What is happening at our club? – weekly update

There is very little in terms of update this week and this is likely to remain the case for the foreseeable future. It may not be necessary to run a weekly update in future until and unless more information becomes available.

The club website still lists Tahnoon Nimer, Marian Mihail and Claudiu Florica as Directors but has issued an ownership clarification:

"East Street Investments were taken over by a consortium led by businessman Paul Elliott on June 10th 2020.

The club is in dialogue with the EFL on the process of finalising the change of control including matters relating to the Owners' and Directors' Test."

The Mail on Sunday ran a story last week that:

"Sports lawyer Chris Farnell and Egyptian banker Mohamed El Kashashy played key roles in advising on Elliott's acquisition after it became apparent that a disgruntled Nimer had little desire to invest any more money into the struggling Championship club.

Their company Staunch partners has been raising funds to support the club, to pay players and staff wages and assisting with restructuring of both the financial and legal side at Charlton.

Though reluctant to comment while the latest consortium awaits EFL approval, they have dispelled rumours that season ticket sales have been used to keep the club afloat and say their 'sole aim is to relaunch Charlton Athletic back to it's glory days'."

Paul Elliott has agreed to meet CAST to answer supporter questions "once we get approval from the EFL on the takeover."  We are therefore no nearer understanding what is the motivation for a Manchester-based businessman with no apparent previous interest in football to buy, in the middle of a pandemic, a company which owns a struggling club with crippling financial liabilities to Roland Duchatelet.

One significant event which might have a big impact on the club is the fact that the EFL Independent Panel are this week considering the Sheffield Wednesday misconduct charge. This was originally going to be dealt with in July but the case was brought forward - perhaps because of the threat of legal action against the EFL by Barnsley FC:

https://www.efl.com/news/2019/november/efl-statement-sheffield-wednesday-charged/

A significant points deduction could drop Wednesday to below Charlton in the league table, giving us (quite rightly) a better chance of Championship survival. While alarm bells continue to ring about the very future of the club we nevertheless recognise a crumb of comfort when we see one and we are not about to ignore this morsel.

Meanwhile, the team will play three games in seven days starting at 12.30pm on Saturday. Two of these games are at home but fans will have noticed that last Saturday's round of Championship games behind closed doors produced six away wins, four draws and only one home win.

As Charlton fans continue to worry about what will happen next we asked CAST member and planning consultant Mark Batchelor to look at the issues around the feasibility of development at The Valley and Sparrows Lane. His report can be seen here:

https://www.castrust.org/2020/06/could-they-build-houses-on-the-valley/

 

Over 1000 Charlton supporters have joined CAST in the last two months - no doubt motivated by the parlous state of affairs at our club. This has pushed our total membership towards 2500 making us one of the largest supporters' trusts in the country. Together we are stronger. You can join here:

https://www.castrust.org/join/

If you are concerned about the future of our club sign up to the OUR CLUB campaign here:

https://www.castrust.org/2020/05/sign-up-if-you-love-charlton/