The CAS Trust board are pleased to announce that, at a meeting of the board on Monday 23rd February and in accordance with Supporters' Trust rules, Steve Clarke was unanimously elected as chair of CAS Trust to succeed Barnie Razzell on his resignation from the board on 28th February.
Steve has written the following introduction:
Hello, my name is Steve Clarke, and I’m delighted and proud to be the new Chair of Charlton Athletic Supporters’ Trust.
Firstly, allow me to pay tribute to the magnificent achievements and relentless hard work of Barnie Razzell, who is standing down from the board to concentrate on his studies. With his work for the Trust, Barnie has cemented his place in Charlton’s renowned history of fans’ contributions.
Barnie had the vision to see the value of forming a Trust amongst Charlton fans and the tenacity and drive to develop it from the humble beginnings. The few dedicated fans at the initial public meeting has grown, under Barnie’s leadership, to where we are now with 1,100 plus members. During this time the Trust has achieved the ACV status for The Valley, helping to protect our home just in case anyone in the future has any ideas of moving us elsewhere.
Hopefully, I can bring my experience to the role of Chair. In my Charlton past I have been, amongst other things, a Valley Party candidate in 1990 and a few years later the first supporters’ elected representative on the Club Board.
We are in interesting times at Charlton. Our new owner has provided a financial stability that will be the envy of many. We have signed some impressive players, and we love promoting the development of players from the youth policy upwards.
And yet, as has been stated numerous times recently, there is a view amongst fans that the impressive partnership between the Club and supporters, that has been twenty-five years in the making, is at risk of being eroded. At the recent public meeting, facilitated by the Trust, there was an overwhelming mandate to continue to try to engage with the Club to understand better the strategy for the future and to work as one to develop the Club. I am determined that our top priority remains the cultivation of that dialogue.
We are all pleased that, compared to less than a month ago, things are looking much better on the pitch. The growing fear that a series of inadequate performances on the pitch were heading Charlton towards League One has been followed by a spectacular turnaround, the most recent of which was Saturday’s 3-0 win over Huddersfield - probably the best performance of the season so far. We football fans know only too well not to get too confident, but things look a lot healthier following our new liking for 3-0s.
Our focus at the Trust is firmly fixed on a friendly, constructive and mutually beneficial dialogue with the Club at a senior level. We are sure we can help make Charlton a better place all round.
I look forward to working with my colleagues on the CAS Trust Board to do my bit in helping both the Trust and CAFC.