Roland Duchatelet says his tenure at Charlton could have been very different if it weren’t for his communications team.

Speaking to talksports Jim White the Belgian owner said how mistakes made by his team early in his reign caused fractures which would never heal.

“I’m very sad for the fans, because it could have been another story,” said Duchatelet, 71.

“I feel guilty because we didn’t inform them properly on what was going on at the time. For the fans it’s sad because it (Charlton FC) is their life, for me it was something I was interested in, I lost some money but it’s not my life, so it’s a sad thing that the fans suffer more than I do.

“That’s a problem. Certainly, we made some mistakes but the big issue is that we didn’t communicate well with the fans.”

Duchatelet maintained he still believes the Charlton fans are ‘good fans’ despite the protests and demonstrations over the last two seasons. He believes the way the club didn’t put the record straight on rumours magnified the fans negative view of the owner.

“If people are ill informed it is logical that they make wrong assumptions to what they think….

“The mismanaged communication has created a situation where I am not desired any more as an owner. It’s not a big deal, we find a new owner.”

One area of uncertainty and much debate surrounded the bonuses at Charlton. It was reported that the club went back on their word of distributing bonuses to staff. Duchatalet claimed this was not the case.

“We introduced a bonus system a few years ago based on what the (financial) outcome was. We paid a bonus two years ago because the results were good, but the bonus depends on results. So when we made huge loss we couldn’t paid the bonus.

“There are two types of bonus, one we are legally bound to pay, which we always paid everybody on time, we always pay contractual bonus.

“But the bonus, it says in the word itself, its extra, it comes down to the management of the club to decide if you get it or not.”

Duchatelet claims they are still looking for a buyer for the club and that positive discussions are ongoign with several potential buyers.