I started off in the North Upper yesterday, and the moved to the North Lower when it was clear that many others had done the same. Onto the 2nd half, and even more had moved to the front of the Lower North, with the hostility building up nicely. By this stage, just about everyone in the North Lower was standing...certainly 90%-95% looking around me. About ten rows back behind the goal, two what can best be described as "Bovril drinkers" then started to berate other fans to sit down "because we want to watch the match". A heated argument then ensued. Some of our less inebriated fans, me included, politely urged the two Bovrils to take advantage of the other 18,000 empty seats in the ground. They were having none of it. One of them then went and got the Chief Steward , a sensible bloke who saw the numbers were against him, and also encouraged the Bovrils to move, only to be met with the response "we have paid for these seats". On the walk out at 74 min, a number of fans, me included, invited the two Bovrils to go forth and multiply, and that they would have no football to watch if the Belgians continued for much longer. They stared ahead...oblivious. Only at Charlton.....FFS
a few around us wouldnt walk out either "i've paid to watch a match" the typical response. everyone has their right to do what they like. BUT, i wish they'd left, if we dont get new owners, there might not be a ground to come back to.
Sadly for me, these are the people who did nothing in the Selhurst years, but enjoyed the benefits of a return to the Valley. Sure everyone has a right to do what they want at the ground, protests are voluntary, but by the sound of it, these two were hell bent on disrupting the disruptions. Still, at least that myth about protests causing the team to lose went out the window yesterday. Oh that KM could have followed it out.
The funny thing was, so determined were these two to sit in the seats they had "paid for", they remained rooted and stared at the standing protesters backs Each to their own of course, but it is staggering how so many cannot see the bigger picture. No Club = No football to watch ?
Yes it's a great pity, because a 100% backing for the walkout would have been absolutely fantastic, but if they don't believe in it who can really blame them? Some are calling them scabs, which is ridiculous, I even heard that insult being levelled at fans who were buying programs. I've been onstrike several times, mostly 1 or 2 day strikes, and never used that word for those who crossed a picket line (mostly they sneaked in at night), because we had to work together afterwards. And we had secret ballots, and elected representatives; nobody asked me if I would support a walkout. Any bile n vitriol directed at other fans for this reason is misplaced.
