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Charlton back up for sale - Guardian article comment from Gavin Carter p18
Comments
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My take is that Methven spun out a load of figures on costs involved, and they have seen this not to be the case and now want out.Up to this point they can tell the supporters we have brought success to the club.Now they will need to keep a massive eye on the league table because a relegation will mean a big drop in the asking price.It does change things on the likes of Ramsay, Jones and Campbell staying and still being at The Valley in September.4
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I don't think we should overreact just yet.
Like a lot of clubs and businesses, the owners have probably been thinking about their exit strategy from day one.
My company is owned by a private equity firm, and while their end goal is to sell, they also know they need to protect and grow their investment if they're going to achieve the sort of multiple they're looking for.
I'd suggest that staying in the Championship is absolutely vital to them. At the end of the day, they're businesspeople looking to make a healthy return on their investment.
As others have said, they'll almost certainly have contacts in the US who, off the back of the success of the recent World Cup, may well be looking at investing in an English football club. That could actually work in our favour.
For now, though, I think it's best to wait and see.
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That is very optimistic. There is a term in economics, and remember these guys are money men, called ' the sunk cost fallacy'. It means to keep on putting money in a venture because you have already spent a lot, even tho you are losing money on it. I doubt they will fall into that trap, being succesful businessmen and all.southamptonaddick said:The owners will still have to pay the bills and invest in the squad because if we were to get relegated their asset will obviously be worth less than it is now so Championship status and all bill payments up to date has to be the priority.
You and I call it throwing good money after bad.1 -
It's all a gamble. Luckily the gamble of getting in Coady and Dykes paid off.DessieValley said:
But they still gambled on that happening last year by not spending much in January when we were dangerously close to relegation. And kept trotting out the line we never planned to get promoted when we did.Desmond Oulu said:We would be worth next to fuck all if we got relegated. I'm pretty sure the owners know that too so I think they'll do what they can to keep us up.1 -
Asking for a ridiculous fee, whilst pissing off the manager that has saved this club from League 2 is a bold strategy. In turn, you’ve probably killed any chance of your key assets (Jones/Kayne/TC) signing extensions, meaning they’ll now be sold for reduced fees. Potential transfer targets will now probably try and avoid a move to a club where the owners are known to be wanting out.If all that happens we’re probably playing League One football and the club might be even less than it’s worth.
If one of the money men has leaked that to the press to push along a deal then they are genuinely clueless.0 -
The curse of Charlie, he really is a liability wherever he goes, leads us to our worst league position in 90 odd years and convinces these owners the club can break even. Can’t wait for @RonnieMoore to defend this one!guinnessaddick said:I think the problem is that the owners are not prepared to be putting in £15m+ a year to keep it running, they were sold the idea that the club could break even in the championship and that just isn’t the case.3 -
I know there's been a serious spike in the valuation of football clubs in recent years, but I was highly sceptical of the reported figure of £12 million allegedly paid by GFP to Sandgaard 3 years ago, given the fact that Duchâtelet owned The Valley and Sparrow's Lane. Can they really have paid £15 million ?
The loss for the promotion season of 2024/25 was £16.7 million and I expect the next accounts for the year ending 30 June 2026 (due by 31 March 2027) will tell a similar story. The prospects of the current owners getting their money back look pretty remote to me; as for making a "profit", that looks completely pie in the sky.
Can they really have believed the nonsense spouted by Charlie Methven (I think in The Daily Telegraph) about keeping operating losses down to £1-2 million per year and aiming to make a net profit in the medium term on player trading ? Surely not. A cursory glance at the losses sustained by Championship clubs in recent years would have told them otherwise.
The 'looking for investment' story has been out there for some time but the timing of this leak is unfortunate less than two weeks before the start of the Championship season. The feeling of instability is likely to make Nathan Jones uncomfortable and it's hardly a source of encouragement for players, whether those discussing possible contract extensions or others who are potential signings. Hopefully the directors will be able to offer Nathan (and Karen Hills) some assurances. In reality, there are a few dozen EFL clubs up for sale at any given time and at least it looks like the current owners will continue writing the cheques in the short and medium term, albeit that the level of funding is likely to be throttled back, as it has so far this summer.
Not quite the boost to morale that we were hoping for this week.
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& much longer armsMendonca In Asdas said:It’s a massive distraction we could do without to be honest.
We need to find new owners with even deeper pockets!0 -
Surely we all need to relax unless the story is substantiated in the Plymouth Herald ?9
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That's my point too , golfie.golfaddick said:
The article says that they have approached the club for a reply. If the article was wrong & the club was only looking for additional investors then surely they would have said so.Er_Be_Ab_Pl_Wo_Wo_Ch said:@Airman Brown do you think the club could be seeking additional investment, not a sale, and the reporter has come to the wrong conclusion?
Aren't these guys paid enough to think on their feet whatever the issue & address it accordingly ?
We ARE the lifeblood of this club after all....
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12 days until the league season starts. We've not invested and have largely a League 1 team. If they don't sell quickly the valuation will keep on going down the longer the season goes on.1
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From Cawley (hoping this is right):
Early indications from the club have been that nothing has changed since Slater’s story about them seeking investment, except that it is now a different company doing it.
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Never trust a man who looks like Gerry Adams...3
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We did not have any wingbacks. A good wingback costs more than an ok winger. Clarke just went for 3.5 m and he just about made the grade for us. Two wingbacks at that price, money we do not have.cantersaddick said:As annoying as this is, it's not that surprising. The talk of looking for investors has been around for a while, talk of budgets being cut and the way this window has developed all were signs even if we didn't see them at the time.
It does make the switch to a back 4 more confusing though. Without serious investment it just feels too much of an ask. Surely with this context sticking to the system that our players knew and got the most out of a number of them whilst using what budget we have to add a bit of quality and competition in key areas would have been enough to stay up another year. Instead it feels like we've negated our strengths in the hope we can compensate elsewhere but it's just not happened.1 -
From Cawley's latest on his SubStack:
"Early indications from the club have been that nothing has changed since Slater’s (Dec. 2025) story about them seeking investment, except that it is now a different company doing it."
So it may very well be that the owners are looking for ADDITIONAL INVESTMENT and not to sell full out. Or maybe some are looking to offload their shares, but not all.1 -
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The Rich Cawley substack piece really puts this Guardian story in a different light, I’m just going to believe Rich & wait for the Saudi’s to roll in…….
There’s a sheikh who posts on LinkedIn that could be worth checking out, Tahnoon Nimer is his name, seems to have a bit of cash too……21 -
fenaddick said:
We're too much in a middle ground. We aren't a massive club like Newcastle and we aren't a small one like Brighton, Brentford & Bournemouth were. Our running costs are too high to overhaul something straight away but our commercial deals aren't enough to make us a draw. We're stuck in no mans landNorthStandUltra said:I don’t understand why we’re not seen as an attractive investment opportunity, London club, decent facilities & fan base - any other clubs get all kinds of suitors, not us though - look at Amanda Staveley, could probably get us a lot cheaper than investing into West Ham.Probably answering my own question but I guess the Roland Duchatelet puppet hanging over The Valley & Training Ground puts people off - what was it £50m to buy both back & then the same again to buy the club & that’s before investment in the squad and people.
And again we'll see who is interested in buying a club and not having the land to go with it.
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Reckon this is a fair appraisal of the situation - bang on!Themightyath2 said:I don't think we should overreact just yet.
Like a lot of clubs and businesses, the owners have probably been thinking about their exit strategy from day one.
My company is owned by a private equity firm, and while their end goal is to sell, they also know they need to protect and grow their investment if they're going to achieve the sort of multiple they're looking for.
I'd suggest that staying in the Championship is absolutely vital to them. At the end of the day, they're businesspeople looking to make a healthy return on their investment.
As others have said, they'll almost certainly have contacts in the US who, off the back of the success of the recent World Cup, may well be looking at investing in an English football club. That could actually work in our favour.
For now, though, I think it's best to wait and see.
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I thought the Methven comment was jaw-droppingly stupid and have said as much before, but if you look at the staggering incompetence of successive ownerships since 2010 then you can see why incoming owners from the US might struggle to understand the club’s actual commercial potential in an evolving football environment.Blucher said:I know there's been a serious spike in the valuation of football clubs in recent years, but I was highly sceptical of the reported figure of £12 million allegedly paid by GFP to Sandgaard 3 years ago, given the fact that Duchâtelet owned The Valley and Sparrow's Lane. Can they really have paid £15 million ?
The loss for the promotion season of 2024/25 was £16.7 million and I expect the next accounts for the year ending 30 June 2026 (due by 31 March 2027) will tell a similar story. The prospects of the current owners getting their money back look pretty remote to me; as for making a "profit", that looks completely pie in the sky.
Can they really have believed the nonsense spouted by Charlie Methven (I think in The Daily Telegraph) about keeping operating losses down to £1-2 million per year and aiming to make a net profit in the medium term on player trading ? Surely not. A cursory glance at the losses sustained by Championship clubs in recent years would have told them otherwise.
The 'looking for investment' story has been out there for some time but the timing of this leak is unfortunate less than two weeks before the start of the Championship season. The feeling of instability is likely to make Nathan Jones uncomfortable and it's hardly a source of encouragement for players, whether those discussing possible contract extensions or others who are potential signings. Hopefully the directors will be able to offer Nathan (and Karen Hills) some assurances. In reality, there are a few dozen EFL clubs up for sale at any given time and at least it looks like the current owners will continue writing the cheques in the short and medium term, albeit that the level of funding is likely to be throttled back, as it has so far this summer.
Not quite the boost to morale that we were hoping for this week.5 -
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This is encroaching on a different topic - how the club handles its comms and who's empowered to respond, quickly, to such a request. I take it as a given it's "badly" and "probably no one", so I don't read anything into the non-response, that's just par for the course, sadly.Fanny Fanackapan said:
That's my point too , golfie.golfaddick said:
The article says that they have approached the club for a reply. If the article was wrong & the club was only looking for additional investors then surely they would have said so.Er_Be_Ab_Pl_Wo_Wo_Ch said:@Airman Brown do you think the club could be seeking additional investment, not a sale, and the reporter has come to the wrong conclusion?
Aren't these guys paid enough to think on their feet whatever the issue & address it accordingly ?
We ARE the lifeblood of this club after all....
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So nothing is new?
We’re so back.1 -
Or that they are seeking additional investment but it’s now enough additional investment to actually buy them out.SDAddick said:From Cawley's latest on his SubStack:
"Early indications from the club have been that nothing has changed since Slater’s (Dec. 2025) story about them seeking investment, except that it is now a different company doing it."
So it may very well be that the owners are looking for ADDITIONAL INVESTMENT and not to sell full out. Or maybe some are looking to offload their shares, but not all.0 -
You’re assuming owners of football clubs have any logic. We should know better than that by now.jondon76 said:If they're selling there's no way they can afford for us to go down this season.
Every f*cking time this club finally looks like it’s heading in the right direction.1 -
Methven is a top drawer snake oil salesman, an old fashioned cad that has used charisma and guile to create the best outcomes for himself. When we knew he was involved it was only going one way.6
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... Shall we just book in a date now for the protests
Positives- These guys are serious businessmen who have acted professionally to date. I don't see them pulling up the ladder any time soon - a budget will have been agreed and will be honoured IMO
- The tightening of rules and cost of the Championship means its much harder nowadays for a Southall to sneak through the net
- The club is in a far better place than 3 years ago all around the club, we aren't a 'mess' and while the squad isn't what we'd want, it's also not Joe Ledley, David Davis, Aiden McGeady etc. its still a squad that can compete
- It could allow NJ to try and create that siege mentality that he would absolutely thrive on, that could see us perform above our level for a period
- These owners are anonymous and to me it always felt like this was so they could make an easy exit. Again shows they are shrewd as who would want the deserved Sandgaard, DuShitaulat treatment
- Carter looks like a chump - the most die-hard fan nobody had ever heard of now just looks like a company mouthpiece or stooge. I never believed in his act personally.
- Will if affect players decisions to sign with uncertainty? and it surely means we won't overspend any agreed budget so NJ may have to change his plans or wheel or deal more than expected or wanted
Personally I don't feel this is a major disaster I'd guess that the owners have signed off putting this out to either draw out a bidder / partner or drum up more interest. I can see this going on for some time, so lets try to not panic and focus on enjoying the start of the new season.
Never dull is it!
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Having brunch tomorrow with a friend who has just returned from a week in the States, I'll let you know what he says10
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I reckon the club is up for sale, as it has been for some time, telling Rich they are just looking for investors is to pour water on it and keep us buying season tickets and plodding along.
Hopefully someone ambitious comes along, that's the best we can hope for, in the mean time, hope they can spare some Championship change to give us a fighting chance.6 -
a pony he says "You're not going to tell me you've forgotten your wallet again, are you?!"Gribbo said:Having lunch tomorrow with a friend who has just returned from a week in the States, I'll let you know what he says3
