Farewell, so long, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye

It will be the Kennedy moment for a generation of Charlton fans. "Where were you when you heard that Katrien was going?" Personally, I was on a bus (the 185 from Lewisham, if you must know). Logged on to Twitter, saw a lot of happy comments and scrolled down to find out what everyone was so happy about, and found the news, the official on-the-club-website, confirmed-by-Duchatelet news that Katrien Meire has quit as CEO of Charlton and that Duchatelet is in discussions with a potential buyer.

A few days late, but what a Christmas present!

But what a disastrous effect she's had on the club. It could all have been so different. Clearly she has some talents and qualities, but with no experience in running any business, let alone the specialised, complicated beast that is a football club, she was a poor choice by Roland (one of many, but I haven't got all day to list them.) Worse, it seems she lacked the humility to realise she needed help, and pressed ahead with her own crazy ideas (again - had we world enough and time I could list them).

It could have been different. There was general goodwill to her when she started. Apart from a few sexists, no-one minded that she was a woman. For most of us, it was a matter of right-on pride that Charlton was leading the way with her appointment. And she and Duchatelet followed in the steps of Slater-Jimenez, the extent of whose mismanagement is still being revealed.

But it all went wrong very quickly. The arrogance, the contempt, the lies ... No-one made her do those things. As everything went wrong, on and off the pitch, you had to wonder what she had to do to get sacked. Relegation, dwindling crowds, massively increased borrowing - what kind of performance targets had Duchatelet set her?

We'll probably never know what's been going on inside his head these last four years. But now, it seems his time is nearly up. We may allow ourselves a brief period of rejoicing.

Vinegar Pissers 1 Duchatelet 0 (a.e.t)

Roland Duchatelet broke his silence in an interview today, in which he conceded that his involvement in football has been a huge mistake.

I think we already knew that.

Talking about foreign ownership of Belgian clubs, he says "It makes no difference if the owner is foreign, so long as the day to day management stays in Belgian hands. What matters is that the owner should have empathy for the club, and respect its identity and local roots." Change "Belgian" to "British" and it's exactly what we've been saying all along about Charlton.

But it's not his fault. He has, oh so slowly, learned that "Football is a passionate, complex world; there are many underground forces, many decisions are based on emotions, rumours can make or break your image, and social networks create groundswells that are hard to answer." The mixed metaphor is typical Roland, of course. He means, I think, that a wave of opinion can be stirred up on social networks that his coastal defences cannot contain.

Talking of his poor reception among Sint Truiden fans, he says "I understand these people because they are attached to their club and were influenced by false information about me. They didn't know me and sometimes took me for an idiot. Doesn't bother me, because I know I'm not."

"If I were starting again, I wouldn't invest in football," he says, again much too late. On selling Charlton and his other remaining clubs he says "I haven't decided anything. I'm open to offers that may come along. I will take time to consider it."

Basically he wants out, and as one of the groundswelling, fake news-peddling vinegar pissers of social media, I couldn't be prouder.