We would like to thank the 694 CAST members who responded to the section in our survey which asked "Please rate your satisfaction with CAST over the last year on a scale 1-10 (1= extremely dissatisfied; 10= extremely satisfied"
The survey reveals a high level of satisfaction with 89% reporting satisfaction levels 6-10, including 23% reporting a score of 10. Although these levels are high they are not as high as last year, when 96% reported satisfaction levels 7-10, including 38% recording a score of 10.
When asked to describe CAST in one word the most popular choices were: Excellent, Good, Committed, Important, Informative, Supportive, Trustworthy and Reliable.
When asked to give reasons for their score, typical responses were:
"Very impressed with the expertise and competence displayed by the officers. Seem also to have their hand on the pulse of most supporters views."
"Interesting regular articles on emails. I appreciate the good work they do eg engaging with eg the Club, the Fan Led Review, and other football wide initiatives. It's important I think that such a forum exists at the Club, well established so that if need arises the fans voice can be heard"
"Think they have good dialogue with the club and are not afraid to speak up on difficult issues."
"You make your presence known and actively engage with the club, representing fans’ views. The weekly emails are appreciated, and you make yourselves available at home games. I’ve very much enjoyed the virtual Q&As. Also the women’s event. The food bank initiative was excellent."
"Doing a great job in representing the fans and communicating with Thomas Sandgaard, particularly telling him things, he needs correcting on - like the Duchatelet debt."
"It's a great trust, and I feel speaks for me on the range of issues. And the Seb mosaic was a real Charlton thing to do."
"I still think it needs to be stronger and ask more probing questions of the owners"
"CAST needs to be more forceful in pushing for more engagement from the club with supporters and more vocal when supporters have misgivings about the way the club is run. CAST should also push more for some sort of part supporter ownership of the club."
"I do feel that the Club is being taken over by the PC Brigade to such an extent that this, combined with the Roland/ESI experience, has made me feel more disconnected to the Club."
"Too much on Zoom which does not interest me and is a pain to do, whereas live people attended events do (eg. AGM in The Bugle Horn Pub). No Covid rules to prevent having proper events now."
Our Zoom Q&A sessions have proved popular with those who attended them:
88% rated the Steve Gallen and Jacob Roddy Q&A excellent or good (32% excellent)
86% rated Johnnie Jackson at the AGM excellent or good (37% excellent)
83% rated the Thomas Sandgaard Q&A (March 2022) excellent or good (37% excellent)
When asked "is there anything you feel CAST should be doing better or differently?" 83% answered No.
We are grateful for comments from those (17%) who felt there were things to do better. Here are some of the comments:
"CAST needs to engage with the club but be stronger in its criticism of the club when it gets things wrong. The balance is slightly out at the moment. We seem a bit too grateful to Sandgaard for saving the club. We've forgotten to keep our distance and be forceful enough when the club gets things wrong."
"More opposition to the renaming of the Womens team"
"A scheme for tickets (free) where fans can apply due to hardship without stigma in these difficult times"
"Some kind of match day event, if there was a suitable venue and sufficient interest."
"Hold internal meetings or workshops to brainstorm ideas on certain topics, the best are presented to the club."
"Just think about encouraging all groups of fans to engage - it feels a little wooden and old fashioned at times"
"Seeking a seat on the board."
"More robust challenge of the current owners."
We will be giving active consideration to such suggestions at our next CAST board meeting.
If you would like to join nearly 3000 Charlton supporters and become a CAST member you can do so here:
https://www.castrust.org/join/