You'd have thought with the appointment of a new Head of Comms, and the apparent abundance of outsourced P.R, Uncle Rolly could be persuaded to keep his mouth shut to avoid further embarrassment to our club. Clearly not the sharpest tool in the box with regards to football matters, Roland's opinion is worth about as much as a great many of the players he's bought in over the years.
In case you're one of those who is choosing to stick your head in the sand and ignore the immense harm caused by Duchatelet's regime, let me direct you to a few of my fellow Addick bloggers here, here and here.
Yes, as if explaining to a former England international with well over 600 games as a player what a diamond formation is isn't enough of an insult, Uncle Rolly suggested in a Belgian TV interview over the weekend that the hugely-respected Chris Powell is "not a clever person". The opinion based on the fact Sir Chris chose to ignore woefully substandard players bought in by his woefully substandard scouting network. Ironically, Duchatelet has chosen to ignore the fact Powell's replacement, Jose Riga, himself overlooked the same players as Charlton successfully avoided relegation.
He went on to suggest those protesting (or activists, as he calls us) are "just stupid people too".
But my personal favourite Uncle Rolly comment was 'advising' the coach of STVV that he needed to "stop letting in goals or we'll never win a match". To be fair, it's very easy to dismiss Duchatelet as a naïve, stubborn megalomaniac, but we shouldn't discount such progressive-thinking football ideas. Wonderfully insightful, it is a wonder that the idea of not conceding goals to give yourself a chance of success has not been thought of before...
I'd be very curious to know what messrs. Rubashow and Bevington think of their employers comments. Perhaps even Meire - herself more than capable of embarrassing public speaking - might be forgiven for planting her head in her hands this morning.
All this serves only to raise the question once again as to exactly what Roland is getting out of football club ownership in general, let alone Charlton. Surely, no matter how pig-headed he obviously is, you'd reflect on things enough to accept there's a negative trend going on here and a common denominator to it all. I would imagine Mr. Duchatelet enjoys exposure, but surely not this type of press?
My only hope is this latest outburst is the beginning of the end. The interview gave cause for encouragement with Duchatelet suggesting he was "not planning to be doing this forever". Keep dreaming fellow Addicks; could there at last be the very dimmest of lights visible in the far distance?
