An EFL spokesperson told football.london:"The EFL can confirm that we have received a request from Charlton Athletic’s majority shareholder Roland Duchatelet, which we will review and subsequently respond to as appropriate."
Please read the statement below put out by Roland
Duchatelet on the CAFC website this afternoon and below the minutes from last
evening’s fan’s forum.
It would appear that Mr Duchatelet is not a well
man and if he was ever a fit and proper person to run an EFL football club,
there can be no question that he remains so.
Please can you take some positive action to rid us
of this man who is patently not fit to run our club and continues to do his
best to wreak havoc.
He is now also turning his attention to the EFL.
Please, please, please do something before this man
let’s matters get completely out of hand.
Yours Sincerely
X (a Charlton supporter for 50 years)
Roland
Duchatelet acquired Charlton on January 3rd 2014.
At that time of the purchase, Charlton competed in the
Championship, a competition that was governed by the Financial Fair Play rules
(FFP). Those rules allowed a club to make an annual operating loss of £3
million plus a further maximum of £3-5 million of shareholder investment. With
an average annual turnover of £12m, Charlton was thus allowed to make losses up
to 50-60% of its turnover.
During seasons 2013/14 and 2014/15 several EFL club meetings were
held to discuss a change of the FFP rules. After several unsuccessful votes in
the space of a couple of months, in November 2014, the EFL finally found a
majority amongst the Championship clubs to allow a club to have permitted
losses up to a maximum of £39m over three seasons or £15m over three seasons in
case there is no shareholder investment.
Thus, 10 months after the purchase, Duchatelet’s Charlton had to
compete in a competition where clubs are allowed to lose £13m per season which
equates to 108% of its turnover. Under these new Profitability and
Sustainability rules (P&S), the EFL is allowing or actually forcing
shareholders to double their shareholder investments and thus dramatically
increasing the financial burden on those shareholders.
While the attractiveness of the Championship competition has
always been that it’s the most competitive league in the world, it is now
becoming renowned for being the biggest financial graveyard or black hole in
football.
Under the Owners’ and Directors’ test, the EFL has to assess and
give its final approval for the purchase of a club. It does so with a special
focus ‘to protect the image and integrity of The League and its competitions,
the well-being of the Clubs and the interests of all the stakeholders in those
Clubs’ (Appendix 3 of the EFL Regulations). If this is one of the objectives of
the EFL, it’s hard to see how under these P&S rules increasing the
(shareholders’) debt of clubs is protecting the well-being of the Clubs and the
interests of their stakeholders.
The first seasons under Duchatelet Charlton finished 18th and 10th
in the Championship. After two years of ownership without problems Charlton got
too many injuries relative to its limited squad size. Results were poor. Fans
started to criticise and then protest, sometimes during the games, which didn’t
help. Charlton got relegated to League One.
As a result of the damaging and sometimes criminal fans protests
and the changed financial climate of the P&S rules, Charlton were
officially put up for sale at the end of 2017. A few months later Heads of
Terms were in place with two candidate buyers, pending the funding of the
transaction.
However, new incidents were created by a coalition of fans against
the owner based on fake news, like young players were not getting water to
drink and staff not being paid due bonuses. It’s hard to deny that such actions
could jeopardise the ongoing purchase process. The EFL said it would intervene
to find out who was telling the truth but nothing like that happened. They
did not really investigate things. Moreover EFL representatives suggested to
the group of critics that their claims of August 2018 relating to the bonus
might have some basis (despite the fact the EFL hadn’t investigated). Two fans
found sufficient support in this ambivalent attitude of the EFL to come to
Belgium last weekend. They tagged and damaged several properties of Duchatelet,
the homes of two friends of Duchatelet and the house of the friend of a friend.
Football has been the fastest growing industry in England in
recent decades.
However which foreign candidate owner will be prepared to invest
millions to get a chance to bring a club to the Premier League and at the same
time accept acts of vandalism against his property and intrusion in his private
life, wherever in the world he/she lives?
Therefore the owner demands that the EFL acquires his football
club.
Here are the minutes from last night Fans Forum with Lieven De
Turck the representative of Roland Duchatelet and part time employee, the only
senior employee at the club.
Last night's meeting was attended by members
of the Fans' Forum, the club's Head of Communications Tom Rubashow and Lieven
De Turck (LDT), who is representing the club in takeover talks. The below notes
were produced by the club and approved by fan representatives at the
meeting.
The meeting was initially set to be a full
Fans’ Forum but following vandalism that took place in Belgium over the weekend
the decision was made to focus on the vandalism and what had been described as
a “proposal” from the club’s owner.
It was agreed in the meeting the scheduled
full Fans’ Forum will take place on Monday (March 4th), with the agenda points
already submitted by fans and the club.
Barnie Razzell (Swedish Addicks) said he
wasn’t happy that the agenda for this meeting was changed at late notice. He
said there were only two things the fans really cared about:
• Why the takeover hasn’t happened
• Why the club didn’t bring in another striker
in January
Striker
On the second point Steve Clarke (CAST) asked
why Lee Bowyer was able to attempt to bring in a striker on transfer deadline
day but then not allowed the salary budget to sign a free agent after the
transfer window had closed.
LDT explained he is not involved on the
footballing side. He said this is a discussion between Roland Duchatelet, Head
of Recruitment Steve Gallen and Lee Bowyer. He said this is something that can
be asked in next week’s Fans’ Forum.
Vandalism
Clive Harris (City Addicks) said he has
contact with the Chief of Police in St Truiden. He said he knows that none of
the protest groups are involved and said in his opinion no supporter of the
club would draw a love heart on the wall in relation to the club (one of the
pieces of graffiti that appeared). He said he could tell because of the
grammar, the spelling and the style, he said it wasn’t even in the English
language. CH said he’d just walked past “Roland Out” in Floyd Road and that is
what would be written. CH said he thinks it isn’t something a Charlton
supporter has done and therefore it isn’t relevant to a Charlton Fans' Forum.
BR said he felt it was not the business of the
Fans’ Forum.
LDT said he wanted an open communication to
inform the fans about the incident, as with all Fans’ Forum meetings he wanted
correct, transparent communication.
CH said there is no way a Charlton fan from
the UK was involved more importantly we should not be discussing an ongoing
criminal investigation.
Takeover
LDT said that the previous day there had been
an interview with RD on TalkSPORT and it was mentioned there would be a
“proposal” to the Fans’ Forum. He explained it’s not a proposal but something
the club wanted to ask the fans about.
He said he has been trying to sell the club
for more than a year and while a price is agreed with two parties because it
hasn’t been sold he is looking to think outside the box at other options.
He asked the Fans’ Forum what they would think
about the EFL being offered to acquire the club. He said they would pass the
EFL Fit and Proper Persons test, they understand the monthly losses as they
have the financial figures of the club and they have the football know how to
run it.
The Fans’ Forum unanimously rejected the
proposal saying it was unfeasible. They asked that Roland Duchatelet lower the
asking price so that the club is sold.
LDT said RD is willing to give the footballing
side of the club away for free (£1 officially), this wouldn’t include the land
(stadium and training ground). He said there is an issue with the ex-directors,
as it would need a consensus with them as well.
Ian Wallis (Bromley Addicks) said he is 100%
against the club being split from the training ground/Valley. IW said “never in
1 million years”.
The Fans’ Forum unanimously insisted that the
football club not be separated from the stadium and training ground in any
deal.
LDT said there are still three parties
interested in buying the club.
When asked why the Australians haven’t
completed the deal yet LDT said he feels the Australian group is too complex.
He said he still speaks with Australians every two to three days.
LDT said with the second group due diligence
is done. He said they are collecting the money reserved for the takeover. He
said they are serious but added that he’s been speaking to them for one year
now too. LDT said it’s not as many people as the Australian consortium and he
had a face-to-face meeting with them last week. He said he speaks to them once
every two weeks.
LDT said parties three and four (mentioned at
previous Fans’ Forum meetings) are no longer around and the fifth party still
have some way to go.
LDT was asked if RD was taking a cut of future
player sales in any of the deals. He said he wasn’t. He was asked if RD would
benefit from future promotions and LDT said he would in one of the deals.
BR said while he didn’t like the EFL idea, he
encouraged the creativity and said keep the ideas coming. LDT said he was open
to listening to creative ideas.
Paul Nottage (Valley Gold) said he would like
confirmation at the next meeting that LDT has asked for a new Proof of Funds
from the two parties a price is agreed with.
I am a long-standing fan of Charlton Athletic Football
Club, and I am writing to enquire how much longer we are going to have to wait
to read the outcome of the enquiry you conducted last year into the state of
affairs including governance, staff bonuses, protesting fans, etc. at this
club.
After 5 years of madness from the current owner, we are
well used to being a laughing stock for fans of better run clubs – it now seems
the turn of the EFL to join us in being the butt of jokes.
A serious question – does the EFL have any strategy for
dealing with a situation (hypothetical at present) of an owner, who appears to
lack necessary mental competence, running an EFL member club into the
ground? Because as you are surely well
aware, we are effectively being run by the owner who has NO CEO (since Dec
2017), NO CFO (since 2018), and is relying on the integrity of a few loyal experienced
members of staff to hold the whole thing together, without even the payment of
bonuses they were led to expect.
The only other director, Mr R A Murray, appears to be as
much use as a chocolate teapot, and has been conspicuous only for his silence
since assuring us OVER A YEAR AGO that the sale of the club was imminent.
The situation is disgusting, and could all too quickly
become a disaster.
As a Charlton supporter for over 50 years, I am interested to hear the EFL’s reaction to the latest bizarre outburst from Roland Duchatelet.
In particular, his suggestion that the EFL pretended to investigate claims that staff bonuses had not been paid, which Mr Duchatelet suggests is “fake news”.
And his “demand” that the EFL purchase Charlton from him.
I would anticipate some form of sanction being taken against Mr Duchatelet for his outburst which appears to me to bring the game into disrepute.
I would also expect the EFL to retrospectively consider whether or not Mr Duchatelet is a “fit and proper “ owner of a EFL club.
As to officially censuring Duchatelet yes, the EFL could ask for an explanation as to his comments, but I doubt they have the power (or inclination) to attempt to remove him from Charlton. I'm afraid we are stuck with this monster for the foreseeable future.
As to officially censuring Duchatelet yes, the EFL could ask for an explanation as to his comments, but I doubt they have the power (or inclination) to attempt to remove him from Charlton. I'm afraid we are stuck with this monster for the foreseeable future.
But LB can get a 3 match "touchline" ban for swearing at a ref.
As to officially censuring Duchatelet yes, the EFL could ask for an explanation as to his comments, but I doubt they have the power (or inclination) to attempt to remove him from Charlton. I'm afraid we are stuck with this monster for the foreseeable future.
But LB can get a 3 match "touchline" ban for swearing at a ref.
Yes. Roland should be banned from attending Charlton games!
Yesterday, when Roland threw them a hot potato, the EFL understandably kicked it into the long grass - not much else they could do when the Press came calling for comment.
But if that's all they do, it is not going to deal with the maggot eating away at the heart of our club.
Like it or not (and clearly EFL don't like it, and will wriggle out of as much as possible), as the governing body for our League the EFL do bear some responsibility for not acting decisively at an earlier stage, but standing by & letting the situation at Charlton steadily deteriorate. The lack so far of a published conclusion to their investigation into the club being a glaring example.
I hope more of you are filling up their inbox today. It will certainly take you less time and be cheaper than a trip to Belgium...
The EFL won't do anything. All they're concerned with is the fulfillment of their fixture list.
The Blackpool saga is only coming to an end because of the legal dispute between Oyston and Belokon, not because the League stepped in to resolve it.
RD has just bowled the Football League a leg-stump half-volley; they have the opportunity to smash him all over the park but instead the League will play a forward defensive to it and move on.
No acknowledgement (but it is less than 24h since I wrote)
More interested in getting a timely answer, to be honest.
Does EFL have a stated time limit within which they say a response will be sent? I think the FA does.
The EFL will endeavour to respond to any letter, fax or e-mail within 7
working days of receipt of such communication. If it is not possible to
provide a full response to the issue raised within that time, an
acknowledgement will be sent and a detailed reply will follow within 21
working days of receipt of the original communication.
As a competition organiser, the EFL regulates against dual interests and, having assessed the suggestion to take control of Charlton Athletic put forward by the Club’s owner Roland Duchatalet, the EFL Board has concluded that that such an arrangement would raise a significant conflict of interest and as such is not one that could be considered.
The EFL will be speaking to Mr Duchatalet with regard to the ownership of Charlton Athletic and will continue to offer any support it can in assisting with his aim of finding a suitable new owner for the Club.
In meantime, the ongoing EFL review continues and is expected to reach a conclusion before the end of the season.
As a competition organiser, the EFL regulates against dual interests and, having assessed the suggestion to take control of Charlton Athletic put forward by the Club’s owner Roland Duchatalet, the EFL Board has concluded that that such an arrangement would raise a significant conflict of interest and as such is not one that could be considered.
The EFL will be speaking to Mr Duchatalet with regard to the ownership of Charlton Athletic and will continue to offer any support it can in assisting with his aim of finding a suitable new owner for the Club.
In meantime, the ongoing EFL review continues and is expected to reach a conclusion before the end of the season.
Thank you for contacting the EFL.
Kind Regards
Danny
Supporter Services Department
EFL
Short version: pipe down you berk, we're not interested and you're stuck with him, go away.
Thanks for nothing "Danny", happy in your work? Proud of yourself?
As a competition organiser, the EFL regulates against dual interests and, having assessed the suggestion to take control of Charlton Athletic put forward by the Club’s owner Roland Duchatalet, the EFL Board has concluded that that such an arrangement would raise a significant conflict of interest and as such is not one that could be considered.
The EFL will be speaking to Mr Duchatalet with regard to the ownership of Charlton Athletic and will continue to offer any support it can in assisting with his aim of finding a suitable new owner for the Club.
In meantime, the ongoing EFL review continues and is expected to reach a conclusion before the end of the season.
As a competition organiser, the EFL regulates against dual interests and, having assessed the suggestion to take control of Charlton Athletic put forward by the Club’s owner Roland Duchatalet, the EFL Board has concluded that that such an arrangement would raise a significant conflict of interest and as such is not one that could be considered.
The EFL will be speaking to Mr Duchatalet with regard to the ownership of Charlton Athletic and will continue to offer any support it can in assisting with his aim of finding a suitable new owner for the Club.
In meantime, the ongoing EFL review continues and is expected to reach a conclusion before the end of the season.
Thank you for contacting the EFL.
Kind Regards
Danny
Supporter Services Department
EFL
Same response, word-for-word. One signed by "Jessica", the other signed by "Danny".
Important question: is there so much customer supporter correspondence that one person can't cope with the copy-and-paste replies and they need a small army of people to do it?
Or, is this an example of gender-fluidity and "Jessica" and "Danny" are one and the same person?
I've taken it a stage further and emailed the secretary of state for sport. let's see
Thu 07/03/2019 13:49
jeremy.wright.mp@parliament.uk;
enquiries@efl.com
Dear Mr Wright,
I am writing to you as a concerned football fan and follower of Charlton Athletic FC. I am not sure to what extent you are aware of what’s going on at the club, but for the last 5 years we have been owned by Belgian businessman Roland Duchatelet. Duchatelet’s ownership has been nothing short of an incompetent disaster, and I, like many other fans at the club believe he is very close to destroying the club through his mismanagement, arrogance and incompetence. I will not go into the ins and outs of his 5 years as owner of Charlton Athletic Football club, as there are too many examples of disregard, poor management and in my opinion, dereliction of a duty of care that should come with owning a football club (many examples have been covered by our national media). We have had no functioning CEO or CFO for over a year now, and although the players and staff still receive their wages on time, I believe he is only providing this necessary investment so that the club do not go into administration and he loses all the money he has put in. For the last 18 months he has been trying to sell the club, but many believe at a ridiculously high price for a business losing between £500k - £1m a month (rumoured). Indeed, such was Duchatelet’s insanity, he recently demanded the EFL (the football league’s governing body), take over the club’s day to day running, and someone else buy from him, the club’s assets, such as the ground and training ground. This to me sums up that for him it has always been about money and an investment.
The reason I am writing to you is that I do not believe the game and its governing body does enough to protect football clubs from unscrupulous owners such as Mr Duchatelet and the Oystons at Blackpool, SISU at Coventry and prevent situations like the one playing out at Bolton Wanderers, who are also experiencing severe financial difficulties. In my opinion, the league’s governing body, the EFL is not fit for purpose to oversee the long term protection of its members and indeed, even existence of football clubs moving forward.
I would like to know what can be done to
A) hold the EFL to a greater degree of accountability and b) enable the EFL greater powers to penalise rogue football club owners like the owners of Coventry, Charlton and Blackpool.
Given the amount of money in the game and the all to regular occurrences like the ones I have highlighted, I believe it only a matter of time before one, or any number of great clubs go to the wall and cease to exist.
This is in my opinion a grave and unacceptable situation given how big a role these clubs play in their local community and how much they mean to each of their respective fan bases, and ultimately, the people who elect officials like yourself to look after the best interests of this nation.
I appreciate you are extremely busy and I don’t know what can be done on a practical level to address this, but it needs to be addressed because too many people are suffering as a result of the lapse controls and regulations governing football owners. Fans up and down the country deserve more. Football clubs will hit the wall if it continues the way it has been. I would like for you to do all you can to raise this at a National level and introduce legislation to protect the long term interests of football clubs up and down the country.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and I welcome any feedback. I would be happy to provide you with any information to back up how serious an issue this is.
As a competition organiser, the EFL regulates against dual interests and, having assessed the suggestion to take control of Charlton Athletic put forward by the Club’s owner Roland Duchatalet, the EFL Board has concluded that that such an arrangement would raise a significant conflict of interest and as such is not one that could be considered.
The EFL will be speaking to Mr Duchatalet with regard to the ownership of Charlton Athletic and will continue to offer any support it can in assisting with his aim of finding a suitable new owner for the Club.
In meantime, the ongoing EFL review continues and is expected to reach a conclusion before the end of the season.
Comments
Dear EFL,
Please read the statement below put out by Roland Duchatelet on the CAFC website this afternoon and below the minutes from last evening’s fan’s forum.
It would appear that Mr Duchatelet is not a well man and if he was ever a fit and proper person to run an EFL football club, there can be no question that he remains so.
Please can you take some positive action to rid us of this man who is patently not fit to run our club and continues to do his best to wreak havoc.
He is now also turning his attention to the EFL.
Please, please, please do something before this man let’s matters get completely out of hand.
Yours Sincerely
X (a Charlton supporter for 50 years)
Roland Duchatelet acquired Charlton on January 3rd 2014.
At that time of the purchase, Charlton competed in the Championship, a competition that was governed by the Financial Fair Play rules (FFP). Those rules allowed a club to make an annual operating loss of £3 million plus a further maximum of £3-5 million of shareholder investment. With an average annual turnover of £12m, Charlton was thus allowed to make losses up to 50-60% of its turnover.
During seasons 2013/14 and 2014/15 several EFL club meetings were held to discuss a change of the FFP rules. After several unsuccessful votes in the space of a couple of months, in November 2014, the EFL finally found a majority amongst the Championship clubs to allow a club to have permitted losses up to a maximum of £39m over three seasons or £15m over three seasons in case there is no shareholder investment.
Thus, 10 months after the purchase, Duchatelet’s Charlton had to compete in a competition where clubs are allowed to lose £13m per season which equates to 108% of its turnover. Under these new Profitability and Sustainability rules (P&S), the EFL is allowing or actually forcing shareholders to double their shareholder investments and thus dramatically increasing the financial burden on those shareholders.
While the attractiveness of the Championship competition has always been that it’s the most competitive league in the world, it is now becoming renowned for being the biggest financial graveyard or black hole in football.
Under the Owners’ and Directors’ test, the EFL has to assess and give its final approval for the purchase of a club. It does so with a special focus ‘to protect the image and integrity of The League and its competitions, the well-being of the Clubs and the interests of all the stakeholders in those Clubs’ (Appendix 3 of the EFL Regulations). If this is one of the objectives of the EFL, it’s hard to see how under these P&S rules increasing the (shareholders’) debt of clubs is protecting the well-being of the Clubs and the interests of their stakeholders.
The first seasons under Duchatelet Charlton finished 18th and 10th in the Championship. After two years of ownership without problems Charlton got too many injuries relative to its limited squad size. Results were poor. Fans started to criticise and then protest, sometimes during the games, which didn’t help. Charlton got relegated to League One.
As a result of the damaging and sometimes criminal fans protests and the changed financial climate of the P&S rules, Charlton were officially put up for sale at the end of 2017. A few months later Heads of Terms were in place with two candidate buyers, pending the funding of the transaction.
However, new incidents were created by a coalition of fans against the owner based on fake news, like young players were not getting water to drink and staff not being paid due bonuses. It’s hard to deny that such actions could jeopardise the ongoing purchase process. The EFL said it would intervene to find out who was telling the truth but nothing like that happened. They did not really investigate things. Moreover EFL representatives suggested to the group of critics that their claims of August 2018 relating to the bonus might have some basis (despite the fact the EFL hadn’t investigated). Two fans found sufficient support in this ambivalent attitude of the EFL to come to Belgium last weekend. They tagged and damaged several properties of Duchatelet, the homes of two friends of Duchatelet and the house of the friend of a friend.
Football has been the fastest growing industry in England in recent decades.
However which foreign candidate owner will be prepared to invest millions to get a chance to bring a club to the Premier League and at the same time accept acts of vandalism against his property and intrusion in his private life, wherever in the world he/she lives?
Therefore the owner demands that the EFL acquires his football club.
Information on the owner: https://www.cafc.co.uk/club/club-overview/ownership
Here are the minutes from last night Fans Forum with Lieven De Turck the representative of Roland Duchatelet and part time employee, the only senior employee at the club.
Last night's meeting was attended by members of the Fans' Forum, the club's Head of Communications Tom Rubashow and Lieven De Turck (LDT), who is representing the club in takeover talks. The below notes were produced by the club and approved by fan representatives at the meeting.
The meeting was initially set to be a full Fans’ Forum but following vandalism that took place in Belgium over the weekend the decision was made to focus on the vandalism and what had been described as a “proposal” from the club’s owner.
It was agreed in the meeting the scheduled full Fans’ Forum will take place on Monday (March 4th), with the agenda points already submitted by fans and the club.
Barnie Razzell (Swedish Addicks) said he wasn’t happy that the agenda for this meeting was changed at late notice. He said there were only two things the fans really cared about:
• Why the takeover hasn’t happened
• Why the club didn’t bring in another striker in January
Striker
On the second point Steve Clarke (CAST) asked why Lee Bowyer was able to attempt to bring in a striker on transfer deadline day but then not allowed the salary budget to sign a free agent after the transfer window had closed.
LDT explained he is not involved on the footballing side. He said this is a discussion between Roland Duchatelet, Head of Recruitment Steve Gallen and Lee Bowyer. He said this is something that can be asked in next week’s Fans’ Forum.
Vandalism
Clive Harris (City Addicks) said he has contact with the Chief of Police in St Truiden. He said he knows that none of the protest groups are involved and said in his opinion no supporter of the club would draw a love heart on the wall in relation to the club (one of the pieces of graffiti that appeared). He said he could tell because of the grammar, the spelling and the style, he said it wasn’t even in the English language. CH said he’d just walked past “Roland Out” in Floyd Road and that is what would be written. CH said he thinks it isn’t something a Charlton supporter has done and therefore it isn’t relevant to a Charlton Fans' Forum.
BR said he felt it was not the business of the Fans’ Forum.
LDT said he wanted an open communication to inform the fans about the incident, as with all Fans’ Forum meetings he wanted correct, transparent communication.
CH said there is no way a Charlton fan from the UK was involved more importantly we should not be discussing an ongoing criminal investigation.
Takeover
LDT said that the previous day there had been an interview with RD on TalkSPORT and it was mentioned there would be a “proposal” to the Fans’ Forum. He explained it’s not a proposal but something the club wanted to ask the fans about.
He said he has been trying to sell the club for more than a year and while a price is agreed with two parties because it hasn’t been sold he is looking to think outside the box at other options.
He asked the Fans’ Forum what they would think about the EFL being offered to acquire the club. He said they would pass the EFL Fit and Proper Persons test, they understand the monthly losses as they have the financial figures of the club and they have the football know how to run it.
The Fans’ Forum unanimously rejected the proposal saying it was unfeasible. They asked that Roland Duchatelet lower the asking price so that the club is sold.
LDT said RD is willing to give the footballing side of the club away for free (£1 officially), this wouldn’t include the land (stadium and training ground). He said there is an issue with the ex-directors, as it would need a consensus with them as well.
Ian Wallis (Bromley Addicks) said he is 100% against the club being split from the training ground/Valley. IW said “never in 1 million years”.
The Fans’ Forum unanimously insisted that the football club not be separated from the stadium and training ground in any deal.
LDT said there are still three parties interested in buying the club.
When asked why the Australians haven’t completed the deal yet LDT said he feels the Australian group is too complex. He said he still speaks with Australians every two to three days.
LDT said with the second group due diligence is done. He said they are collecting the money reserved for the takeover. He said they are serious but added that he’s been speaking to them for one year now too. LDT said it’s not as many people as the Australian consortium and he had a face-to-face meeting with them last week. He said he speaks to them once every two weeks.
LDT said parties three and four (mentioned at previous Fans’ Forum meetings) are no longer around and the fifth party still have some way to go.
LDT was asked if RD was taking a cut of future player sales in any of the deals. He said he wasn’t. He was asked if RD would benefit from future promotions and LDT said he would in one of the deals.
BR said while he didn’t like the EFL idea, he encouraged the creativity and said keep the ideas coming. LDT said he was open to listening to creative ideas.
Paul Nottage (Valley Gold) said he would like confirmation at the next meeting that LDT has asked for a new Proof of Funds from the two parties a price is agreed with.
Swamp them with thousands of e mails.
It's all your fault.
Regards.
Roland.
DONE...
Dear Mr Harvey,
I am a long-standing fan of Charlton Athletic Football Club, and I am writing to enquire how much longer we are going to have to wait to read the outcome of the enquiry you conducted last year into the state of affairs including governance, staff bonuses, protesting fans, etc. at this club.
One benefit of the delay, I suppose, is that you can also take into account the latest “eccentric” pronouncement (some are characterising it as “bonkers”) by our owner Roland Duchatâlet, as posted on the club official website today https://www.cafc.co.uk/news/view/5c77e0391c719/owner-roland-duchatelet-demands-efl-acquire-Charlton It was posted a few hours after the minutes of the previous day’s Fans Forum meeting were released https://www.cafc.co.uk/news/view/5c77c15a9271b/notes-from-last-nights-fans-forum-meeting
After 5 years of madness from the current owner, we are well used to being a laughing stock for fans of better run clubs – it now seems the turn of the EFL to join us in being the butt of jokes.
A serious question – does the EFL have any strategy for dealing with a situation (hypothetical at present) of an owner, who appears to lack necessary mental competence, running an EFL member club into the ground? Because as you are surely well aware, we are effectively being run by the owner who has NO CEO (since Dec 2017), NO CFO (since 2018), and is relying on the integrity of a few loyal experienced members of staff to hold the whole thing together, without even the payment of bonuses they were led to expect.
The only other director, Mr R A Murray, appears to be as much use as a chocolate teapot, and has been conspicuous only for his silence since assuring us OVER A YEAR AGO that the sale of the club was imminent.
The situation is disgusting, and could all too quickly become a disaster.
Yours sincerely,
Dear EFL
As a Charlton supporter for over 50 years, I am interested to hear the EFL’s reaction to the latest bizarre outburst from Roland Duchatelet.
In particular, his suggestion that the EFL pretended to investigate claims that staff bonuses had not been paid, which Mr Duchatelet suggests is “fake news”.
And his “demand” that the EFL purchase Charlton from him.
I would anticipate some form of sanction being taken against Mr Duchatelet for his outburst which appears to me to bring the game into disrepute.
I would also expect the EFL to retrospectively consider whether or not Mr Duchatelet is a “fit and proper “ owner of a EFL club.
All the best
Oh!!!!!!
Yesterday, when Roland threw them a hot potato, the EFL understandably kicked it into the long grass - not much else they could do when the Press came calling for comment.
But if that's all they do, it is not going to deal with the maggot eating away at the heart of our club.
Like it or not (and clearly EFL don't like it, and will wriggle out of as much as possible), as the governing body for our League the EFL do bear some responsibility for not acting decisively at an earlier stage, but standing by & letting the situation at Charlton steadily deteriorate. The lack so far of a published conclusion to their investigation into the club being a glaring example.
I hope more of you are filling up their inbox today. It will certainly take you less time and be cheaper than a trip to Belgium...
The Blackpool saga is only coming to an end because of the legal dispute between Oyston and Belokon, not because the League stepped in to resolve it.
RD has just bowled the Football League a leg-stump half-volley; they have the opportunity to smash him all over the park but instead the League will play a forward defensive to it and move on.
EFL certainly won't do anything if they are not put under pressure.
Pressure is what achieved the investigation - weak as it was - in the first place.
EFL will take the line of least resistance - so it's down to fans of aggrieved clubs to try to change the course of that line.
Or, of course, to lie on their backs & wait to have their tummies tickled?
No acknowledgement (but it is less than 24h since I wrote)
More interested in getting a timely answer, to be honest.
Does EFL have a stated time limit within which they say a response will be sent? I think the FA does.
Could you please please please make it happen that our illustrious one of a type owner...just sells the club & F's O....
yours Sincerely
Every Charlton Supporter & even the rose tinted lot...😉,
ps....we are all as one really...😘Cmon EFL,HELP,SOS,u know it makes sense
Have just received answer to email (a repeat of yesterday's press release):
Hello,
Thank you for your email, we note the comments you have made throughout.
You may have seen the EFL provided an update on current matters via a statement made on 6 March, on our website here https://www.efl.com/news/2019/march/efl-statement-board-update/.
As a competition organiser, the EFL regulates against dual interests and, having assessed the suggestion to take control of Charlton Athletic put forward by the Club’s owner Roland Duchatalet, the EFL Board has concluded that that such an arrangement would raise a significant conflict of interest and as such is not one that could be considered.
The EFL will be speaking to Mr Duchatalet with regard to the ownership of Charlton Athletic and will continue to offer any support it can in assisting with his aim of finding a suitable new owner for the Club.
In meantime, the ongoing EFL review continues and is expected to reach a conclusion before the end of the season.
Thank you for contacting the EFL.
Regards,
Jessica
Supporter Services Department
EFL
Subject says "Roland Dutchelet and Charlton Athletic"
The body of the email says "WHY?"
Thank you for your email, we note the comments you have made throughout.
You may have seen the EFL provided an update on current matters via a statement made on 6 March, on our website here https://www.efl.com/news/2019/march/efl-statement-board-update/.
As a competition organiser, the EFL regulates against dual interests and, having assessed the suggestion to take control of Charlton Athletic put forward by the Club’s owner Roland Duchatalet, the EFL Board has concluded that that such an arrangement would raise a significant conflict of interest and as such is not one that could be considered.
The EFL will be speaking to Mr Duchatalet with regard to the ownership of Charlton Athletic and will continue to offer any support it can in assisting with his aim of finding a suitable new owner for the Club.
In meantime, the ongoing EFL review continues and is expected to reach a conclusion before the end of the season.
Thank you for contacting the EFL.
Kind Regards
Danny
Supporter Services Department
EFL
Short version: pipe down you berk, we're not interested and you're stuck with him, go away.
Thanks for nothing "Danny", happy in your work? Proud of yourself?
Important question: is there so much customer supporter correspondence that one person can't cope with the copy-and-paste replies and they need a small army of people to do it?
Or, is this an example of gender-fluidity and "Jessica" and "Danny" are one and the same person?
Thu 07/03/2019 13:49
I am writing to you as a concerned football fan and follower of Charlton Athletic FC. I am not sure to what extent you are aware of what’s going on at the club, but for the last 5 years we have been owned by Belgian businessman Roland Duchatelet. Duchatelet’s ownership has been nothing short of an incompetent disaster, and I, like many other fans at the club believe he is very close to destroying the club through his mismanagement, arrogance and incompetence. I will not go into the ins and outs of his 5 years as owner of Charlton Athletic Football club, as there are too many examples of disregard, poor management and in my opinion, dereliction of a duty of care that should come with owning a football club (many examples have been covered by our national media). We have had no functioning CEO or CFO for over a year now, and although the players and staff still receive their wages on time, I believe he is only providing this necessary investment so that the club do not go into administration and he loses all the money he has put in. For the last 18 months he has been trying to sell the club, but many believe at a ridiculously high price for a business losing between £500k - £1m a month (rumoured). Indeed, such was Duchatelet’s insanity, he recently demanded the EFL (the football league’s governing body), take over the club’s day to day running, and someone else buy from him, the club’s assets, such as the ground and training ground. This to me sums up that for him it has always been about money and an investment.
The reason I am writing to you is that I do not believe the game and its governing body does enough to protect football clubs from unscrupulous owners such as Mr Duchatelet and the Oystons at Blackpool, SISU at Coventry and prevent situations like the one playing out at Bolton Wanderers, who are also experiencing severe financial difficulties. In my opinion, the league’s governing body, the EFL is not fit for purpose to oversee the long term protection of its members and indeed, even existence of football clubs moving forward.
I would like to know what can be done to
A) hold the EFL to a greater degree of accountability and
b) enable the EFL greater powers to penalise rogue football club owners like the owners of Coventry, Charlton and Blackpool.
Given the amount of money in the game and the all to regular occurrences like the ones I have highlighted, I believe it only a matter of time before one, or any number of great clubs go to the wall and cease to exist.
This is in my opinion a grave and unacceptable situation given how big a role these clubs play in their local community and how much they mean to each of their respective fan bases, and ultimately, the people who elect officials like yourself to look after the best interests of this nation.
I appreciate you are extremely busy and I don’t know what can be done on a practical level to address this, but it needs to be addressed because too many people are suffering as a result of the lapse controls and regulations governing football owners. Fans up and down the country deserve more. Football clubs will hit the wall if it continues the way it has been. I would like for you to do all you can to raise this at a National level and introduce legislation to protect the long term interests of football clubs up and down the country.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and I welcome any feedback. I would be happy to provide you with any information to back up how serious an issue this is.
Best Regards,
Hello,
Thank you for your email, we note the comments you have made throughout.
You may have seen the EFL provided an update on current matters via a statement made on 6 March, on our website here https://www.efl.com/news/2019/march/efl-statement-board-update/.
As a competition organiser, the EFL regulates against dual interests and, having assessed the suggestion to take control of Charlton Athletic put forward by the Club’s owner Roland Duchatalet, the EFL Board has concluded that that such an arrangement would raise a significant conflict of interest and as such is not one that could be considered.
The EFL will be speaking to Mr Duchatalet with regard to the ownership of Charlton Athletic and will continue to offer any support it can in assisting with his aim of finding a suitable new owner for the Club.
In meantime, the ongoing EFL review continues and is expected to reach a conclusion before the end of the season.
Thank you for contacting the EFL.
Regards,
Jessica
Supporter Services Department
EFL