A LOT of people in football pay lip service to the supporters. "The fans are a bit special at this club"... "they're worth a goal start"... "they are our twelvth man."
That rhetoric is at odds with the matchday realities of draconian stewarding, contemptuous customer services and the punative pricing policies needed to keep our heroes in diamond ear-studs and Hummers. For a lot of the time I am convinced the clubs hate fans and see us at best as a neccessary evil.
But Charlton are putting their money where their mouth is - for next week's FA Cup quarter-final replay at the Riverside they are laying on FREE transport for their travelling support.
Yes FREE. Charlton have taken all the talk of getting the fans behind them seriously and put their hands in their pockets to ensure as many as possible can make the midweek trip to the Frozen North.
There are two free football special trains and a convoy of coaches heading up from the Smoke plus three charter jets with seats at a subsidised snip of just £50 return, including transfer from Teesside Airport.
Charlton have taken their full allocation of 4,800 tickets for the game... which is probably more fans than they have brought in all their previous visits to the Riverside added together. Brisk sales were no doubt boosted by the attractive first come, first served package and the novelty value of something for nothing from the club as much as by the prospect of a game that could set them on the way to their first final since 1947.
So Charlton will have almost 5,000 - the biggest ever away contingent at the Riverside - cheering them on and the club have calculated that whatever the cost it will be worth it if it swings the result their way.
That away day helping hand is something that Boro chiefs should take note of. The Charlton game will be Boro's 22nd cup game of the season and the road to glory is hitting even the most dedicated in the pocket.
Roma should have been a sell out but wasn't. Likewise Bolton and probably Basel tomorrow. Maybe even the semi-finals of both the UEFA Cup and FA Cup, if we get there, would not sell out. And there is no denying that the coffer-draining cost of following Boro on the double quest for silver is a key factor in that.
Everyone, even the best paid, is feeling the pinch after Basel and Rome and Stuttgart and while there will always be that hardcore prepared to make even bigger sacrifices, cancel the family holiday and sell the house to go every inch of the way, many more will be forced to reluctantly drop out. They deserve a return on the loyalty they have shown and the untold thousands of pounds they have invested in this season.
If Boro get through in the UEFA Cup then subsidised travel to Bucharest is probably impractical and prohibitive.
But if they get past Charlton, Boro face a semi-final trip to Villa Park to face West Ham. That will present a golden opportunity for the club to make a goodwill investment in their relationship with the fans. That will the ideal opportunity for a sweeping gesture that ensures as many as possible of the Red Army are there to cheer them on.
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