Although what Roland does is not of the same order of abuse as sex offenders, emotional abuse is still a very serious crime.
I am not sure a football club owner has ever been charged with a class action of emotional abuse but if ever there was a case that could succeed it would be Roland, with fans of multiple clubs as plaintiffs.
There are so many things you can take from this article. The absolute obvious (albeit oblivious to RD) is that he doesn't have a fucking clue how to run a successful football club. After a 4 year failed project in which fans stormed his office and demanded him to change his ways or piss off, he's now seeing exactly the same thing play out only 2 years into his time here. Is there any shred of emotional intelligence rattling around in his brain? If I had cocked something up this much, and to the extent that he has done, I wouldn't be hanging around. The writing should be very firmly on the wall.
Reading all this shit about a children's carousel? What, why, and where are these ideas coming from? He is a man that just doesn't get football. You could make me watch Charlton in a dilapidated, old, crumbling stadium, but only if I were watching a team that were good, or a club that had ambition, passion and fight. Anything else is superfluous. I don't need a match day experience tied into the championship brand of football, I need to be going fucking mental when we score, doing my nut and getting behind the team. I need to feel the 90 mins take over my body and for want of a better word, be absolutely rushing at the final whistle. I haven't felt like that since the Hull game in August, when you walk away from a game light headed because you've lived, breathed and kicked every moment of the game from the stands.
That he will never get. I'm not interested in stats, moneyball, pint and a pie for £7, a sofa, a business park, a hotel, a bunch cheap young foreign talent so far out of their depth it's embarrassing, I live for moments like Kermorgant's winner up at Boundary park, Mills smashing the 4th up at Villa in 99, Konschesky lobbing the Liverpool goalie when we beat them 2-0 in 2002, Robinson equalising at home to Man Utd in 2000. That's it. There is nothing more, these are the memories that I will take to my grave. The fact I still well up when I watch the play off final, 18 years on.
You have and will NEVER ever give me anything like that Roland. And because you will never get that or understand that passion or raw emotion, football isn't for you. How many clubs do you want to buy and how many people's lives do you want to piss off? I honestly view him as akin to a serial sex offender, yet his chosen victims are football clubs and their fans.
Nice one, Cabbles! You're becoming CL's very own Samuel Pepys ;-)
I'm not convinced Roland doesn't still own Standard.
The article states Standard WON the Belgian Cup, does that sound like a Duchatelet owned club to you?
The talk is that Venanzi (the new owner) was in no way rich enough to fund the purchase, so RD has allowed him to buy it in some kind of deal. There is a suggestion RD may get a cut of transfer sales among other things. The Standard fans we talk to tend to back away from questions about it, probably because they are so relieved he is officially gone. But someone like @skywalker may have some informed comment on the issue.
I'm not convinced Roland doesn't still own Standard.
The article states Standard WON the Belgian Cup, does that sound like a Duchatelet owned club to you?
The talk is that Venanzi (the new owner) was in no way rich enough to fund the purchase, so RD has allowed him to buy it in some kind of deal. There is a suggestion RD may get a cut of transfer sales among other things. The Standard fans we talk to tend to back away from questions about it, probably because they are so relieved he is officially gone. But someone like @skywalker may have some informed comment on the issue.
Does that mean RD has third party rights over Standard Liege players?
I'm not convinced Roland doesn't still own Standard.
The article states Standard WON the Belgian Cup, does that sound like a Duchatelet owned club to you?
The talk is that Venanzi (the new owner) was in no way rich enough to fund the purchase, so RD has allowed him to buy it in some kind of deal. There is a suggestion RD may get a cut of transfer sales among other things. The Standard fans we talk to tend to back away from questions about it, probably because they are so relieved he is officially gone. But someone like @skywalker may have some informed comment on the issue.
Does that mean RD has third party rights over Standard Liege players?
Not necessarily. The way I have read the suggestion is simply that when a chunk of money comes in from the sale of a good player, RD's debt is paid off before they can do anything else with the money. But just my assumption.
Comments
I am not sure a football club owner has ever been charged with a class action of emotional abuse but if ever there was a case that could succeed it would be Roland, with fans of multiple clubs as plaintiffs.