My thread title is a quote from a famous film. Any guesses? I was reminded of the relevent scene when I read Vol's post: Now an officer and a gentleman like Captain Blackaddick would condemn Vol as a miserable, backstabbing fifth-columnist quisling, and have him shot at dawn. But however pleasant the prospect of Vol's lifeless corpse drooping from a post on some bleak wasteland on the Isle of Sheppey while Kosovan sellers of "The Big Issue" cavort round it, the good Captain would be doing Vol an injustice. When I belatedly turned on my laptop and saw that Charlton had taken an early lead, I experienced a warm glow. Then I thought of that scene from "Fail-Safe" (Sidney Lumet, 1964). USAF have accidentally launched a wing of nuclear bombers to attack Moscow. With the civilised world facing near-total annihilation, the US President arranges that the Russian leader send fighters to down the bombers. As all the US top brass watch the screen in the War Room, the USAF officers cheer each time one of the bombers evades or shoots down a Russian plane. Their training and instincts have made them lose sight of the big picture. All of us who post signs of hope that JR can turn things around and avoid relegation have similarly allowed loyalty to blind us to the big picture. The only way RD will loose his grip on Charlton's throat is if he starts losing significant sums of money. He ignores our petitions and abuse, and as he is not a fan, he could not care less about our humiliating results. He is only interested in the bottom line. And the quickest way for him to start losing money big-time is for us to get relegated. That is the only way he will be persuaded to sell up. I still agree with the protests because they may help to make up his mind quicker. So we should be cheering the 0-5s and 0-6s and be regretting each hard-won point gained because every time we avoid defeat it lowers the temperature and fans delude themselves that maybe it will turn out alright after all. It won't.
To be honest, I'm the one far more likely to be shot at dawn for being a quisling. Perhaps I should shoot one of the pigeons next time I'm at The Valley... Great post. So as much as we instinctively want Charlton to win, in the long run defeats are better for us.
I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that relegation is our only hope of salvation. If we miraculously stay up this year, the same scenario will be repeated next season and every season after that. Meanwhile we will continue to lose loyal fans and cease to attract bright youngsters. We will get relegated eventually anyway, but by that time we will be another Leyton Orient, with gates of 6000 and no significant youth program. Better to bite the bullet now, and hope that RD will realise his folly and sell up. I have no doubts we would find new owners. What is not to like about Charlton? Huge catchment area, great youth and community programmes. If clubs like Norwich, Swansea and Southampton can flourish in the Premiership with much smaller potential fanbases, Charlton can too. But not trying to do it RD's way.
That's the conclusión I 've arrived at too B+M. Yes I was happy when we scored saturday, and gutted by the Blackburn equaliser. But we will always be on the backfoot with this owner. Aparently Katrien was overheard saturday complaining about her Dublín remarks being taken out of context and 'yes, we have made mistakes'. Yes you have. The last one was Karel Fraye.He should have never been on our horizon as a potential manager, yet he clung on (sadly in part I reckon, because the owner did'nt want to admit the fans were right and he was wrong) through months of mistakes, poor results, and even survived a humiliating exit from the FA Cup. The mistakes are ongoing, not a past tense affair. Nothing is ever learned. We are expected to believe things are going to get better, but Katrien told us way back when, that Roland would do things his way. Everything else is just spin, soundbites and hot air. The model does'nt work, the owner won't change. Those two statements are in conflicto, so something must change, and for the good of the fans, and c¡the club, that must be the owner. Everything else is mere decoration.
Jeff Stelling, don't have it recorded mentioned that quite a few of the CEOs and owners have been saying that. He did end it by saying "to all those owners, we're supporters not customers!" Interesting point that Paul Merson raised too, again I don't know if you lot watched it, he was saying that the whole "FIT AND PROPER" test should be an ongoing yearly process, and should include all the fans perspectives, community, not just, can they afford to run a club. Thinks that when it comes to the likes of us, Villa, Bolton, etc., the association has failed the fans.
