Trust Statement RE: Charlton The Supporter's Trust were angry and disappointed with the late cancellation of our fixture today against Charlton Athletic. It is known that Charlton have problems with the playing surface and had cancelled two games in the previous seven days prior to the game. They had tried to resolve this, using a MacLeod cover and had announced to both sets of supporters that the game was not in doubt on Thursday. It is clear that the pitch was not playable from the photographs and would not have been playable on the previous days and we are extremely annoyed that Charlton acted totally unprofessionally and amateurish with regards to this game and had a complete disregard for a fellow Championship team, the 500 Barnsley fans who travelled to the game and Charlton’s own supporters. Why did Charlton not arrange a pitch inspection on friday or even earlier on saturday, rather than burying their heads in the sand, hoping for a miracle and giving the impression that the right hand had no idea what the left hand was doing – totally amateurish. The statement that Charlton published on their website (see here) is completely unsatisfactory and appears to be a whitewash. Steve Croft of the Trust Board contacted Charlton shortly after the game had been cancelled to ask for a statement or explanation regarding the late cancellation and pitch inspection, but received a feeble response that Supporters who had any complaints should contact Steve Bradshaw in writing. We therefore urge ALL Barnsley Supporters who travelled to Charlton at great expense to contact Steve Bradshaw at the following address to express their anger and request refunds for travelling expenses that they encountered. Steve Bradshaw Chief Operating Officer Charlton Athletic The Valley Floyd Road Charlton SE7 8BL Tel: 020 8333 4000 We have also spoken with Charlton Athletic Supporters Trust to ask them to try to get some clarification on what has occurred. We have received numerous emails from Charlton Supporters who are embarrassed and angry with how their club have treated both sets of Supporters. We will be contacting the Football League, FA and the FSF to ask them to investigate the events around today’s farce and to ask for sanctions to be applied to Charlton Athletic that should include compensation for ALL supporters who travelled at great expense to the game today and an acceptance that this must never happen again. We fully support and appreciate the comments made by Ben Mansford https://t.co/JUSGcowg1Y and Danny Wilson https://t.co/r3E4UFnAuK who have both expressed their frustration at today’s events and their support for the travelling support. Football clubs cannot continue to treat the Supporters like dirt and it is time that they showed the supporters who are the life blood of the game the respect that they deserve. - See more at: http://bfcst.org.uk/trust-statement-re-charlton/#sthash.kPMtkRPD.dpuf
I've always seen the trust as a rather placid group but this statement is only a few notches down from calling Chartlon a set of lovely personts! They have shown absolutely no regard for their both their own supporters and our supporters who will have made one of the most expensive trips of the season, anyone who decided to go by train at the last minute (which is generally how I pick my away games anyway, they are rarely planned more than a few days in advance) will have been looking at a fare approaching £100. What Charlton needed to do was come out immediately and admit that they have dropped a massive b*ll*ck, apologise unreservedly to all fans and announce that they would be looking into compensating fans for the cost of their wasted journey. Instead they gave an initial statement that suggested the club was the victim before giving a reluctant half-hearted apology several hours later - probably only in response to the abuse they were getting on twitter. They put this cover over the pitch thinking it was some miracle device that would dry the pitch out and they didn't even bother to consider whether it was worth checking the pitch on Friday. I'm no physicist but isn't a cover like this more likely to keep the moisture in than allow it to dissipate?
Gally, we walked to chip shop outside ground and Charlton fans were unaware game was off, all were angry that game was off and those we spoke to felt sorry for all reds fans who had travelled down,
They've not thought of that as well - if your lass gives you a pass to spend the entire day at an away game do you get that pass back?
Whilst I completely agree with the content of the Trust statement and all points therein, I would tone down the sthqueem factor.
The Trust would encourage all supporters who travelled to write to Charlton at the address in huge statement. Charlton are committed to respond under their charter, and if they get 500 letters of complaint from Barnsley fans, along with complaints from their own supporters, perhaps they may change their approaches in future. The trust will be writing to Charlton to complain over the situation and asking for compensation for reds fans, and we also will be writing to the Football League and FA regarding the farcical situation that occurred. We have received a good number of emails and tweets from Charlton Supporters regarding our stance and agreeing with us. They are embarrassed for their club, which is more than Charlton athletic football club appear to be. In addition, we are receiving some support from CAS Trust.
