Charlton Supporter's Trust Statement RE Yesterday

[h=1]Trust statement regarding Barnsley postponement[/h]
By Trust News on January 12, 2014
CAS Trust has already expressed concern to the Club (in November last year) about the state of the Valley pitch. Today’s events will leave no one at the Club in any doubt about the critical situation, which is costing the Club money, and doing great damage to its reputation. Today however we are particularly concerned with the cost to supporters. Nowadays many of our fans travel as far as do visiting fans. Of course all the fans from Barnsley will have incurred similar cost, and we deeply regret therstand the frustration expressed by their Trust.

We believe that the club should immediately overhaul its process for dealing with games which are threatened by the weather. It is not acceptable for games to be called off without prior warning two hours before kick off. In our view if the club believes 24 hours earlier that there is a 50% chance of the game being called off, it should warn fans of this, and ensure that an early inspection takes place. Regular updates on the situation via social media should be a normal part of this process.

We understand that there may not be a short-term fix for the pitch, until the close season. That is why it is all the more important that the Club gives higher priority to the fans’ interests regarding threatened fixtures from now on. The Trust will be formally making this proposal to the Club and will report back to you on its response.