Charlton owner Roland Duchatelet sells Standard Liege
Charlton Athletic owner Roland Duchatelet has sold Belgian Club Standard Liege, but insists he wants to continue working in football.
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The multi-millionaire Belgian, who added Charlton to his network of European football clubs last January, called a sudden press conference this morning to announce he had sold Standard to current vice president Bruno Venanzi.
Duchatelet argued that things became "complicated" at Standard where his ownership was met with intense fan opposition following the sale of star players.
Charlton have benefitted from Duchatelet's other clubs since his takeover in January 2014, taking eight players on loan from Standard Liege and Hungarian side Ujpest, which Duchatelet also owns, to varying degrees of success.
Duchatelet now holds interests in a total of five clubs: German fourth division side Carl Zeiss Jena, Spanish second division team Alcocon, Sint-Truidense in the Belgian second division, Ujpest and Charlton.
Although a group of Charlton fans felt moved to hold a meeting to discuss the future direction of the club under Duchatelet, others remain supportive of the Belgian's influence at the South London club.
Despite selling Standard, Duchatelet reaffirmed his interest in football according to Belgian outlet L'Avernir who quoted him saying: "I will stay in football. But not Belgian football."
Duchatelet is believed to have paid €34m (£24.2m) for Standard in June 2011.
Charlton did not respond when contacted by City A.M.