CARD calls out Duchatelet's latest lies and plans new protest moves

As a result of Lee Bowyer’s fine work and the efforts of the staff and players last season, Roland Duchatelet was gifted a window of opportunity to sell Charlton Athletic to one of several interested parties for the optimum amount he is ever likely to achieve.

He has once again failed to do so, and now claims that the multiple interested parties have been deterred by the level of investment needed to operate the club in the Championship.

“The big problem is that on average every Championship club loses £15 million per year," he told talkSPORT earlier this week. "Every owner of a Championship football club is expected to lose £15 million in operational losses every year  … it is not sustainable and it also explains to a large extent why so many owners want to sell their club and why so few people buy a club in England.”

The Charlton owner blames the EFL for changing its Financial Fair Play rules. The Coalition Against Roland Duchatelet (CARD) rejects his explanation out of hand.

·      In the 2017/18 season (the last for which accounts have been published), there were FOURTEEN Championship clubs which had operating losses of £12m or less, EIGHT of which were not in receipt of parachute payments. The average operating loss of the eight was £7m.

·      In the 2017/18 season there were TEN clubs not in receipt of parachute payments who made a combined net loss after player trading of £19m – an average of £1.9m.

·      All the three known parties who have shown interest this summer were well placed to understand the economics of the Championship in advance and all have let it be known that it is Duchatelet who is the significant obstacle to a sale.

·      At least NINE clubs have been bought and sold in the Championship since the changes to the FFP regulations took effect in 2016.

·      According to Bowyer, Charlton have the lowest playing budget of any Championship club in 2019/20 and the club is unable to compete financially with League One sides on wages when recruiting. He said this week that agents are laughing at their offers to players.

·      Contrary to his own arguments, Duchatelet is aiming to break even in the Championship and Bowyer has confirmed that none of the seven-figure windfall from Ademola Lookman’s move from Everton to Leipzig will be made available to him either.

·      The owner boasts that he is paying the wages and bills. In fact, most – and perhaps all – of the club’s spending this season will be funded by central payments, income and player sales.

Unlike Duchatelet, CARD stands with Bowyer and the Charlton players in their efforts to retain Championship status. We have no current plans to organise protests that have potential to impact on the players and the team by disrupting matches. 

However, we will not stand idly by while Duchatelet undermines what Bowyer achieved last season either. We therefore give notice that we regard Duchatelet and his collaborators, Richard Murray and Lieven De Turck, as legitimate targets for lawful direct action over the coming weeks and months.

We don’t ask Duchatelet to invest in the club, we simply want him to stop pretending that it is worth more than anyone will pay and sell it to one of the willing parties who want to buy it. 

We say to Duchatelet, get real and get out.