'Fans will never accept our owner, but he wants success'

This is the headline over a double page spread interview of Karl Robinson by Henry Winter in The Times this morning.

Robinson covers a range of topics from Tony Watt's caffeine consumption to his wife's dress shop. The story starts with the recent meeting with fans in the Greenwich Tavern. Robinson says, 'For me, it's more important to heal the club than win promotion.'

Of Katrien Meire he says, 'She's remorseful about some of the things she's said and done at Charlton. She's learning on the job. She's emotionally attached to Charlton, she loves being at Charlton and is desperate to get it right.'

Of Roland, Robinson says, 'He doesn't meddle one little bit. The wage bill is the biggest I have ever had even when I was in the Championship with MK Dons. [Maybe all that does is tell us about penny pinching at the Franchisees]. At no stage in my conversations with the owner or chief exec was this fractious club, this divided club ever hidden from me.'

Of Tony Watt, he says, 'He is so talented it is ridiculous ... Tony is the most complex footballer in England, extremely talented, crazy, unstable, caring, unfit, argumentative. He drinks too much caffeine .... We are trying to occupy Tony's mind'.

Robinson says that the passion at The Valley is 'phenomenal' 'But this undercurrent slightly pulls you back. The players will say it's not troubling them because of the macho mentality, but some have told me they find it difficult at times.'