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ESI Ownership shenanigans bite size thread - now dormant
aliwibble
Posts: 26,300
For those who missed the excitement last night, and don't fancy wading through 28 pages (and counting) of confusion, wibbling, cursing and gloom, here's a brief summary...
Tahnoon posted the following on his instagram:
There was the usual discussion debating whether it was a hack, with concerned/concerning tweets from Rich Cawley, Jimmy Stone, and @Airman Brown posted suggesting that it wasn't being instantly dismissed, as well as this one purporting to be a voice note from Nimer himself:
Rough transcript for those who don't have twitter or are hard of hearing:"Your Chairman had ripped the club with his team. I'm not happy to give my money to the people to rip this money. The club guys, and they take all the money for them, to live a nice bread (?), to get a range rovers and use the money for the bitches.(pitches?) You should ask Matt Southwell (sic). Guys, he cheat you. He take all the money which I put in the club and it has been gone for his lifestyle." This convinced some sceptics, but not @Gillis 
Gillis said:If this is genuine, I'll get Nimer's face tattooed on Greenie Junior's arse.
Entertainingly, only three posts later, @ForeverAddickted linked to this tweet which said "I’ve had confirmation that Instagram post is ‘100% real’. This is going to get nasty." I think Greenie Junior may have to make sure he doesn't get drunk while Gillis is around any time soon, in case he wakes up in the tattooist's chair.
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Then we had a screenshot of a conversation with Matt Southall, I think with Millie Edmund, promising a statement before 11pm:
Cue general CharltonLife meltdown, with the best summary of the situation at that point coming from @AFKABartramAFKABartram said:So just so just so I’m clear, we have an owner (who may or not be the owner) potentially posting rants about range rovers and bitches and withdrawing from the club in an Instagram chat. Or it might be a hack. And we’ve a club statement being announced by the chairman in a Twitter DM chat with a teenage girl.
What a club lolAnd then it turned out that Nimer had updated his instagram post:
In the old days I think this would have been the point where the hamsters powering the servers would have given up the ghost, as the posts flew in thick and fast. All sorts of different questions, but in summary a collective "WHAT THE F*** IS GOING ON?" and sympathy for @iamdan who probably didn't think his day could get any worse.iamdan said:Lost my job today too.
What an excellent Monday 😂8 -
So 11pm rolls around, and the website goes down but there's no statement up. People are not impressed, and are sounding increasingly worried - this post from Cantersaddick details all the worrying signs that lead him now to conclude they were a "Bunch of chancers from the start". In the meantime, there's a link to another tweet from @Airman Brown showing a photo of the offending Range Rover:
(I think it might've been judicious to blur out the number plate, mind you)And then the site is back up! But the statement it's showing is the one from when the takeover was announced. Oops.A few minutes later, the proper statement goes up, and I think it's safe to say we are definitely living in interesting times right now...
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That was kindly posted by @Leroy Ambrose on page 16. The next 12 pages can be summarised as a lot of cursing of Matt Southall/Tahnoon Nimer/The EFL, confusion over who owns what and what happens now, Lyle Taylor getting himself in trouble on Instagram again...
Also a link to a screenshot of a conversation on Tahnoon's instagram, which seems to reject Southall's version of the proof of funds issue:
Plus the odd crazy conspiracy theory and questions about where the money is currently coming from. And then Tahnoon went and deleted all the stuff off instagram that started the whole thing, so who knows what happens now...4 -
Good work @aliwibble
will keep closed so doesn’t get filled with posts. Message me and one of the mods when you want to update next10 -
Lunch time update Part 1 - the immediately important bits1) CASTrust are supposed to be meeting with Matt Southall tomorrow - you can suggest questions to ask here: https://charltonlife.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/88476/questions-for-cast-to-ask-matt-southall-11-march2) The OS posted a statement from Matt Southall at 10am as follows:
It is with regret that the board of Charlton Athletic Football Club accepts Tahnoon Nimer's resignation as a director with immediate effect.
Following the events of March 9th, his position is now untenable and the board has no option but to accept his resignation.
The board of Charlton Athletic and the Senior Management Team will continue to run the club with its best long-term interests at heart.
3) Then just before 11am Tahnoon Nimer updated his instagram. Oh boy...
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Lunch time update Part 2 - other bits that may be useful background, if not as immediately pressingRick says "Concerns me that some people still want to believe Southall. Nobody comes out of this well but he is the problem." Also that Media have been on the case for some timeWorrying thread from Jimmy Stone on twitter - for those of you without access it says:
- It’s time to talk about Matt McCarthy. A man who helped bring Steve Dale to Bury and is now heavily involved at Charlton alongside @MattSouthall84 at The Valley, Training Ground and in the Directors Box. What is his role? #cafc
- Here’s what he said when he joined Bury’s board alongside Dale: “I’m looking forward to working with the people at the club and continuing the good times that we are experiencing. My remit will be to work closely with Steve.” #cafc
- So Southall involved with Bassini at Bolton. His associates heavily involved with Dale at Bury. This isn’t normal.#cafc
First thing this morning Richard Cawley tweeted: Message left with the @EFL to see what they've got to say about the Charlton Athletic situation. Think they've got to make a statement
In the last hour or so, he's updated as follows:- The EFL have privately indicated that they are powerless to prevent a football club from passing hands. What they can do is apply sanctions on a club - and that includes a transfer embargo.
- In Charlton's case they were not given the green light to spend money when proof of funds had not been supplied. They can't control a deal between two parties but can restrict other elements.
Oh joy....He also mentioned that Matt Southall has emailed all staff assuring them there's no threat to their jobs.I suspect that @Bournemouth Addick speaks for all of us here:Bournemouth Addick said:Ffs, I just want to support a football team without a degree in forensic accounting and KPMG on speed dial to understand what's going on for once.
Give. Us. A. Fecking. BREAK!
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Evening update"These are crazy times at Charlton. Tahnoon Nimer hits back. I've seen a letter from before all this properly blew up where he states he wants Claudiu Florica to be the new chief executive officer responsible for running the football club"@Rylo says it's this guy
@CAFCsayer reckons he's been up on money laundering charges. Fabulous :-/ More about him on this thread: https://charltonlife.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/88481/who-is-claudiu-floricaChris Parkes been suspended by Southall, apparently for contacting the EFL on the behalf of Nimer. More on that here: https://charltonlife.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/88483/chris-parkes-suspendedThe EFL made a statement, which may slightly conflict with Southall's one from last night, although it depends on your interpretation of who the "relevant parties" are I think. Also seems to confirm we are under a registration embargo: https://www.efl.com/news/2020/march/efl-statement-charlton-athletic/Lee Amis called Prague Addick, trying to put the MS camp side of things: https://charltonlife.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/comment/3829549/#Comment_3829549Jamie O Hara (Skysports/Talksport pundit) tweeted something which he's now deleted. It didn't name Southall, but was widely assumed to be refering to him as it mentioned there "will be a few cheap range rovers for sale in the South London area". Want to know what it said? It's quoted in the letter threatening legal action in this post.He's now followed up with this: Feel sorry for Charlton in all of this, fantastic club with great support, I will stay tight lipped but trust me this isn’t going to end well for the club.Just before 8pm Nimer posted the details of the flat the club is allegedly renting on behalf of Southall on his instagram:
Interesting comments re who signed off the renting of the flat from @rememberbillybonds and @Airman BrownAirman Brown said:
That’ll be Sean McHugh - Southall’s mate from Bolton (and ex-Palace)rememberbillybonds said:Who at Charlton made those payments( if the schedule is correct) any capable Finance Director would question them.rememberbillybonds said:For what’s its worth, I am an ex Finance Director of a large organisation. Those payments would never be sanctioned, the external auditor would be contacted.
The authority of one person even the chairman would not be accepted.
legally the D of F has a responsibility plus sanctions from your professional body.This is allegedly a screenshot from Southall's Mrs' twitter. It would appear she's now deleted/disabled her account
Someone's tweeted footage of an instagram DM conversation with TN this evening:Oh boy, what a day...
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And a few links to various bits of coverage, some that have been linked to in passing in the thread, and some I've spotted this eveningSimon Jordan on talksport:The Evening Standard: https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/charlton-chaos-chairman-matt-southall-majority-shareholder-tahnoon-nimer-bitter-row-a4383006.htmlThe Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/mar/10/charlton-takeover-in-chaos-after-public-disagreement-between-new-ownersThe Daily Mail:https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-8097155/Charlton-meltdown-chairman-accused-using-club-cash-fund-luxury-life.htmlETA: and how could I forget VOTV?!19
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Wednesday afternoon updateMore discussion of Southall's flatMatt Southall’s #cafc flat in numbers - £300k commitment for club over the two year lease; £400 a night; equals wages of five staff costing £30k a year; at least £1 in every £15 received in season ticket revenue; about ten times a basic rent in SE London.AlsoInspectorSands said:Just done a Land Registry search on the Southall flat in Sugar Quay - the leaseholder, Acohens Company Limited, is incorporated in the Seychelles but gives an address in Shanghai. All about as upfront as you'd imagine for a residential development in the City.
Dated 5 November 2019, 999 year lease from 1 April 2018, price paid £4.45m.Lyle's back on Instagram again...
Companies House updatesInspectorSands said:Companies House confirmation statement for Charlton Athletic Holdings just filed confirms Duchatelet and Murray still directors of that company: https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/02689249/officersScratchingvalleycat said:The Companies House Website which is normally updated electronically with forms filed on line still has Nimer as a director. If you remember the Katrien Miere saga it was pointed out that to falsely file a notice of resignation (TM01) is an offence under the Companies Act. Nimer himself has stated that he has not resigned and anyone filing a form without evidence of a resignation would be commiting an offence. Nimer is trying to persuade Southall to resign by saying if he wants to avoid prosecution he should go voluntarily (and presumably transfer the 35 shares he holds in ESI to TN). I think that is as gently persuasive as it is going to get.(Holdings is the entity that owns the Valley, training ground etc, the club is/ is owned by Charlton Athletic Football Company Limited. @77redarmy77 linked to the Companies House details for that here: https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/01788466)Nimer's lawyer on Talksport:Callumcafc said:Callumcafc said:Bullet point summary of what Farnell says:- statements not easy to make, bad timing for all but Nimer has been left no alternative- Southall refusing to allow auditers to look at the club's accounts- Southall has some very serious questions to answer in relation to how the club has been run since January and the club's overall finances- you would think it would be straightforward to allow auditers in and answer questions but unfortunately it's not the case and they feel forced to take this route due to Southall's lack of co-operation- there was harmony between the two camps at the time of takeover but has broken down since issues came to light- in response to Southall saying Nimer hasn't invested he says that investment will be made as and when it is needed and not at the whim of Mr. Southall- when asked for reassurances on behalf of the fans, Farnell believes Nimer is the right man for the club, he would not have agreed to purchase if he didn't have the club's best interests at heart and goes on to talk about how the team needs support with the short term challengees it faces.- Nimer did not intend for things to come to this but his hand has been forced by the actions of an individual.- when asked does Nimer have the funds, Farnell says "those funds have been proven to the EFL" and the basis of the purchase was to take Charlton from "strength to strength".- it is "most unfortunate" that the club is bringing dragged into current position by Mr. Southall's statements and press releases.Scratchingvalleycat said:Chris Farnell is the senior partner at IPS Law and has a long track record as a sports lawyer. I doubt that he would have made that statement on the radio unless authorised to do so by his client (TN) and as a solicitor with a qualification to maintain unless he believed every word and had seen something to substantiate those words. The statement that the evidence of source of funds and proof of funds have been provided to EFL raises some questions but I assume that he has had a hand in providing these since his appointment as TN's lawyer.
The fog is beginning to clear when lawyers reputations and possibly qualifications are put on the line.
He is indeed correct that it s easier for all if MS resigns rather than the slightly extended process which is needed to remove him.Chris Parkes ReinstatedFollowing serious allegations made against him, Chris Parkes was suspended from his role of Club Secretary pending an investigation.The club has now carried out a full investigation of the available evidence and is satisfied there was no wrong-doing on the part of Mr Parkes.The Board are happy to confirm Mr Parkes will resume his duties from Thursday, March 12th.Disadvantageous contracts clarification ?Not been a public statement on this by either party but have been told that Tahnoon Nimer's claim of "disadvantageous contracts" was not in relation to Charlton manager Lee Bowyer's new deal.
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Media CoverageKarl Robinson on TalkSportMatt Holland on TalkSportEvening Standard coverage today: https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/charlton-crisis-escalates-tahnoon-nimer-tells-chairman-matt-southall-quit-or-my-lawyers-will-remove-a4384816.html (they seem to think the flat is in Knightsbridge?!11
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Most relevant infoUpdate from CAST about this afternoon's meeting:
Also a caller in to Love Sport radio was claiming to have paperwork showing both Southall and Nimer were taking money out of the club, but I've no links to that yet6 -
Other bits of interestDiscussion of the relationship between Southall and Nimer's lawyerSmall world? Turns out Nimer’s lawyer, Chris Farnell, now doing media about the #cafc situation, used to be Southall’s lawyer - until Southall defaulted on his fees, as reported in VOT156 on Boxing Day. Hmm..AllLeftFoot said:
And as quoted in Airman Brown’s tweet above, perhaps more relevantly, it is the same company that Southall was ordered to pay £10,000 in legal fees to last year.kidbrookeaddick said:Something odd about nimers lawyer... i remember hearing his name before. he was linked to a company with Matt Southall 6years ago.... https://www.insidermedia.com/news/north-west/107845-football-academy-hopes-score-250k-investment
More hints from Lyle on instagram
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Late Night Round UpFull Summary of the CAST Meeting with Matt Southall here: https://www.castrust.org/2020/03/cast-meeting-with-matt-southall/Fallout from the LoveSport podcast tonightPodcast is here: https://www.lovesportradio.com/radioplayer/london/od/items/4962/
There was a call from "Stuart" about 31 mins in summarised here:DoctorCharlton said:Facebook group seems to suggest somebody been on love sport radio just now revealing what’s gone on...(above expenses being the list we saw recently)
it is Facebook so maybe a pinch of salt
This left most posters very twitchy and various concerning scenarios were floated, and @AppyAddick attempted to reassure us.
There's also a @Grapevine post on p115, but I thought it'd be better to get this update out before I started on that, cos it looks like a bit of an epic... :-)AppyAddick said:Evening all, time for me to wade into this.
I have been trying to resist doing this for a long time, actually since the news broke on the 29th of November.
It's important to say i don't know Tahnoon Nimer, and i have never met him. i do however have a good friend who knows him very well. He knows him very well because he owns one of the companies that TN and the ADBD invest in.
TN is real he's not just a front, and yes he does have more than enough personal wealth to ensure we should be very safe and secure, indeed when the news broke on the 29th my contact had been into see him the day of the news breaking and again two days later.
TN has a plan to get us back to the premier league and to make us competitive in that league, it's true he has been sold a dream and maybe over the last few days that has been turned very sour. He wont want to just walk away from this, and he certainly wont want MS to get away with the dealings of the last two months.
He thought he had real plans and plans he had supported, those now need to change but my contact tells me he is determined to make this work.
Anyway there it is, i wont say anymore on the matter.
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Morning Update - I have the feeling we may be about to have another bonkers dayFeedback from someone who was at the CAST meeting yesterday (bold highlights added by me to flag up things I found interesting)Rob7Lee said:Every time I try to reply another 25 posts come in!!
but I will try and clarify a few things about yesterday’s meeting.
the meeting lasted 3.5 hours. So anyone who thinks we went with our 15 or so questions and just listened to the answer and moved into the next is very wrong, we challenged as much as is possible in this type of meeting/setting to get satisfactory answers or at least establish some facts rather than what is posted on social media. we as the statement says have also reached out to Nimer & the EFL for a meeting and The FSA is also pushing the EFL to meet with us and we will continue to push for this.I and others spent in excess of 7 hours on this yesterday and many hours on it before yesterday, some of us have day jobs as well. Today will likely be similar as the press want their scoop. There is also an FSA meeting tonight which the chair is attending.
What is abundantly clear is that the two shareholders have fallen out, the EFL have not received their required paperwork in respect of future funding from the majority shareholder, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have the funds but the specific paperwork has not been provided. (Anyone who has ever dealt with the large corp banks and KYC etc will understand the complexities, it’s not simply a case of showing a bank statement and probably is not helped by the bank being in the UAE). Added to that you have the fighting between Nimer & Southall which has now added further complexity to getting that resolved.
then there is all the noise around cars, flats, consultancy fees and the like which I suspect is at least in part the reason the shareholders are in disagreement. The ‘leaked’ financials around these apply to both Nimer and Southall in broadly equal measure. My personal view is neither come out massively better on this than the other.
in the meantime we have the key situation that the EFL are not satisfied. So far the only sanction is around transfers/registration but that will ramp up as time goes on unless the situation is resolved.Statement "from the club": https://www.cafc.co.uk/news/view/5e69ed7f10959/statement-12032020"In line with the EFL's statement earlier this week, the Club had no intention of making any further public comment.However, given the high level of interest in the media, we feel it only right for Charlton's staff, players and supporters to be made aware of the club's position in a clear and concise manner.
The Club wish to make it clear that Matt Southall has their full support in his role as Executive Chairman and are looking forward to working with him into the future towards a positive end to this current season and beyond.
All the public allegations levelled at Mr Southall by either Mr Nimer or his advisors are denied in their entirety and Mr Southall retains the full backing of the club and its Board.
Mr Tahnoon Nimer, in his capacity as majority shareholder of ESI, has made various funding guarantees to the Club but as of yet the EFL remain unsatisfied regarding the source and sufficiency of any funds proffered.
The Club is grateful for the EFL’s statement of March 10 clarifying this position and would like it made clear that, as a result of Mr Nimer’s failure to provide the information sought by the EFL, the club was subject to a transfer embargo during the January window.
If the information the EFL require is not forthcoming the Club is at risk of further sanction by the EFL and it is taking advice in this regard.
In the meantime, and until further notice, no statements made by either Mr Nimer or his advisors should be understood to represent the Club’s position.
The Board are hopeful that this matter is resolved soon to allow all parties to concentrate on the remainder of the 2019-2020 season.
Bowyer speaks to Richard Cawley:Caught up with Charlton boss Lee Bowyer. Lot of what he said will go in tomorrow's paper. Has called for EFL regulations to change."LB: "I can't understand how this club is in this situation so soon after the Bury scenario. How can that happen? I get there there are rules and regulations but for me, as the manager, they need to be changed.LB: "Because this shouldn't be happening now, the people that have come in haven't been here for no time at all and now we're talking about people maybe not getting paid in the near future. How can that happen? It's wrong."LB: "The fans should know. They are paying their money every week and don't understand what is going on with their football club."Jimmy Stone has inside info? I’ve been told categorically that Matt Southall has lost the support of Jonathan Heller and we know Tahnoon Nimer’s stance. So this statement is basically Matt Southall backing Matt Southall. #cafcSue Parkes on Facebook re Chris's suspension and reinstatement
(thanks to @NorthStandUltra for the screenshot)28 -
Lunchtime updateNimer's back on instagram...
The interview:CAFCOfficial twitter with quotes from Bowyer's press conference (I've only included the ones relating to the ongoing shenanigans)LB: “It’s been a difficult few days. It’s been crazy what’s going on and it’s frustrating because the game is so important.” #cafcLB “I just wish it all came out in January. With nine games to go, you couldn’t have timed it any worse.” #cafcLB: We were off yesterday so we’ve not really had time to speak. Today will be the time to speak to the players and pick them up. The timing is wrong for us, as a club, to have all this negativity at this stage of the season.” #cafcLB: “The chairman stood there on Tuesday and explained the situation. One of the main topics was ‘when will we stop getting paid’ and he said ‘December is likely when the money will run out.’ That didn’t go down well, as you can imagine.”LB: “I don’t want to walk away. I could have done that in January. Everybody knows what the club means to me. I knew the situation we were in with the embargo and I decided to stay and fight for the club.”LB: “I believe in this club and I love the club. I have a good, honest bunch of lads with good staff around me and good fans who support the players. We’ve all worked so hard to get to where we are now and I won’t walk away from it.” #cafcLB: “If there’s any club that can come out of it, this is it. This club has been backed into a corner many times and it’s come out fighting.” #cafcLB: “This is the time when we need to all pull together, stand there and fight to stay in the Championship for next season. Whatever happens outside of that will take care of itself.” #cafcLB: “The worrying thing is, once that embargo got put on us in January, I was told it would be fixed the next day. And we’re still under it now. I want to believe everything will be OK, but everyone knows there are a lot of things that have been going on that are not OK.” #cafcLB: “I think that the EFL have to change their regulations. If a group of people want to buy a club, there should be a regulation that you should have to put X amount of money into a separate account that no one can touch. That’s what should happen going forwards.” #cafcCAST call for Matt Southall to resign:"CAST is calling on Southall to resign. After a lengthy meeting yesterday, we have no confidence in the future of #cafc under his leadership and lack of funding."And also on their twitter feed, this:
A few pieces from Richard Cawley for the SLP:https://www.londonnewsonline.co.uk/charlton-athletic-supporters-trust-believe-addicks-in-crisis-after-breakdown-in-board-relations/
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Early Evening Update 1 - this is going to be screenshot heavy, so I'm going to split it into several bitsPart 1 From the Southall camphttps://twitter.com/2020Cafc is releasing screenshots of what they claim are private emails
(Tahnoon using Yahoo for email? SERIOUSLY?!?!)
Valley Parade?!?This account is also posting critical comments in support of Southall against Nimer
This morning's TalkSport interview was pre-recorded last night, about an hour after Nimer recorded it he tried to remove Heller as a Director illegally because he realised he didn't actually have his support.. #ChrisFarnellstrikesagain #CAFC
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Part 2 From the Nimer campNimer releases screenshots of a letter threatening legal action against Jamie O'Hara for the tweet screenshotted in one of these earlier posts
cfgs said:Jamie O'Hara is on the Talksport breakfast show from 6am tomorrow, might be an interesting listen.
He replied to one of the Twitter numpties to say so.
(me)Nimer message of support to CAFCOfficial
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Part 3 Other general bits and pieces (before it all kicked off this evening, that'll be a separate post)Apparently our glorious leader was inspecting the troops todayMatt Southall is at Charlton's training ground this morning watching the first-team trainIdleHans said:What surprises me most of all in this whole sorry episode is that nobody, NOBODY, has commented on the fact that not only do we have four Range Rovers but also we have a first team TRAIN. I know this because MS has been watching it today.
CARD reformsCARD warns Southall with Valley protest plan next Tuesday #cafc “Southall is not welcome” at QPR game, says spokesperson.
Good to see we can still see the funny side of all this:
A brief comment from Lyle on instagramLoOkOuT said:May I humbly suggest a temporary renaming: Coalition Against Rover Drivers?
(@i_b_b_o_r_g I haven't forgotten about the stuff about the legals, but it's making my head hurt to put in a logical order and format, so I'm going to come back to it once I've gone through the tonight's latest mayhem)7 -
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Part 4 It all kicks off at the Valley (When I said this morning " I have the feeling we may be about to have another bonkers day", I had no idea we'd end up here...)Louis Mend was supposed to be doing Charlton Live from the Valley tonightNearly at The Valley for tonight’s show. Gonna be a bit all over the place but will hear Lee Bowyer’s thoughts on the omnishambles that is Charlton Athletic. Should have someone on from @CAStrust as well. Join us at 7pm #cafcUnfortunately, we’ve had to suspend this evening’s show. If we can get on a bit later, we will. @charltonlive #cafcThen @Airman Brown posted this slightly cryptic tweetSounds like it’s about to get even madder. #cafcfollowed bySeems to be a coup attempt at The Valley, which has ended with police involvement and Southall “sacking” multiple staff.And so the thread went into meltdown again...Further updates from LouisIt’s been quite an evening at The Valley. Matt Southall gave no comment as he left. His current status is unclear. #cafc(there's also a video clip of Southall leaving the Valley with McHugh?, and them driving off together attached to this tweet)Been a long night out here waiting for stuff to happen #cafcA really crazy night. Important to make it clear that I don’t believe anyone has been arrested. #cafc
That’s why the show was suspended btw. That was my decision and no one else’s. #cafcAnd from RickUnderstand senior #cafc employee received an instruction to remove Matt Southall. The latter responded by calling the police. Southall has since left The ValleySouthall understood to have “sacked” Olly Groome, Mick Everett and Tracey Leaburn during tonight’s coup #cafcAnd Richard CawleyAbsolute circus at Charlton Athletic. No other words for it. Need the EFL there to see how this is all playing out.I did contact Roland Duchatelet this week in an attempt to get comments from him about the Charlton Athletic developments. Unsurprisingly he didn’t return my call.Tahnoon Nimer's social media post (where else would you provide updates?) is claiming that he now has control of Charlton Athletic. Of course, what we could do with is a nice official statement on things.And now Nimer's gloating on instagram
Updates from "The Charlton Three"Mick Everett confirms he's been sacked
Tracey says she wasn't1) I was not sacked as I was not in the room at the time2) I categorically deny Matt Southall’s allegations against me that I have leaked information3) Probably suspended tomorrow though as that is what Matt likes doingOlly doesn't comment on the specifics either wayA very quick word to say thank you for all the kind comments. Just as I have done for 7 years proudly working at this club, anything I have ever done has always been in the best interests for Charlton Athletic - my club and my family’s club for four generationsAnd a couple of updates from @Henry Irving
https://charltonlife.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/comment/3834800/#Comment_3834800Henry Irving said:Well that was a different way to spend an evening!
Been supporting @Tracey Leaburn this week and she asked me to come along tonight when legal papers were served suspending Southall, Heller and McHugh.
Of course they didn't go quietly and MS told @Ollywozere @Tracey and Mick Everett they were fired.
They are NOT fired.
They were acting on the express wishes of Tahnoon and as MS et al are all now suspended the "sackings" are meaningless.
McHugh called the police saying there were trespassers. It was actually Mick, Treacy, John Little and others. I was just an observer. There is video.
After trying to dodge the bullet for 2+ hours police finally got the now Suspended directors to leave. Doors locked, passwords changed.
Legal process to remove them completely now commences. Can't comment on that.
Many people have doubts about Tahnoon and I have questions myself. I certainly want to see deeds, not just words, but I'll take him over proven liar and greedy bastard Southall and his sponger mates just now.
This isn't over tonight was a good night.Henry Irving said:Funniest thing is police officers called by Southall's cronies turning out to being officers who work cafc games with Everett.Updates from current and former playersLyle's back on instagram....
Tony Watt has weighed in
And Patrick Bauer in reply to Tracey's tweetYou’re the best TJ. I’m with youThe Southall camp are still spinning by the looks of thingsSo what happens now?Currently no clarity over who is now in control at #cafc.Mixed reports on situation with Matt Southall tonight. Nimer’s people think he shouldn’t turn up at work tomorrow because he’s been sacked, I imagine Southall has a different take on it. Will be an interesting morning. #cafc14 -
Media coverage:The Daily Mail: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-8106961/Police-arrive-Valley-Charltons-civil-war-rumbles-on.htmlThe Sun: https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/11163613/charlton-southall-suspended-chairman-nimer/The Athletic - Charlton Athletic Football Club is in a state of civil war & no one knows who is in charge (paywalled) or local copyThe SLP: https://www.londonnewsonline.co.uk/a-crazy-week-at-charlton-athletic-as-boardroom-rift-spills-on-to-social-media-with-major-questions-over-the-long-term-future-viability-of-the-championship-club/ and
https://www.londonnewsonline.co.uk/lee-bowyer-committed-to-charlton-athletic-cause-but-admits-players-are-not-happy-as-boardroom-uncertainty-overshadows-hull-city-match/4 -
Friday the 13th part 1 (hopefully not a horror show)The Morning After The Night Before
More support from former players
More instagram weirdness
The instagram post in question:
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Friday the 13th part 2 (It's quiet. Too quiet...)Today's best summed up by this post from @BrentfordAddickBrentfordAddick said:Quiet usually means that lawyers have told their clients to shut up.Finally a statement on the OS"In light of recent events the day-to-day running of the club remains top priority.
Members of the club’s senior management met on Friday morning to discuss next steps.
The club is assured by the commitment from HE Tahnoon Nimer and hopes the directors resolve their differences for the best of everyone at Charlton Athletic.
In the meantime the main focus remains on running the club in the most efficient way possible and coordinating activity in response to today’s postponement of games, until at least April 3rd."
ReinstatementsThe statement was tweeted out by Olly Groome with a pleasing additional commenthttps://twitter.com/ollygroome/status/1238491341950193664 I’m also very pleased to have confirmation from senior management that I am categorically NOT sacked #cafcMick Everett also reinstated:I've just had a phone call to say I'm no longer sacked. Absolutely delighted, as it would have been a heart wrenching way to have left the club I've loved since I was 5 years old. Also had some fabulous messages of support from former players, colleagues, and mostly the fans.Other reactions to the statementNo mention of Matt Southall in here. #cafcBasically means that the internal management of the club (heads of departments etc) say they are reporting to Tahnoon Nimer and not Matt Southall - who has been told he is banned from the premises #cafcRemember that visit to the training ground yesterday?"@MattSouthall84 visit to the training ground yesterday was an attempt to film him shaking hands with the #cafc 1st team & then release it to look as though they all supported him. Unfortunately for him the players sussed him out & walked passed without shaking hands. What a fool"Media Reaction11 -
Friday the 13th part 3 (a few late night bits and bobs)CAST are pursuing meetings with Nimer and the EFL"Following this week’s dramatic events at Charlton Athletic, the Trust has made several attempts to make contact with majority shareholder Tahnoon Nimer and his representatives.
We have today written an open letter to him in an attempt to arrange a meeting as soon as possible.
The letter can be read here: Letter to TN"
https://www.castrust.org/2020/03/efl-approached-for-clarification/"CAST has today written a follow-up letter to the EFL seeking a meeting to clarify the procedures around the ratification of East Street Investments Ltd and the implications of the continuing absence of the required evidence of source and sufficiency of funds:
Efl meeting request 13-03-2020"Media coverageEvening Standard: https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/charlton-news-tahnoon-nimer-matt-southall-a4387171.html (mostly nothing new, except possibly the bit about Southall's argument as to why the decision to remove him was invalid.)5 -
Saturday the 14th - All Quiet on the Western FrontNothing's actually happened, but lots of discussion about the events of the last week, and various rumours swirling about. I'm going to leave most of it until we have something more concrete, but to give a little hope, there's this from @Airman BrownAirman Brown said:
Not really, except to say there is multiple credible interest in buying the club.MuttleyCAFC said:
Good to hear, but can you elaborate?Airman Brown said:I don’t and never have trusted any of the ESI crew, but we are not helpless.Other posts that may be of interest:@Henry Irving with a few thoughts on what happens next, and hints of some insider info
https://charltonlife.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/comment/3837524/#Comment_3837524
https://charltonlife.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/comment/3837693/#Comment_3837693@i_b_b_o_r_g with about more background about TN
https://charltonlife.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/comment/3837351/#Comment_3837351@swords_alive with a slight clarification to that
https://charltonlife.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/comment/3837386/#Comment_3837386@AppyAddick with additional context
https://charltonlife.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/comment/3837372/#Comment_3837372@AFKABartram's take on events
https://charltonlife.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/comment/3837868/#Comment_3837868Media Coverage:
Not sure where this is from, from the byline I'm assuming The Sun
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Sunday 15th March - nothing to report so far, the media's gone quiet and the thread is generally speculation, the occasional bit of paranoia and some silly jokes. That may change after tonight's Charlton Live.For those who don't usually listen live, you can do so on from the Charlton Live site here: https://www.charltonlive.co.uk/listen-live/
or via the Tune In Radio site here: https://tunein.com/radio/Charlton-Live-s268151/ .
From the looks of the Charlton Live twitter feed there have been some issues for users of Google Chrome in recent weeks, so check this tweet and the follow-up for guidance how you might be able to fix it:
The podcast will be available from https://play.acast.com/s/charltonlive at some point afterwards.
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Monday 16th March - nothing concrete to report today, but there are rumours that Nimer has brought in a new CEO and there was some discussion as to whether they'd need to pass the Fit and Proper Persons test. In this post @Airman Brown shows the section that means he believes so:"People subject to the ODT include:
(g) a person in accordance with whose directions or instructions the persons constituting the management of the Club are accustomed to act;
(h) any Authorised Signatory;
(i) any duly appointed signatory (as that term is utilised in Regulation 46.1);
(j) any 'chief executive' officer, 'general manager', 'chief operating officer' or any other person undertaking any duties which would objectively be considered to be equivalent to those roles;
(k) any person appointed by those with Control over the Club to represent their interests in the management of the Club; and
(l) a person who has Control over the affairs of the Club,"
2 -
Tuesday 17th March - And off we go again...
23 -
Tuesday 17th March evening edition - and it's just got even more complicated...From this morning, commentary following Nimer's instagram post
"There were fears that Charlton's funding would run out before the end of the season - even before the full extent of the coronavirus hit home to football clubs""My understanding is that the running of the football club up to this juncture has come from central payment from EFL and gate receipts""In terms of Nimer's Instagram post, I was led to believe that Matt Southall had stepped aside and effectively was executive chairman in name only. Had been mentioned to me that he was happy to walk away if/when Nimer satisfied EFL and completed his takeover."For those in doubt about what has prevented the EFL from approving the deal - it's been the same sticking point from January. Source and sufficiency of funding. What isn't in doubt is this situation can't continue without it having serious consequences for CAFC.And then this evening, the club's lawyers are gone
"Just had confirmation that JMW are no longer the club's lawyers. Had been employed by ESI in takeover negotiations. They say decision to step away was because of "lack of cogent instruction from the board".""Just to make clear, JMW was appointed by ESI and not Matt Southall. Just want to be fair with the way I report these things"This might explain why: "Assuming this is linked to Jonathan Heller not being on the board anymore...? He is the Director of JMW after all.""Put another call in to Tahnoon Nimer's lawyer Chris Farnell to ask some questions about progress with EFL and if he can say who is now the club lawyer. Also wanted to know who paid the consultancy fees of ESI, which have been in the public domain. No answer. Left a voicemail."And now the former directors are getting involved
"Understand that could be a challenge by a third party over the transaction between ESI and Roland Duchatelet in terms of the deal agreed. Only people mooted before as potentially being in a position to do that are the ex-directors.""Always big questions over how the ESI #cafc deal - particularly the division of the assets and charge in favour of Duchatelet - was possible in the context of the existing ex-directors’ charges and without their consent to these changes.""Ex-directors had no incentive to get involved if things went well, but in the current situation..."@Airman Brown explained more here:
https://charltonlife.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/comment/3841748/#Comment_3841748
"My understanding is that the new division of the assets and Roland’s charge on CAFC Limited both required the consent of the ex-directors individually. That consent was neither sought nor provided, at least in the case of several individuals."
https://charltonlife.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/comment/3841773/#Comment_3841773
"This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, unless you’re convinced by Nimer. If the deal is overturned, Roland is back on the hook for the club’s liabilities and he can’t afford to put it into administration as his Staprix loan could get wiped out."Media coverage
The SLP: https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/salary-fears-for-charlton-athletic-staff-as-coronavirus-puts-extra-strain-on-funding-for-championship-campaign/
Talksport - Lee Bowyer calls in: https://talksport.com/football/efl/683780/charlton-lee-bowyer-row-owner-tahnoon-nimer-chairman-matt-southall/
Evening Standard: https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/charlton-atletic-tahnoon-nimer-matt-southall-a4389736.html16
This discussion has been closed.
