Thirteen Charlton supporters travelled to Belgium on Sunday in a specially decorated taxi and two support vehicles to try to raise awareness of the dismay and anger felt by most Charlton fans about the mismanagement of the club under Roland Duchatelet. The venture was organised by the Coalition Against Roland Duchatelet and taxi costs were met from the protest fund, but each individual traveller met his or her own travel, accommodation and food and drink costs. Nine of the participants were members of CAS Trust.

We arrived on Sunday evening in St Truiden - the town where Duchatelet lives - which is about sixty miles beyond Brussels in the Flemish-speaking province of Limburg. First thing on a very cold Monday morning we were in the town square handing out leaflets and speaking to local people. There was a good deal of interest in what we had to say and sympathy for our cause (one couple insisted in buying us all a coffee). The majority told us they thought that for Duchatelet it was all about money or, at least, the power that money brought. We met a few fans of the local team STTV. Their dissatisfaction with Duchatelet was similar to ours with two saying that they were boycotting home games. They were unhappy about the sale of top players which had inevitably led to the club's second to bottom position. They also believed that the money Duchatelet was making from his hotel and restaurant developments at the ground outweighed any losses the club might be making on day to day operations.

We then drove the short distance to the stadium itself where we received a frosty welcome from the manager of the Stayen Complex (stadium, hotel, restaurant, apartments). We explained that we had come to deliver presents for Roland's seventieth birthday. Among the presents were a ticket for the Charlton game v Sheffield United; a map of South London so he could find The Valley; a pink pig and a beachball) but our "hosts" were unimpressed and insisted that wherever we were standing was private land (even the pavement).
Our group had arrived in St Truiden shortly after another (unconnected) group of Charlton fans had just departed. The other group had tracked Duchatelet down while he was lunching at the restaurant at the ground. They had held up an anti-Duchatelet banner while singing him a cheery "Happy Birthday". This may go some way to explaining why the staff were so jumpy with us and keen to see the back of us. They told us that everyone in the town was happy about Roland Duchatelet. They eventually (albeit reluctantly) accepted the presents - possibly spurred on to do so by the outbreak of an impromptu chorus of "Red Red Robin". One or two of us had a quick look inside the stadium. A small pink pig found its way on to the artificial pitch but was swiftly rescued.

We then drove to Brussels where the cab was photographed in front of The European Commission and the Belgian Parliament building. The railings around the Mannequin Pis were briefly draped with black and white scarves.
We stayed on Monday night in Dixmuide - not far from Ypres - and made a very early start on Tuesday morning. We headed to a massive industrial estate outside Ypres where Duchatelet's Melexis factory is to be found. There was hardly a soul to be seen there but when we let ourselves in and started up the stairs towards reception we were politely and firmly asked to leave. Later - two managers came out to talk to us. They seemed genuinely surprised that we had come to the factory. They said that Duchatelet very rarely went there and was a distant figure as far as far as people working there were concerned. We countered that, nevertheless, it was the source of his wealth.
We were pleased to have completed our trio of visits to Duchatelet's football interests, his political interests and his work.

We were extremely fortunate that among our number was an expert on First World War history and we were privileged that he took us on a fascinating and moving tour of a trench, The Menin Gate and a nearby Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery. At the cemetery we were able to pay our respects at the grave of Herbert "Nobby" Nightingale - one of the three Charlton players and officials who were killed in the war.

Was it all worth the effort ? A resounding yes. There was extensive coverage in the Belgian media (and the national press here). The trips were a great morale booster for participants and people following back home. And, amazingly, they succeeded in eliciting a response from Roland Duchatelet. On Tuesday morning he texted Talk Sport's Jim White to say:

"I am in Paris currently. Katrien Meire may have told you I have other things to care for - she knows more than I do on the matters that you seek to cover. These protests have nothing to do with reason. Therefore, whatever we do or say, the core actors within that group will always criticise"

To the press in Belgium he asserted that the protesters were "all disgruntled former employees who don't like having e woman Chief Executive"