Club comment on upcoming EFL meeting

This hasn't come from the comms team, they may well have posted it up to the OS just like the ill fated {...} statement, but lets not blame them, it's clearly one of De Turck or Duchatelet, not the Ollies of this world who are not the bad guys here and do their best under the constraints they work in.

CARD WELCOMES OWNER’S REQUEST FOR WIDER EFL LOOK AT CHARLTON

The Coalition Against Roland Duchâtelet (CARD) welcomes the proposal in a statement issued by the owner of Charlton Athletic today that the EFL should carry out a more thorough investigation into the recent running and proposed sale of the club.

The Charlton Athletic Supporters’ Trust, which is part of CARD, is already due to meet the EFL on October 17th. However, all elements of the coalition are keen to assist the EFL in any investigation relating to its wider activities and the club’s current operations.

In respect of communications, we believe the EFL would need to interview a number of national, London and local journalists in order to gain an understanding of recent stories about the club, a number of which have necessarily been sourced from – and indeed been attributed to – Duchâtelet’s own current employees, rather than supporters’ groups.

We invite the EFL to consider the qualifications and experience of people Duchâtelet has employed in senior positions at the club since 2014, as well as the current lack of executive management at The Valley, and the contribution that has made to Charlton’s predicament, alongside the activities of supporters over that period.

In particular we would like the EFL to carry out an independent audit of the staff bonus issue, but only on the basis that the owner agrees to be bound by the outcome.

We further invite the EFL to consider and disclose whether the club’s own repeated statements to staff and supporters in respect of the EFL’s position as the obstacle to the proposed takeover are a truthful and complete explanation of the hold-up or whether they are materially misleading.

The club wants the EFL to consider whether “cost efficiencies” reported by the media or the protests - of which there has been one at a match in 2018 - are “helping the sale of the club”. Any meaningful examination of these points would surely also need to consider whether Duchâtelet’s asking price is actually the major reason the club has not been sold.

CARD believes the EFL could perform a useful service to all concerned by investigating all these matters thoroughly and pledges its full cooperation. We have nothing to hide.

However, this must be on the basis that any such examination is independent, balanced and that the outcome will be published – even if it directly undermines this latest bizarre attempt by the owner to deflect responsibility from his own serially incompetent administration of the club.