Wow, RD really comes across as pretty thick in those interviews - he claims KM didn't call us customers despite the thing being available to watch on YouTube? How did someone like him amass such a vast fortune???
Luck - at some point in his life, he happened to be in the right place at the right time and coined it as a result.
He shows his idiocy by assuming that success was a result of his perceived 'Midas Touch'.
I have some disturbing thoughts in my head, having read the utter drivel he has spouted. Though it is good to see that the PR background of the Head of Comms is working so well. The only plus side in all of this is that it clearly shows that he knows that Meire and Murray are beyond the Pale in the eyes of the fans.
“The thing is, this is a fantastic club. The fans don’t really know me because I’ve not been here so often. Now we’re in a crisis situation and it is the right time to get to learn each other - to work together. To go forward. :- said sultry, pouting, R Duchatelet, slowly peeling off his silk kimono...
“I’ve been here now for two years approximately. Two years in such an adventure is not a long period. Because if you talk about instability in coaches - I think it gets worse if you would have instability in owners. :- Because, let's face it, Roland's version of "stability" has just been sooooo good for the club.
“I don’t think it would be beneficial for the club, certainly not short term but also long term, because I still feel I have the ability to be a very big asset to the club.” :- Not that I don't believe him (because I think he does believe it, no matter how wrong that is), but is there not the slightest possibility that someone looking to portray themselves as being of long term benefit might, just, maybe a little, mention what they intended to do in the future to be that kind of asset.
This guy is poison, and if this is the best he can muster in the face of the fan protests, he can get the feck out.
Thing is, he is SAYING the right things mostly but his ACTIONS, not once but repeatedly just don't match his words.
The squad is too small to cope with the injuries because Roland doesn't like to spend money on players who aren't playing not because he cares about squad morale.
Players getting injured is a predictable risk not a one-off act of God. And many such as Kashi were injured early on and could have been replaced then but werent.
That they don't even have contingency plans for relegation is staggering. I heard yesterday that they really don't have plans, not that he is just saying that to avoid the "he thinks we're going down" retorts.
And he badly dodges or perhaps totally misunderstands the protests if he believes they are only because of the league position. That, of course, is a factor and a big one for many, but that is the symptom. The disease is his mismanagement.
I understand the bit about wanting a squad of Academy players / Experienced team and not wanting a team of 35 players because that'll create unrest, yet at the moment its about 70% in terms of academy players being used when it should be the other way round!!
Love it when he says that we dipped into the loan market when we had injuries... We had about 10-players out at one stage and Conor McAleny was the only loanee, now weve got everyone back we've decided to get the extra loans in!!
What a load of rubbish. If he was serious about learning from his mistakes he would have strengthened the squad in January when he had the chance. He failed to do that so why should we believe him. This interview has just poured oil on troubled waters.
Just one point here, the trouble in believing in a small squad has its problems.... in a small squad a player gets injured, cant get a replacement on the pitch (due to small squad) injured player, either plays on, returns to the squad too early, and then gets injured again because original injury not treated correctly. Outcome long term injury, put in a young kid, too early for the rigors of Champ football, losses form or confidence or gets injured and the whole bloody circus starts again.....what a dope!!!
The first link begins 'Roland Duchatelet backs Charlton Athletic Chief Executive Katrien Meire'. Unless that line is immediately followed by 'out of a moving train' I'm not even going to bother opening the link. It's pretty bleak when you can tell it's going to be the same old shit from the URL
The protests & slogans need to start using FAILURE alongside his name. His smug attitude suggests he thinks he is always right. We need to get the media, especially the Belgian media reporting FAILURE. Relegation is FAILURE.
No mention at all of the managerial appointments. I'm surprised Cawley didn't ask him about this because it has been the successive failures to appoint someone decent, that is a large part of our issue.
It worries me actually that they're not preparing for Relegation, we're bottom with a quarter of the season left, conversations need to happen and yes it may damage performances on the pitch but maybe the players will improve because they wont to run the risk of a wage drop and no offers from other clubs
i.e. Unless your Leroy Fer or Nigel Quashie no higher club wants to know if you've been relegated
I actually must say that I'm almost glad that he has mishandled this opportunity as badly as he has...
If he had sounded reasonable and genuinely concerned and willing to change the way that he is having our club run there is a chance that the wind might have been taken out of the protests somewhat.
Admittedly, the usual suspects will comment that he has provided enough that we should back down and just be the twelfth man, and that everything will be alright in the sunny uplands of the Championship next season.
However, the defence of Meire's Dublin comments is a classic 5 year old argument that "I didn't say what I said, and didn't mean it if I did".
But Roland is being himself, The Shareholder who knows everything and thinks that we will accept his assertion that he is some kind of asset, will ploughing on with his policy regardless of how it is failing.
No mention at all of the managerial appointments. I'm surprised Cawley didn't ask him about this because it has been the successive failures to appoint someone decent, that is a large part of our issue.
To be fair to Cawley, I think the rest of the interview comes out on Tuesday next week, perhaps he asked him in that piece?
The overriding thing that comes across is that he will do it HIS way. Even if he makes mistakes (and he admits that) he is the megalomaniacal boss and there are several quotes where he say's my team - not the way we would say it as fans but in a way that means MY team...and everyone else can get lost.
Reading the interview with RD has just made me more angry than ever with the man. He comes across as a arrogant prick with nothing but total distain for the fans. His tone is super aggressive/defensive and the way he keeps mentioning the importance of learning from past mistakes is cringeworthy.
Yep all our problems are down to injuries. Not a conveyor belt of second rate coaches, a squad of unproven kids and foreign imports. On top of that a management team that is not fit to run my sons U11's.
Compare and contrast with the Fenway-Liverpool statement. Both content and tone.
Utterly lamentable and also entirely avoidable. I expect the Trust might expand on that point once we have all drawn breath.
Note to new Head of Comms. If you are counting and categorising into positive and negative, I guarantee you won't even get up to 2% by the end of the working day.
I'll leave others to pick it apart. I'm even more depressed. He doesn't worry how many mistakes he needs to make before he's an expert football club owner - and the club destroyed in the process. He should have gone to a football school, not bought Charlton as a learning project.
Or employ competent professional football people who have good experience in football.
What we get is Katrien Meire who he backs because she is a lovely girl with a good heart. Unfortunately totally inept at the parts of her general manager job that she has control over. The response to the Varney enquiry, is to say that he only found out months later that it was a takeover. Well if Meire had no decided to go conferences in other places or decided to spend time raising her profile talking to foreign journalists then maybe he would have known about it sooner ?
Duchatelet tries to completely spins the Dublin debacle by suggesting that she meant to say the complete opposite of what she did say. Unfortunately for him, the whole thing is on You Tube and it is very clear what Katrien Meire says.
I will not renew my season ticket whilst Katrien Meire is still in post. Understand that Mr Duchatelet ?
Comments
Or will Igor be helping old ladies cross the road in his spare time ?
The irony is the fact we have the least nicest person working as CEO, being backed by Uncle Roland.
He shows his idiocy by assuming that success was a result of his perceived 'Midas Touch'.
(see also Simon Jordan)
“The thing is, this is a fantastic club. The fans don’t really know me because I’ve not been here so often. Now we’re in a crisis situation and it is the right time to get to learn each other - to work together. To go forward. :- said sultry, pouting, R Duchatelet, slowly peeling off his silk kimono...
“I’ve been here now for two years approximately. Two years in such an adventure is not a long period. Because if you talk about instability in coaches - I think it gets worse if you would have instability in owners. :- Because, let's face it, Roland's version of "stability" has just been sooooo good for the club.
“I don’t think it would be beneficial for the club, certainly not short term but also long term, because I still feel I have the ability to be a very big asset to the club.” :- Not that I don't believe him (because I think he does believe it, no matter how wrong that is), but is there not the slightest possibility that someone looking to portray themselves as being of long term benefit might, just, maybe a little, mention what they intended to do in the future to be that kind of asset.
This guy is poison, and if this is the best he can muster in the face of the fan protests, he can get the feck out.
The squad is too small to cope with the injuries because Roland doesn't like to spend money on players who aren't playing not because he cares about squad morale.
Players getting injured is a predictable risk not a one-off act of God. And many such as Kashi were injured early on and could have been replaced then but werent.
That they don't even have contingency plans for relegation is staggering. I heard yesterday that they really don't have plans, not that he is just saying that to avoid the "he thinks we're going down" retorts.
And he badly dodges or perhaps totally misunderstands the protests if he believes they are only because of the league position. That, of course, is a factor and a big one for many, but that is the symptom. The disease is his mismanagement.
Love it when he says that we dipped into the loan market when we had injuries... We had about 10-players out at one stage and Conor McAleny was the only loanee, now weve got everyone back we've decided to get the extra loans in!!
On with the protests and ramp them up a gear towards the CEO.
ROLAND DUCHATALET = FAILURE
i.e. Unless your Leroy Fer or Nigel Quashie no higher club wants to know if you've been relegated
If he had sounded reasonable and genuinely concerned and willing to change the way that he is having our club run there is a chance that the wind might have been taken out of the protests somewhat.
Admittedly, the usual suspects will comment that he has provided enough that we should back down and just be the twelfth man, and that everything will be alright in the sunny uplands of the Championship next season.
However, the defence of Meire's Dublin comments is a classic 5 year old argument that "I didn't say what I said, and didn't mean it if I did".
But Roland is being himself, The Shareholder who knows everything and thinks that we will accept his assertion that he is some kind of asset, will ploughing on with his policy regardless of how it is failing.
It's time to ramp up the protests.
Utterly lamentable and also entirely avoidable. I expect the Trust might expand on that point once we have all drawn breath.
Note to new Head of Comms. If you are counting and categorising into positive and negative, I guarantee you won't even get up to 2% by the end of the working day.
All we got was the Everton bloke. He's not interested in scouting British talent.
What we get is Katrien Meire who he backs because she is a lovely girl with a good heart. Unfortunately totally inept at the parts of her general manager job that she has control over. The response to the Varney enquiry, is to say that he only found out months later that it was a takeover. Well if Meire had no decided to go conferences in other places or decided to spend time raising her profile talking to foreign journalists then maybe he would have known about it sooner ?
Duchatelet tries to completely spins the Dublin debacle by suggesting that she meant to say the complete opposite of what she did say. Unfortunately for him, the whole thing is on You Tube and it is very clear what Katrien Meire says.
I will not renew my season ticket whilst Katrien Meire is still in post. Understand that Mr Duchatelet ?