Charlton have given a supporter a crazy ultimatum - either stop slagging the club off on social media or lose your season ticket.
In the latest shambles to come out of the English League One club, an official letter posted online shows that they are going after fans who criticise them on websites like Twitter and Facebook.
The identity of the recipient of this letter has been kept secret, but you don't need to know the name of the fan - you simply have to read the ridiculous words written by the club's duty safety officer Cliff Eages.
In it, he starts by appreciating the difficult situation the club has found itself in recently - referring to their relegation from the Championship last season amid regular protestsfrom supporters about owner Roland Duchâtelet's running of the club.
Advert
But Eages quickly moves on to the real reason for the letter, telling the supporter that Charlton aware of "inflammatory" comments posted by him/her on social media.
Because of that, he informs the recipient that they must meet with him to sign an "Agreed Behavioural Contract" (sorry, what?!) which will require them to stop bad-mouthing the club on social media - and only then will they be issued with their season ticket for this term.
Seriously. We have not made up any of that. Read it for yourself:
In case you cant quite make that out, it reads:
Advert
"We are writing to you in relation to your recent purchase of a Season Ticket for the forthcoming 2016/17 season. Whilst we appreciate your continued support here at The Valley you will no doubt be more than aware of some of the issues that we unfortunately experienced towards the end of last season.
"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 however that certain comments placed on social media websites by yourself have been not 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.
"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. If you can please let me know when will be convenient we can agree a date/time when such issue may be made.
"I need to advise you that the granting of your season ticket will be 'conditional' and subject to you signing an 'Agreed Behavioral 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 behavior that could be deemed to be of an anti-social nature. (sic)"
Advert
That really is an incredible letter to be sending to a supporter - and you get the feeling the recipient might not be the only one who has received it over the summer.
It's not clear whether or not the fan agreed to meet with the club official and sign the contract, but the club will find it difficult cleaning up the mess which comes with issuing such an ill-advised ultimatum.
This story was first featured on talkingbaws.com - simple, shareable sport. Like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.
