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Football

12th Aug 2016

Charlton Athletic create PR disaster with this effort to blackmail their fans

This is insane

Paul Moore

Any person is entitled to express their opinion.

The League One season is only a week old but Charlton Athletic may have already won the accolade of the ‘biggest self-inflicted PR disaster’ after this letter to some of their season ticket holders has gone viral.

The Addicks haven’t gotten off to the best of starts, an opening day 2-0 defeat to Bury in the league was compounded by a 1-0 loss to Cheltenham in the EFL Cup, as frustration builds around The Valley.

Ever since Belgian millionaire Roland Duchâtelet took over the club in January 2014, tension between the fans and the board has escalated as relegations have led to a number of protests from supporter groups. Fans have even created a group named CARD (Coalition Against Roland Duchâtelet) with the aim of forcing the Charlton Athletic owner out of the club.

Russell Slade’s side are about to play their first home match of the season against Northampton this weekend, but there’s no denying that the atmosphere will be tense in the stadium, especially considering this letter that was sent to loyal season ticket holders.

Quite frankly, if people pay their money then they’re entitled to express their opinion. Have a read of this letter and pay particular attention to the last paragraph.

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That’s right. An ‘Agreed Behavioural Contract’, meaning that fans are seemingly not allowed to post any kind of negative comment about the club on social media. If they do, their season tickets will be invalid.

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