WAR ask for divorce! (via ad in his local paper) + Press Release

Saturday 11/02/2017 PRESS RELEASE
re Valentine’s Day Protest against Roland Duchâtelet, owner of Charlton Athletic FC

WAR (Women Against the Regime) have placed the following announcement in the "Marriage/ Relationships" section of the Belgian newspaper Het Belang van Limburg, for Saturday 11/2/17 through to Tuesday 14/2/17.

ROLAND DUCHATELET!
Broken-hearted women of Charlton Athletic Football Club beg Roland of Sint-Truiden for divorce, on grounds of total breakdown in the relationship.
Women Against the Regime

This has given rise to an article in the newspaper. Please see http://m.hbvl.be/cnt/dmf20170211_02725302/vrouwen-charlton-athletic-vragen-scheiding-van-duchatelet-via-zoekertje-in-onze-krant

Further details concerning the grounds for WAR suing Roland Duchâtelet for divorce are as follows:-

-Lending us the housekeeping income, and charging us 3% interest on the loan;
Money put into the club by Roland Duchâtelet comes via his company Staprix, and is subject to interest at 3%. Since the debt owed by the club has sky-rocketed under Duchâtelet’s ownership (£38M in the last accounts), it is estimated the annual interest owed to Staprix is over £1 000 000 p.a. And growing.

-Wasting the housekeeping on far too many players who cannot earn their keep because they are unfit, injury-prone, under-skilled, or temperamentally unsuitable, who eventually have their contracts cancelled, incurring costs to CAFC, as they cannot be sold to other clubs.

-Selling our talented children to the highest bidder as soon as they have graduated from the local Academy;
Duchâtelet’s plan to run Charlton as a “player farm”, using the first team to showcase young players from the Academy before selling them to the Premiership was first revealed to the fans by Club CEO Katrien Meire in a videoed interview at the Dublin Web Summit in 2015.
Already this season the club has sold Charlton Academy graduates Morgan Fox and Ademola Lookman, while Ezri Konsa and Joe Aribo appear to be the latest in the production line.

-Belittling us in public, calling us "domme mensen" (stupid people) on Belgian television, on 19.12.16.
Just how dumb or smart was that, to insult the fans of a club he owns? A “Gerald Ratner” moment?
Duchâtelet used the same phrase speaking of respected ex-Charlton manager, and former England international football player, Chris Powell.

-Having incompatible interests;
We want to watch good competitive football, but Duchâtelet is more interested in fine food and dancing, and money-making ventures;
Duchâtelet made clear his leisure priorities in an interview published in Belgian newspaper HLN on 21.12.16

-Abandoning us, by visiting our home in The Valley only once in 3 years at times when we could be there to see you;
Although Duchâtelet is known to visit Charlton for occasional weekday business meetings, he has not attended a match since October 2014.
On 21.9.16 Duchâtelet told Target 20k, a small group of fans who happened to be meeting on a day when he was there, that he doesn't commit as much time to Charlton as he could, as apparently CAFC only equates to about 1.5% of income/resources. Nice to know how important we are to him.

It is our intention to claim ownership of our home, The Valley, as part of the divorce settlement.
Our forebears levelled the pitch from the floor of an old quarry in Charlton. The quarry face was the foundation of the famous old East Terrace. Many present day fans formed or supported The Valley Party which contested local elections in order to return to The Valley nearly 25 years ago, after our temporary eviction to Sellhurst Park. This is OUR club, and Duchâtelet together with his regime have become unloved squatters.