“as many of the club’s officials are planning to be at Wembley” And Sue Perks. She will lose her **** at the grub on offer.
I think it's not long now before Katrien Meire will be recognised as a Charlton Legend. Sure IA will agree with me on that one. I'm going to start a petition for a bronze statue of her to stand on the opposite side of the main entrance from Sam Bartram. Her nose can form an archway over the entrance, where flags and pennants can be hung on days of special celebration. And the immortal words "My Only Desire" can be sculpted in an appropriate place on the statue.
This is the reply from CAS Trust. http://www.knack.be/nieuws/wereld/c...nze-club-verkoopt/article-opinion-923805.html
No, that is the reply from Heather. Below please find the original reply from Heather, that doesn't rely on Google translate. Just got home to find all this - thanks very much, everyone, and to Prague for initiating contact with Jef. They may still publish a shortened version in the printed mag too - though I found it hard to condense nearly four years into a few paragraphs. Here's the English version if you prefer to avoid Google translate (I was somewhat paranoid re that!): Charlton fans: “We long for the day when Duchâtelet sells our club.” An interview with CEO Katrien Meire, which appeared in Knack on 27 September, caused a stir among fans of Charlton Athletic. Charlton, an English League One (third division) team, is one of the clubs in the network of Roland Duchâtelet, delegated to the young lawyer Katrien Meire in London. Charlton football supporters are not hooligans. We are a mix of social classes, backgrounds and age, as the people of St Truiden witnessed when 200-300 fans aged from 7 to 70 held a peaceful march in the town in the spring. What unites us is passion for our club. Yes, we do call it “our club” because it is such an important part of our lives - in many cases passed on from generation to generation. Katrien Meire states that she wishes to attract younger fans – well, the way to do that is simple: create an atmosphere that encourages current fans to bring along their children and grandchildren! Instead Meire authorised a YouTube video of a young couple seemingly being filmed having sex in the centre circle at The Valley – which was then banned by the advertising authorities. When first appointed CEO by Roland Duchâtelet in January 2014, Meire was welcomed to the club. Charlton has a proud track record of campaigning for equality, whether of race, gender or sexuality, boasting an award-winning community infrastructure. Recent success on the pitch was built on a foundation of close co-operation between supporters and directors. Instead of learning about such history, Meire stated that she could not care less about it. She told us that, “Roland does things his way and fans just have to accept that.” It is nearly four years since her arrival and Meire continues to disrespect the fans. Mass protests started two years ago when fans ran out of patience. But I want to make it absolutely clear that supporters have no issue with her being female, no issue with her being young and certainly no issue with her being Belgian. We certainly don’t “blame Meire for Brexit” – 60% of Londoners voted to remain in the EU. We do, however, have significant issues with her lack of ability to run Charlton Athletic Football Club in a professional and successful manner. She has lost our respect and trust for many reasons. She appointed a succession of inexperienced coaches and signed numerous players who were unfit or unsuitable which directly led to the club being relegated. Season ticket numbers have dropped from 10,000 to around 6,000: many will not return until the regime changes. Because of all the money wasted, the club has run-up an eye-watering debt of over £50M, causing fans to fear for its very future. Above all, Meire often fails to speak the truth. For example, contrary to what she claims, there was no chant of her name and the C-word at the final match of the season when Charlton were relegated. This simply did not happen. Instead, fans unfurled a large banner stating “Liar” above her head in the directors’ box and this was applauded around the stadium. She had previously claimed that “only 2%” of fans were unhappy, yet in this interview she now seems to boast about the whole stadium being against her. We long for the day when Roland Duchâtelet sells our football club, Meire leaves and we can look forward to a positive future. And we really don’t care whether the new owners come from Australia, Belgium, China, London or Lisbon - as long as they show a willingness to embrace the identity of Charlton Athletic Football Club and don’t laugh at us behind our backs.
Disgusting as the behaviour of some of our so-called fans was, she refused to be intimidated and deserves the admiration even of the haters for that.This is one tough, battle-hardened Amazonian and we are damned lucky to have her at our club, outsmarting Rick Everitt and his rabble at every turn.
You're entitled to your opinion Jam Bonce. I have never supported intimidation of anybody - not Katrien Meire by extremist protesters, or Rick Everitt by pro-regime individuals who have threatened him. The intimidation and the gender cards are red herrings. Katrien Meire is incompetent, and she never had any sympathy or common ground with the feelings of most Charlton supporters from day 1. The responsibility for our relegation and the 50% reduction in home attendance is hers. And as CAST says it has nothing to do with her being female or young or Belgian. It has everything to do with her lack of ability and her attitude making her unfit to hold the position of CEO. Everything else is obfuscation.
Yes, quite possibly. I may have misunderstood the ironic intent (apologies Jam Bonce if that is the case). The bold italic paragraph does sound a lot like IA. "Battle-hardened Amazonian" is particularly strange, and - although presumably meant to be a compliment - more than a little creepy. Over the years I have posted criticism of KM many times, but have never seen necessary to comment on her appearance or refer to her in gender-specific terms (except in a few parody posts, mimicking the crude sexist comments posted on ITTV about female members of the protest movement). The way some apologists venerate Katrien Meire as some kind of Joan of Arc figure, suffering impassioned agony and tristesse at the hands of wicked male brutes, does the cause of gender equality no good whatsoever. Indeed the notion seems to fascinate a few of them a bit too much. Serious criticism of Katrien Meire has only ever focused on her ability and integrity (as in lack of) and her chronic disrespect towards life long fans of the Club she is happily picking to pieces, without knowing or caring how much harm she is doing. Those faults are nothing to do with gender or nationality. They are everything to do with callousness, selfish ambition and a lamentable lack of conscience.
This. I don't go in for personal abuse for the simple reason that my kids would be very embarrassed to see me misbehaving like that. Not that it bothers me if others do, but one thing I enjoyed about the Belgium protest was the good nature and lack of personal abuse. Another thing I enjoyed was the Belgian beer.
The Meire woman would have difficulty outsmarting what comes out of my she is just plain incompetent as Lardi says. How many fans are proud of her as Charlton's CEO?.... well there's IA and his mates and.......???......???... that's about it isn't it?
That's the one. I went in the coach, didn't stay overnight. I helped a charming lady carry a banner which she had made herself. Found out later she was Mrs Everitt.
I stayed overnight with slackbladder........great bar/restaurant there called The Brewery. Massive old building with a magnificent timber roof......reminds one of The Great Hall in Eltham Palace only bigger.
