In January 2014, Belgian ex-politician Roland Duchâtelet completed the takeover Charlton Athletic to add to his network of clubs that included Standard Liege and Ujpest. Katrien Meire was bought in as CEO and old board member Richard Murray was kept on as a director.
Charlton, a club widely known for its impact within its community and its connection with the fans, entered a new era. Manager at the time Chris Powell was in limbo about whether he would keep his job. Powell was a fan favourite and had led the Addicks to League One glory, then a 9th place finish upon return to the second tier of English football.
However, now Duchâtelet was around, Powell’s days were numbered. The club was languishing at the wrong end of the table following the sales of key players Yann Kermorgant and Dale Stephens by the new owner. These players were replaced with network alternatives that were never up for Championship football.
Charlton crashed out of the FA Cup Quarter Final to League One side Sheffield United and Powell was sacked. Anger and disillusionment grew among supporters as Powell was by no means to blame for the clubs situation.
Ex-Standard Liege Head Coach Jose Riga was bought in for the remainder of the season and Charlton avoided relegation by the skin of their teeth.
The following summer bought more upheaval and more network players arrived through the door as well as a new manager Bob Peeters. The 2014/15 season started positively and fans began to feel as if maybe the club could form a relationship with the new board. However a 14 game winless run, stretching from November until February, saw Peeters sacked.
A new man arrived called Guy Luzon. Where did he come from? You guessed it, Standard Liege. Charlton finished the season middle table and fans still weren’t settled with the new board. Fan meetings had occurred and dialogue between board and fans was sought after but never found.
Charlton were slowly losing their identity.
The 2015/16 season started very positively following sales of quality players and Charlton were left dreaming of the prospect of play offs. But once again a dip occurred and a further sacking happened and in came “Interim Head-Coach” Karel Fraeye. Fraeye was interim for a whole 4 months. Protests had begun long before Fraeye left and their intensity increased week-upon-week.
Fraeye’s final game a dreadful 6-0 defeat to Huddersfield. This was followed up by a 5-0 defeat to Hull and Charlton were deep in trouble at the foot of the Championship table.
Jose Riga (remember him?) was bought in to try and work his magic again to save Charlton from imminent relegation.
While the board was busy calling fans customers and mentioning how only 2% were against the board, Charlton fans were donating to a protest fund and forming large protests against the board. Middlesborough at home saw the first large demonstration as it was in front of Sky Sports cameras. Beach balls were thrown on to the pitch and the game was held up for about 12 minutes in total.
Protests continued at every following home game. However it was discovered that Duchâtelet had actually attended only one single home game since taking over. This increased anger and the fans pushed more to increase the pressure on the owners.
Charlton were relegated and fans have now turned their backs on renewing season tickets. Even the longest season ticket holders wouldn’t renew. There is a new club forming for the fans. The fans will be united again through newly formed club AFC Charlton.
AFC Charlton a club running of the donations of fans and the protest fund with the aim of showing Roland Duchâtelet and Katrien Meire how important fans are. Charlton fans have a new club to be proud of. Black and white are the colours and The Valiants will ride high in English Football again.
AFC Charlton fans have put all their past memories of Charlton Athletic behind them. Starting in the Kent County League (11th Level of English Football) AFC Charlton have a long way to go before they will be playing Charlton Athletic however the fans believe it is not that far away.
Here is a quality video about the situation at Charlton Athletic. I would thoroughly recommend you watch it, just to increase the understanding of what is happening at Charlton and why AFC Charlton has begun.
(Just for your information, AFC Charlton is not real. It is going to be my FM Save. I have created the club using the pre-game editor. However it may become real soon, who knows…)
Thank you for reading this introduction. The save starts in late June. Let’s do this.
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Doing the AVB whilst playing FM since 2012... 