Trust News 14

TNT CAS Trust News

SPRING EDITION

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STEVE BROWN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

NUMBER 14 APRIL 2017

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Welcome

to the 14TH Edition of CAS Trust News AS WE GO to press our club has a slim chance of avoiding its lowest league finish for ninety one years. If we win the last two games we might be able to overtake AFC Wimbledon and secure fourteenth place in the third tier and thus equal the achievement of Theo Foley’s class of 1973/74.

Under the richest owner we have ever had we are trying to catch up a club that is owned by its supporters and was playing in the Combined Counties League a decade ago. How did it come to this ?

I’ve not come across a better description than the one coined almost exactly a year ago by Charlie Connolly – “the arrogance of certainty”. In this phrase Connolly perfectly captures the source of the club’s dismal failure during the last three years. “The sense that they know what’s best because they say they do, no matter how obvious it may be that the complete opposite is the case”.

In a meeting with CAS Trust members before the Southend game Katrien Meire acknowledged some of the mistakes the management had made and recognised that thousands of fans had turned away from the club “because of us, because of the ownership”. She didn’t actually apologise, but there were some signs of humility. Not so, however, from Duchatelet. According to him Chris Powell was stupid not to accept his tactical advice and sub-standard players. According to him the Charlton fans who travelled to Belgium were “vinegar pissers”. According to him “I never give in to blackmail. I can determine myself what is good for the club”.

So we suppose that Duchatelet in his wisdom must have decided that sacking

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News Russell Slade last November was good for the club. Slade wasn’t a particularly popular manager but, after a depressing run in September without a win in nine games his team had won three and drawn three prior to the Swindon defeat (with a weakened team). So there was no logic for the timing of the sacking on football grounds. Meire had been on national radio a week or two previously proclaiming the appointment of Slade as evidence that she and Duchatelet had learned from their mistakes. So there was every reason not to sack him on public relations grounds. And yet, Slade was out of the door. Was it something he said ? An order he refused to comply with ? A whimsical decision by a powerful man ? Or was it just “the arrogance of certainty” CAS Trust’s position has been unchanged for the last twelve months.

We believe the situation is irretrievable under Duchatelet. Supporters are the life blood of a club and there are too many long-term supporters who have walked away and won’t return until he goes. Our recent fan survey informed us that 97% of non season ticket holding respondents were unlikely to buy one for next season unless there was a change of ownership. These are people with Charlton in their hearts. You cannot build success without them.

However, 80% of non-season ticket holders said that they would renew if there was a change of ownership and 62% were prepared to make a personal pledge to do so. The air is rife at present with rumours about interested buyers and there seems to be good evidence that Duchatelet is more prepared to consider a sale than previously. By the time you read this magazine things might have moved on considerably. What we do know is that a new owner with

ambition and humility would be greeted with plenty of good will and an influx of supporter money. The good will won’t be unconditional however. I think we can be forgiven for a hint of scepticism after the last three years.

Steve Brown epitomises so much of what Charlton has lost in recent times. He is one of our own and he never let us down. We all have our top memories of Wembley 1998 - Clive’s hat trick; Rufus’s first goal; Sasa’s save – but mine is definitely “that tackle”.

The one that Steve Brown won just outside the Sunderland area. Kinsella touched on the loose ball; Jones got round the back; Mendonca juggled it home for 4-4. But none of it would have happened without “that tackle”.

We are very grateful to Steve for sharing his memory of it and many other moments with us for this edition (pages 4-10).

That was an historic match so it is fitting that we also have a feature on the Charlton Athletic museum (14-17) written for us by museum trustee Clive Harris. The museum relies on volunteers and voluntary contributions of exhibits and finance. Clive describes the history of the museum and explains how you can support it.

Also in this edition you will find a sale prospectus written by the fans (11-12); a simple person’s guide to the club finances (18-19) and an article by CAS Trust’s founder Barnie Razzell (20-21) on how a full Valley of committed supporters is the only route to enduring success. Finally, by public demand, the return of our ever popular end of season quiz.

A subscription to CASTrust costs 10p a week. Please renew your membership when it becomes due and encourage others to join. Our article on page 11 explains how we see the Supporters Trust as an essential part of ensuring that the club goes forward with ambition and unity. And, we hope, without the “arrogance of certainty” Richard Wiseman, Chair

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Board Chair: Richard Wiseman Vice chair: Steve Clarke Treasurer: Nigel Kleinfeld Jonathan Bangs Richard Hunt Heather McKinlay Alex Clarke Andy Buckland John Salvatore Web designer - David Hall Editorial - Richard Wiseman, Design, Layout, Photos Ken Sinyard Rob Sutton Additonal photos - CAFC, Getty Images Keith Gillard, Ken Sinyard, Keith Morris/CAFC Cover Images: Keith Morris Except where indicated copywright CAS Trust 2016

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BROWNY POINTS Heather McKinlay catches up with Charlton hero Steve Brown “I DIDN’T THINK I was anywhere near retirement. It was blunt, but that’s the best way, I think.” Steve Brown’s normally strident voice wavers with a hint of emotion as he recalls the moment, distant in time but still vivid in memory, when he was told in no uncertain terms that he was finished as a professional footballer.

“I was playing for Reading and made a tackle in a game up at Rotherham. It was a really poor pitch. I went one way, the knee jerked the other way. It was the knee I’d had trouble with all along. It blew up straightaway.” Facing his twelfth or thirteenth op on the same joint, two major, the rest “nicks and clear-outs”, the experienced defender thought it was just another hurdle. He had a year left on his contract, and thoughts of continuing for at least a couple more. “I was in Windsor Hospital, on my own.

I woke up and the physio and surgeon were at the end of the bed. That never happens. I said, ‘What is it John?’ The physio replied, ‘That’s it. Career over mate, I’m afraid.’” The experts explained that his knee was beyond repair – the cruciate gone, cartilage at 30% and a chondral defect meaning bone grinding on bone. Despite Brown’s protestations that it didn’t feel that bad, he eventually had to heed the warning: if he continued playing, he risked not being able to walk in later life.

“So off I went home to Brighton to tell my

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wife. Your career stops and it stops. Phone dies.

I was 31, I’d had everything laid on a plate, day by day going into training, matches on Saturday.

Suddenly nothing. Just getting up at home. I took a year out – went on holiday in October and at Christmas, things I hadn’t been able to do for 15 years.” Brown could have joined his father in the family business, but knew he wanted to stay in football. He rapidly completed his coaching badges and before long was back at Charlton, Peter Varney giving him the opportunity to guide the under tens. Not much later, he found himself at West Ham, as reserve team manager under Alan Pardew. “The problem, looking back now, is that those opportunities probably came a little bit quickly. People remember how you were as a player – determined, honest. You get picked up based on that. Really it was a bit early. It’s a difficult conundrum.”

Brown has a lot of sympathy for players at the end of their careers struggling to find their way.

He admits that he has become frustrated with the lack of stability in the professional game. He lost his job at West Ham through no fault of his own when Pardew was sacked. He then learnt an even harsher lesson. “I was U18 coach at Brighton’s Centre of Excellence under Martin Hinshelwood – my favourite ever job, I went bouncing into work. That was 2009-2011. It was brutal in some ways, with 15 hour days and not paid a lot. But it was very successful. Five scholars went on to play in the first team.” Indeed, one of Browny’s protegees, Jake Forster-Caskey, is now turning out for The Addicks. “Then it was the year it changed from centres of excellence to EPPP – the academy format. Brighton decided to bring in someone external. He came through door – did a presentation. Said what an excellent job we were doing with only five full-time staff. That was April.

In August, he blew it all apart and we all got made redundant. That’s the wicked side. After two successful years, you have no control whatsoever over your position at the football club.”

Steve Brown is the kind of character who likes to take charge of his own destiny. “That was a

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turning point for me. The football gods can be very kind or very cruel.”

He admits he panicked a bit at this point, needing to work and bring in a regular income. He’d already been doing some coaching at private schools as well as a bit of broadcasting work. Then he got an opportunity in non-league football and realised that he could develop a working portfolio, escaping the insecurities of the professional game while nevertheless following his passion. “It was a fork in the road. Non-league is different as you work in the evenings. You still have the same Saturday and Tuesday night matches but it frees up the rest of week to do other things. I’m now assistant manager at Margate. I’ve loaded up the broadcasting work.

I have a scouting role with Stoke City Academy under Martin Hinshelwood covering Kent, Surrey and Sussex. I’ve got the commentating, scouting and coaching at Lansing College. I’m happy to put in many hours because I love my football but it has to be enjoyable. I’ve been offered a handful of league jobs – coaching, scouting, head of recruitment, opposition analysis, but financially it doesn’t make sense over what I have built up now. In Leagues 1 and 2 the budgets are very tight and the financial offers are just not worth it.”

Brown is more at ease in his current roles than the manager’s hot-seat. He admits that he put himself under too much pressure when in charge at Ebbsfleet in 2013/14 and did not enjoy that. He knows he can rely on the people he works for now and in turn they can rely on him. Of course, it’s no surprise to Charlton fans that, “Stevie Brown won’t let you down.”

As a scout, Brown has occasion to return to Sparrows Lane but finds it a difficult experience. “It’s just not the same feel. I walk in, get frogmarched into position – a little square by the Astroturf. I’m lucky if one or two people acknowledge me, then I’m frogmarched back out again. I can understand it with

scouts or agents they are not keen on or had bad dealings with in the past. But when you’ve played for the club for 14 years – I’m not going to tread on anyone’s toes, ever. I just don’t understand how it’s become so cold, frosty, soulless.” It’s far removed from the camaraderie of his playing days: “I used to go and play green bowls with Ron, the odd job man, up on the Astroturf. He loved it. I’d take half an hour out after training – more in a teasing way, saying, ‘I’ve never played before but I’ll beat ya!’ Now everyone is looking out for themselves as individuals so they don’t get accused of anything. It’s just sad.”

Brown despairs at the state of Charlton Athletic under Duchâtelet and Meire. “I’ve said a few things.

I think the owner and CEO have made some dreadful decisions along the way. The vision was their vision, they’ve tried, but it’s not worked. Certain things said at certain times were catastrophic to how supporters see a football club, such as ‘We don’t care about the history.’ You just can’t make statements like that. Even if you have fresh ideas to move forward in a different way than before, never ever switch off the history and the past as that is what supporters support the club for. If you don’t understand that, you’ve taken over something you shouldn’t have done.” He admits to being bemused

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News at the sacking of Chris Powell, positive that his former team-mate would have kept the squad up.

He is also convinced that Chris Wilder turned down the Charlton manager’s position last summer. “He was well-advised. I know there’s the spin re Sheffield United. But the reality is, he didn’t take the Charlton job.”

What little patience Browny may have had for the Belgians disappeared after Russell Slade’s abrupt departure. “Listen to the press conference announcing him – English manager, stability, changing philosophy, giving this man time. Then 16 games later he’s sacked. My take? There was no change.” Brown feels sorry for Karl Robinson and plainly believes he has an impossible task. “Charlton at the moment is not a job I would take if in a position to do so. You could be the best manager in the world but you’re not going to get Charlton to work. I’ve seen the level of debt. It’s not sustainable: selling as many young players as they can without giving the manager the money back because of the gravity of the losses.

The club’s in a terrible situation. Nothing’s going to change, ever, until they’re gone.”

Brown takes a simplistic but highly sensible view that the main focus has to be a successful first team – that everything else is secondary to that. He cautions that any turnaround will need a substantial amount of time under new owners: “It’s an awful long journey back for whoever is running the club, whoever is manager, whatever players come in. It’s not fixable in a season or two. There are long term implications for the staffing structures, the playing staff. Being involved in football for 25 years, I know these things can repair themselves quite quickly, but I’m not sure this one can. When Chris Powell turned over 15/16 players, they had a budget, a vision, and the supporters were right behind them.”

The former Addicks’ stalwart is fully aware of the fall in attendances at The Valley. He feels that the situation is reaching its nadir: “In my opinion, we are at the bottom. You just have to ride it out, understand as a supporter that this will change.

Whether you support the club or demonstrate – it’s a choice you make as an individual based on the facts you read about/ delve into. We are at the bottom

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end now of a disastrous ownership. I do believe, in the near future, it will change. Then it will be a good place to be again.”

And Steve Brown certainly knows all about the great times at Charlton. He looks back with particular fondness to the 1999/2000 Division One championship-winning season, which was also his testimonial year. Curbishley began the season with Eddie Youds and Richard Rufus as first-choice centre back pairing, with Brown playing right back or on the subs’ bench. “I was in and out of the team. We weren’t in a fantastic position around Christmas,” recalls Brown. “Then Eddie Youds picked up a very bad injury at Huddersfield, unfortunately for him. I went in at half time and we won the game. That was the start of it. I hadn’t had much opportunity up until that point to have a partnership at centre half with Richard Rufus. That opened the door for me. We went on to set a record for the football club of 12 wins – catapulted us to the top of league.” The nononsense player is suitably proud of that record. “It will never get beaten. There have been better teams in that league since and they haven’t won 12 straight games. At the time, I didn’t think it was such a big thing. When you finish your career, you look back on pivotal moments. CAFC winning the title and me forging a partnership with Richard Rufus. I don’t like

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to criticise anyone but I wish we had played together more. We complemented each other. That was my best season. I don’t think I’ve enjoyed my football as much before or after, great team, great squad.”

Receiving the Football League Championship Trophy must have been particularly special for Browny as he found himself celebrating with the same elegant piece of silver regularly lifted on high by his Liverpool heroes. “In 1983 I went as a kid to watch Liverpool at the Goldstone – they came out in their fiery red kit, played Brighton off the park, that was me done, I was hooked.” Alan Hansen was the player he looked to as a role model for his position, while Kenny Dalglish was his out and out favourite.

And that’s the thing about Steve Brown. He was not a pampered Academy youth product, rather a young lad picked up at 16 by financially-stricken

Charlton. At times it showed, none more so than when he got to step out onto the hallowed Anfield turf. “I got caught up in the occasion. It was a cup game when we were in the Championship.

I touched the Anfield sign as we went out - they weren’t happy about that! I thought I might never be back. I didn’t play well. I was overawed, subbed off after 60 mins. I was just a schoolkid from Brighton – all those moments are just incredible for me.”

Highbury, on the other hand, holds some very positive playing memories. “In ‘98 I made my debut in the Premier League there. We drew 0-0. When you join a pro club at 16, you don’t think you’re going to play at Highbury. It’s huge, you can’t quite believe it. Your parents there in the corner, with your wife and son. To go there and not concede.”

The feat was all the more impressive when you realise that Arsenal had won the double the previous season.

The North London stadium turned out to be an even happier footballing ground for the Charlton centre back, returning a couple of seasons later to win 4-2. Anyone present in the away end or who watched that Black Sabbath match live on TV will know that the score-line masks the reality. “We went in 2-1 up at half-time – but we should have been about 6-1 down. We’d got two late goals - I was one, and [Arsenal goalkeeper] Richard Wright punched the ball in the net for the other. Looking round the dressing room, we couldn’t believe it. We were an honest side. They’d just annihilated us for half an hour.” Brown was paired at the back with Mark Fish and they were having a torrid time. “I said to him it’s like the Red Arrows – you don’t know where they’re coming from. Henry was in the form of his life.” The Addicks’ centre half professes huge admiration for the French striker. “Some-

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News times against world class players, I did OK. Then you come up against Thierry Henry – it’s like marking smoke, you can’t get near him, can’t touch him, he’s never where you want him to be.” Yet early in the second half, Charlton went 3-1 ahead: “That unbelievable goal from Claus –I love watching that when it pops up on social media – that chip is just exquisite.

Then I made a challenge on Viera and Claus plays Euelly through and its 4-1.” Even so, Curbishley’s men can’t relax for a moment. “We line ourselves up again and Kins turns to us at the back and says (Browny mimicking the skipper’s high-pitched voice), ‘Dig in boys, we should get a point out of this!’ That’s how it was. 4-1 up at Arsenal but it’s not over!”

Brown played his part in Charlton beating many of the top teams: Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea, Spurs. “When you’re in the middle of it, it’s low key, you play it down, don’t want to come across big-headed. But when you look back – some of those results we got were unbelievable.” Curbishley’s mentality was seared into the squad. “When on a high, don’t get too big for your boots, when low, don’t get too depressed about it, keep everything on a level playing field. It’s a philosophy for life really.

You have to give Curbs an enormous amount of credit for that period – the signings he made, the squad he put together. It was forced in the early days because we had no money – which probably gave people like myself a chance they wouldn’t otherwise have had.”

Brown’s thoughts drift forward. “I often wonder if Curbs would have got the time these days in modern management. It takes a long time to build a winning mentality and winning squad. If it was that easy, every manager would be successful. People don’t like to admit it, but you get several signings wrong, that’s part and parcel of football. You make six signings in summer, but often two or three are not what you expect. Curbs got time to remove those players and make it right. The board kept him on and eventually he got the 15/16 players he needed.”

There’s one incident which Brown is still teased about to this day. Charlton were playing Leicester at The Valley. “I was in a very good covering position as the ball was flicked on. Then, just as I’m about to head it, my ankle turns over. I see the striker going

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through and I’m going down. It was just a reaction: I threw my left hand up and caught the ball. My ankle was hurting and over I go, rolling about a bit. I know I’m bang in trouble. Quite honestly, the ref got it spot on. He even apologised: ‘Ever so sorry, Steve, I’ve got to send you off.’ Then came the catalogues, then the delay. Peter Varney still texts me about it to rub it in to this day. He said I cost the club tens of thousands of pounds in the shop because people didn’t have catalogues to choose what to buy!” Brown’s embarrassment extended after the match. He was sure his ankle was going to be fine, but the physio insisted he wore a blow-up iced boot. “I was out that evening on crutches with this big boot on. I walk into the restaurant and there’s a big crowd of Charlton fans, who all start patting me on the back and clapping. It was one of those fraudulent moments: there was nothing wrong with me! In a 15-year career every player will have moments that are cringeworthy – it’s part of being in the public eye. If that’s the only comical moment, it’s not that bad, really!”

Brown’s individual highlight is shared by all Charlton fans of a certain age: the 1998 Play-Off Final. “It was an unbelievable day, a fantastic end to a brilliant season. We charged late, the team coming through.

One memory you’ll never top.” Yet Brown hadn’t started in the preceding ten games. “The team had done so well. It was back in the time when there were only three subs. Because I can play centre midfield, right back, centre half, even in goal in emer-

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walk-up is horrendous, the ball comes bobbling gencies, I was a natural choice for sub.”

Brown entered the Wembley pitch in the first few back out to you, your legs are shaking, head telling you so many different things, trying to remain minutes of extra time. Sunderland scored again: positive on where you want to stick the ball. Truth 3-4. The clock was ticking down on the promotion be told I was aiming to the right of the keeper, to dream. Then came Browny’s crunching intervenmy left. But it didn’t go where I wanted it to go – it tion. “That tackle. That’s my game essentially – I went higher, a blessing, as it went above Perez, like to defend. I was nowhere near favourite. I above his left hand. Thankfully it went in. I’m glad haven’t watched it back too many times to be I did it now but it was just horrible. Now when I honest – only two or three. There are a couple of see shootouts on TV, I know what they are going moments when you think I should never have won through. It’s a moment of complete selfishness on that challenge, never. Look at where the ball is. I the player’s part. When you score, the relief is think it was Johnston breaking out. He shouldn’t incredible. The pressure is lifted. lose it. I went in low and hard and “Charlton at the You don’t care who’s going to fair. It was a vital challenge. If I hadn’t moment is not a miss. It’s over, you’ve done it, made it, we wouldn’t have got the you’ve scored, you’re not the goal, wouldn’t have gone to penaljob I would take if one who’s failed and let everyties, don’t get the outcome. But at one else down.” the time you don’t realise the gravity in a position to do That villain role fell to of that. When it sinks in, you’ve so. You could be Sunderland’s Micky Gray, of contributed, been part of it, a marthe best manager course. Brown admits to having vellous thing. You’ve done something in the world but no thought for his opponent’s that made a big difference.” devastation, “For myself, it was Mendonca’s resulting hat-trick you’re not going euphoria. In the bundle with goal was only the equaliser, of to get Charlton Saša. Then the suits come piling course. In a huddle in the Wembley in and add a bit more weight!” centre circle, Les Reed was charged to work” Apart from being at the bottom with the onerous task of finding of the heap of bodies, there was Charlton’s five penalty volunteers. another downside for Steve and team-mate Stuart Brown recalls Supaclive’s supreme confidence, Balmer. Back in December, with Charlton well promising he’d take the first to get the team off to outside play-off contention, they had booked an a good start – not a hint that he might miss. “But end-of-season holiday. “So, our wives, Alison and otherwise we were struggling to find takers. Four Mandy had gone off to Spain. I looked around and down. I said, ‘Look, Les, last one I took I missed, the one person I wanted to celebrate with, who but I’ll have a go.’ He wanted me to go number is always by my side, wasn’t there. Turned out she five. And I said, ‘Sorry, absolutely not!’ I didn’t want was watching in a bar surrounded by Sunderland that pressure. As it turns out five was important – in many shootouts it’s over by then. I said I’d pop in fans!” It didn’t prevent Steve from enjoying the moment with the squad. “We still celebrated for a at number two, rather selfishly, because if I missed couple of days. One of those monumental days in we’d have plenty of time to recover, someone else Charlton’s history.” to score or Sunderland to miss one.”

History: that word again. Steve Brown is deservAs fans, we can easily overlook the raw human edly proud to have been a part of it. And there’s no nature of our sportspeople. I can almost see the doubt he cares about it. sweat droplets forming on Steve Brown’s forehead as his mind slips back to the culmination of that

Heather McKinlay emotionally-charged Wembley afternoon. “The

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Engaging with Fans?

At the February Fans Forum meeting, the club floated a proposal for a restructure of the Forum into a Supporters Council which would meet with senior club staff six times a year (on match days) and which would be expanded to include up to 25 supporters.

CAS Trust responded as follows: We approach the proposals very conscious of the EFL supporter engagement guidelines which state: “clubs shall hold at least two meetings / fans forums per season to which its supporters (or representatives) are to be invited in order to discuss significant issues relating to the club”. As we explain below it is our opinion that this role should be fulfilled by a supporters’ trust when one is already in existence at a club.

1. One of the very worthwhile merits of the current Fans Forum format is that attendees are identifiably representatives of a group of supporters, whether this be by special interest or by geography. These representatives are accountable (albeit sometimes informally) to their “members” and there are mechanisms in place whereby this accountability can be put into practice.

2. There can be no objection to the current Fans Forum being expanded if and when new supporter groups are formed as long as the same principle is applied to groups which no longer exist.

3. We understand that the proposal to expand the forum to include representatives from other “unofficial” groups (general seats, specialist seats and wild card seats) is motivated by a wish for greater inclusivity and is driven by some supporters saying that they don’t feel fully engaged. We would counsel great caution about this and would like to suggest that, however many extra places are created, there will always be supporters who say they don’t feel fully engaged.

4. The mechanics of organising and validating supporter election processes so that they can maintain credibility should not be underestimated. It will be cumbersome, time-consuming and will invite criti-

cism however meticulously it is planned. The FSF recently advised us that when Everton FC advertised for random fans to form a supporters council they received so many nominations that the club decided to undertake its own short listing to make an election manageable - not quite fitting with the EFL guideline “selected...in line with basic democratic principles”.

5. Of course, the club may nevertheless wish to proceed with the formation of a Supporters Council of 20-25 supporters meeting the club six times a season before a match. This will undoubtedly provide opportunities for more unattached individuals to speak directly to and hear directly from club staff along the lines of the Q&A sessions that have been held this season. However, because of its size, pressure of time, variety of interests and lack of direct accountability, a Supporters Council will not in any meaningful way be able to provide a forum to fulfil the obligation to “discuss significant issues relating to the club” in anything but a superficial way.

6. We have presented to the club as an example of good practice the minutes of a recent meeting held between the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters Trust and senior staff of the club, including the CEO. These minutes demonstrate the extremely high level of preparation and meticulously detailed knowledge required for informed and effective strategic dialogue between club and supporters. This would not be possible in a large, time-limited group drawn from all quarters of the supporter base with competing priorities.

7. Whatever decision the club reaches about the future format of the Fans Forum / Supporters Council we would therefore propose that the most effective route to rigorous and consultative strategic dialogue should be through a small group which is dedicated to this purpose. We propose that this should be set up under the auspices of CAS Trust which is the largest CAFC supporters group and is founded on democratic principles endorsed by Supporters Direct and which is open to all Charlton supporters.

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Why buy our club, our f Last month we asked Charlton supporters to imagine that they were meeting with someone who was considering buying the club but needed to be persuaded. What arguments would they put forward to support the idea that investing in Charlton Athletic would be a good move ? This is what they said:

THE FANS

“an unswerving nucleus of supporters who will always remain loyal to the club regardless of ownership or results on the pitch and who are appalled by the self-absorbed mentality of the protesters and boycotters” “A fan-base which has shown it has a wide range of skills and huge energy which would be available to the club” “It has a strong family base” “One of the largest supporters trusts in the country which is well organised and ready to work with an ambitious owner to harness the potential of a club managed in conjunction with fans”

FAN GROWTH POTENTIAL

“Interest easily generated if club is sold to existing and new supporters alike with a five year plan... something to buy into” “It is in a big catchment area with lots of latent support” “The Valley will sell out if Premiership football is on offer. Check the books !”

“The current owners have done such a great job of alienating everyone that almost any incoming owner would create an immense feelgood factor around The Valley” “All seven of my friends and family would renew our season tickets the day that Roland announces his departure”

“the supporters have shown by past and present deeds that they are passionate about the club and will support any owner that puts the future of the club as their first priority” “we have an almost unrivalled record of joining with the club in developing innovative successful marketing initiatives such as Target 10k / 40k, VIP scheme and Valley Express” “we have fans who have demonstrated their passion for the club in imaginative and professional ways” “we have fans who care so much about the club they are prepared not to go to home games “

“There is potential to increase support from those living along the North Kent corridor with easy access by train” “Upwardly mobile expanding local potential customer base. All the new housing in the area – Greenwich becoming a very attractive area” “People would return in thousands to a club with vision and real future prospects under an owner who cared about football and its heritage” “Should a buyer come in WE WILL BE BACK IMMEDIATELY with hope in our hearts and a song in our voice”

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famous football club ?

THE STADIUM

“Premiership standard ground” “The club own the ground which is in fairly good order” “A stadium capable of coping with the lower leagues and capable of expansion” “Stadium is in London with local train station, local airport, good bus service and Crossrail to come at Abbey Wood” “Our location on the Lodon /Kent border is attractive to players and sponsors”

THE ACADEMY

“The club has an excellent youth training regime which brings players to the fore” “We have a well-respected Academy that continues to produce good young players” “In Lookman, Gomez and Cousins we have produced three players who can shine at a higher level plus Phillips, Aribo and Konsa who provide home grown talent for the current side” “Our under 23s and under 18s seem to be highly successful so our youth coaches must be doing something right”

THE HISTORY

SPONSORSHIP

“Many sponsors have abandoned the club in recent years because it’s not great for their businesses to promote a club which is a laughing stock” “I know a former sponsor who is looking to buy a box for a season if we changed owners” “Fans have contributed nearly £60,000 in the last year to fund the protests against the current owner.

They would much rather have given their money to back a sensible, ambitious owner with a compelling vision.

Imagine the power of that” “Valley Gold has suffered in the last year because people felt that young players were just being developed for sale, but it is still a route for fans to contribute about £100,000 a year to the club. Do other clubs have this level of commitment ?”

“Our comeback from an era of neglect. Wembley 1998 – The Greatest Game. Establishing a solid brand in the Premier League under Curbishley.”

“Over a hundred years of tradition. Some wonderful highlights but not enough due to the club being poorly run for the majority of its existence” “You only have to see what the fans have achieved in its history. A political party that succeeded (unlike Duchatelet).

International trips to protect the club. Over a million raised in the VIP scheme and thousands for the protest fund” “The whole Back To The Valley campaign followed by turning it into reality in 1992” “We are leaders in tackling various actions not wanted in football such as racism and street violence” “A great museum run by volunteers”

THE COMMUNITY TRUST

“We have probably the best and most successful Community Trust in the UK” “Special club which has an excellent record in local communities” “The wonderful Upbeats and the financial support for them from the fans”

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PHOTOGRAPHS KEN SINYARD

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News

History worth shouting about… The Charlton Athletic Museum The Charlton Athletic museum is open to everyone on matchdays and by appointment.

Clive Harris explains how it came about

Joe Hayes, and Museum trustee Ben Hayes in the museum

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News I WELL RECALL THE DATE - Saturday 2 April 1988.

We were playing away at Norwich where a predictable 2-0 defeat would see us once more drop into the bottom three in a season that would end dramatically in last day survival at Stamford Bridge. But my mind scarcely turned to events in Norfolk as it was a day that I, as many of us did during the exile years, returned to a deserted, semi- derelict Valley, climbing over the fence and sitting once more in the Covered end with only the sound of Aswad’s ‘Just turn around’ drifting in from a nearby garden.

As I gazed up at the decaying splendour of the East Terrace I recalled memories of Killer, the Spurs Cup Raven sbou replay, Robert Lee’s debut hat trick and the noise of area set rne Lecturers visualising aside by CA the FC for the m the crowd during Kevin Keegan’s farewell game when useum Newcastle United came to town and filled the Jimmy Seed Stand to its gunnels. I also tried to imagine events that predated my time through the eyes of my grandfather. The famous cup run of 1923; the darker days of air raids (the scars of which remained on the The place where some of the CAFC cups and Covered End roof); our Sam and the Cup Winning medals were stored before the museum. side; Stuart Leary and a 7-6 thriller; the glamour of Eddie Firmani and the less glamourous but equally loved Matt Tees - ‘No-one could head the ball like him’ my late dad would say.

Eventually after a good cry (men can do this over football) I took the advice of Aswad. I just turned around and left, but not before I had pilfered a cracked, Charlton badged lager glass from the old board room like a Mr Benn souvenir.

As I sat on the train back to London Bridge I couldn’t help but feel that we had lost our history when we lost our ground and were unlikely to ever get it back. History is as much a subject of the soul as it is academic and the Valley truly is our soul.

Decades later, after a triumphal return to SE7, a trip to Wembley, promotion and relegation and a host of new heroes, it became clear that that history was not lost. It had a future and that future was a long overdue museum. Not a shiny, interactive, corporate-sponsored experience that can be found at certain mega clubs, but a fan -led museum that tells the story of our club - a community club which, as we museum trustees often preach, ‘was the largest club to be started by local boys kicking a football, not a church or regiment, not a factory or existing sports

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News

Trustee Cliv e Harris look ing at one of the man y exhibits

club’. It’s a fact we should be very proud of.

Through the efforts of fellow supporters Mick Everett, Ben Hayes, Mark Humphries, Ian Wallis and Ken Sinyard we began to explore the potential for such a museum somewhere within the ground. Mick now had the bit between his teeth and in late 2012 identified a space, which offered no commercial value.

The club, then as they do now, generously provided us this space cost free. We had an empty museum, the next challenge was to fill it.

While Mick searched every unused desk drawer and padlocked long forgotten locker at both the Valley and Sparrows Lane, museum friend and supporter Olly Groom appealed via the club program and the rest of us begged via Charlton Life for donations or loans of artefacts. Anyone who brought stuff forward was asked to sign a form stating if it was a donation or a loan as, from the very beginning, it was important that the museum was both responsible and accountable for the care of our football club’s past.

None of us had any experience of the running of a museum. We all loved

history and I am lucky enough to call it my profession, but for the less glamourous side of insurances, form filling, website building, social media, fund raising and registering as a charity we decided to seek outside help. Peter Daniel, a fellow supporter who produced the excellent Bartram and the Blitz exhibition gave sound advice alongside our colleagues at the Greenwich Heritage Centre. Ben focussed our minds on more important matters when all we wanted to do was delve into newly arrived boxes of ‘old stuff’.

He ensured we begged, borrowed (but never stole) display cases from more established museums while to raise funds I gave talks on the club’s history to anyone who would listen. Within a year, we were ready to open.

The donations and artefacts that rolled in were quite incredible. Charlton Life played a major part in this by continually promoting the fledgling museum’s activities. They allowed us to auction duplicate items to increase funds and helped us to raise awareness.

Once items started to arrive it was like turning a tap on. A good job as opening night fast approached.

Each item needed cataloguing (a still unfinished and seemingly endless task) but again supporters were on hand to assist with both Alison Sampson and James King offering their time for this thankless task.

A ribbon was cut, the corks were popped and the speeches were made when at last on the 4 April 2014 the museum opened for all to see. Even on the night items were donated - one of our favourites being Dave Thompson’s ‘recovered’ floodlight bulb

News that he had liberated during the Selhurst years.

Some of the generosity shown was very humbling.

David Smith loaned the Clive Mendonca collection - a display that rightfully took centre stage in its own secure case so that supporters young and old can recall that incredible May afternoon under the twin towers. Next , museum patron Derek Ufton offered his England shirt and cap. We have the ball from that 7-6 game and John Hewie’s family offered up his Scotland Blazer, Cap and Omega watch presented by the club for his service.

The earliest items we possess are a 1906 team photo - the start-point for us as a club. The earliest medal we display (loaned by Mike Whelan) is Eddie Marshall’s 1906-7 Lewisham League Division III winners medal. As for the 1946 & 1947 Cup Finals, we now have numerous medals including the one belonging to Gordon Hurst. From time to time new valuable items come up and we set about fund raising to acquire them. Such was the case for Joe Jobling’s 1935 Third Division (South) winner’s medal last year when Charlton Life raised the required four figure sum from the supporter base in little over 36 hours- an outstanding achievement.

While the list of exhibits could go on I will indulge myself by mentioning three of my favourite items - each of them unique. The first is the architect’s original drawing for the Valley in 1919 which marks the very essence of our arrival as a grown-up football club. The second is the 1947 FA Cup Final programme - not any old one but that from the royal box, complete with its adverts removed and printed on heavy linen despite wartime economy paper still being in existence. And finally, a late 40’s gift from the club to its medical man Doctor Montgomery on his retirement. Although then no doubt a splendid and functional item, today the heavy, badged, engraved cigarette lighter may raise eyebrows.

From the very outset if was agreed that the museum would be a hub of information for our club’s history alongside an area to display objects from our past.

With the sad passing of Colin Cameron, a void existed and enquiries being sent direct to the

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club regarding our history had no real mechanism to be answered.

As Stuart Binns, Nick Tondeur and Paul Baker joined us we now had a team of volunteers who could help with enquiries and it was not long before we started to provide answers.

The archival side of the museum’s collection is arguably its most valuable. Club secretary Chris Parkes allowed us to display the card index of players dating back to the 1920’s. Colin Cameron’s family kindly offered his tireless and irreplaceable research while the club’s archives on display include team lists,hand-written manager’s notes from the 30’s to the 60’s alongside board minutes from a similar period.

Ian Wallis has catalogued all the programme donations and we are now very few shy of having a complete set dating back to the war. In fact, we are now having to actively discourage programme donations from 1950 onwards due to a surplus.

This is our museum. It tells the story of our club and our community and it continues to grow. Its presence enabled us to reconnect with the club’s past and to erect long overdue war memorials and bring long forgotten players who lost their lives in both wars in from the cold.

Whatever the future holds the Addicks’ history is now secure. This is something as supporters we should be very proud of.

To visit contact cafchistorian@gmail.com To donate - Charlton Athletic Museum, NatWest SC 60 16 03 Acct No. 7377 2593 To follow see @CHATHMuseum or www.cafcmuseum. co.uk

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£55 million in debt £55 million in debt

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News

Richard Wiseman asks CAS Trust treasurer Nigel Kleinfeld to explain the club’s accounts to him:

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RW: The club accounts for the year ended 30 June 2016 have recently been published.

I understand there was a loss of £13.5 million pounds last season. That seems a lot, particularly as we only lost £4 million the year before. What went wrong? Was it because attendances were down?

NK: Average attendances did go down 6% resulting in a reduction in match day income of some £500K but this was more than compensated by an increase of some £800K in income from the English Football league and Premier League. In fact, turnover rose by £337K. RW: So we made a loss by spending too much ?

NK: Administrative expenses increased by £4.4M to £21.2M. RW: That’s a big increase. Was that spent on player wages?

NK: Largely, yes. The Directors’ Report states “the increase on prior year primarily reflecting the significant additional player wages and associated costs incurred in an attempt to remain in the Championship” There was also £623K “exceptional administrative expenses”. The accounts state they relate to staff restructuring. Possibly it might relate to the departures of managers but that is speculation.

RW: What about income from transfers? Isn’t that how clubs usually try to balance the books?

NK: Profit on sale of players fell by some £4.4m to a meagre £39K. The Directors’ Report states “the transfers of Gomez and Poyet in the prior year were not replicated in the year to 30th June 2016 in order to give the club the best possible chance of staying in the Championship” RW: You mean we hung on to Cousins, Gudmundsson and Pope rather than selling them in January?

NK: Yes. Transferring them during the financial year in

million in debt

question would certainly have reduced the loss. In fact, the accounts note that income from transfer fees after 30th June 2016 amounts to £6m but this income will only show up in the accounts for this season.

RW: So, does that mean we might turn a profit on this season? I see that the directors have said that last season’s level of loss (£13.5m) is “clearly unsustainable and the lessons learned in the 2015/16 season will ensure they are

not repeated”.

NK: Well, there will be a reduction in match day income this year because of relegation and dwindling crowds but, with the Lookman and Fox money added to that £6m, you would hope that the club would at least come near to balancing the books. But the financial improvement will be down to the timing of transfer income from selling our best players. As a supporter, I do not see this as a lesson learned in how to run a progressive upward looking football club.

RW: I notice that we undertook a revaluation of the Valley and Sparrows Lane which generated an increase in value of £11.5m. The directors report that “once the revaluation has been taken into account it means that the total comprehensive loss for the year was £4.3m” Seems like that’s not too bad then?

NK: Unfortunately, it is just an accounting adjustment made as a consequence of a change in the way company accounts in England are prepared. Revaluing a fixed asset doesn’t pay any day to day bills. In real terms the club still lost £13.5m RW: That is more than £1m a month. How did we keep going?

NK: Note 2.2 to the accounts states “the company meets its day to day liabilities using funding from its ultimate parent company, Staprix NV”. It further states “the company is able to continue its normal day to day operations for at least twelve months from

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the date of approval of these financial statements (November 2016), due to receiving a letter of support from Staprix NV for the period. Accordingly the accounts have been prepared on a going concern basis” RW: So, what is the group structure?

NK: The accounts state that Staprix NV is beneficially owned by Roland Duchatelet. Staprix NV owns Baton 2010 Limited which in turn owns Charlton Athletic Football Company Limited (loosely the club) and Charlton Athletic Holdings Limited (loosely The Valley and Sparrows Lane) RW: So Duchatelet is bank rolling the club via Staprix NV? NK: Broadly speaking, yes. Under current circumstances it is difficult to see how the club would continue to trade without this facility.

RW: So how much do the club owe Staprix NV? NK: At 30thJune 2016 total debt to the parent company stood at £55.6m.

RW: Strewth. That’s a lot! But am I right that we needn’t worry about it because it is friendly debt?

Didn’t Bolton owe £180m to their owner?

NK: Well, I believe it is better than owing it to a financial institution. In fact, the club now has no bank debt at all which is a good thing. £949,000 was paid off last year presumably funded by Staprix NV. Duchatelet has been a business owner for a long time and I assume he is working on the premise that, if he demanded repayment of the loan, the club wouldn’t be able to repay it even after selling off the most valuable players. The main assets of the UK group as a whole comprise The Valley and Sparrows Lane.

The future of these is of course a concern to all supporters.

Bolton is an interesting example. The majority of their loan was written off as part of a transfer of ownership. If memory serves me correctly their former owner was a real supporter of the club.

RW: Does our loan from Staprix incur interest?

NK: Yes, at 3% but the accrued interest has simply been added to the debt. It amounted to £781,000 last year.

RW: Aren’t there also some loans outstanding to former directors?

NK: £7m is owed interest free to Richard Murray and

£55 million in debt £55 million in debt

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other former directors but this only commences to be repayable if the club reaches The Premier League.

A new owner would have to take on this liability or reach an agreement with the former directors.

RW: So where does that leave us?

NK: It leaves us continuing to depend on Duchatelet continuing to support the club either personally or via Staprix NV. The debt to him might reduce this season because of transfer income but it is unlikely that this level of transfer income will be repeated every season so the debt will increase again unless cost reductions are made or additional income is found.

If he does not have the heart for further investment maybe he will sell.

RW: But most clubs like Charlton are in that position, aren’t they?

NK: I believe many football clubs are funded by their owners. Ultimately it is up to these owners to decide whether they wish to continue. No-one forced them to buy a football club. There must be something in it for them. Maybe the hope of a profit by reaching the Premier League. Maybe the pleasure and status of owning a club. Maybe they are fans. No one other than Duchatelet himself knows why he bought our football club.

RW: If he sold the club what would happen to the money he is owed?

NK: He might find a buyer willing to repay the entire loan but the current financial and league position makes this unlikely. It is more probable that he has to accept a loss and “take a haircut”. He might look at ways he can protect some of his money – maybe like the former directors he could get an agreement for repayment of some of it on reaching the Premier League. Maybe he could retain the stadium and charge a new owner rent.

RW: Is there any hope for the future?

NK: Katrien Meire told CAS Trust members last week that sale of the club is not on the table and that she and Duchatelet are determined to get us back into the Championship and win back the fans. The evidence of the Duchatelet ownership doesn’t suggest that they will achieve those aims. It would need stability, shrewd player recruitment, astute management and a bit of luck. Don’t hold your breath..........

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VALLEY CAS Trust founder and former Chair Barnie Razzel gives his view on the club’s current predicament.

CHARLTON IS IN a mess and there isn’t really a tonomy, the club also neglected its relationship with the fans from the outset. Worse still, perhaps with magic wand to wave here. In this article I want to suggest how the club could go forward, and hopea fear of a strong fan group after experiences with Liege fans who were unimpressed with the way fully not dwell too much on the mistakes made by their club was being run, the club pursued an effecthe current incumbents. tive divide and rule policy and refused to engage in I want to begin with this suggestion: With a full any kind of strategic discussion with the Trust. This stadium Charlton can be a break-even club in the was despite the Trust’s stated aims being distinct Championship. Indeed gaining this level of support from any other group, and its number has been done elsewhere to a similar of paid members being in excess of all level by enlightened management other social and travel groups of fans down the road at Brighton and Hove “ Why is a put together.

Albion. partnership Now, why is a partnership with fans Around the winter of 2014 concern important you may ask? My view is this: was developing at Charlton about with fans not only do other enlightened clubs a growing expression of disconnection with the club on social media important ?” pursue a partnership with fan trusts, but at Charlton, this is doubly important which was perhaps the only outlet for because of the clubs history and its curthe silent mass of fans. A decline in attendances was also occurring way rent predicament. beyond the league position of the club. Until then Cast your minds back to Charlton’s period of Charlton had maintained pretty decent support leaving the Valley and its return. The club was falling even after spending a period in League One. Now into decline, the stadium crumbling and fan base in the Championship fans were deserting saying dissipating. The campaign for a return to the Valley they no longer felt an affinity with the club. rebuilt the club from the bottom up. It rekindled I and others in the Supporters’ Trust approached the love and emotion fans had and ultimately it gave the ownership of the club with our concerns them a crucial feeling of ownership.

The story does not end there however. The club and were turned away. This led directly to the grew incrementally year on year. Each time the Woolwich meeting in February 2015 - a meeting capacity of the ground was increased, so too did of fans that aired a number of issues but still voted ticket sales and success on the pitch followed. Fans overwhelmingly to pursue dialogue with the club. and management became one, and the adminisDespite this, the ownership branded the meeting tration of the club was dominated by veterans of ‘anti-club’. the campaign, from the boardroom to the ticket As well as committing numerous mistakes in the booths. management of the club on the football side including underestimating the quality required, squad The just and welcome reward for those endeavdepth, managerial ability and importance of auours was a meteoric rise to the top flight (perhaps a

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year or two earlier than it should have) as the ‘small club beyond recognition), I predict the gaps in the club’ from South London punched above its weight ground would only be filled by premiership tourists in a glorious fairy tale final at Wembley.

- a fickle support of lightweight fans. It would The decline that eventually followed would gradu- need many years of success to get anything like the ally see that merger of fans and club disintegrate. crowds Charlton achieved even in the ChampionThe supporters’ director position was dissolved; the ship, and League 1 again. club changed hands and fans left. The club was driftIt is sadly clear that the current ownership can never now achieve the level of trust required to achieve ing towards becoming a franchise husk, owned by this. They also appear oddly uninterested in the people who either didn’t understand or didn’t care about its history or its unique character. Charlton break-even argument for a full Valley - suggesting isn’t just a family club. The club is the Charlton family. to many that their focus is purely on the production This leaves the future club ownership with a of players for sale even though a thriving academy is dilemma because of its current situation. Not only also vital for a club like Charlton. For their succesdoes the club have dwindling gates but it is also sors to achieve the above they would need to grasp the nettle or be doomed from the outset. bound by huge debts and a bloated, overpaid, unbalanced and under-talented squad. It is also Of course, I would say all of this as I am a firm constrained by financial fair play limits on spendbeliever in fan participation. The point, however, ing on wages (League One - 60% is the reason for this. My support for of turnover). Oddly, one can lose Charlton wasn’t born out of following as much as one likes on transfer dad to the Valley. He lived in North “ My passion my fees, but that doesn’t seem to have London and took me to Highbury in helped the present incumbent. In the for attending the 1970s for my first matches. No, the Championship losses before an equity I became a fan was because I and support- reason injection can be £5million, rising to fell in love with the club as a passionate £13million afterwards. A full Valley ing the club is 21-year-old. could seriously affect that number I fell for the romance of the underwaning and help Charlton get ahead if it were dog; the threat of extinction; the return on that course. of that community club to its true home and the fairy tale of its rise to the top. That’s So how does the club recapture that recipe for what cemented me there - me and around 15,000 success, if that is at all possible? For me, one answer is to fill the ground once again, to re-grow the fan others (I presume) who made up the modern-day support for Charlton now reborn in its community base. Bring fans back, supporting the team, wearonce again. My passion for attending and supporting the shirts, using the outlets, and bringing their ing the club is waning like many others because my families and friends too, and it is likely this can only club appears to no longer exist. be achieved by very radical means. Perhaps the most important element to that is to re-forge the relationFor me, modern day Charlton can only ever truly ship with fans and to revive that sense of ownership. be a success in that mould, where fans and club The most effective way of doing that in the present are one, particularly with the competition from the era involves a genuine strategic engagement with a dominant London clubs. It is this truth that owners supporters’ trust, as demonstrated elsewhere, and of Charlton must realise, and they must, therefore, ideally with a genuine shared ‘ownership’ of some embark on rebuilding that trust and forging a new kind. partnership between club and fans at the earliest It simply isn’t an option to merely spend back opportunity should a change in ownership happen. up the leagues - and if it were perhaps by creative

Barnie Razzel sponsorship (which might further damage the

”

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News

1.How many games has Yann Kermorgant played at Championship or Premier League level since Charlton sold him in 2015 and how many goals has he scored ?

6.CAS Trust secured Asset of Community Value status for the Valley in November 2015. Does this mean that the ground can’t be sold without our permission ?

2.Who said about whom in January 2017 ? “The president has his theory on things so he gave us his opinion on different situations”

7.What rate of interest is Charlton Athletic Football Company Ltd charged on the £55m worth of loans from Roland Duchatelet’s company Staprix NV ?

3.What does it mean ?

8.In the CAS Trust April fan survey what percentage of non-season ticket holders said they would buy a season ticket for next year if there was a change of ownership ?

4.What is the lowest league position Charlton have achieved since 1926 ?

5.What sour tasting liquid consisting of impure dilute acetic acid made by oxidisation of the ethyl alcohol in beer, wine or cider could be found in the bladders of Charlton supporters who travelled to Sint Truiden in March this year ?

9.Have Charlton ever finished below Southend in the League before ?

10.Rearrange the following to find a well known Belgian visionary: ALL DO THE CARD TUNE

116 (41) 2. Karl Robinson about Roland Duchatelet 3. Your guess is as good as ours 4. 14th in Division 3 in 1973/74. 5. vinegar 6. No but they would have to give us 6 months to make a bid 7. 3% 8. 80% 9. Yes, most recently in 1994/95.

10. Alan Turing

PHOTOGRAPH: GEORGE JONES CAFC

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CAS Trust News

23 News The next issue of Trust News will be published in the autumn featuring:

• An exclusive interview with Roland Duchatelet on why he sold Charlton Athletic .

• Our new owner’s statement about how she will work with CAS Trust to ensure that club and fans can unite towards success.

• Yann Kermorgant on why he is so happy to be finishing his career with Charlton • Richard Hunt on the problems West Ham will face finding the extra £30m a year rent plus stewarding costs for The London Stadium.

• Zaki Dogliani on the thrill of seeing Charlton score five in the first half at The New Den on the first day of the season.

To ensure you receive your copy make sure that your membership is up to date. You will receive a reminder e mail with details of how to renew.

If you would like to receive your Trust News via e mail rather than through the post please let us know at secretary@castrust.org.

This will enable us to reduce costs

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Your Trust News the FREE magazine for all members of CAS Trust ‘COME ON YOU REDS’

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