And you can guarantee that if it was a Bloke doing Katrien's job, people would be telling him to piss off etc. Political correctness gone mad. **** off Katrien.
On a serious note, the whole interview reinforces what we (on this site at least) all suspected - a young woman appointed for her looks and novelty value, but way out of her depth in a business/country/culture/ football club she knows f&ck all about. And her arrogance just makes it worse.
I'm all for arrogance, but you have to know how to control it, which She doesn't - and that can come across horrendously. She also seems far too defensive for her position. Within a bigger working environment, many people would be eyeing her position already.
Translated for all to read "The glorious past of this club? I do not care." After a year and a half, the challenge is always present for the Belgian Katrien Meire (31 years): give new life to Charlton Athletic, English second division club. "The training of young players is the main wealth of Belgian clubs" "Now you understand why I fell in love with this club?" Exclaims Katrien Meire jokingly. At 31, she holds the position of CEO of the London football club, Charlton Athletic. Around us, 15,000 supporters of the old guard and their families, bellowed loudly singing the anthem of the club before the start of the match against Hull City, the second division of "Championship" English. In this working-class neighborhood of south-east of the British capital, unable to find more traditional than this venerable club 110 years. Meire shows us a lot in a corner of the ground, behind the stand. "This is where supporters are scattered ashes of deceased. The chaplain of the club still hosts a ceremony. Do you know that thirty years ago, the stadium could accommodate 90,000 people?" But this golden age is over. Late 2013 , the entrepreneur Roland Duchâtelet bought this moribund club, who had just been relegated and was poorly managed. " It was a real culture shock ," recalls Meire , CEO since January 2014. This law lawyer competition was behind her , barely five years experience in offices of international lawyers in the Brussels region and with the European Commission. " The staff at Charlton was bloated, and many of them did not have the required skills ," said Meire . In May last year , she fired ten older workers. The timing was tricky because the players had just avoided relegation. "I warned my staff for weeks it would be a disaster down in the third division. And a few days after lifesaving sport, I separated from a part of the staff. It was difficult, but necessary. I have kept the CFO. We are putting in place a good team. The problem is that we are very close to central London. The good people prefer to work there. Here, wages are more modest. Sometimes I want to climb the wall. For example, a contributor to our sales department failed to send, to a potential sponsor for our jerseys, a rag erased by way of introduction, instead of preparing complete documents and impeccable. So it was 480,000 euros (laughs). I have often said that I needed a punching bag in my office! " On the ground, not a goal in sight. The first half? A long series of yawns. But just after the restart Meire is recovering at once. Charlton opened the scoring. "Yes, yes," she shouts, fists clenched, before falling into the arms of a pensioner club featured! Meire has fun. "I'm crazy about football. Since I was nine, I followed all home championships STVV. I always wanted to work in the field of sport and football in particular." She realized her dream by reaching out to Roland Duchâtelet few years ago. "He was still the owner of the club STVV (Sint-Truiden), who was playing at the time in second Belgian division I read that several clubs wanted to seek advice from Jef Vermassen -. A criminal lawyer, on the sale of TV rights I thought, I do know that it is precisely Roland my specialty. " Duchâtelet was seduced by determining Meire. He incurred during Winter 2013 Standard Liege - he owned at the time - as "Legal and international relations manager." Barely two months later, he sent into the arena of Charlton Athletic. "I was not ready, I had no experience in managing a football club, and I had never talked to a player agent. The first months, the pressure was very strong, I do not want to be responsible for a relegation. I struggled. Especially the first few months, I happened to cry. I could not speak at Roland but it was busy and I had ensure that it does not have to endure our problems. Fortunately, the staff lovingly supported me. It may be that Roland had asked them to do (laughs). " Through layoffs and outsourcing, Meire rose (ed. reduced??) from 150 to 100 employees. She gave a great sweep in this dusty club. "Examples? I can cite many as you want. Previously, only one person managed all food stands of the stadium. There was no signed contract, only a 'gentleman's agreement'. After each match, the person we communicated the sales amount and the club received a percentage. There was no control. " And suddenly, silence. "Damned", Meire repeatedly swear! Two minutes before the whistle, Hull City equalized. "Do your job!" Screaming fans furious at the head of the players. There is among them a clan of diehard fans, Meire has learned the hard way from day one. "Most of the letters I get are complaints. In some subscribers supporters for sixty years, and who know everything better than anyone. So a lady representative for over 80 years, criticized me because we have changed the mascot of the club..." When Meire eliminated free tea and coffee for fans during the competition days , many have found it a real sacrilege. "I still always get criticism. " What difference does it make to give us some tea or coffee ? " They ask indignant . Unfortunately it's important! This is where we are likely to achieve our better margins . " " I should not say it, but I do not care about the history of the club. We need the pampering , but not at any price . " While the fourth official shows eight minutes of stoppage time, Meire emphasizes that she has no regret for having abandoned his career as a lawyer. "The work was too monotonous. I was sitting 13 hours a day at my computer. This job will also exhausting, but so much more exciting. For example, I negotiated myself all transfers. In football, you see faster results. This is positive. My only frustration? Things are not progressing as quickly as I would like. " "This summer, Roland has invested millions of euros in seven new players. It also has invested 2.7 million euros in our stadium and spent € 16 million in new facilities for academy young. He starts to put pressure on me in terms of return on investment (laughs). Of course I'm aware of. I fear that one day something does not go as planned and I'll be fired. But as I think Charlton can progress, I'll stay. I'm really happy here. "
Rick Everitt has gone into meltdown on CL I think it was the reference to "older staff without the right skills" #JobsfortheBoysUnderMurray
Now we have younger staff without the right skills. She and pardew would be a good match, always somebody else's fault.
The line about the history of the club taken in context isn't that bad because she doesn't mean history as culture, heritage or tradition. She says far far worst and naive things throughout. She is want the French call 'les incompetents'.
No one sends letters of praise to a business, people only contact them if there is a problem, what a pointless comment.
It appears this interview has gone down like a sack of **** across forums, social media and blogs. It would be interesting to see if it's clarified. In most instances when interviews are given to the international media and interesting sound bites come out, an individual might move to explain its not how it was intended. KM being the arrogant and defensive individual she appears to be in the media, hmm. Can't see it.
Problem is, would the English media label us as sexist if we wanted her ousted? On the other hand she is the sexiest Cheif Executive we have had. Also, I'm all for the cheerleaders and more women around the place, only because it super annoys this girl I know, and I'm rather indifferent to it.
She's definitely better than someone of the women I've been with. Then again I have had better too. Think it's the whole, independent, strong and somewhat powerful that does it for me. I'm quite dominate myself, and she seems the sort that won't fold under difficult decisions.
I was one of the few on here who defended the 'Man on the Train' ....... we were told that he was intimidating (utter garbage) we were told that he was drunk (he didn't look it to me) we were told that he made her cry (perhaps she had met Paul by the toilets? who knows!) it seemed to me that he had seen the Charlton Chief Exec on a train and was upset enough to ask he some questions that she didn't want to answer. Don't forget that she belittled Charlton's greatest ever manager and fans favourite (East End's finest ... Curbs) by saying that he wasn't as good as Sir Alex Luzon! This woman doesn't know what she is doing and is stupid enough to think that if she does a magazine interview in France then supporters in the UK will not get to hear about it. I wonder if the 10 elderly employees who she sacked because they were not up to the job have a claim in an industrial tribuneral for unfiar dismissal with this written confession by the Chief Exec? This lady thinks she is the dogs..... I have been involved with running businesses at Director level for more years than I care to remember.... Miss M would not have lasted five minutes at any of them with her level of incompetence and arrogance. Certainly 'dog' comes into my description of her though. You may be a 5hit Lawyer Kat but believe me .............. you are a worse Chief Exec.
You can tell she really enjoys the job by the fact that she wants a punchbag in her office. Who could she have had in mind when she said this I wonder?
