The club have announced that the next Meet the Directors show will be broadcast on Charlton TV on Wednesday 21 January. This forms part of the club’s Fan Engagement Plan, a formal document submitted to the EFL. CAST supported the club in the preparation of the FEP and keeps it under ongoing review. We approach this very much in the spirit of wanting to ensure that our club is an example of best practice in fan engagement.
The Meet the Directors live show is an important part of fan engagement at Charlton. It is described in the Fan Engagement Framework as being ‘an open opportunity for supporters to hear from the Charlton Board about the strategic direction of the club, giving supporters the opportunity to ask questions live to the board’.
On the last occasion the independent Charlton Athletic Supporters’ Trust was invited to ask questions live and unfiltered to the directors alongside questions from fans that were sent into the studio for live consideration & inclusion
The club has informed CAST that the management team is “changing up” the format of Meet the Directors and that on this occasion a CAST board member will not appear on the show to put questions directly to the panel on behalf of fans. We have expressed our disappointment to the club about this as not being in the spirit of open and constructive dialogue with fans. There is a risk that that an important opportunity for fans to scrutinise and hold the club accountable could be filtered by what the CAFC board does and doesn’t want to talk about.
There will still be an opportunity for fans to submit questions via WhatsApp on the night. We urge Addicks to do so, keeping them succinct and to the point. These will be put by the club’s professional hosts. We request the hosts to ensure that fan questions will not be filtered and will be followed up if the answer given is vague or incomplete. With the show scheduled during January this will naturally put a lot of emphasis on the footballing side. We hope that there will also be a good range of questions about off-field matters and the club’s medium to long term plans. Please also feel free to send your question to secretary@castrust.org. We will monitor them and if your question is not asked on the night, CAST will follow up with the club to get an answer for you.
CAST works hard to fulfil its role as the Addicks’ independent supporters’ trust, accountable to its members and advocating on behalf of the whole fanbase and wider Charlton community. Our goal is to protect, preserve and promote CAFC for this and future generations. We welcome the fact that the club’s current ownership engages positively with CAST, a significant contrast with previous regimes. We are transparent that our role is to act as a critical friend of the club – not shying away from raising difficult or contentious issues and commenting constructively on areas where we feel the club can and should do better. The relationship between CAST and the club is also described in the 25/26 Charlton Athletic Supporter Engagement Plan as
‘SUPPORTERS’ TRUST LIAISON The club liaises with the independent Charlton Athletic Supporters’ Trust (CAST) on both strategic and operational matters. CAST and the club hold a constructive relationship under the current club ownership. The club’s senior management proactively seeks the advice of the CAST board on fan matters such as pricing and promotion of season tickets and matchday tickets while CAST proactively approaches the club on matters of concern or importance to fans. This relationship enables the club and the Supporters' Trust to give fast and considered advice on issues ranging from communication to logistics’. As an example, CAST is currently liaising with the club and the authorities on fan safety issues in regard to the recent Chelsea match and the upcoming clash against Millwall.
CAST’s survey last year highlighted positive improvement in fan engagement, with 77% agreeing that current club ownership is more committed to fan engagement than recent owners. We are still in a period of building trust, with just under half (45%) agreeing that the directors and SMT are honest and transparent with the fanbase, while 35% say they don’t know.
We are aware that the club have struggled in retaining someone in the Supporter Liaison Officer role, and this has caused some frustration and inconsistency among fans regarding who to contact at the club and how to do so. We will continue to work constructively to address this with the club. The step up to the Championship has been a large one in all areas, and we will continue to strive to make sure that we can become an example of best practice in fan engagement, a club that the rest of the league looks to as the model of how to get fan engagement right.
How to join the show:
https://www.charltonafc.com/news/be-part-online-meeting-club-directors
If you are not already one of the 2500 Addicks who are members of CAST you can join here for just £5 per year:
https://www.castrust.org/join/?v=7885444af42e