Up for sale since 2017, Charlton Athletic are yet to find a buyer as owner Roland Duchatelet tries to rid himself of the League One club, even going as far as demanding the EFL take charge of the club for a nominal fee of £1.
Rejecting his offer due to what they believe was a ‘significant conflict of interest’, the league did however offer their support in ‘assisting’ the owner in ‘his aim of finding a suitable new owner for the club’.
While that Charlton matter is still ongoing, Duchatelet sat down with Sport/Foot in Belgium for a rather candid interview where he, for lack of a better word, ‘blamed’ himself for the situation he currently finds himself in.
He said: “Fans can’t understand that a club owner doesn’t dedicate at least 100% of their time to it. I’ve never dedicated that much time to football, mostly through lack of having any. Most owners have other financial activities and leave the club management to other people.
“That can cause problems, as shown by the finances of the clubs in the Belgian Jupiler Pro League. Often, there’s a deep misunderstanding between what fans think and what owners do.”
The Charlton owner was then asked if he felt his communication with the fans hasn’t always been the best.
He replied: “Absolutely. My communication in football has sometimes been catastrophic. At Standard Liège like at Charlton. Communication is a huge challenge. Basically, football is a business that doesn’t suit me. I made a mistake getting involved in it.”
Duchatelet also revealed that his decision to give up on football altogether came at the end of the 2013-14 season (he believes match-fixing cost Standard Liège the title that year) just a few months after sealing his takeover at The Valley, which took place in January 2014.
As well as Charlton, the Belgian businessman is trying to sell his shares in the other two clubs where he is a majority shareholder: Alcorcon in Spain’s second-tier and Carl Zeiss Jena in 3. Liga in Germany.
