After a few days of what appeared to be an over-reaction by Roland Duchatelet to a bit of spray paint graffiti at his home and other properties, this afternoon he launches another of his famous ranting emails, this time directed at the EFL as well as the usual pop at the supporters/protestors. I would include a link to the club's Official Site where the statement is headline news but the website appears to have crashed. It can be read in full on Charlton Life here.
Basically, Roland starts off with a detailed historical position of FFP and the league's role in promoting and accepting changes to the allowable losses which clearly blew a hole in his plan to exploit FFP through his network of clubs idea. There is real emotion in his statements here and he goes on to say that the Championship is the most competitive league in the world and consequently the hottest in terms of investment relative to revenue etc - "the biggest financial graveyard in football." He then excuses his subsequent relegation with some glib comments such as we suffered with injuries relative to our squad size and protesting fans didn't help etc but it's clear to me from this that relegation was welcomed by Duchatelet and perhaps desired. I have been saying for a long time that he was happy to cut his operating losses as a League One side and that he has had no ambition to recover our Championship place and he succeeds here in explaining in his own words why that might be so.
He then goes on to blame protestors for his failure to sell the club and even calls the news about his cost cutting (stopping bottled water for youth players) and his failure to pay staff bonuses "fake news." He then blames the EFL for not having found evidence to support him on this and ends with "therefore the owner demands that the EFL acquires his football club."
Even by his high standards, this is a seriously irrational and bizarre rant and one which looks likely to draw a huge response from all involved - the EFL, Talksport, all of our supporters and the football world at large. More importantly I think is that it lays bare his short-sighted ownership plans, his loss of interest post-FFP, our consequent relegation and his modus operandi since which has been to leave the club with a skeleton staff, the manager and footballing team sufficiently unbalanced or short of investment to ensure minimal risk of promotion. That also throws this January transfer window into blinding light when you consider he has broken up our best strike partnership for a number of years by selling Karlan Grant and allowing others to leave without adequate replacement so that we have been hamstrung for the second half of the season.
Tom Rubbashaw must be considering his options as he has to stand by and preside over this nonsense. Anyone considering rushing to renew their season tickets when the offer comes in a few weeks will need their heads testing when the prospects for next season are so unknown and potentially disastrous.
He then goes on to blame protestors for his failure to sell the club and even calls the news about his cost cutting (stopping bottled water for youth players) and his failure to pay staff bonuses "fake news." He then blames the EFL for not having found evidence to support him on this and ends with "therefore the owner demands that the EFL acquires his football club."
Even by his high standards, this is a seriously irrational and bizarre rant and one which looks likely to draw a huge response from all involved - the EFL, Talksport, all of our supporters and the football world at large. More importantly I think is that it lays bare his short-sighted ownership plans, his loss of interest post-FFP, our consequent relegation and his modus operandi since which has been to leave the club with a skeleton staff, the manager and footballing team sufficiently unbalanced or short of investment to ensure minimal risk of promotion. That also throws this January transfer window into blinding light when you consider he has broken up our best strike partnership for a number of years by selling Karlan Grant and allowing others to leave without adequate replacement so that we have been hamstrung for the second half of the season.
Tom Rubbashaw must be considering his options as he has to stand by and preside over this nonsense. Anyone considering rushing to renew their season tickets when the offer comes in a few weeks will need their heads testing when the prospects for next season are so unknown and potentially disastrous.
I'd like to think there could be a "huge response" from the EFL but I won't be holding my breath. So long as fixtures are fulfilled and nobody is mean to their officials, they're not remotely inclined to be bothered. The dullard Duchatelet has just worked this out for himself.
ReplyDeleteThe EFL are probably more concerned where the next Gin and tonic is coming from
ReplyDeleteThis bit got me "However which foreign candidate owner will be prepared to invest millions to get a chance to bring a club to the Premier League and at the same time accept acts of vandalism against his property and intrusion in his private life, wherever in the world he/she lives?" I can't see any evidence of there being a desire to invest millions to get the club to the Prem. He really is a deluded old fool.
ReplyDelete