| Royals Rendezvous Statement |
| Royals Rendezvous has moved to a new location, please go to royalsrendezvous.co.uk to continue the discussion. |
| Charlton fans | |
|---|---|
| Tweet Topic Started: 2 Nov 2015, 04:52 PM (299 Views) | |
| daib0 | 2 Nov 2015, 04:52 PM Post #1 |
|
Inter-Forum Gamemaster!
|
Decent piece by Rod Liddle in this weekend's Sunday Times: "The popular parlour-game "name five famous Belgians" is probably a little easier today than it once was. Alongside Rene Magritte and that cyclist bloke from the 1970s, you can now add Eden Hazard and Vincent Kompany - hell, you're almost there. One name that would not be on your list is Karel Fraeye, the new "interim" manager of Charlton Athletic. Charlton fans, infuriated by the arrogance and incompetence of the club's owner - another Belgian, Roland Duchatelet - were left still more aghast this week when Mr Fraeye was named as the replacement for the sacked Guy Luzon. Desperate to find out more about this footballing titan who might reverse Charlton's plunge down the table (without a win in 10 games), some enquired about his provenance from Standard Liege fans. They drew a blank, "Even football people here in Belgium haven't heard of him," one advised. Unsurprising. Karel Fraeye was, until last week, head coach at a club called KFC Vigor Wultens Hamme , who play in the Belgian third division - a competition roughly on a par with, say, the Wessex League over here. He has guided his club to a magnificent 12th position out of 18. Two wins in 11 games. Poor Charlton. Once the epitome of the well-run family club, much loved by neutrals, and apt to punch above their weight, they are now a shambles. When I called Mr Fraeye the "interim" manager, I used quotation marks because, in truth, under Duchatelet, 68, all managers are interim, so the term has no meaning. Since he took over at the Valley, the microchip manufacturer has been through five managers in less than two years. None of them has been much cop, but then none of them was given anywhere near the funds to do the job. They were all forced to depend upon loanees and questionable acquisitions from Duchatelet's other European playthings - the formerly magnificent Ujpest FC from Hungary (now no more than also-rans), the formerly OK -ish Carl Zeiss Jena (now in the German fourth tier) and the never up-to-much AD Alcorcon from the middle of the Spanish second division. Duchatelet recently flogged off his prize footballing asset, Standard Liege, whose fans accused him of bleeding the club dry of cash. It's all very familiar, isn't it? Blackpool supporters might notice in Mr Duchatelet a touch of the Oystons. Leeds United fans might also wince along in sympathy at the behaviour of an egocentric foreign owner who does not seem to have the club's interests at heart - and still less the interests of the fans. Fraeye's appointment infuriated still further the Charlton faithful ( who are, it has to be said, becoming markedly less faithful with each game). He is seen as simply another Duchatelet hired hand with no experience of managing a club at anything even approaching a decent level. Remarkably, given Charlton's performances in recent seasons, the fans have some sympathy for the defenestrated managers, their ire is directed solely at their Belgian owner. With the same rapidity that Charlton have shed managers, so they have shed the sort of players needed to compete in the Championship. They have a thin squad who, as it stands, would struggle to attain mid-table in League One. Unless things change quickly, I would bet on them to beat Rotherham United through the relegation trapdoor. They are beginning to look like this season's Blackpool. All of which is immensely cheering if, for example. you're me, and a Millwall fan. We are habituated to being despised as small-club, cave-dwelling knuckleheads by our south London neighbours, regardless of the fact that we beat them almost every time we play them. For our part, we know them as "trainspotters" or "anoraks" allowed to turn up and watch their team each week only because Operation Yewtree has a lot of work on its hands. The club have even given their name to an adjective - "Charltonification" - describing the transformation of proper football clubs into happy-clappy post Euro 1996 oases of passionless consensus and absolutely no swearing. But that's just local spite. More interestingly, does the Duchatelet template work? This idea that clubs across Europe can benefit from mutual cross -fertilisation of players and staff? I have never known it to work, unless it is one very big club using smaller continental sides as a feeder and pouring money in to keep those smaller clubs afloat. It doesn't seem to work when all of the clubs are much of a muchness. I suppose you would argue that Ujpest are Duchatelet's big club - although they are not that big any more and play in front of crowds rather smaller than those who still dutifully turn up at the Valley for the latest hammering. What we have seen at Charlton is dislocated Belgians wandering around the field wondering what on earth they are doing there. Duchatelet's egotism knows no bounds. He is a former leftie agitator who has also tried his hand at politics. His party, Vivant - Greenish, liberal - won 2.1 per cent of the vote last time out. The Belgians then were no more convinced by the businessman's rallying cry - "The road to more net domestic happiness!" - than are Charlton supporters today." |
|
Royals Rendezvous - a specialist and friendly Reading FC fan forum Cello man... VIDEO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEVmGOEMJLE&t=12s Please share ! | |
![]() |
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
![]() Join the millions that use us for their forum communities. Create your own forum today. Learn More · Register for Free |
|
| « Previous Topic · Rivals, but Friends! - Fan News and Chat/Banter · Next Topic » |






8:41 AM Jul 11