Relegation clauses in players’ contracts are widely used these days, but they are more unusual when it comes to purchases of clubs. However, Charlton fanzine Voice of the Valley suggests that Belgian multi-millionaire Roland Duchâtelet got one when he recently took over the Addicks.
Relegation clauses in players’ contracts are widely used these days, but they are more unusual when it comes to purchases of clubs. However, Charlton fanzine Voice of the Valley suggests that Belgian multi-millionaire Roland Duchâtelet got one when he recently took over the Addicks.
The fanzine suggests that the actual price for the South-East London club was £16m not the £20m reported in the media, but that £4m is contingent on the Addicks staying up. Given that they are currently in the relegation places this is, as VOTV suggests, a ‘wise insurance policy’. The owner would have to pay another £2m if the Addicks got to the Premier League within five years.
The Walloon owns six clubs across Europe, but the mother ship and top club is Standard Liège, currently top of the Belgian Pro League. He sees no need for agents in football and is interested in developing players by farming them out across his clubs with a contingent having arrived in SE7 since the takeover.
Having failed with his liberal political party, Duchâtelet is on a mission to change football. Belgian journalist Douglas De Coninck from De Morgen, writing in the Charlton Supporters’ Trust News, thinks the one phrase he does not like is ‘It’s always been like that.’ Unfortunately for him, it is a common mind set in football.
In one change with tradition, Katrien Meire has been installed as de facto chief executive at The Valley. Relatively few women hold senior positions in football and the young lawyer’s style is clearly very different from Karren Brady across the river at West Ham. Meire has had a stellar career, including a ‘stage’ with the European Commission and postings with top global law firms. Duchâtelet then recruited her to his staff at Standard Liège to take charge of legal affairs and international relations.