Roland Duchâtelet, the controversial owner of Charlton Athletic, has put the club up for sale and admitted that he should not have invested in football.
The Belgian bought Charlton nearly four years ago when they were in the Championship but has faced strong protests from supporters in recent seasons over the way that he has run the club, who are now in League One.
CARD (Coalition Against Roland Duchâtelet), a supporters’ group, have put pressure on him to either invest or sell his stake in the club. Stunts have included a mock funeral being held before kick-off, beach balls being thrown on the pitch and a pitch invasion.
Until now, Duchâtelet,71, had been adamant that he would not sell Charlton.
“I have not decided anything, I am open to possible offers, I will take the time to think, but contrary to popular belief I have not made any money from football, this rarely happens for investors, those who say otherwise are wrong,” Duchâtelet said.
Duchâtelet has controlled clubs in Germany, Spain and Hungary. He was forced to sell Standard Liège, the Belgian club, in 2015 when repeated fan protests turned aggressive. There were clashes with police near the stadium, a group of fans broke into Duchâtelet’s office and others stormed an event for sponsors, who had to ask the media to help them to safety.
Liège fans had similar grievances to Charlton’s, including the lack of reinvestment from the sale of their best players, such as Axel Witsel, and the sacking of favoured managers.
Duchâtelet sold Saint-Trond, the Belgian club, last month.
“It’s not that I’m fed up, I have other activities and my age,” he said. “Actually, I wanted to leave football after the sale of the Standard Liège. Football is an exciting world, but very complex: there is a lot of underground influences, we decide a lot about emotions, we make and break your image on the basis of rumours, social networks create real background slides that are difficult to answer.
“It was an interesting experience and I learned a lot about how social media have an impact on the psychology of masses and how they can influence decisions which affect many people.”
Looking at things from a different angle.
KM hands in notice towards the end of November. A few days later Duche states that he is looking to get out of football. Towards the end of December it is announced that KM is leaving after serving a months notice. Is Duche only selling because KM is going?
No he wouldn't base a big decision like that on her, millions are at stake - the suggestion being he was keeping Charlton to make a career for her too far fetched for me. But KM is linked to RD for now at least so she has to play his game and hang on until the bitter end or an alternative when she has considerable experience.
well he can't mean in the league as we haven't achieved anything as of yet so maybe does he mean that he's the one who has forced this takeover to happen to save the fans from this awful owner. What a hero. Sir Karl I salute you.
The interview is a bit of a must listen, there is an urgency in it, a sense of right now, a hint of prescience, a directness...even a tiny moment early on which had a momentary pause around the word 'unique' which seemed telling. Marmite he may be, but Robinson like this has a kind of irresistible quality, and it means even more that we ought to measure results against words.
What he says here suggests he hasn't been done (perhaps he really means it's just not yet been finished?)
There are takeover talks as you all know about where in the next 7 days, 14 days, three months, four months, we don't know because due diligence has to be done.
Can't knock him for that interview, but it speaks volumes.
Pretty clear to me from that interview that when the new owners come in he's out the door. Shame really as he's been dealt a difficult hand in the last month or so.
For the first time since he took stewardship I actually warmed to the interview and what he said
I will stick to what I have always said , I don’t like him I didn’t want him as our manger but right now he is the best we can get and has done a good enough job to warrant keeping his postition
For the first time since he took stewardship I actually warmed to the interview and what he said
I will stick to what I have always said , I don’t like him I didn’t want him as our manger but right now he is the best we can get and has done a good enough job to warrant keeping his postition
Spot on, NLA.
I was actually a bit gutted when he began to talk as though his time would be up (i.e he'd be proud if he left after this match); as to be entirely honest, not many of us wanted him, not many of us liked him, and he's come in at one of the shittiest times imaginable...
Yet somehow the smarmy git has won a lot of us over, and even if he hasn't won us over completely, we still want him to have a fair crack at carrying on. That's pretty impressive.
He is unlikely to know either way. We know from Airman Brown that's one lot of DD has been done (probably by the Aussies) but maybe the British based one still have to go through it.
He is unlikely to know either way. We know from Airman Brown that's one lot of DD has been done (probably by the Aussies) but maybe the British based one still have to go through it.
Definitely by the Greek-Australian.
That had been going on for at least a month when KR reported he’d been told nothing was happening at the end of October. I don’t blame him for that, to be clear.
Liked Karl from day one. Went off him a little bit, finding him a little inflexible, as we all do. But if he keeps his job I'll be happy. [Sorry, probably in wrong thread]
Is there any chance Varney plus some rich fellas is the English deal? I’d forgotten but he tried to broker a deal with RD before. Could he be back?
I wondered similar , knowing that if/as RD is keen to offload the club- could he have approached Varney knowing he is desperate to get the club away from the Belgians: especially now the original obsticle (Kr) has been removed
Comments
Good shout on that one @DOUCHER
Should’ve worded it better
well he can't mean in the league as we haven't achieved anything as of yet so maybe does he mean that he's the one who has forced this takeover to happen to save the fans from this awful owner. What a hero. Sir Karl I salute you.
There are takeover talks as you all know about where in the next 7 days, 14 days, three months, four months, we don't know because due diligence has to be done.
http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/sport/charlton/15799547.Robinson__Charlton_CEO_Katrien_Meire_was_in_tears_when_she_broke_news_to_staff_about_her_exit/
Pretty clear to me from that interview that when the new owners come in he's out the door. Shame really as he's been dealt a difficult hand in the last month or so.
I will stick to what I have always said , I don’t like him I didn’t want him as our manger but right now he is the best we can get and has done a good enough job to warrant keeping his postition
I was actually a bit gutted when he began to talk as though his time would be up (i.e he'd be proud if he left after this match); as to be entirely honest, not many of us wanted him, not many of us liked him, and he's come in at one of the shittiest times imaginable...
Yet somehow the smarmy git has won a lot of us over, and even if he hasn't won us over completely, we still want him to have a fair crack at carrying on. That's pretty impressive.
That had been going on for at least a month when KR reported he’d been told nothing was happening at the end of October. I don’t blame him for that, to be clear.
Can't see why Meire would go if it hasn't. It might take months to go through DD and then sell and we'd need a CEO in that time.
But I think it has been done.
[Sorry, probably in wrong thread]