Once the CAST board had had full opportunity to read and discuss the report of the meeting held with Matt Southall on Wednesday we reached the conclusion this morning that we should call for him to resign from his post of Executive Director at Charlton Athletic.

Our primary reason for this is that the meeting didn't give us confidence that there was a real likelihood of sufficient funds being available in the medium to long term to support the effective management of the club if he remains. Majority shareholder Tahnoon Nimer has stated that he is withholding funds while Southall is Executive Director.

Furthermore, we were not convinced that alternative appropriate investors would be easy to find, particularly in the light of the fact that Southall seems to have lost the confidence of a large proportion of supporters. We were also mindful of the costs and the delay that a legal process would cause and the need in a timely fashion to meet EFL requirements on the source and sufficiency of funds until June 2021.

We believe that Southall's resignation might be a first necessary step on what could be a long journey towards Charlton Athletic becoming once again the stable and competitive club we all aspire to support.