Sunday 3 March 2019

Roland's 'cunning plan' is 'harebrained'

This blog post from The Guardian looks at the fate of a number of clubs with barking owners, taking hope from the ousting of the Oystons at Blackpool: Suffering fans

It starts with the situation at Charlton, describing the 'cunning plan' of Roland's unveiled by Lieven de Turck as 'brilliantly hairbrained' and a 'tragicomedy'.

Rod Liddle has also pitched in, writing in the Sunday Times. He asks whether 'Roland was always this doolally or if owning Charlton has kind of tipped him over the edge.' He describes Roland's missive as 'one of the barmiest letters I have ever seen in relation to football.' The letter 'is a kind of psychotic rhetoric, a wailing in the wind.'

Being a Millwall supporter, Liddle has to get in a few digs as well, claiming that Charlton supporters call his club 'Smallwall'.

The Football League Paper has a back page feature and editorial on Roland's ramblings. VOTV editor Rick Everitt is interviewed and describes Roland's EFL sale proposal as 'clearly an absolutely bonkers idea. No one with any understanding of English football would, or could, take over one of their member clubs. The problem is that he won't sell the club at a realistic price.'

The editorial is headed by the probably hopeless appeal, 'Come on, Roland, and see sense.' It comments that his EFL takeover idea 'was patently ridiculous and has lowered his credibility even further than it already was in the eyes of Charlton fans and the wider football public. The EFL have enough on their plate without having to run Charlton! Surely it is now time for Duchatelet to do the right thing - talk to one of the would-be buyers that want to take Charlton forward and offer them the club at a reasonable price.'

If all this media criticism was appearing in Belgium, it might have some impact on Roland, although it is difficult for anything to penetrate his fog of self justification.

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