#duchatelet

Play was stopped during the League One match between Charlton Athletic and Fleetwood Town after home fans threw packets of crisps onto the pitch.

It is the latest in a line of protests by Addicks supporters, who are unhappy with how Belgian owner Roland Duchatelet is running the club.

The packets had been distributed by fan coalition group Campaign Against Roland Duchatelet (CARD).

The game was delayed by a minute while the playing surface was cleared.

Duchatelet took over Charlton in January 2014 and agreed a price to sell[1] the south-east London club in February, but the takeover is still ongoing.

CARD has held a series of protests aimed at businessman Duchatelet, including throwing thousands of plastic pigs[2] onto the pitch in 2016, and had suspended a boycott of home games to stage the latest stunt, which followed a pre-match rally outside The Valley.

The English Football League has said it will meet[3] with the club and its supporters’ trust after Duchatelet told staff incentivised bonuses would not be paid after a “very bad financial year”.

References

^ agreed a price to sell (www.bbc.co.uk)

^ throwing thousands of plastic pigs (www.bbc.co.uk)

^ it will meet (www.bbc.co.uk)

BBC Sport – Football

CARD is planning another busy day of action at The Valley on Saturday, with the return of the 5pm post-match protest - and something a little extra to be announced at midday.

The Coalition Against Roland Duchatelet is calling for another huge turnout of fans in the west stand car park after the match, but we’ve decided to add a little twist this time, which we’ll reveal on the day. We think you’ll like it.

CARD has today revealed its latest video, building up to Saturday’s planned 5pm protests

We’re also asking for volunteers to help with another major distribution exercise to arriving fans before the game, so if you can help from 1pm onwards and haven’t yet provided your contact details then please drop us an email at [email protected].

This is additional to the copies of a new Trust News being distributed by our friends from the Charlton Athletic Supporters’ Trust, so there will be plenty going on before the game.

Naturally we were concerned to read the speculation that chief executive Katrien Meire would be leaving the club and we’re thrilled to read on the BBC, Guardian, Daily Mail, Independent, and South London Press websites that she’ll still be there to enjoy this weekend’s protests.

Thanks for making that so very clear, Katrien, with your statement on the club site last night. Sadly, CARD can’t take the credit for your official resignation. Yet.

CARD doesn’t promote or endorse actions that break the law and the police have asked to us to make clear that they will look to arrest any individual who brings a flare to the protest. We promise it will be colourful enough without them.

In the meantime, you’ll have seen the first of our posters that went up opposite Makro in Charlton at the weekend. Here’s the story if you missed it - and rest assured that we have plenty more surprises lined up over the coming days, weeks and months.

We’re very grateful for your support to date, including donations made to the protest fund. But if you are able to contribute financially then more information is available here.

The campaign to oust Roland Duchâtelet from The Valley has a new face. And it’s around 3m high!

On Saturday, the Coalition Against Roland Duchâtelet (CARD) took a leaf out of the tactics book written by the Valley Party when it launched a new advertising billboard half a mile from the stadium directly targeting the Charlton owner.

The billboard features an image of a young supporter alongside the slogan “Here before you and long after you’ve gone”.

The action echoes the award-winning billboards devised in 1990 when Addicks fans became the first football supporters to form a political party, and contested the 1990 Greenwich Council elections. The Valley Party won 14,838 votes and successfully forced the council to support the exiled club’s return to its home stadium.

On that occasion, there was a famous image of a seemingly worried young boy, wearing a Charlton hat and scarf, next to the question “If you don’t support Charlton, who is he going to support?”

Famously, the identity of the boy featured in 1990 was never known. But this time around things are different.

The star of the new billboard is Phil Reeks, pictured as a five-year-old in 1992, shortly before Charlton returned to The Valley.

“The photo on the billboard was taken on my first visit to The Valley,” said Phil, from Greenhithe. “Since then I have visited hundreds of times, and I am sure I will go hundreds more – but not under the current owners.

“At present I am taking a leave of absence and only attending away games. That's because, like many others, I will not fund this mad and selfish experiment.”

Since Duchâtelet took control of Charlton in January 2014, he has appointed five new managers without any noticeable improvements in the results of the club, which slipped to the bottom of the table after Saturday’s 1-0 home defeat to Bristol City. The absentee Belgian owner has not visited The Valley to watch a match since October 2014.

Off the pitch, the club is in an even worse state, with chief executive Katrien Meire responsible for a series of PR gaffes, including the labelling of fans’ affinity for the club as “weird” at a Dublin web conference in November.

Reeks, now 28, added: “We’re bottom of the league at the moment, but it's not about results. It's about the mistreatment of staff, the abject player recruitment policy, the constant mistruths, the same mistakes being repeated again and again, the list goes on.

“Over the years, I've had roughly 12 season tickets in various places around the Covered End, but I don’t currently have a season ticket. Even the club has admitted that 3,000 of its season-ticket holders aren’t currently attending games at the moment, and it’s doing nothing to win those fans back.”

Then and now: 28-year-old Phil Reeks is pictured in front of the billboard showing him as a five-year-old

In January CARD, a broad-based umbrella organisation aimed at forcing the owner to sell up, was formed and it has already organised a series of successful protests, that are intended to escalate the longer the owner remains in charge.

More than 6,000 people have signed a petition (www.ourcharlton.org.uk) in just over a fortnight, while almost £8,000 has been donated to a protest fund by fans. More than 1,450 free black and white scarves, echoing the colours worn in the team’s 1947 FA Cup final success, have been distributed, along with thousands of stickers, beer mats and banners promoting the campaign.

“Like many others, I will not fund this mad and selfish experiment” - Phil Reeks

On January 23rd, an estimated 3,500 fans gathered in a post-match mass protest in the west-stand car park, and CARD has already revealed plans for a further protest against the regime at 5pm on Saturday, after the home match against Cardiff City. Further plans for the day will be announced nearer the time.

New Post has been published on http://www.maidirecalcio.com/2014/03/07/duchatelet-punta-allacquisto-del-bari-per-allargare-il-suo-network.html