August 12 – Charlton Athletic (CAFC), relegated to England’s third tier Division 1 with a cacophony of complaint from its fans last season, has acted to control the social media agenda by threatening a fan to withhold his season ticket unless he stops posting aggressively about the club’s ownership.
The club, owned by Belgian Roland Duchatelet, issued a letter from its Duty Safety Officer Cliff Eagles telling the fan that if he wants his season ticket he will have to meet with him at the club and sign an Agreed Behavioural Contract. Presumably this is the football’s new social media equivalent equivalent of an ASBO (anti-social behavioural order) usually issued by the English courts.
The fan posted the letter on Twitter which immediately sparked outrage and more ridicule of the club on social media from fans and media commentators.
In his letter Eagles said that the club had listened to fans but that his comments were “not helpful” and “inflammatory”.
“As a club we have listened to and acted upon some of the concerns raised by the supporters during the closed season. We have identified that certain comments placed on social media websites by yourself have not been particularly constructive. Whilst we recognize that everyone is entitled to their own personal opinion it is not helpful when inflammatory comments are posted on such websites,” said the letter.
“As a result it has been decided that your season ticket will be allocated to you, in person, by myself at the club by mutual appointment.
“I need to advise you that the granting of your season ticket will be ‘conditional’ and subject to you signing an ‘Agreed Behavioural Contract’ (ABC) which will request that you refrain from posting derogatory or inflammatory comments regarding the Club or people representing the club in the future on any social media websites, or carrying out any other form of behaviour that could be deemed to be of an anti-social nature.”
Charlton once had as its chairman Sir Michael Grade, a former governor of the BBC and, generally, a champion of freedom of speech in the media. Those with longer memories will remember how In 1988 thousands of supporters volunteered to clean the ground, The Valley, eventually burning the debris in a bonfire on the pitch, so that the club could redevelop and return to playing there.
Charlton did return to former glories with a sustained run in the Premier League from 1998 to 2007. This weekend they play Fleetwood Town away. One wonders if it is really progress of digital social media that is holding this club back.
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