No-one knows, do we? I liked the two marches we did, one with the coffin and the other with the Coventry fans. At least that gives you a chance to show your anger at the regime. especially if it is followed by a demo in the Car Park. You could say they failed because Roland's still here, but as you say, what would succeed?
So many similarities though, between then and now. The only real difference is that we no longer have to sit in a traffic jam in Sydenham High St on a Saturday afternoon. Terrible, negligent owner - tick Ineffective official supporters group - tick Dwindling home attendances - tick Struggling team - tick Labour Party out of touch with its roots [Oelman ...Corbyn] - tick
its seemingly about keeping the pressure on now. Theowing items on the pitch has had its day, but getting to know the network and the Belgium 20 have put some momentum back in the protests that was lost. Getting to him on his birthday was embarrassing for him. Serving him with letters on Saturday in front of his wife and guests of Truiden would have been a further embarrassment. The press in Belgium are continuing to write stories about his negligence and there's only so much he will take a hit to his reputation, especially when he is reliant on business partners.
That's how I thought it went. He sold Liege as soon as Truiden went up (not before selling every asset though)
TBH I feel grateful to the fans who are going to Belgium. They are getting off their arses and doing something instead of sitting on the sidelines bitching. And they are doing it on behalf of all Charlton fans. Working with the fans of Roland's other clubs is excellent, he won't like that at all. So far Roland has been able to remove himself from the pressure by running away from the fans and leaving his CEO and the club secretary's wife to take the brunt, but the Belgium 20 are putting the focus right back on Roland himself.
The goin to Belgians back yard and basically taking the piss out of him is way better than any of the recent at match protests so I'm not against it . He didn't like it but can't see it getting him to sell ,can't see anything action will apart from when he gets bored of it. I suppose any protests are better than nothing . When Mr Robinsons meet and greet in the Oak over a pint or two then .
I don't think that fans who have supported the club through thin and thin, home & away over the years can be accused of bitching. As @DonCorleone rightly says, the narcissists might get the response they clearly feel they deserve if they were a bit more inclusive.
Don't think billy has questioned the support for charlton. The question was asked what would you propose then, as last weeks podcasts and the trip to Belgium haven't ticked your boxes (that's your opinion and no one can question it). My two cents, there's not going to be one thing that makes him up and leave. We've just got to keep chipping away. Revenue is being hit by the boycotts, his reputation in Belgium is being affected by negative press, somewhere the FL must have asked questions about match stoppages etc etc. What's happened in the past 7 days has been much, much better than the last few months.
How then do they include other fans? ITTV is not to be touched with a barge pole and Not606 is a fairly anti-card forum, and much as I love not606 I have to point out that it has a small number of contributors by comparison to CL. The organisers of the Belgian trip advertised on CL for volunteers for the trip, and got such a good response (no idea how many) that they had to trawl through them to pick out 20. There is nothing whatsoever to stop us on Not606 from doing anything like that, or from applying via CL to go on the next trip. ....but if you do, then are you a narcissist?
The only real realistic option for him is to discuss with a buyer, if he wants to save face. He needs to accept that our little Island of ours do not share the same beliefs and values as on the continent. We've always been the outsiders of Europe in general on everything. No-ones going to come back, we probably will do over a different owner who buys into, believes in the club and shares the same vision as the fans. They can package up anything they want, but at the end of the day Roland, Katrien, your buddy Parks (@Royston Vasey) never share the same vision as the fans which is why it'll never work.
I have seen a comment on CL that suggested Paul Elliott spoke with CARD to see if protests would continue should a takeover happen. Made me laugh.
Isn't Charlton un-sellable while we remain in League 1? Already £38m in debt, which is forecast to rise above £45m by Summer 2017.
Wouldn't say so. We were bought out in L1 before and youve got some potential big takeovers possibly happening at clubs like notts county (L2) now. It's more attractive in the championship, but if a potential investor thinks he could get promotion at a nominal price then I don't think it would stop them. You don't even have to throw money around in league one, you just need to be sensible. Our promotion season saw us spend less than what we did this summer.
The difference between us before and Notts County is our owner isn't desperate. We're many things but going into administration isn't one of them. However, it's a game of chicken, Duchatelet's "debt" means nothing at this level, prospective owners can tell him to do one if he tries to factor it in. If he wants his money back we have to be in at least the Championship. He's spent a fair bit this year in the hope this will take him up, but being a mad man he's half arsed it and left us with an unbalanced squad. In his business brain I imagine he was thinking about the headcount, that doesn't work in football. Duchatelet is sinking £7mil p/a into the club at this level, how long can he be bothered to do this? He's not getting any of that back at this level.
