Charlton supporters embark on fight to save club’s future

Another Saturday, another defeat. Charlton’s loss at home to fellow strugglers Bristol City last weekend was another slap in the face for the long suffering Addicks faithful. The club, south of the River Thames in London, sit bottom of the Championship table and are four points adrift of safety. League One football seems a sad inevitability.

A club that was once the model of good footballing governance is now an outfit whose structure looks just as stable as a house of cards on a windy day.

Longtime supporters of Charlton Athletic know what it’s like to fight for their club. The fans were instrumental in helping the Addicks return to The Valley in 1992 after a seven-year struggle. However, the years in the wilderness still haunt fans who fought the good fight.

“Nothing compares to having to travel to an often sparsely-filled Selhurst Park in the 1980s because you have to factor in that football itself, which was in a bad way in England,” said Rick Everitt, founder of the Charlton fanzine the Voice of the Valley. “There seemed to be no hope of a brighter future at the time.”

Everitt, a fan of Charlton since 1969, has been an influential figure for the club launching the popular fanzine in 1988. He covered the team for the local Mercury newspaper from 1989 eventually becoming its sports editor.

Everitt was then headhunted by his beloved club in 1998, who had gained promotion to the Premier League. He was their communications director before becoming the head of club development. He spent 14-years with Charlton Athletic but unfortunately for him, he left the Addicks in less than amicable circumstances when it was run by Tony Jimenez and Michael Slater.

Now he looks on as the club he and so many other fans love stumble under the ownership of the Belgian, Roland Duchâtelet:

“The threat to the club’s future and identity is just as real this time – it’s just that the money at the top of the game attracts investors and could offer a way out,” he said.

Charlton’s record with recent owners hasn’t been a terribly happy one of late. Before Duchâtelet stepped in to take over, Charlton were in the hands of Jimenez and Slater. Neither Jimenez nor Slater are remembered fondly. The duo were reliant on the backing of businessman Kevin Cash. But when the London property developer decided against bankrolling the club. the situation became difficult to put it mildly. At the very least it accelerated the sale of Charlton to Duchâtelet:

“A lot of us were very pleased to be rid of Michael Slater and Tony Jimenez, whom we didn’t trust at all, but that also meant we didn’t take anything Slater said seriously,” said Everitt.

Everitt was referring to Slater’s statement about the impending takeover by Duchâtelet. Slater referred to the Belgian as possessing extensive football knowledge and the ability to develop Charlton commercially and on the pitch.

“We didn’t like the fact that Duchâtelet owned other clubs, principally Standard Liege, or what we heard from there, but we were willing to give him every chance.”

On the face of it, Slater’s observations appeared sound. Duchâtelet owned Standard Liege (whom he has since sold), and has interests in FC Carl Zeiss Jena, Ujpest FC and AD Alorcon. Similar to the Pozzo family who own Watford, Duchâtelet had his own network of clubs to work with and recruit talent.

The Belgian businessman formally took over Charlton in January 2014. Unfortunately, for Charlton, that’s when the slide began.

Duchâtelet’s dealings immediately put him at odds with then manager Chris Powell. And the Belgian’s unfamiliarity with the rigors of the Championship put the club on the wrong foot straight away.

A rueful Everitt highlighted the key factors that made Charlton take a turn for the worse:

“The decision to sell Yann Kermorgant to Bournemouth was a hammer blow because he was an iconic figure and genuine hero to many of the fans. He was hugely important to the team, too. However, it was underpinned by the recruitment of a clutch of players who were obviously not up to the task, which in turn undermined Powell’s chances of keeping his job.

“Powell was also a hugely popular figure, so the way he was treated had a big impact on fans, even though his successor Jose Riga kept the team up. Unfortunately, Duchâtelet hasn’t been prepared to employ experienced managers and his approach to player recruitment has remained pitiful on the whole, which is why we are where we are.”

Powell was sacked in March 2014 with rumors circulating about his reluctance to heed boardroom instructions rather than poor league position being the ultimate reason he was let go. Charlton were bottom of the Championship at the time when Powell departed.

In an interview with talkSPORT, a diplomatic Powell spoke about his experience dealing with Duchâtelet. The working conditions he had to endure would have tested the patience of any manager.

From being such a hands-on owner, the Belgian has not been seen at The Valley in months. In his absence, the day-to-day running of Charlton Athletic has been left to the hapless Katrien Meire.

The disconnect between Meire and the Charlton fans is pronounced. The 31-year CEO labeled supporters as ‘customers’ and didn’t understand why fans had a sense of ownership of the Addicks. The most basic research would have revealed to Meire that Charlton fans fought to bring their club back to The Valley forming a political party to do so. The so-called ‘customers’ have been getting their own back through delivering choice words to the CEO with one apparently going as far as to sending a resignation letter on her behalf to Companies House, the UK’s registrar of companies, which it duly posted on its website.

“Katrien Meire is hopelessly out of her depth as a chief executive,” said Everitt “She’s probably a symptom rather than a cause of the problems afflicting Charlton, but even then she says and does so many stupid things that it’s difficult to take her seriously. You have to wonder how it can be that Duchâtelet doesn’t realise the extent to which she is making matters worse.”

Meire recently spoke with the London Evening Standard claiming to understand the fans’ frustration but urging them to accept the way Duchâtelet is running the club. Unfortunately for Meire and the rest of the Charlton board, that ship looks to have sailed a long time ago.

Everitt’s ire doesn’t end with Meire as he holds the club’s director Richard Murray just as responsible for the travails affecting Charlton:

“Murray is complicit in backing both the last two administrations when they were clearly not good for the club,” the Voice of the Valley founder stated.

Murray, who played a big role in bringing Charlton back to The Valley, has more recently been defending Duchâtelet’s ownership. Murray claimed that the hierarchy recognized that too much was done too soon, too many players not familiar with English football were brought in and that the new owners underestimated the competitiveness of the Championship.

“He’s lost a lot of respect as a result, which is a shame because he was a key player in the club’s revival after 1992. I have no idea what purpose he thinks he is serving by remaining on the board now,” Everitt continued.

‘No idea’ seems to be a fair description of how the club has been run since the dawn of the Duchâtelet era. From selling key players and bringing in sub-par replacements to changing managers like it’s going out of style to releasing a bizarre video of a couple having sex in the centre circle of The Valley in the hopes of it going viral to publicize a pitch hire scheme, the strategy is hard to fathom.  From an outsider’s point of view Duchâtelet is attempting to treat the club like a business.

“The irony is that it isn’t being run as a business,” blasts Everitt “That might be the plan, but things are done for which there is no conceivable business case, like replacing thousands of seats that have faded from bright red because they have been exposed to the sun, or marketing initiatives that cost more than the income they can ever generate. They will never make a profit because they have no idea what they are doing – and it’s very, very difficult in the Football League anyway”.

On the pitch, the players are being left to carry the weight, and Everitt points out that the younger members of the Charlton squad are shouldering an unfair burden. Six academy players have made their first team debut this season with the latest being the 17-year old striker Josh Umerah who came on when Charlton were trailing 5-0 to Hull City. The likes of Morgan Fox and Jordan Cousins, 22 and 21 respectively, have had to fill the void with Everitt fearing that they and the other young talent have already been “exposed too early and too often” due to the lack of squad depth at Charlton.

And then there’s the 18-year old Ademola Lookman who has already attracted the attention of top clubs in the Premier League. Lookman has already found the net for Charlton four times in 10 appearances but the likelihood of him staying at The Valley seem bleak especially if the club are relegated to League One.

“Lookman is a great talent, but at 18 the club is asking a huge amount from him,” said Everitt.

Indeed it appears that asking manager José Riga to keep Charlton up for a second time looks to be nothing more than a forlorn hope. During his first stint, the Belgian manager had a better rounded squad capable of beating the drop. This time around he has not got that luxury. It remains to be seen whether the January loan captures of Yaya Sanogo, Rod Fanni and Diego Poyet and the permanent signings of Roger Johnson and Jorge Teixeira will boost any linger chances of avoiding the drop.

“There are already questions about the extent to which Riga was responsible for the deadline day signings and the performance against Bristol City was absolutely pitiful, so it’s very hard to be optimistic about staying up,” said a pessimistic Everitt “It must be difficult for the players because they will know the club is a basket-case and being laughed at elsewhere in the English game.”

It’s a cruel way for club captain Johnnie Jackson to spend the twilight of his career. In the aftermath of a 5-0 hammering away to Huddersfield, Jackson fronted up, taking to Twitter to apologize for the performance and promised that the club would reimburse the traveling support.

“Jackson remains a popular figure and justly so. He’s been able to pop up with a few vital goals even this season, but I’m afraid the clock is against him now,” said Everitt.

That Jackson has to juggle performance on the pitch with politics is asking too much of the Charlton captain.

Dropping into League One is worryingly an increasingly likely prospect for Charlton and the ramifications on the club’s bottom line is bound to be felt.

“Relegation will be hugely damaging financially, especially with so much hostility to the ownership,” stated Everitt “They will lose a huge chunk of TV and Premier League solidarity money, and my guess is anything up to 70 per cent of season-ticket holders, while still being tied into long player contracts and heavy fixed costs on the stadium. I don’t see Riga being here that long.”

There is hope for Charlton fans though. Duchâtelet has previous experience in selling up in the face of supporter unrest. Last year, the Belgian businessman sold Standard Liege to Bruno Venanzi after feeling the brunt of fan anger. He admitted that his tenure at Standard became “complicated” though that has as much to do with his decision to sell star players such as Steven Defour, Axel Witsel and Eliaquim Mangala, to name just a few.

The Coalition Against Roland Duchâtelet (CARD) was formed to pressurize the Belgian into selling up. Displaying a level of PR savvy that is lacking at the club itself, CARD has managed to bring together multiple factions to deliver a strong, unified message.

“It’s been a very positive exercise for the supporters, because earlier there were multiple small groups all doing their own thing,” Everitt explained “We’ve been able to harness professional expertise inside the group and raise funds, as well as attracting new people to get involved. However, the situation is so extreme that there will always be some who want to take direct action, while others believe that nothing can get to Duchâtelet.”

The Voice of the Valley founder did express concerns that disgruntled supporters could take things into their own hands should their frustration with the ownership escalate any further. Again CARD has thus far been successful in channeling that frustration into a positive movement though Everitt is clearly concerned about fan rage boiling over. 

“We hope that it has helped to channel the anger and energy in a responsible and productive way, but there is a clear risk that it will spill into something else if the regime continues on its current path. We may not be able to control that,” he feared.

CARD does look to have a friend in Peter Varney, Charlton’s former chief executive. He attempted to initiate talks with the hierarchy of The Addicks with the hope of investing money into the club. Thus far, he has been given the short shrift by Duchâtelet and company.

Varney noted “It is well documented fans aren’t very happy with the ownership model and I was trying to help. It has become clear in recent times that Charlton isn’t for sale and they are carrying on with the model they have got there. That is their right to do that. I think it is a shame because the deal would have been good for the owners if they had listened to the proposition, and it would have been good for Charlton”.

At the moment, the intransigence of the current owner not to talk, let alone sell up, could just be a show of bluster. 

“I think it’s partly posturing and the fact that he has run up so much debt already that the likely asking price of £50m would scare most people off, but there’s no doubt Duchatelet’s a stubborn individual,” posited Everitt.

Recently, the UK Sports Minister Tracey Crouch has pushed to introduce legislation that would compel clubs to meet with supporters on major strategic issues. Everitt isn’t terribly convinced by the move though pointing out that Katrien Meire “already attends fans’ forum at Charlton four times a year,” with little being achieved as a result of these meetings.

With clubs in England unlikely to adopt the German model and the proposed legislation being called into question due to its cosmetic-looking nature, supporters across the country will need to continue to make big statements to make their voices heard. Fans of Blackpool have had to invade the pitch to make their point at the end of last season, Liverpool supporters walked out in their home match against Sunderland to protest ticket pricing and the Charlton faithful are making their voices loud and clear to effect a change in ownership.

As Everitt noted, a mechanism needs to be found in order to make owners more accountable. If solutions aren’t found, the consequences will be rising supporter discontent and disenfranchisement.

For Rick Everitt and the rest of the Charlton fans, the current goal is simple:

“In the short term, just to get Duchâtelet out (of Charlton) – it’s inconceivable to me that anyone else would retain Meire. I’d love to see a better ownership model, but realistically we need a white knight who can see the benefits of working with supporters and building in the club’s great tradition of engagement with fans to achieve success. We can only hope!”

Charlton fans have fought back from the brink before so if any group of supporters can be relied to turn the tide it is The Valley faithful.

More details about The Voice of the Valley can be found online.