9:34am Tuesday 2nd February 2010
GEOFF Billingsley is a member of the new Charlton Athletic Fans' Forum, which meets regularly with the club’s hierarchy to raise supporters’ concerns about life at The Valley.
The Woolwich-based Addick will be regularly reporting for News Shopper on what goes on at the meetings and today delivers the latest instalment of his column.
HELLO all reds fans. It has been a few weeks since I last wrote for the News Shopper website but following the natural slowdown over Christmas and New Year, things are gathering a little pace now.
The switch of the Bristol Rovers away game from a Saturday to Monday for Sky coverage has caused a lot of response.
Suzie Hillcock from the Fans’ Forum was immediately on the case, writing to the club and Football League, demanding an explanation.
The problem was many fans had booked accommodation some time ago and then, to compound things, tickets went on general sale prior to Sky’s decision to broadcast live.
My personal opinion is that once tickets go on sale, the date of the game should not be allowed to be altered.
It is bad enough some Saturday kick offs are shifted to lunch or tea time starts, but to change the date is totally unacceptable.
The Football League responded by saying that, following all the bad weather and postponements of late, there were obviously some holes in the Sky schedule.
As they are obliged to broadcast a certain number of League One fixtures, and similarly the clubs have an obligation to provide such games for TV, the match was chosen.
However, fans who booked the train from First Great Western were able to receive a full refund if unable to travel on the new date.
Although we’ve lost our unbeaten home league record towards the end of last month to Leyton Orient, other important points have been picked up to keep us in third place in League One.
Norwich City’s consistent form, coupled with early front runners Leeds’ return to winning league form, are a worry, though, and we need to string together two or three victories to keep us within the automatic promotion places.
The Fans’ Forum met in late January to discuss a few important subjects, not least to review our achievements in 2009 and perhaps lay down some firm intentions for 2010.
Among subjects discussed was the necessity of agreeing new dates with the directors for our meetings and the next one will hopefully be no later than the 25th of this month.
We are aware fans are not entirely happy with the situation at present.
While the loan signing of left winger Kyel Reid and the re-acquisition of Akpo Sodje for the remainder of the season are certainly positive moves, the general feeling is the squad needs strengthening in other areas and this has to be a priority.
There was talk of one more International Supporters Day this season.
From a ‘slow’ start earlier in the campaign, these are now gathering some very positive comments and feedback and we will hopefully be able to provide more detail on this quite soon.
Beer on sale inside the ground remains a sensitive subject, although generally the availability of bottled Fosters and also Bulmers cider seems to have had favourable responses.
We hope to be involved in some market research soon, trying to gauge feedback from the fans who are affected.
If you have any views on the beer situation at The Valley, good or bad, please do contact us and let us know.
Your views are essential for us to put the case to the club, whether in favour or critical.
Season ticket detail has already been published for next season and if you commit by March 31, you can guarantee your seat at this season’s price.
The club have also re-introduced the five-year season ticket for the seriously committed.
I’ll be in touch again soon after our proposed meeting with the directors on February 25, by which time we'll hopefully be nudging the top two in League One and keeping the red flag flying.
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