Charlton Athletic: Double disaster summed up Roland Duchatelet tenure - View | OneFootball

The January transfer window in 2014 saw two of the worst decisions from Roland Duchatelet's time as owner of Charlton Athletic.

A number of poor decisions were made during former Charlton Athletic owner Roland Duchatelet's time in charge of the club, and the final day of the January transfer window in 2014 brought two of the worst.

Belgian businessman Roland Duchatelet completed a takeover of Charlton Athletic in January 2014, with the club in the Championship following their League One title-winning season under Chris Powell during the 2011/12 campaign.

Two-and-a-half years later, after the Addicks played under six different permanent managers during that period, they were relegated back to the third tier in 2016.

There were several poor decisions made during Duchatelet's time at the club, from interfering with Chris Powell's team selection to the appointment of an interim head coach from the Belgian third division, but two pieces of transfer business that were completed during the owner's first transfer window are right up there when it comes to the worst of them.

Charlton sold Yann Kermorgant when he did not want to leave

French striker Yann Kermorgant starred for the Addicks as they won the title in League One and finished ninth at the end of their first season back in the second tier.

He then scored five goals during the first half of the 2013/14 campaign for a struggling Charlton side, so it came as a huge surprise when he was sold to AFC Bournemouth on deadline day in January 2014.

Chris Powell, who was manager at the time, has since discussed the decision to sell his star striker in an interview via London News Online.

"I was told he was overweight. I was told he wasn't a good striker," said Powell.

"I was told by Katrien [Meire, chief executive] ‘Oh Bournemouth have come in, how much should we sell him for?’ She was asking me and I said, ‘Nothing! You shouldn’t be selling him!.’ But she said ‘no, they want to sell him, they want to bring in a couple of strikers.’ And I said ‘you do what you have to do.’ I rung Yann and said ‘I really don’t want you to go but you know what, go for the sake of your career. Don’t stay with these people.’

"I think Yann was the catalyst for me. He really was. He was a special sort of player, quite a unique player in his build and his touch. You don’t get many like that."

The former Leicester City striker did not want to leave Charlton at the time of his departure, but the decision was made against him and his manager's wishes.

Kermorgant went on to achieve promotion to the Premier League with the Cherries, securing the title at The Valley on the final day of the season in 2015, before later helping Reading reach the Championship play-off final in 2017, showing that things might have gone differently for Charlton if they had kept hold of the Frenchman.

Charlton's replacement did not impress in SE7

Iranian forward Reza Ghoochannejhad had signed for the club the previous day, but it was Polish youngster Piotr Parzyszek who arrived at Sparrows Lane on deadline day following Kermorgant's departure.

Ghoochannejhad only scored three league goals in a Charlton shirt, while Parzyszek played just three minutes for the Addicks, highlighting how poor the decision to let Kermorgant leave the club was.

Powell discussed the signing of Parzyszek in his interview via London News Online.

"He literally turned up, I was having a staff meeting. And [club secretary] Chris Parkes came upstairs and said Pete’s downstairs and I said ‘Who? Who are you talking about?’ He said ‘Oh it’s a striker, he’s turned up and is here for training.’ And I said ‘Parksey…I don’t know who he is.’

"It’s not the lad’s fault, but I went down and I had to act as if I knew him! I said, ‘Piotr! I couldn’t wait till you turned up, your kit’s here, go and get your kit.’ And I didn’t know him. And I think he cost €800,000. I was compelled to put him on the bench.

"I don’t think he ever played again."

Duchatelet and Meire's decisions to sell Kermorgant and sign Parzyszek resulted in strikers Marcus Tudgay and Jonathan Obika joining Charlton on loan in February and March respectively, before the Addicks managed to avoid relegation back to League One under the management of Jose Riga.

However, when they were ultimately relegated in 2016, those two decisions, particularly the one to let Kermorgant leave, were not made to look like the best, and set the tone for Duchatelet's time as owner.