Prepare for new visit, Roland!

IT WAS one of the strangest stories of the season – and striker Ross McCormack has admitted it’s true. Fuming Aston Villa boss Steve Bruce accused the £12m signing of missing training because the electronic gates at his home were stuck. McCormack, 30, who has now signed on loan for Nottingham Forest, told BBC Sport: “The fence was taller than me and I’m not 4ft 6ins. It was icy and raining. What if I’d rolled my ankle? “It sounds far-fetched but the gate was stuck... I had to wait for the company.”

CHARLTON fans are preparing to head to Belgium, but it won’t be a jolly.

The Addicks supporters are planning a major new protest against unpopular owner Roland Duchatelet in his home town of Sint-Truiden on Saturday, March 4.

The Coalition Against Roland Duchatelet (CARD), the Belgium 20 group and the recently formed Women Against the Regime (WAR) are working together to persuade the maximum number of Charlton supporters to travel and get their voices heard directly by Duchatelet, who has not attended a game at The Valley since 2014.

A CARD spokesperson said: “It’s clear that previous protests in his home town have got to him and that stepping up action there has to be a key part of persuading him to sell the club as a matter of urgency.

“The protest will be lawful and responsible, but we have every intention of embarrassing Duchatelet in his own country.”

Charlton fans have made several previous high-profile 600-mile round trips to Belgium, most recently in mid-November when the Belgium 20 came across Duchatelet as he was eating lunch.

Embarrassingly for the owner, this enabled fans to refute previous claims by club officials that he watched every Charlton match on a live video stream, as the team was playing Swindon Town at exactly the same time!