Charlton supporters embark on fight to save club’s future

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.

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