Charlton Athletic Supporters' Trust

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 Community Benefit 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 in compliance with the 1965 Act.

CAST was formed on December 5^th 2012. Its formal aims were stated as:

• 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

The first AGM was held the following May. Barnie Razzell was elected Chair. Membership soon climbed to over 1000.

CAST was recognised by the owners at the time - Michael Slater and Tony Jiminez and initial meetings were held to bring the relationship between the club and CAST on to a more formal footing. However, in January 2014 the club was sold to Roland Duchatelet.

CAST held initially constructive meetings with Duchatelet’s chief executive Katrien Meire but she was unwilling to commit to any sort of formal partnership, preferring, in her own words, the meaningless policy of “talking to all supporters”. A constant churn of managers and players allied with poor results and inept management led to a growing alienation among Charlton fans. CAST, under new Chair Steve Clarke, called a public meeting which was held on February 19^th 2015 at Woolwich Grand Theatre and attended by over 400 fans. The vast majority expressed their frustration and disillusion about the direction of the club but, despite this, most fans present agreed that CAST should continue to attempt to establish dialogue with Duchatelet to persuade him of the value of formal fan engagement.

Later that year Katrien Meire approached CAST to float the idea of a strategy group including supporter group representatives and sponsors but nothing came of it.

CAST became a member of the Coalition Against Roland Duchatelet (CARD) and took part in protests against his ownership. He refused to meet with CAST and, eventually, at the end of April 2016 having consulted our members, we met Katrien Meire and Chairman Richard Murray and informed them of our view that the future under Duchâtelet ownership could only be one of financial decline, escalating protests and increasing ridicule from supporters and the media. We explained that we could see no business sense in it and that it would be a miserable experience for all concerned. We stated our position that it would be in everyone's best interest for Duchâtelet to take urgent steps to find a new owner for the club.

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.

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 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 won a High Court injunction against the sale of the club to Elliott’s company

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. 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.

 

In July 2023 Sandgaard sold the club to Global Football Partners.