Charlton fans have been left seething by Roland Duchatelet’s latest comments.

The Belgian owner was speaking to Jim White on talksport where he discussed the issues clouding the sale of the club, his fear of going to matches and the current team.

It’s no secret that Duchatelet has been in discussions to sell the club over the last year, with an Australian consortium believed to be close to finalising a deal. The owner, however, believes the fans’ protests and demonstrations are hindering the sale and may have contributed to the club’s relegation to League One in 2016.

“Stopping the protests will make the sale easier,” said Duchatelet

“Did the protests help us stay up (in 2016)? Was this an action in favour of the club to keep the club in the division? Were they well or ill-advised in their actions to keep the club up?

“They wanted me out so much that some of them thought it was essential, or a better solution if they were relegated to get me out.

“Were the protests helpful to stay in the championship? Was it possible for young players to know the difference between protests against the owners or the results?

Fans, however, were less than sympathetic towards the 71-year-old, claiming the interview to be a publicity move to shift the blame away from his incompetence as a football club owner.

Duchatelet also owns football clubs in Belgium, Spain and Hungary and says that Charlton Athletic is 2% of his combined worth, suggesting he can only afford to spend 2% of his time dealing with the club’s issues. This, and the animosity from the fans is, according to the owner why he has not been seen at The Valley for a game in some time.

“I can’t consider going in these circumstances. It’s not a problem, I don’t have the time. But it’s ok as I have other clubs I can go to.

“I have other activities to do, other things I want to do, so it’s not too bad I can’t go, of course it’s a pity.

“Today I am not scared to go, but there have been periods when it wasn’t too appealing to go.

“I think that very many hate me.”

Despite the off-field issues Duchatelet claimed that he is still putting his own money in to the club and says that manager Lee Bowyer is the right man for the role.

“I still celebrate when we win, it’s quite obvious. We are competitive this year.

“Lee is a very good man, very good character, and very suitable for Charlton.

“It’s not so easy to sell a club during the competition, because the buyers also watch the results and they are tempted to change their mind if you win or lose.

“Lets hope that we go up again this year.

“I tried to help. I was not good enough apparently, I will leave, the club is far more important for them than it is for me.”

The Coalition Against Roland Duchatelet released a statement following the interview claiming that Duchatelet's comments provide further evidence of his inability to put forward any 'credible defence' of his ownership of Charlton.

In the statement it read: "CARD is confident that based on this interview the vast majority of Charlton fans will be even more convinced of the need to get Duchatelet out of the club.

"As he claims that he is not concerned about the sale price - and the club recently said it had five interested parties - it is hard to understand why this has not happened already. But perhaps those statements are not true either?" The full statement can be read here: https://twitter.com/CharltonCARD/status/1057299494063218688