Thursday 25 February 2016

The Fall and Fall of Charlton Athletic

And so it goes on. Our club is still on a downward slope and it shows no signs of abating.


Increasingly the mood of the vast majority of fans is darkening. One can see this in social media in the form of Twitter, Blogs, Forums etc.


Long standing supporters are planning to do, for some,  the unthinkable and not renew season tickets or further still not attend games at all whilst Roly is in charge.


Please check out the Hungry Ted Blog for an excellent post on how he feels. Then read the comments below it to further understand the general mood.


I've had similar comments too recently. FFS these are some of the most die-hard supporters not just of our club but in the land ! Many have lived and supported the club through the exile to Selhurst and beyond ! If they're giving up then there's little hope.


Thankfully, although they may be unwilling to attend games under the current owner it appears they won't give up the fight to save our club. We all need to cling on to that.


I'm not sure that I won't renew my season ticket, I probably will. However, I feel like I'm in an increasing minority. In addition, I'm not sure I'd be making the same level of effort to attend games. Looking at some remaining games this season and I'm not sure I'll be there for some of those.


MK Dons at home is one such. I recall the pathetic performance away to them. At least living round the corner I didn't have to travel far for that. Not sure I want to make the effort to witness a repeat on another potentially cold and miserable night.


The only thing that will save our club is if Roly gets out of it completely. He shows no signs of doing and again I question the man's motives. The same must be said of Katrien. She must be getting well paid. Why would someone who's qualified as a lawyer leave their homeland and endure the dislike and genuine anger of a group of strangers ? Weird !


I'll be there Saturday again supporting the team but it gets increasingly harder. I can take bad performances, in my 50 years or so I've seen enough of them. I can take the relegation, again I've seen enough of those. It's just the unacceptable manner of it all and the feeling that it isn't going to end anytime soon.


I genuinely worry that the collective anger will intensify in the coming weeks and that it will spill over into something unpleasant. I really hope that doesn't happen of course but one senses real anger out there. Anything over the top is counter-productive and protests need to remain sensible and legal.


We must keep plugging away. It's our only hope.


I'm looking forward to seeing Yann on Saturday for what will probably be his last appearance at The Valley.


Come On You Reds !



14 comments:

  1. Thass cos Katrien is ard workin n tryin to turn things rahnd. I look forward to goin next season n supportin our gaff, the players n owners. The police need to be ahrt in force dahn our gaff on Saturday cos there's loss of ASB types n exenophobes from the ard right tryin to destroy the club.

    ReplyDelete
  2. a2c, you are entitled to your view and I respect that, even though I consider it to be somewhat "off the wall" - but will you please, please respect the many observers to this erstwhile site and write in English not some form of weird sub-cultural language that you clearly speak fluently. You might as well write it in Serbo-Croat, or Belgian, for all the sense it makes....

    Phil, it would be a good idea if EVERYONE tore up their season ticket application as soon as it arrives - in order to avoid the dilemma of 'to renew, or not to renew'.... Renew it for what? To pay in advance for another season of dross? To be ripped off as the regime offers several matches for a fiver as they try to boost attendances above 5000? To be counted as an attendee even if you are absent, for whatever reason?

    We are entering into a war of attrition - we need to cut off all forms of revenue into the club in order to get rid of the regime and make them sell up and bog off. It is hard, it goes against everything that we supporters want to do to make our club successful BUT there will be NO success - just more heartache and despair - until the club is sold onto someone who cares about it and treats it as a football club NOT a business model.

    ReplyDelete
  3. As much as it hurts the only thing we can do is stay away. Till it's our club again.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ow's wot yourn are doin goin go elp the club n juss think wot yourn are doin is puttin jobs at risk n staff ahrt of work. Iss a disgrace fans are behavin like this but they aint fans in my book.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ....so speaks Katrien Meire's personal assistant - well, he makes as much sense as she does! Good to see that a2c is fluent in Walloonian. .?

      Delete
  5. Wass wallonian n I aint got a clue wot yourn are talkin abahrt. Least I support our gaff, the players n owners, all yourn are doin is underminin it. I don't reckon millonaires are interested in buyin a club with exenophobe fans so yourn need to think abahrt it n all.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anon, Mark and DA, thanks for your comments. Appreciate what your views. I would find it difficult not to go as everyone else. No final decision on that. a2c now you know how we feel if you haven't a clue what's being said. Pleased for you if you think Roly and co are doing a good job. I think you know the reality but take as much pleasure from taking a contrary view as you do writing your jabberwocky.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I backed the board from the start Katrien n Roland n am carryin on doin so least thass wot I believe thass wot you call bein consistent. When ourn were relegated under Varney n Murray I can't remember readin bile, malice n vitriol aimed at them on ere n elsewhere n ave never been into farage rabble rousin, unlike some, either. Curbs agrees with me n all n e was the best gaffer ourn ave ever ad.

    ReplyDelete
  8. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  9. 'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves,
    Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
    All mimsy were the borrowgoves,
    And the mome raths outgrabe.

    a2c 2016

    ReplyDelete
  10. a2c - as you clearly understand as much about the big wide world as you do about what is going on within our beloved football club, and where your undying support for the regime will lead, I will enlighten you as to what Walloonian is....
    The Belgians speak two languages - French and Walloon - the former towards the south of the country the latter towards the north. Clearly you are multi-lingual in Walloonian because I can't understand a word of what you write.

    You are either a total wind-up merchant or you are a complete to$$er. As for your views on Charlton, I've said it before - you are fully entitled to hold your views, but you will have to realise that you are one of the 2%....!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Well if all yourn can do is resort to personal insults cos you aint of the same view juss sums up wot sort of fans yourn are. You n DA muss be one n the same n all. Were you on ere insultin Murray n Varney when ourn went dahn to L 1 lass time n all, nah I didn't think you was either n I wonder why, oh I forgot they aint from Belgium.

    ReplyDelete
  12. You are totally correct a2c - I didn't 'have a go' at Murray and Varney during previous relegations (and the same applies as far back as the era of Michael Gliksten...) because the circumstances were totally different. The problems then were basically down to a lack of money and they did what they could on very limited budgets. Sadly they failed but as 'football people' who know the game well they did what they could...

    What they didn't do was to put some tin-pot unworkable theory in place that everyone could see (including Chris Powell and Yann the Man amongst many others) would not improve the club but run it down. For the first time in our history we have someone owning the club who is a multi-millionaire - that will do no good unless he uses his money wisely. So far, he hasn't... He has brought in a Chief Executive who has never run a football club before and who has very little business management experience, in fact she is a Belgian lawyer which has about as much relevance to Charlton Athletic as your ability to speak Walloon!
    The owner has brought in useless manager after useless manager, 4 of the 5 were only here because they would do what the owner told them to do. Remember why Chris Powell got the sack - he dared to refuse to play some of the idiots that Duchatelet brought in and when he did play them WE all saw just how bad they were! The club's scouting and other back-room functions have been decimated and now players are signed by Duchatelet and Meire because they are cheap or won't cost them agents fees - the fact that they are largely unfit and not up to Championship standard seems to be an irrelevant fact to tweedle dum and tweedle dee.
    I don't need to go on, do I?
    But obviously, as one of the 2%, you are happy with this situation. Well, good on you, in division 1 you'll have the Valley all to yourself along with the other 2 percenters.

    The difference between this regime and the Varney/Murray days is that at least they tried to keep the team up, not went out of their way to get the club relegated as a part of what ever crazy plan they have up their sleeves for the future, probably involving property and making a vast profit out of land to the cost of the football team. The fact that one group is British and the other Belgian is totally irrelevant - but the facts do speak for themselves.
    Oh, and by the way, I've seen more ups and downs at the Valley than you have probably had hot dinners - starting way back in the early 1960's, this time it's totally different as the cause is not financial, it's a flawed policy from someone who has a lot of money behind them.

    Finally, my problem with you is NOT your view of the Valley regime - it's your ongoing boring use of some weird language and spelling that only you seem able to understand. I am not alone in finding it tedious in the extreme and if you want to have an intelligent debate with anyone here then I suggest that you write in English not some form of patois.

    ReplyDelete