Roland Duchatelet will be holding his first open press conference in London tomorrow and will be joined behind the mic by Katrien Meire and Richard Murray. Once again, the club will be publicising the event through CAFC Player initially although more inclusive coverage should be available quickly from the assembled press.
Given that the Daily Mail and the Guardian have already run pieces on Roland's acquisition of Charlton Athletic and his other football interests, I will be keen to see who else reports on this beyond Rich Cawley in the SLP who will, presumably, have a front row seat and be teeing up some questions.
I hope to be pleasantly surprised by what we hear about the future plans for CAFC although I am not expecting answers to any of the key current questions. Instead, I suspect we will hear more about Roland's club-owning philosophy and and about the power of six. Pooling scouting across the geographies, using language capability, developing youth, sharing players to maximum group effect and investing where it will make the most difference or where the priorities lie. A pre-season Duchatelet Cup tournament can't be far off either. Standard Liege or Charlton Athletic to host as best and biggest city venues, if Standard Liege aren't likely to be sold-off in the meantime. He may talk about his revenue stream from his non-football business as this is key and a safe subject.
I expect Katrien to field any immediate CAFC-running questions to share the load and where she will get an easier ride as a new kid on the block and can refer to what she has done in similar circumstances at Standard Liege without committing to anything in terms of Charlton.
Richard Murray will be along to ride shot-gun and step-in if he hears any trick questions or those designed to trip Roland or Katrien up with regard to our history or precedent.
Outside of that we entertain spluttering QPR on Saturday and I would like a Charlton result almost as much for the damage it will inflict on Rangers as our need for points. The largesse at Loftus Road has been galling to watch under Harry Redknapp and to quote Kevin Keegan, "I will just love it" if they fail to win promotion this season and they have to pay the FFP penalty in the Championship next season for trying to buy their way out. Having said that, they are due a result and we rarely fire at home. Maybe a 1-1 would be a good result for us here...
Given that the Daily Mail and the Guardian have already run pieces on Roland's acquisition of Charlton Athletic and his other football interests, I will be keen to see who else reports on this beyond Rich Cawley in the SLP who will, presumably, have a front row seat and be teeing up some questions.
I hope to be pleasantly surprised by what we hear about the future plans for CAFC although I am not expecting answers to any of the key current questions. Instead, I suspect we will hear more about Roland's club-owning philosophy and and about the power of six. Pooling scouting across the geographies, using language capability, developing youth, sharing players to maximum group effect and investing where it will make the most difference or where the priorities lie. A pre-season Duchatelet Cup tournament can't be far off either. Standard Liege or Charlton Athletic to host as best and biggest city venues, if Standard Liege aren't likely to be sold-off in the meantime. He may talk about his revenue stream from his non-football business as this is key and a safe subject.
I expect Katrien to field any immediate CAFC-running questions to share the load and where she will get an easier ride as a new kid on the block and can refer to what she has done in similar circumstances at Standard Liege without committing to anything in terms of Charlton.
Richard Murray will be along to ride shot-gun and step-in if he hears any trick questions or those designed to trip Roland or Katrien up with regard to our history or precedent.
Outside of that we entertain spluttering QPR on Saturday and I would like a Charlton result almost as much for the damage it will inflict on Rangers as our need for points. The largesse at Loftus Road has been galling to watch under Harry Redknapp and to quote Kevin Keegan, "I will just love it" if they fail to win promotion this season and they have to pay the FFP penalty in the Championship next season for trying to buy their way out. Having said that, they are due a result and we rarely fire at home. Maybe a 1-1 would be a good result for us here...
Dave.....Can anyone go to the conference or do you have to be invited ? Thanks Peter (season ticket holder)
ReplyDeletePeter,
ReplyDeleteI suspect you know the answer to that question. M Duchatelet wants you to pay for the privilege of listening/watching what he has to say on CAFC player.
Dave