The Charlton Athletic Supporters' Trust (CAS Trust or CAST) was formally launched on the 5th of December 2012.  This date was chosen because it marked the 20th anniversary of the club's return to The Valley from the exile years.

Background  -  Supporters Trusts

The Supporters Trust movement took off after the report of the UK Government's 1999 Football Task Force, 'Investing in the Community'. The report recognized the increasing frequency of football clubs getting into financial difficulties which threatened their continuing existence, and the detrimental effect this could have on a local community. The umbrella organization Supporters Direct (now Football Supporters Association or FSA) was set up in 1990 with government funding with the aim "to secure a greater level of accountability and deliver democratic representation within football clubs".

Supporters Trusts are Industrial and Provident Societies (legal entities registered in England and Wales under the Industrial & Provident Societies Act 1965) and are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. They operate democratically and under rules set out by Supporters Direct in compliance with the 1965 Act.

There are over 30 football clubs fully owned by their Supporters Trust in the UK - the best known being Portsmouth, AFC Wimbledon and Exeter City.

CAS Trust working in partnership with CAFC

The formal aims of CAS Trust ( as set out in the constitution) are:

• to be the vehicle through which a healthy, balanced and constructive relationship between CAFC and its supporters and the communities it serves is encouraged and developed
• being the democratic and representative voice of the supporters of CAFC and strengthening the bonds between CAFC and the communities it serves
• achieving the greatest possible supporter and community influence in the running and ownership of CAFC

In November 2013 CAS Trust successfully achieved the granting by The Royal Borough of Greenwich of Asset of Community Value status for The Valley.  This status means that CAS Trust has the right to be informed about any proposed sale of the ground and the right to make a bid to purchase within six months of notice of sale being issued.

CAS Trust also led the campaign to obtain greater transparency about the contract between West Ham United and the LLDC for The Olympic Stadium - in particular, because the favourable terms of the deal posed a threat to CAFC

CAS Trust under the ownership of Roland Duchâtelet

When the Belgian tookover in early 2014, discrete collaboration between CAS Trust and the club was lost with the CEO Katrien Meire deciding that all supporter groups should be afforded the same status.

In February 2015, in response to the dismissal of three managers in less than a year and the circumstances around the appointment of Guy Luzon, CAS Trust called a public meeting at Woolwich Grand Theatre which was attended by nearly 400 supporters- fans gave intelligent, thoughtful and measured responses. There was the occasional expression of extreme views, and similarly a few who saw nothing to be concerned about. However, by far the majority of the group were clearly worried about the immediate and potentially longer-term future, sending the simple message that they wanted the Trust to engage with the Club's senior management to express the strength of feeling and concern and seek assurances".

For the following nine months CAS Trust sought a meeting with Roland Duchâtelet and/or Katrien Meire to pursue dialogue, but this was not forthcoming.  Eventually, in December 2015, Katrien Meire agreed that a strategy group should be set up which would include CAS Trust.  However, she then appeared to change her mind as nothing more was heard from her on the subject. Representatives of CAS Trust board subsequently met Katrien Meire and Richard Murray and advised them that the majority view of CAS Trust members was that the situation under Duchâtelet's ownership was irretrievable and that the only way for the club to regain the trust and support of fans would be under new ownership.

Richard Wiseman replaced Steve Clarke as Chair in July 2016. CAST continued to attend Fans Forum meetings but our position remained that the situation was irretrievable and that Duchatelet should sell the club. In 2017 Duchatelet finally announced that he was actively seeking a buyer for the club. There followed a period of two years during which a number of putative buyers expressed their frustration at the difficulties of trying to do a deal with him.

ESI Purchase from Duchâtelet

In November 2019 it was announced that the club had been purchased by East Street Investments. CAST initially welcomed ESI but concerns soon began to surface as the terms of the deal (in particular the separation of ownership of club and stadium) and the intentions of the buyers became clearer. When Tahnoon Nimer went public with criticism of Matthew Southall CAST requested a meeting with Southall. The meeting was held on March 12^th 2020 and, as a result of Southall being unable to give us any confidence in his ability to bring in extra funds or to win back the trust of supporters, we publicly called on him to resign as Executive Director.

The following six months were a period of anxiety for Charlton supporters as the dispute between Nimer and Southall played out. CAST attempted to keep supporters informed about what was happening at the club and one source of information was Marian Mihail - a director appointed by Nimer who was based in Romania. As a result of publishing information supplied by Mihail CAST received a letter in May 2020 from Southall threatening legal action for defamation. This threat was rigorously defended and Southall failed to take it any further. CAST membership more than doubled to 2500 within a week as fans recognised the peril the club was in.

During the summer of 2020 it seemed increasingly possible that, unless satisfactory proof of ongoing funds could be provided, the club’s membership of the EFL could be terminated. In June it was announced that East Street Investments had been sold to a consortium (Lex Dominus) led by Paul Elliott. The ownership dispute continued through the courts. Lauren Kreamer temporarily stood down from the CAST board (to avoid any conflict of interest) and successfully argued in the High Court that Elliott's application for an injunction to stop the sale of East Street Investments to anyone other than Lex Dominus should be denied.

In August the EFL declared that Elliott had failed the Owners & Directors Test. Because of concerns about the source and sustainability of future funding CAST had set up an initiative (“Our Club”) to raise funds in the event of the club being placed in administration. By August 2020 nearly five thousand supporters had joined the initiative, ready to pledge funds if necessary.

Sandgaard Steps In

In September 2020 shortly before the planned public launch of fundraising for Our Club the ownership of the club was taken over by Thomas Sandgaard. CAST had been liaising with Sandgaard during the previous weeks.

In December 2020 Heather McKinlay became Chair of CAST. We tried to work constructively with Sandgaard during his ownership but, despite his best intentions and upbeat manner, he remained reluctant to accept the advice and guidance which was offered to him both by football professionals and experienced supporters. Despite the good will with which he was welcomed poor judgement and stubborn decisions meant that he lost the confidence of many supporters during his tenure. In December 2022 CAST hosted an on-line meeting of 600 supporters to discuss the situation and it was at that meeting that the first draft of The Addicks Charter was aired. It was agreed that Sandgaard should be asked to commit to the principles of the Charter at the following Fans Forum meeting but he was unwilling to do so. We urged him at that point to sell the club.

In the meantime CAST had been fully involved in the Fan Led Review of football governance which had been set up under Tracey Crouch MP in April 2021. We gave evidence to the Review committee and were cited in the Review (published in November 2021) concerning our evidence of the lack of accountability in leadership at the football authorities: “As an example…failures of the EFL to intervene during a turbulent period for Charlton Athletic, despite supporter pleas, leading to legal action.”

In support of the recommendations of the Review Heather McKinlay met HRH Prince William (in his role as President of the Football Association) and Heather Alderson met Sports Minister Stuart Andrew.

Global Football Partners Take the Reins

In July 2023 Sandgaard sold the club to Global Football Partners (GFP). We are pleased that GFP have shown a level of commitment to supporter involvement that we have not seen at the club for many years. We have had constructive engagement with the club concerning the establishment (and now implementation) of the Charlton Athletic Advisory Board (AB) on which CAST has two seats and we look forward to developing and strengthening the impact of the AB. CAST has also been aligned with the club on welcoming the reintroduced Football Governance Bill. The appointment in December 2024 of CAST member Gavin Carter as Non Executive Chair of CAFC, is another positive move which has strengthened ties between CAST and the club - resulting in positive and genuine consulting and work that will benefit the club in both the medium-short timeframe, as well as putting the foundations in place for a positive and successful future long-term as per CASTrusts' formal aims.

As ever inline with our constitution, we remain committed to communication and a meaningful seat at the table, when it comes to our club. We aim to ensure that strategic dialogue in accordance with EFL rules is maximised. We are committed to the principle of strategic dialogue and we aim to conduct dialogue in a way which will ensure that the views and aspirations of our members are trenchantly expressed and that the executive is held to account. A key aspect of CAST going forward is the belief that huge importance is put on having a positive, close and mutual relationship with the football club and the clubs board of directors.