Thanks to
@The_President for sourcing this. RD was on Belgian Sportcafe TV programme after STVV lost 3-0 to Genk at the weekend and touched on Charlton.
This is the link, with relevant bit (in his garbled Flemish) from 19.08 - still worth a look for the animation and body language of the other guests towards him.
https://tvl.be/programmas/sportcafe-tvl-sportcafe-29-mei-2017-44974Here's my bash at a translation- a bit rough in places as he can be quite difficult to make out:
Host: Do you still get any football pleasure from Charlton Athletic?
RD: Yes, err. In general, it is not so easy in that place and also not nice. The big challenge in football is communication as Patrick just said [Patrick Janssens, another former politician and MD of Genk, who had just talked eloquently about things he did to build relationship between club and fans and improve atmosphere at stadium] and we have tried very hard to communicate there. Sometimes there are nevertheless elements who make sure that it becomes very. very difficult, that if mistakes are made that the consequences are much more dramatic than they should be. With football it’s not so easy. Everything is blown out of proportion, problems found that aren’t problems.
Host: Why don’t you give it up like you did at Standard?
[RD gets defensive and says that wasn’t the reason, he wanted out of Belgium football, then goes on about why he bought STVV – Bert Lammens wanted out, but there was no buyer, he was the buyer of last resort, put Mareike in as president.]
RD: Actually, for me, and it’s difficult to explain to supporters, football has never been my most prominent activity. And it’s still not today, it is a sideline. And people, particularly the people of Charlton, cannot understand that at all. They dream that in my position, in that chair, one is hands-on, so to speak. They can absolutely not understand that if I am sitting in that chair that I am not “doing”. They really cannot grasp that, for them it’s incomprehensible.
I limit myself to giving money, but they believe I should be occupied day and night with it.
I think that is the problem of networks because the fans want to think their club is the best in the world and that someone who is the boss must put 200% of their time into that club or he is never going to be a good boss.
Host: There’s something beautiful about that, of course?
RD: Of course. And I respect people who are busy with it day and night, like most of my colleagues in Belgium, by the way, who are busy day and night, but that is not my life. And actually for me that’s a kind of "mismatch"…that’s why I’m not the president [here at STVV], a conscious decision, because I don’t have the time for it day and night.
Comments
PS thanks for the translation.
Roland doesn't understand us at all plus he thinks we're all stupid.
Thanks for the translation, Heather.
So he thinks that Charlton fans want him to be more involved with the club.
He is either incredibly stupid or amazingly disingenuous.
A football club is not a childs toy roly
If you don't really care and aren't that interested.. Why bother at all?
Unique.
Really?
I thought that at least he watches all the matches on a private live stream, wasn't that what we have been told?
He is the worst kind of manager. He interferes but takes no responsibility.
His protegé has learned well from the master.
As for RD's body language, I personally took nothing from it. Thanks for the post & translation.
Yes, you're absolutely right Roland I can't understand at all why you decided upon Charlton as your sideline. So here's a really stupid suggestion from a simple person -why not find another sideline to replace Charlton and make us both happy by selling up.
"If you are asked about the President's interview explain that he used "mismatch" meaning "loves and cares for and is totally committed to getting Charlton challenging for a place in the top six of league 1 if possible.
Also "sideline" means "a very important part of his business empire"
Then someone started to explain the new off side rule and he thought, this game is way too complicated, best pretend I have no intrest in football at all and hope no one asks why I bought several clubs.
So he does know that it's something you shouldn't do.
He sort of just said the network situation is a problem. A problem he created.
How can anybody blow £50m on anything and still be so ignorant of what is actually going on?
Now his ideas have failed he's left an English manager to get on with it.
So as others have said, why carry on if you're not that interested and losing millions every season?
Could have been written for the wierd old Belgian twonk.
Or, an arsehole, wrapped in ego, surrounded by sycophants. To be more direct.
Although I don't find our predicament at all funny, I can't help but piss myself laughing at what a pillock this man is.
Sell up and get lost, you deluded idiot.
And still he seems not to have learnt that to communicate properly you need to actually listen to people, not just talk at them (or in his case, issue batshit statements on the club website)
PR Tom is sat in his office reading this thread, rocking back and forth in his chair, mumbling to himself "just think of the money, just think of the money..."
How long did we wait for Mel Baroni, and how long did she last?