Chris Powell believes the statement released by Roland Duchatelet during the week is further evidence of the detachment between the Charlton owner and the club’s fans.

A statement was posted on the Charlton website on Tuesday evening, calling on supporters to back the team as they look to achieve a miraculous escape.

However, the bizarre release also claimed some fans “want the club to fail” after protests were held before, during and after the Middlesbrough game last Sunday.

Supporters staged a mock funeral and disrupted the Championship fixture to vent their frustration at absent owner Duchatelet.

Powell, who managed the Addicks between 2011 and 2014, told BBC Radio London: “It’s a real sad story.

“I was manager there when we got out of League One, it now looks like they're hurtling towards there again.

“But they win the game [against Middlesbrough] and then they make the statement in the week which I don’t think any supporter could understand.

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“It quite clearly shows that there’s no synergy between the owners, the higher management and the fans, who are the most important ones.”

The Charlton legend also denounced the suggestion that protesting fans were harming the club’s prospects as they bid to secure Championship survival.

He said: “Well clearly it doesn’t because it’s what happens on the pitch on a Saturday which is the most important thing.

“The results settle peoples’ weeks. The fans live for Saturday’s, they accept that their team may lose but they accept their team losing with guts and a passion for trying to win the game, that hasn’t happened too often this year at Charlton.

“It’s clearly not harming them, it’s harming the football club because the fans are saying ‘you’re harming our football club, we don’t see what your ideas are or how you’re moving us forward, if you are please tell us’.

“Because ultimately it’s the fans who pay the money.”

The 46-year-old added: “The fans feel they need to be heard and that the club hasn’t listened to them and the owners haven’t done themselves justice with what they’re trying to do.

“In contrast to the owners at Leicester City, maybe, who have embraced the city and the club and the mentality of the area.”

A former Charlton left back who made over 250 appearances for the South Londoners, Powell was appointed manager of the club in 2011 and secured promotion from League One the following year.

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But the former England international was sacked by Duchatelet in March 2014 - just two months after the Belgian tycoon bought the club.

Powell is unsure how the situation in SE7 will unfold as fans promise to continue their efforts to oust the owner.

“I really don’t know what will happen and I’m sure many thousands of Charlton fans want that to be answered,” he continued.

“The only person who can answer that is Roland Duchatelet but he hasn’t.

“I think it is right for him to say: ‘this is my plan for the football club…’

“The Belgians have called the fans ‘customers’ and moments like that really underplay and undermine supporters who pay their money and travel to watch the team.

“They’re fans. They have an emotional attachment to that club. They’re not in it for the money or the glamour.

“It’s their team - they want answers and quite clearly they are not getting them.”