Sure, he made plenty of mistakes, but what was his biggest? For me it was to make Thomas Driesen his chief scout. He was responsible for so much of the dross which has alienated the fans.
1) Selling Kermit 2) Sacking Chris Powell 3) Sacking Big Bob (I liked Big Bob) 4) Appointing Katrien 5) Getting rid of the west stand's chippy van In fairness to the bloke, he has paid the bills and kept the wolves from the door.
emailing chris powell. selling premier league players for a fraction of their worth. "that" scouting network
I think Duchatelet's biggest 'mistake' is his unshakable belief that he knows best about footballing matters - better than people who have lived and breathed football and worked in the game all their lives. Because of this attitude, all of the other things he and KM got wrong went unaddressed for far too long. If Duchatelet had been willing to employ people who were experienced in the ways of English football and listen to their unbiased advice, he could have corrected the early mistakes he made - including the appointment of Katrien Meire. The disastrous 2015-16 relegation season could have been avoided. If Roland had just been willing to listen and learn, Charlton might just be where KM said he wanted it to be - competing in the Championship with realistic Premier League ambitions. RD's recent interviews show that he still does not accept responsibility for anything that went wrong at CAFC since 2014, merely saying he wished his comminucations team had done a better job. And I think by that, all he means is he wished his people had been more robust in hitting back against what he regards as the crude and unfair expressions of dissatisfaction from Charlton fans about Katrien Meire during protest demonstrations. He still doesn't think he did anything wrong.
Roland’s biggest mistake - Not giving Rick Everitt a job at the club in 2014 when he applied to work for the Regime.
That's fine Lardi but could you paraphrase that into 5 words with the first two words being "Duchatelet is …….." and one of the last three words being a swear word
He is far, far worse than that. In 5 years he has returned the club to our Selhurst-era state. A denuded squad playing in front of a tiny crowd. I for one never thought we would see those days again. Given that we were a Premier League club playing in front of 27,000 only 8 years before he took over, this prize idiot goes down in the annals of football history.
Some good and very valid points currently being made on another Charlton forum about the laughable Charlton ticket office, and the damage that Duchatelet has wreaked on it. Put simply, with no CEO for a year, the staff there are too few, and poor quality, and untrained. Stalwarts like Jean H are complaining about the recent rubbish service that they have received. I have discussed this with @ForestHillBilly and @baraettmattesvensson becausr it really is an area that the new owner quickly needs to get to grips with. The customer service currently on offer to Charlton fans stinks. Last Friday I rang our ticket office to ask how many Shrewsbury tickets we had been allocated and had sold, as I didn’t want to travel up there with the risk of not being able to get in. The Charlton ticket office staff said they did not know the answer to either question. I then rang the very helpful Shrewsbury Town ticket office, and the guy gave me both answers and other very helpful match day advice immediately - as well as thanking me for my planned visit. What a contrast...
To be fair, FHB did ask for our views on Roland's one biggest mistake. A complete list of his mistakes / misdeeds / blunders would take a long time to type, and we all know what they are. I'm not sure a character trait (RD's arrogant presumption that he knows best about footballing matters) is a 'mistake' as such - but all of the things that went so badly wrong because they were not recognised as mistakes and fixed quickly, happened because Roland refused to listen and learn. For such a successful businessman, RD's refusal to employ basic sensible good business methods regarding CAFC is utterly inexplicable. Perhaps the whole mess is down to Roland's mistaken faith in his protégé Katrien Meire's ability, and his unwillingness to accept (even to this day) that she was not up to the job.
FHB and I were discussing this yesterday. Having kept us up, Jose Riga told Duchatelet at the end of the 2014 season that the Network players were not good enough, and his master plan needed to change. Riga was fired. Duchatelet doubled down with Peeters, Luzon and Fraeye - all Yes Men. Pure malice, not incompetence.
Charlton would be a better football club behind the scenes with the likes of Everitt working for us. Everitt is Charlton to the core and not the enemy.
