Suggestions by email please!

There is a thread running on Charlton Life at the moment that summarises my feelings about Charlton Athletic right now and how our supporters interact with the football club. It follows the latest meeting that the Fans Forum have had with the Board (Steve Kavanagh and presumably one or two others).


The club continues to struggle on many fronts and this is generating unrest amongst the supporters who really care and those who don't are simply deciding to spend their Saturday afternoon doing something more rewarding.


The meeting appears to have been treated by the club as an opportunity to wag it's finger at the Fans Forum and tell them that they need to come to future meetings with suggested answers for all of the problems that they raise. It's a constructive point but one which I think spells the end for the FF as it stand. Dave Rudd has already decided to step down and I'm not sure how much longer the FF will be able to continue as the solution to long list of supporter grumbles almost always includes expense that the club can't afford.


This would spell the end of another "supporter initiative." The Fan-on-the-Board" was bold when first introduced and showed for the first time that the Board were confident they had nothing to hide. The individuals concerned had a tough role to play because they had to remain tactful and diplomatic at all times which meant that there was little in practice that they could share with fellow fans. It succeeded though because the reputation of our Board and it's relationship with it's supporters improved dramatically and we became the model to follow. 


The decision to ditch the Fan-on-the-Board came a few years back and coincided with the start of our slide. Changes in the personal responsibility of Board members was given as the reason but I am not so sure there wasn't a practical work-around in the circumstances. Whatever, the decision to replace it with the Fans Forum looked like a reasonable attempt at maintaining the formal connection but it seemed doomed from the off when the first list of demands were produced. Subsequent meetings have largely followed type and I wasn't surprised to hear that the Board have had enough. 


The Internet has played a major role in driving our expectations. Supporters communicate with each other like never before but it gives voice to overwhelming tendency to be negative and short-sighted, both of which can be hugely damaging when the club is struggling. Perhaps us Bloggers are not much different but I'd like to think there is a bit of balance and a tad more positivity?


With a floundering official Supporters Club (historically they seem to breed individuals who somehow see this as their big opportunity to become something they haven't managed in life thus far) and a fledgling Supporters Trust that looks like it may have run out of steam before getting properly set-up, it's hard to see where the lead will come from next but I think it's fair to say that the onus is on the Club and it's frustrating that there again seems to be a lack of ideas or ambition. 


Obviously, it's a difficult situation and it's made harder by the lack of funds and the focus on keeping the club operating but there remains enormous goodwill and it would be refreshing to see it tapped and concentrated to better serve the club. The trouble is, I guess, the Board see themselves as the ultimate Fans Forum or Supporters Club and all of their time is effectively taken up addressing all of the issues most important to the club, like fund-raising and building the fan-base. Uneconomic suggestions about hiring more staff for the half-time rush or diverting limited funds to providing hot water in the toilets simply don't register.


Suggestions by email please!