Can Charlton fans force owner out?

Charlton fans, organised by the Coalition Against Roland Duchatelet (CARD), will be demonstrating again against the club’s Belgian owner and chief executive when they play Blackburn Rovers at The Valley tomorrow.   

Charlton fans have a history of fan activism.   They enabled the club to return to The Valley from ground shares, overcoming the opposition of the local council.   They entered candidates in the council elections under the banner of the Valley Party and ousted the chair of the planning committee.

Charlton fans, organised by the Coalition Against Roland Duchatelet (CARD), will be demonstrating again against the club’s Belgian owner and chief executive when they play Blackburn Rovers at The Valley tomorrow.   

Charlton fans have a history of fan activism.   They enabled the club to return to The Valley from ground shares, overcoming the opposition of the local council.   They entered candidates in the council elections under the banner of the Valley Party and ousted the chair of the planning committee.

Subsequent efforts to build up attendances, and the innovation of a fan director on the board, gave Charlton fans a greater sense of engagement and involvement than is the case at many clubs.

Roland Duchatelet’s plans for Charlton had two big flaws.  He assumed that the Football League was serious about its plans for financial fair play and that a more level playing field would be created in the Chanpionship, enabling a club to be run on a break even basis.

This overlooked the increasing impact that parachute payments have had.   It also failed to take account of a likely legal challenge to financial fair play which would lead the Football League to proceed cautiously.   This is surprising given that Charlton chief executive Katrien Meire is a competition lawyer.

Duchatelet also sought to construct a network of European clubs to minimise transfer and agents fees. This scheme was blunted when he sold the jewel in the crown of Standard Liege, although he still has interests in clubs in Belgium, Germany, Hungary and Spain, as well as Charlton.   It did mean that Charlton were lumbered with a number of network players who were not up to the challenges of the Championship.

Duchatelet has invested in the Charlton Academy, which has a good track record, and wants to develop players for the Premier League.   However, fans fear that a player farm could work just as well in League One.

Steve Clarke, chairman of the Charlton Athletic Supporters Trust, says that fans always win in the end. But the obdurate and utopian visionary Duchatelet is a harder nut to crack than Greenwich Council where a democratic mechanism was to hand.

If the club was for sale, would there be a buyer?  Former chief executive Peter Varney made unsuccessful approaches to the club on behalf of an investor, although it was never clear whether this was for a buy out or a minority investment.

Wolves has been for sale since the beginning of the season without finding a purchaser and Charlton’s fractious fans with their strong sense of entitlement might put some buyers off.