouldn't happen and we need to point that fact out and expose the decision for the 'path of least resistance bollox that it is - we shouldn't put up with it - no other club does!! Strewth.
Is the survey actually specific / uniquely relevant to the Millwall fixture or just a ‘post event’ type thing they may do in this day and age from time to time?
My point being whether created due to issues or just a thing they were planning anyway?
Almost certainly generic and only sent to a % of fans.
I got the survey, and have no intention of answering it, having already emailed my complaints.
I've written to fans@cafc this morning but frankly if this is what club thinks is important they really don't understand us the fans .....surely someone at club SMT & Comms just has to look at Charlton Life with over @ 97,000 views + 1,400 comments (on two threads about Millwall post match reaction) which cover all issues and concerns surrounding Saturdays debacle V Millwall to get the idea we ain't happy and want an explaintation and reassurance that it won't happened again for future fixtures with Millwall & high risk fixtures.
Spot on, and twitter, Facebook etc.
Being blunt, email complaints are becoming a bit outdated, and people tend to complain on social media more.
But seeing as they clearly only ridiculously use an email box as a benchmark, I have sent in my email.
I've written to fans@cafc this morning but frankly if this is what club thinks is important they really don't understand us the fans .....surely someone at club SMT & Comms just has to look at Charlton Life with over @ 97,000 views + 1,400 comments (on two threads about Millwall post match reaction) which cover all issues and concerns surrounding Saturdays debacle V Millwall to get the idea we ain't happy and want an explaintation and reassurance that it won't happened again for future fixtures with Millwall & high risk fixtures.
Spot on, and twitter, Facebook etc.
Being blunt, email complaints are becoming a bit outdated, and people tend to complain on social media more.
But seeing as they clearly only ridiculously use an email box as a benchmark, I have sent in my email.
The Police overruled the club in their decision to
change the egress points for the home and away fans. This was a decision based
off intel of spontaneous clashes between both sets of fans. Please us the link
below for any questions regarding the Police involvement.
I can assure you that the
safety team will learn from the mistakes made on Saturday and will endeavor to
make The Valley a safer place for games of this threat level.
So do other local rivals throughout the country not have spontaneous clashes ? Yes. Do they have the home fans held back / inconvenienced as a result? No. - its utter bollox and the police and club and cast need to be made to take a look at themselves and make sure this never happens again.
Why should CAST be made to take a look at themselves? The club and police are responsible for the safety of fans. CAST are responsible for sharing fan views and concerns.
when you don't ask the right questions, you allow bland generic bollox like that to be the answer - 'take it up with the police, we're not telling you the reason why we rolled over and allowed our home fans to be fucked over again at the expense of millwall fans and you never asked us that anyway so why would we offer that information up' - cast, your useless.
Why do you keep giving CAST grief for the fuckups of the Police and the club? The obvious answer to why the club "rolled over" and didn't keep the Millwall fans in is that they needed the Police agreement to do that. Or were you expecting the stewards to keep 3000 pissed off Millwall fans in the Jimmy Seed without any police support? Would we even have had a safety certificate for the match if we didn't agree the policing arrangements for the game with the Met? And the club has no control over how the Police decide to deal with fans once they've left the ground.
Given that a similar stupid strategy appears to have been used at Palace v Millwall that seems to indicate that the driving force behind the decision was the Met and not the club. The club has handled (and continues to handle) the communications very poorly, could possibly have done better with stewarding by the gate that got broken through, but the bigger villain of the piece is whichever idiot in the Met decided that this was a good plan.
because nowhere in any of your questions have u asked why they, the police, thought that would be the right solution when iot doesn't happen at any other ground? the club must know the answer to that surely? this wouldn't happen in a rangers celtic, villa birmingham or man utd liverpool match so how the hell has it been allowed to happen here - again ? useless
My questions? I'm only a random supporter not a member of the CAST board, and they have asked the Police why the decision was taken not to hold the visiting supporters back when that's what is usually done. I'm just puzzled by you continually directing your frustration at fellow fans that are trying to get answers on our behalf, rather than the people who made the decisions in the first place.
My mistake re you and cast. But surely its obvious - CAST have a platform, a voice that should be heard and represent us hence my exasperation with them missing the main point- i have sent an email to the club, and am looking for the contact details for the police. I'll also fill out the survey.
I realise that I'm probably wasting my time, but hey ho - did you not see the email sent to the police from CAST? What main point was missing from that email? Genuine question.
Yes. The fact it (home team being held back, not the away team) happens at no other game in the country? Isn't that the key point? It’s not just unusual, it’s unique to us!!! and it shouldn't happen and we need to point that fact out and expose the decision for the 'path of least resistance bollox that it is - we shouldn't put up with it - no other club does!! Strewth.
Were we held back……I don’t think so.🤔
Yes - walk a mile out your way or stay in the ground and wait - same thing
Comments
I think CAST should be the ones to do that personally but anyone can apply for it.
It may take awhile but the decision will be in black and white somewhere and if it isn’t then that really is a very bad look and not something anyone will want pointing out…….just saying.
The club are doing a textboard, don't admit anything went wrong as then your guilty....
i'm surprised they haven't just said "NO COMMENT".
Communication issues...or rather the lack of such.
When they DO appear, the information "given" is often misleading/unclear and sometimes even incorrect ! I don't need to trawl through the annals but I'm sure most on here know where I'm coming from. Proof reading seems to be a thing of the past at our club too.
Such misinformation /lack of clarity will have one of two responses from those who read it.
Shrug shoulders, muttering " What a waste of time " whilst deleting with haste.
Or, muttering ( again) " What the feck? ", grabbing their phone or consulting the OS for the relevant number to make a complaint or send a strongly worded email....
But who to contact ? And can you get through to someone who will take responsibility for said issue ?
The fact that a Lifer had to ask who is Head of Comms earlier says it all.
When TS was in charge ( or thought he was ...) the contact details on the relevant OS page were reduced to a mere handful, presumably because his tight knit ship ( consisting of him & his partner) didn't want the phone ringing or emails received to potentially be answered.
It appears to me that this is still the case.
Regardless of the platitudes from the club, IMO, the communication between staff & supporters is an afterthought. And lack of this essential component played a huge part in what came to pass last Saturday. NO-ONE will put their name to anything - that's a fact.
Back in the "good old days" of decent relationships between fans and staff who cared ( such as Ravi, Olly Groome & Alan Telfer ) it was a pleasure to deal with them because you knew they wouldn't talk down to you & would deal with any issues brought to their attention.
Not so these days in my experience....The club requests that fans should contact other fans, such as CAST, members of the Advisory Board, Fan Advocates, Supporter Liaison Officer, Fans' Group representatives at Bi-annual Supporter Forums . I have the pleasure of knowing several of the fans who give their time to be part of this network but to be able to address a member of the SMT directly or via their deputy on certain matters was always a valuable way of gaining a satisfactory outcome of a problem.
Currently, no names appear on the link to "Staff" on the Club section of the website. And it follows that responses to emails regarding the Millwall match will not be "signed ".
We know that Gavin Carter made it his job to ensure that G & G stepped up to the plate "big time" following complaints around the catering/bars after the Watford match and as a result , improvements were made ( although menus are still MIA re matchday food in Crossbars...)
But there is a limit as to what we should expect our Directors to deal with - surely these kind of issues should be the remit of the SMT ?
If only we knew who they are ...
Rant over.
Same as quite a few other posters on this thread.
@Covered End has had a season ticket for 60 years and will continue to do so no matter what the club .does.
Response from club safety team:
The Police overruled the club in their decision to change the egress points for the home and away fans. This was a decision based off intel of spontaneous clashes between both sets of fans. Please us the link below for any questions regarding the Police involvement.
All concerns regarding external incidents should be directed to the Police email address. Make a complaint about the police | Metropolitan Police
I can assure you that the safety team will learn from the mistakes made on Saturday and will endeavor to make The Valley a safer place for games of this threat level.
So do other local rivals throughout the country not have spontaneous clashes ? Yes. Do they have the home fans held back / inconvenienced as a result? No. - its utter bollox and the police and club and cast need to be made to take a look at themselves and make sure this never happens again.It’s either, ‘intelligence of pre planned meet ups between rival risk groups’ or ‘ there is no pre planned meet up scheduled’ and therefore if it happens it’s spontaneous.
If it was based on ‘historical spontaneous clashes’ it should say that and they should be able to provide evidence.
Sounds like a made up load of nonsense to me.
I am sure that the police would have held the fans back should we have asked for a greater police prescence in the ground. I wonder if the club were not too happy with what the costs would have been.
You can read them both here. Possibly someone closer to these match processes, such as you, might still have gleaned something useful from them, but I couldn't conclude anything from them:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/charlton_vs_millwall_16313#incoming-382154
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/charlton_vs_millwall_21913#incoming-488307
Being blunt, email complaints are becoming a bit outdated, and people tend to complain on social media more.
But seeing as they clearly only ridiculously use an email box as a benchmark, I have sent in my email.