The one Charlton Athletic decision that Addicks may always thank Roland Duchatelet for | OneFootball

The Belgian is not remembered fondly at The Valley but the fans may appreciate one shrewd decision he made as owner.

Former Charlton Athletic owner Roland Duchatelet is not a popular figure in SE7 as a result of his six-year tenure that saw the club regress from being a Championship club to League One obscurity.

Duchatelet completed a takeover at The Valley in January 2014, with the Addicks having finished 9th in the Championship the previous season — which is still their best league finish since being relegated from the Premier League in 2007.

He sacked popular manager Chris Powell within a couple of months of arriving in South London, having frustrated Charlton's League One title-winning boss, most notably by interfering with team selection.

In fairness, Powell's replacement, Jose Riga, steered the club clear of relegation at the end of the 2013/14 season, but that managerial appointment would prove to be one of the only successful ones made by the Belgian owner.

Bob Peeters, Guy Luzon and Karel Fraeye were all trusted to take Charlton forward in the Championship, before Riga was once again appointed to try and avoid relegation in 2016, but he was not able to repeat his trick of saving the Addicks from their League One fate under Duchatelet.

The run of disappointing managerial appointments did not end there, with Russell Slade and Karl Robinson both unable to compete for a return to the second tier during their spells in charge in SE7.

Charlton supporters had endured a difficult time under the ownership of Duchatelet, with years of poor communication, underwhelming signings, disappointing managerial appointments, and unacceptable results meaning that several protests against him had taken place.

However, there is one decision made by Duchatelet that Addicks may appreciate, which was made following the departure of Karl Robinson in 2018.

Lee Bowyer gave Charlton fans something to smile about

The one decision made by Roland Duchatelet that Charlton fans may appreciate is the appointment Lee Bowyer as manager in 2018.

The former Charlton midfielder had guided the Addicks to the play-offs during his spell as caretaker manager following Robinson's departure in 2018, and thankfully for the supporters, he was handed the role on a permanent basis that summer.

Bowyer went on to deliver the most enjoyable season under Duchatelet's stewardship, guiding Charlton to promotion in dramatic fashion via the League One play-offs in 2019.

Unfortunately, Bowyer was unable to keep the Addicks in the second tier the following season, which was largely due to an extremely disappointing January transfer window in 2020.

Despite the difficult circumstances Bowyer was working under, Charlton were only relegated in the final minutes of the season, so they may well have survived if they had a better owner who suitably backed the manager.

While Charlton fans may appreciate Duchatelet's decision to appoint Bowyer, the fact he was not backed after undoing all the poor work from previous years will no doubt make it difficult to give the Belgian much credit.

Bowyer decision was more down to luck than judgement

Duchatelet's decision to appoint Bowyer was, unsurprisingly, not a result of the Belgian's ability to unearth talented young coaches.

Karl Robinson had brought Bowyer to the club to be part of his backroom staff, and it only became apparent to Duchatelet that he had the credentials to be a successful manager once he took caretaker charge following the sacking of Robinson.

In reality, Duchatelet had little choice but to appoint Bowyer permanently after he reached the play-offs against the odds in 2018, but given his track record of making bad decisions, Charlton fans may appreciate that he did make that one.