Deluded Duchatelet still arguing black's white

Basking in the reflected glow of Lee Bowyer's two wins against-the-head, Roland Duchatelet has spotted the opportunity for another rant at CARD on the club's website. This time he is responding to the CARD statement a couple of weeks ago which said protests against the owner would resume following his decision to cut Bowyer's budget and continue his policy of cashing in on playing assets.

He starts by questioning why anyone would protest when the team have made the play-offs twice in the last two seasons, having been promoted this year at Wembley and when we 'have a manager and staff all the fans can get behind.' Roland is clearing taking personal credit for this when we all know it's been achieved in spite of him, not because of him. 

He has acknowledged repeatedly this year that the Championships a 'financial graveyard' and made that ambiguous statement that every season ticket in this division costs him £1000. It's very clear that he would have preferred us to remain in League One where his operating costs are lower. Indeed he tried to apply the brakes to Lee Bowyer's promotion campaign in January by moving striker Nicky Ajose on and cashing in on Karlan Ahearne-Grant. 

Similarly he pats himself on the back for extending Bowyer, Gallen and Jackson's contracts, forgetting his embarrassing and pathetic public strop two months ago when he told us he wouldn't meet the going rate for a manager in the Championship following Bowyer winning us promotion via the lucrative play-offs.  He now seeks to take credit for being forced to buckle under intense supporter pressure and change his position later the same day. 

Incredibly, he also boasts of 'an agreed budget' that has enabled Bowyer and Gallen to 'build a squad everyone can get behind.' This is breath-taking opportunism from Duchatelet. He has made it clear the budget was being cut this season irrespective of the challenge of Championship football and he has allowed Aribo and Bauer to leave and sold Dijksteel. I also believe he would have cashed-in on Lyle Taylor if he could have brought in a replacement from Peterborough on deadline day. That move may have to wait but you can be sure it will happen in due course. If Bowyer has managed to build a squad capable of staying up it will again be in spite of the owner not because of him, but it really is far too early be celebrating that. 

He goes on to mis-quote CARD in support of previous laments that match day protests have affected the team. It's been well-documented that results on protest days in the past were better than normal and Lee Bowyer has told us the players aren't affected by them. The CARD line on focusing protests on Duchatelet and away from the Valley reflect the desire to be more supportive of Bowyer and his promotion winners as they battle to stay in the Championship this year and because protests against Duchatelet and in Belgium have irked him most of all. 

His article also includes two pieces of naked propaganda. One an homage to Duchatet's life and overall genius and the other a rose-tint dripping piece on his time as Charlton owner, which tells you how much of a different universe the man lives in from the rest of us. Given his myopia and continued need to tell us things we know are simply wrong relating to the history of the protest, it's increasingly clear just how much he was seriously mis-lead by Katrien Meire for first couple of years when she went to war with the club supporters and was exposed as the gross incompetent and liar she is. 

He can continue to talk about the sale of the club and his decision to move on but the fact is that will never happen all the time he is determined to try recover his mounting losses by looking to find a prospective owner foolish enough to pay him tens of millions of pounds above the real value of the club and it's assets. 

Elgin City 3 v Cowdenbeath 0

A fine opener to the Scottish League Two campaign by Elgin City. The Blue Brazil started brightly but after Elgin settled in it was pretty much one-way traffic. 

Cowdenbeath struggled to create anything going forward and their play quickly became heated with strong challenges flying in across the pitch. They were fortunate to only see two yellow cards before half-time and also lucky to be still level just before the break after City had missed a close range header and seen a shot cannon back off an upright. However, justice was done on the stroke of half-time as Shane Sutherland opened his account for the season with a thumping header.

Elgin came flying out of the traps in the second-half and Sutherland struck again within minutes to ensure a home victory. A well flighted ball in from left was knocked down by Matthew Cooper at the back post for Sutherland to pounce. Elgin were rampant at this point and a third goal came from a corner which left-back Euan Spark met firmly to head home. Cowdenbeath were in disarray at this point and their day was capped by a straight red for Michael Herd after a cynical challenge. Elgin could have gone on to score more but they seemed content to slow things down and play the percentages to ensure they kept a clean sheet and took all three points. It was sunny afternoon with 612 there to witness it. 

Great to see Lee Bowyer's boys get off to a winning start with a 2-1 win at Ewood Park. Given the loss of key players and our failure to replace like-for-like numbers, let alone quality, I was expecting top see a couple of Academy starters and for us not to be able to fill our bench once more. Pleased to say the side had largely familiar ring to it and we did fill the bench. I am expecting a long hard slog so great to get our first win and ease some of the pressure from the home match against Stoke on Saturday..

Welling also earned a decent away point at newly relegated Havant & Waterloo who are favourites for the National League South title. The old stager Adam Coombes scoring for the Wings.