Charlton Athletic owner reveals he made a ‘huge mistake’ getting involved in football
Up for sale since 2017, Charlton Athletic are yet to find a buyer as owner Roland Duchatelet tries to rid himself of the League One club, even going as far as demanding the EFL take charge of the club for a nominal fee of £1.
Rejecting his offer due to what they believe was a ‘significant conflict of interest’, the league did however offer their support in ‘assisting’ the owner in ‘his aim of finding a suitable new owner for the club’.
While that Charlton matter is still ongoing, Duchatelet sat down with Sport/Foot in Belgium for a rather candid interview where he, for lack of a better word, ‘blamed’ himself for the situation he currently finds himself in.
He said: “Fans can’t understand that a club owner doesn’t dedicate at least 100% of their time to it. I’ve never dedicated that much time to football, mostly through lack of having any. Most owners have other financial activities and leave the club management to other people.
“That can cause problems, as shown by the finances of the clubs in the Belgian Jupiler Pro League. Often, there’s a deep misunderstanding between what fans think and what owners do.”
The Charlton owner was then asked if he felt his communication with the fans hasn’t always been the best.
He replied: “Absolutely. My communication in football has sometimes been catastrophic. At Standard Liège like at Charlton. Communication is a huge challenge. Basically, football is a business that doesn’t suit me. I made a mistake getting involved in it.”
Duchatelet also revealed that his decision to give up on football altogether came at the end of the 2013-14 season (he believes match-fixing cost Standard Liège the title that year) just a few months after sealing his takeover at The Valley, which took place in January 2014.
As well as Charlton, the Belgian businessman is trying to sell his shares in the other two clubs where he is a majority shareholder: Alcorcon in Spain’s second-tier and Carl Zeiss Jena in 3. Liga in Germany.
Credit where it's due, at least he's finally accepting some blame.
And a lot of what he says is true. But leaving the management to other people is also a huge reason why he failed, he left the club in even more disastrous hands than himself!
Not really.
He keeps blaming communication when the problems was never just about explaining his plans but the plans themselves.
It's what unpopular politicians say, blaming their lack of votes on not explaining their policies well enough..
1595, Probable first performance of Romeo and Juliet in London.
“For never was a story more of woe than this of Charlton and her Rolleo”
"Roleo, Roleo wherefore art thou Roleo" exclaimed Richard Murray as he looked at the empty seat in the Directors box as Charlton prepared to play Barnsley.
For any hard of thinking mouth breathers still considering the bungler separating the club ownership from the real estate could be a way forward here is another example of why that's arrant nonsense: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/47820117
Stalemate - I think we need to take back control and stage an indicative vote.
Fetch your coat AB, that's so far from funny The parallels are stunning - a clueless steward insisting on doing it his/her way flatly rejecting any outside hints, help or opinions, all the while the entity trundles inexorably toward an abyss of incalculable depth.
He is acting mostly out of vengeance.....just how much further he is prepared to go is anyone’s guess, maybe he is quite prepared to drive us out of business and that is my real fear.....somehow he has to be stopped before he does. In saying the club is for sale is actually untrue, because IF the sum he is asking is anything over £35,000,000 then in reality IT IS NOT FOR SALE, because it’s highly doubtful anyone out there would consider paying more.....so in reality everyone is just pissing in the wind. It seems that many people aren’t prepared to believe he is being vengeful....in my opinion those of you who think otherwise need a reality check. We need to speak to him directly.
A messy divorce is on the horizon; the patriarch in Europe handles the sale of their London pad while the wife stays in 3rd class accomodation. He asks three times what the property is worth, leading to no prospect of a sale and the wife suffers. How does she move things forward? Protests outside said pad while he is in a sleepy foreign town? Send the kids over on Eurostar to hassle him? We need lateral thinking Addicks. Legal action of some kind? Send the new boyfriend over? Target his workplace/business set-up?
Further to my earlier post.....I wish to make it quite clear that I am not advocating anything illegal here. Just somehow getting a group of determined knowledgeable fans together (via CARD), who can seek him out for an impassioned debate, it may just help to resolve this horrendous situation we now find ourselves in, after all, what do we have to lose. What one may ask, is the alternative? Would he agree to a meeting with a fans group (in Belgium if necessary), you never know, as far as I know no one has ever asked and there’s no harm in making an approach to arrange one? One for CARD to work on maybe?
RD is a self-centred egotistical arrogant buffoon who listens to nobody and feels the world is out of step with him.
The mistake people make it is thinking there is any logic to his behaviour - there isn't! He owns a club he doesn't want, has no interest in football and is expecting a buyer at a completely ridiculous price.
The longer he owns the club, the less it's worth, the fewer fans it has, the bigger the losses and the less likelihood there is of him selling it for an inflated price. Any normal person would sell but this deluded fool doesn't do failure.
He can absorb the losses to indulge his ridiculous ego and I can't see what will shift him short of a wealthy buyer.
RD is a self-centred egotistical arrogant buffoon who listens to nobody and feels the world is out of step with him.
The mistake people make it is thinking there is any logic to his behaviour - there isn't! He owns a club he doesn't want, has no interest in football and is expecting a buyer at a completely ridiculous price.
The longer he owns the club, the less it's worth, the fewer fans it has, the bigger the losses and the less likelihood there is of him selling it for an inflated price. Any normal person would sell but this deluded fool doesn't do failure.
He can absorb the losses to indulge his ridiculous ego and I can't see what will shift him short of a wealthy buyer.
Don’t you think he’s simply being vengeful.....you seem to think it’s all ego.....maybe it is to an extent but I for me he’s hell bent on vengeance.
RD is a self-centred egotistical arrogant buffoon who listens to nobody and feels the world is out of step with him.
The mistake people make it is thinking there is any logic to his behaviour - there isn't! He owns a club he doesn't want, has no interest in football and is expecting a buyer at a completely ridiculous price.
The longer he owns the club, the less it's worth, the fewer fans it has, the bigger the losses and the less likelihood there is of him selling it for an inflated price. Any normal person would sell but this deluded fool doesn't do failure.
He can absorb the losses to indulge his ridiculous ego and I can't see what will shift him short of a wealthy buyer.
Don’t you think he’s simply being vengeful.....you seem to think it’s all ego.....maybe it is to an extent but I for me he’s hell bent on vengeance.
I think the two are intrinsically entwined. His ego won’t let him ‘lose’ and won’t allow the fans to ‘win’.
He is unable to separate the two. I also believe he still thinks he can make a deal on his terms.
The man is deluded with a massively high opinion of himself ... a dangerous combination.
The Supporters' Trust have made many approaches and attempts to meet directly with RD, @SoundAsa£, always ignored or rebuffed.
I had half expected you to say that Weegie.....surely we have some ‘friends’ at SL who can help to pin him down somehow to a location where we can at the very least confront him face to face without him finding it easy to just walk away. Secondly......what about a peaceful visit to the Embassy, that never seems to have been seriously considered?
Comments
Dunno mate but that's Roland's 'ouse
The parallels are stunning - a clueless steward insisting on doing it his/her way flatly rejecting any outside hints, help or opinions, all the while the entity trundles inexorably toward an abyss of incalculable depth.
In saying the club is for sale is actually untrue, because IF the sum he is asking is anything over £35,000,000 then in reality IT IS NOT FOR SALE, because it’s highly doubtful anyone out there would consider paying more.....so in reality everyone is just pissing in the wind.
It seems that many people aren’t prepared to believe he is being vengeful....in my opinion those of you who think otherwise need a reality check.
We need to speak to him directly.
drag this out for some time.
The club isn't 'for sale' by any stretch of objective reality. At the moment there is no chance whatsoever of us being free of the deluded Shitweasel.
I just can't see how our current situation is ever likely to come to an end.
Just somehow getting a group of determined knowledgeable fans together (via CARD), who can seek him out for an impassioned debate, it may just help to resolve this horrendous situation we now find ourselves in, after all, what do we have to lose.
What one may ask, is the alternative?
Would he agree to a meeting with a fans group (in Belgium if necessary), you never know, as far as I know no one has ever asked and there’s no harm in making an approach to arrange one?
One for CARD to work on maybe?
The mistake people make it is thinking there is any logic to his behaviour - there isn't! He owns a club he doesn't want, has no interest in football and is expecting a buyer at a completely ridiculous price.
The longer he owns the club, the less it's worth, the fewer fans it has, the bigger the losses and the less likelihood there is of him selling it for an inflated price. Any normal person would sell but this deluded fool doesn't do failure.
He can absorb the losses to indulge his ridiculous ego and I can't see what will shift him short of a wealthy buyer.
He is unable to separate the two. I also believe he still thinks he can make a deal on his terms.
The man is deluded with a massively high opinion of himself ... a dangerous combination.
Secondly......what about a peaceful visit to the Embassy, that never seems to have been seriously considered?