I doubt you've noticed, but this blog has fallen by the wayside lately. I've always believed blogs have a finite lifespan and I felt mine had reached the end of the road. I seriously lack the time, and, I'll be honest, the motivation to write anything Charlton related and as such I felt I'd run out of things to say (*insert obvious joke).
For the past 8 months or so I've forcefully tried to switch off from Charlton and concentrate on other things, many of which should have been my greater priority all along. I've still attended all home games, holiday aside, but it just doesn't feel the same. Not even close. I'm doing it purely out of habit; a 22 year habit. I can't remember the last time I actually looked forward to a game. Why the apathy? Well that's simple. Roland Duchatelet.
Ignoring the sacking of Sir Chris, Riga and Big Bob at this point, I was completely against the appointment of Luzon. At the time I wrote this which contained the line "I can't even bring myself to welcome Guy Luzon. I don't want him at my club". Now he's gone I actually feel sorry for him. Another victim of a crazy macabre experiment gone wrong. It was never going to work, Guy, but I genuinely admired your passion and the way you carried yourself and I wish I'd shown you more respect. It wasn't your fault, I know that.
Once again, in sacking Luzon and putting another flunkey Karel Fraeye in charge, Charlton's owner has shown a total lack of respect for our club, it's proud history and most of all, us, the fans. Once again he has treated us like mugs. For me, this latest episode is the final straw...
I am not fooled and nor is anyone else. Interim Head Coach, my arse! Who gives up a job to take a temporary one? But I have nothing at all against Karel Fraeye and unlike Luzon he will get my full support from the outset. He is not the problem here, but more of an embarrassing answer to a very difficult question. There cannot be a single argument that can justify the appointment of a man without any credentials or experience in managing a club of Charlton's size and in such a competitive league. Place Fraeye's CV alongside the long list of established, experienced, available and UK-based alternatives and he shouldn't even warrant more than a cursory glance.
If we are to believe there will be a process to find a replacement, why not ask Jason Euell or Sir Keith of all Peacocks to look after thing? Perhaps both. At least the fans would back them 100%.
This is all so unfathomably bizarre, so ridiculously deranged. It makes such little sense it feels like a terribly sick joke where, when the punchline is delivered, it attracts nothing more than a deep groan from the irritated audience. I can only imagine what sort of conversations Mr. Duchatelet has with the hapless Meire, but how on earth can a man be so detached from the majority view (including any observers outside of our club), and why can nobody make him see sense?
That last point again...why can nobody make him see sense? What exactly is Mr. Murray's role these days. How can any of this make sense to him?
My view on this is that Mr. Duchatelet simply doesn't have the skill set in place to carry out a thorough process to appoint the right head coach, and rather address that embarrassing failing in his 'model' he takes the easy route to appoint people he knows and then turns off his phone. It's a little like asking a kid to pick his team in the playground and realising he's just chosen his mates and left the team with no credible balance.
So why write this? I certainly don't want to add to the doom and gloom to which I've been trying to escape in the last 8 months. Well, in short, in a text exchange with Marco from Charlton Casualty yesterday evening he suggested it "might be worth cranking up the blog again to publicise things". He's right. If I can help spread the word of any coordinated fan protests or demonstrations to even a small number of fans who might otherwise not hear about it, then it will be worth my time and effort.
This is my club, our club. I will be here long after Mr. Duchatelet has blamed someone else for it all failing and moved on to his next bizarre experiment. Let's stick together. Unity in numbers.
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