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 again, Charlton fans. Well, it couldn't go on forever, could it?

We dropped our first points of the season last week against Southampton but still stay top of the stack because Leeds didn't win either.

That second Charlton goal was NOT offside by the way.

Dennis Wise and Alan Curbishley were spotted in the director's box also. Curbs I can understand, but not Wisey.

The Forum met up with Steve Waggott, managing director Steve Kavanagh and club director David White recently to address a number of diverse topics.

These included pigeon mess in the North and West stands, the retail situation with replica and polo shirts and important events attached to the two home games next month against Oldham Athletic and Huddersfield Town.

But on a more serious topic, our discussions revealed the club has probably the highest wage bill in League One.

Some player deals were made of course when we were in a higher division or two, so we're still feeling those effects.

The permanent departure of Andy Gray to Barnsley and the loan move to Motherwell for Yassin Moutaouakil has certainly relieved some of the pressure on the outgoings and this has to be a good thing.

Supporters’ valid complaints about the pigeons deposits in the North and West stands were addressed and hopefully by now those fans affected have noticed a big improvement in the situation.

Please let us know if this isn't the case.

We also spoke about shadowing some key staff on matchdays, possibly kiosk and commercial centre workers, so keep a look out in the future when you're ordering your hot dog - it could be one of the Fans Forum members serving you.

It certainly has gone quiet on the takeover situation, from strong rumours a few weeks ago after the excellent win up at Hartlepool to virtual silence now.

There is nothing to report, so we still wait.

Things on the pitch could hardly be better and Steve Kavanagh confirmed the new shirts, especially the new blue and black stripe away, are selling really well.

He did say also it is unlikely there will be any knock down prices of these items towards the end of the season. “When they're gone, they're gone.”

So be sure to get yours soon, if you haven't already.

The price of the new polo shirts did come in for a bit of ‘stick’ (no pun intended), as there seemed to be a bit of a hike in their price compared to last season, but other than that, the retail side of things is looking up.

A few people have asked about Jonathan Fortune - is he still with us?

As you're probably aware, the signs were he would move to the red side of Sheffield and become a blade but Jonathan suffered a hamstring pull whilst training with the Bramall Lane side and is now recovering.

We wish him a speedy recovery and hope he gets the move he wants soon.

Like Zheng Zhi, who joined Celtic recently, he remains a free agent at present.

The Oldham Athletic home game on October 10 will be International Supporters Day, where we hope to greet European Addicks, most notably from Sweden, to The Valley.

Huddersfield Town provide the opposition seven days later and this will be a Let's Kick Racism Out of Football Day.

If the success of the previous seasons is anything to go by, it will prove hugely popular.

We also hope to arrange some meet and greet events at around 1pm on a Saturday matchday with former players, or first team members who are injured or suspended, to have a drink and meet up with the fans before a game.

The Q & A with the directors will be re-scheduled just as soon as it is possible to do so, but the club have arranged an event for this Thursday in the Millenium Suite, for which numbers are restricted to 200 only.

Season ticket holders can collect two tickets each for this relatively short notice function, which couldn’t be confirmed until Messrs Parkinson, Kinsella and Breaker confirmed their availability.

It should be a very interesting evening, so why not try and get a ticket and come along?

I have crammed in as much as News Shopper will allow me but hope to have some follow up after the Exeter home game at the end of the month.

To those going to Carrow Road on Saturday, have a great day. It could be a bit tough but I'm hopeful of a point at least.

Until the next time, keep it red.