On Thursday Lord Justice Lewison ruled in the Court of Appeal that the injunction sought by Lex Dominus (Paul Elliott) which was originally refused by Judge Pearce should be granted. It will be in force until the November 23rd court case which will rule on the ownership dispute between Lex Dominus and Panorama Magic. It means that Panorama Magic are not permitted to sell East Street Investments to any third party in the meantime.

For those keen to understand the details of the arguments put forward at the appeal hearing we refer you to the excellent Twitter updates supplied during the hearing by @richcawleySLP and @airmanbrown.

But in summary - Lewison was not convinced by Panorama Magic's claims that granting the injunction would have serious consequences for CAFC - either by threatening the club's continuing ability to partake in the EFL or by inhibiting an immediate sale to a buyer who would meet EFL criteria. He commented that "Panorama must live with its decision to remain silent".

He paid tribute to the efforts of Panorama's barrister Lauren Kreamer who was clearly in the position of having to argue a case backed by sub-standard evidence.

Where does the decision leave us?

We have been in contact with Thomas Sandgaard and he remains upbeat. He has consistently maintained that this case has never been crucial to his acquisition of Charlton Athletic although he has never elaborated on that and is not willing to say any more at present.

As Rick Everitt has tweeted: "the very widely circulated idea that the hearing doesn't matter as Thomas Sandgaard has a workaround to acquire CAFC will now be put to the test".

Richard Cawley quotes Sandgaard as saying that he will be back in England for the Doncaster game and that "Right now I've probably got more stubborn than ever. I'm even more determined than ever". He also told Cawley that he is not prepared to make a deal with Lex Dominus as it goes against his "personal integrity".

"What really matters to me now is that we show the world that the fans want the deal done. That might actually have an impact - and obviously I'm hoping the EFL will take notice".

At CAST's meeting with the EFL this week we stressed how vital it was that Sandgaard's attempts to take over the club were successful. We have no reason to believe that they are not sympathetic to this view but they were not prepared to discuss the process or speak about individuals. They did explain that the process for appeal for people found to have a disqualifying condition was that appeals were heard by an independent panel and that all parties have to agree a chair of that panel. This was a general comment (not specific to anything current at CAFC) but we took it as helping to explain why Elliott's appeal is taking so long to deal with.

https://www.castrust.org/2020/09/efl-unable-to-comment-but-committed-to-finding-positive-outcome/

Following yesterday's outcome we have been back in touch with the EFL stressing yet again how even more crucial resolution of the Owners and Directors Test matters have become. As a reminder, the EFL declared that there were three disqualified persons (widely understood to be Elliott, Farnell and A. Mihail but never confirmed by the EFL). Similarly, Sandgaard needs to be approved.

In day to day practical terms the Court of Appeal judgment means that the transfer embargo imposed in January will continue and Lee Bowyer will not be able to strengthen the squad before the closure of the transfer window. The "four or five" signings that have been quoted as being lined up cannot go ahead.

This morning Marian Mihail replied to a letter from "Charlton Times" saying, among other things, that:

"Unfortunately, the one thing we could do to calm everyone down, which would be a 100% transparent update on the TS takeover, is the one thing we couldn't do...Privacy and discretion will be the key of this succeeding. I can promise that, as soon as it is safe to update, we'll update".

We don't have any inside information on this but the sentiment is very much in line with what Thomas Sandgaard is saying to us.

The CAST board comprises nearly 350 years of supporting Charlton and we are all feeling the anxiety of the current situation. Last week we reported "There has been a flurry of excitement on social media that a deal might be announced within the next few days and, although we would be delighted to be proved wrong, CAST remains cautious." A week later we are not happy that our caution proved to be prudent but we are minded that Alan Curbishley was always advising us not to allow ourselves to get too high after a win or too low after a defeat.

For the sake of his own sanity the writer of this update is going to look forward to the match tomorrow, enjoy the post-match analysis and cling to the old Scottish saying quoted recently by a colleague with Thomas Sandgaard in mind:

"What's for you will not go by you"