It's been hard to keep up this week with the unfolding drama of Southall v Nimer. The tit-for-tat continues as does the leaking of documentation and emails as well as move and counter-move.
The heat on Southall has ratcheted up following the leaking of extremely damaging expense details that show ESI employees taking advantage of Charlton funds for their own benefit. Southall's immediate defence was to say Nimer was at it as well, which probably wasn't the smartest approach as it was akin to throwing chum into shark-invested waters. What Nimer may have done isn't yet clear but we do know he has gone ballistic having discovered what Matt Southall and Lee Amiss have taken, although two of Taynoon's own 'consultants' have also been well rewarded thus far.
Indeed, Naynoon responded with a statement of his own accusing Southall even more directly of using Club money to further his own lifestyle and making it clear he was now taking legal steps to remove Southall from the club and appoint someone else to run things. We then had the spectacle of Chris Farnell, a lawyer representing Nimer, speaking to Jim White on Talk Sport and saying action would be forthcoming. Interestingly, Farnell previously represented Southall and was the person who Southall was ordered to pay £10,000 costs to last year after Farnell took him to court for failure to pay his legal bill! To round things off, Nimer also appeared on a separate Talk Sport show and repeated all of his previous assertions and reiterated his determination to regain control and oust Southall.
We then got a terse statement from the Club saying that Chris Parkes, who had been summarily dismissed by Southall the day before, had been reinstated after a "thorough investigation" deemed there was no case to answer for in terms of his suspension. The statement did not include Matt Southall's name and neither was any apology or explanation given. Chris might well be feeling peeved but his wife didn't hold back by making it very clear on social media who his accuser had been. Irrespective, it was a major climbdown from the day before and almost certainly a direct reaction to the story of support for Parkes from the club's supporters. Hopefully a valuable lesson.
Southall then met CAST yesterday afternoon in a bid to justify things and he wasn't convincing. He claimed the £144,000 a year luxury riverside apartment he is now living in with his family was actually a "corporate flat" for use by the club whenever he's not there which hasn't really thrown anyone off the scent. To make matters worse, Taynoon Nimer then released a copy of the rental agreement which matched perfectly with the leaked expenses and gave us all the address of the humble abode at Sugar Quay. That was enough for one loon to turn up live-streaming his arrival and calling for Mr Southall to come down and see him at Reception. CAST have since issued a statement calling for Southall's resignation.
Southall also confirmed that the EFL had placed a transfer embargo on the club on 8th January following failure to show proof of funds for the takeover. The surprise news here has lead to obvious questions about the charade of the interest in signing Maddison and Toney as well as the guff Southall spun on his "super duper deal phone" during the rest of the window. It does, of course, fully explain the three lame loan signings we did eventually make at the eleventh hour.
Southall main defence was to rubbish Nimer and say that he has not provided any funds yet and that was what has lead to the transfer embargo and the falling out. Nimer's position on this is that he has provided this to Southall but that, for some reason, Southall had chosen not to pass it on to the EFL. Nimer has said he is rectifying this now but that he won't be providing any funds until Southall is removed from the club to avoid any further misuse of club money.
Today has seen yet more documentation and emails, some of which may well be fake, but the mess and pressure is building. There was also time for a bizarre letter posted by the club which was addressed to former professional Jamie O'Hara claiming defamation of character against Matt Southall and demanding apologies and financial recompense for a Tweet from O'Hara allegedly about Southall. I can't see the Tweet but others who have said it was generic and did not mention Southall or Charlton. O'Hara has history with Southall - his Wife is the mother of Southall's daughter. Real Footballer's Wives stuff.
Throughout all of this, the mood of Charlton fans has hardened against Southall. He has been caught out being economical with the truth once too often and the greed and arrogance shown through the expenses scandal has made him persona non grata. For most there is no way back and he has to go. The simple facts are that without Nimer's money (whether he invests or not), Charlton are broke without serious investment which Southall doesn't have and shows little hope of being able to attract. Southall reckons the club has funds to continue until December but certainly not at the rate of his and his cronies expenses thus far and almost certainly not if we are relegated. If the deal with Roland is a £50m commitment for the assets, it's almost impossible to imagine anyone being sold on a slice of that when no-one was prepared to pay anywhere close to it despite two years of trying to flog us and the club currently facing a financially disastrous relegation. The chances of anyone giving Southall their money following this week's revelations must be non-existent. Southall's 'vice-Chairman' former local Estate Agent, Lee Amis, tried to defend his and Southall's expenses on a call with a prominent Charlton fan but only ended up digging an even bigger hole.
The only obvious hope of the club moving forward is if Nimer removes Southall and is true to his word over investment. It must be said that the jury is still out on this given the unexplainable failure to show source of funds so far and intimations from Southall that Nimer never intended to be footing the entire bill for the purchase and that the agreed plan was always to recruit additional investors. The CARD group have also 'reformed' and a statement from them this afternoon supports the CAST call for Southall to resigns and calls on all Charlton fans to protest before and after next Tuesday's home game against QPR.
There's plenty of room for more twists and turns before the R's visit which promises to be a super-charged atmosphere where Matt Southall is very likely to find out precisely what Charlton fans currently think of him. As I type this I am hearing that there may have been a legal attempt to expel Southall this evening. Louis Mendez has just tweeted footage of Southall walking out and getting into his £100,000 club Range Rover. Subsequent Tweets would suggest that club stalwarts, Tracey Leaburn, Micke Everett and Olly Groom have all been fired after an attempt of some kind to remove Southall. Taynoon Nimer has also Tweeted something to this effect. It really is a circus. If Southall made a mistake suspending Parkes earlier in the week, he has just made a massive judgement of error and an unbelievable own-goal that will have major repercussions and quickly. It simply can't go on.
22.00 hrs - reliable Tweet from former Fan Director, Ben Hayes, who was there this evening supporting Tracey Leaburn along with Mick Everett and Olly Groom. Southall was served papers and has been removed from the club. The footage of him leaving wasn't just him finishing work. It was him exiting stage left, never to be seen again. This is fantastic news. We now need to see the colour of Taynoon's money and hope that we are free of greedy self-serving Directors once and for all.
The heat on Southall has ratcheted up following the leaking of extremely damaging expense details that show ESI employees taking advantage of Charlton funds for their own benefit. Southall's immediate defence was to say Nimer was at it as well, which probably wasn't the smartest approach as it was akin to throwing chum into shark-invested waters. What Nimer may have done isn't yet clear but we do know he has gone ballistic having discovered what Matt Southall and Lee Amiss have taken, although two of Taynoon's own 'consultants' have also been well rewarded thus far.
Indeed, Naynoon responded with a statement of his own accusing Southall even more directly of using Club money to further his own lifestyle and making it clear he was now taking legal steps to remove Southall from the club and appoint someone else to run things. We then had the spectacle of Chris Farnell, a lawyer representing Nimer, speaking to Jim White on Talk Sport and saying action would be forthcoming. Interestingly, Farnell previously represented Southall and was the person who Southall was ordered to pay £10,000 costs to last year after Farnell took him to court for failure to pay his legal bill! To round things off, Nimer also appeared on a separate Talk Sport show and repeated all of his previous assertions and reiterated his determination to regain control and oust Southall.
We then got a terse statement from the Club saying that Chris Parkes, who had been summarily dismissed by Southall the day before, had been reinstated after a "thorough investigation" deemed there was no case to answer for in terms of his suspension. The statement did not include Matt Southall's name and neither was any apology or explanation given. Chris might well be feeling peeved but his wife didn't hold back by making it very clear on social media who his accuser had been. Irrespective, it was a major climbdown from the day before and almost certainly a direct reaction to the story of support for Parkes from the club's supporters. Hopefully a valuable lesson.
Southall then met CAST yesterday afternoon in a bid to justify things and he wasn't convincing. He claimed the £144,000 a year luxury riverside apartment he is now living in with his family was actually a "corporate flat" for use by the club whenever he's not there which hasn't really thrown anyone off the scent. To make matters worse, Taynoon Nimer then released a copy of the rental agreement which matched perfectly with the leaked expenses and gave us all the address of the humble abode at Sugar Quay. That was enough for one loon to turn up live-streaming his arrival and calling for Mr Southall to come down and see him at Reception. CAST have since issued a statement calling for Southall's resignation.
Southall also confirmed that the EFL had placed a transfer embargo on the club on 8th January following failure to show proof of funds for the takeover. The surprise news here has lead to obvious questions about the charade of the interest in signing Maddison and Toney as well as the guff Southall spun on his "super duper deal phone" during the rest of the window. It does, of course, fully explain the three lame loan signings we did eventually make at the eleventh hour.
Southall main defence was to rubbish Nimer and say that he has not provided any funds yet and that was what has lead to the transfer embargo and the falling out. Nimer's position on this is that he has provided this to Southall but that, for some reason, Southall had chosen not to pass it on to the EFL. Nimer has said he is rectifying this now but that he won't be providing any funds until Southall is removed from the club to avoid any further misuse of club money.
Today has seen yet more documentation and emails, some of which may well be fake, but the mess and pressure is building. There was also time for a bizarre letter posted by the club which was addressed to former professional Jamie O'Hara claiming defamation of character against Matt Southall and demanding apologies and financial recompense for a Tweet from O'Hara allegedly about Southall. I can't see the Tweet but others who have said it was generic and did not mention Southall or Charlton. O'Hara has history with Southall - his Wife is the mother of Southall's daughter. Real Footballer's Wives stuff.
Throughout all of this, the mood of Charlton fans has hardened against Southall. He has been caught out being economical with the truth once too often and the greed and arrogance shown through the expenses scandal has made him persona non grata. For most there is no way back and he has to go. The simple facts are that without Nimer's money (whether he invests or not), Charlton are broke without serious investment which Southall doesn't have and shows little hope of being able to attract. Southall reckons the club has funds to continue until December but certainly not at the rate of his and his cronies expenses thus far and almost certainly not if we are relegated. If the deal with Roland is a £50m commitment for the assets, it's almost impossible to imagine anyone being sold on a slice of that when no-one was prepared to pay anywhere close to it despite two years of trying to flog us and the club currently facing a financially disastrous relegation. The chances of anyone giving Southall their money following this week's revelations must be non-existent. Southall's 'vice-Chairman' former local Estate Agent, Lee Amis, tried to defend his and Southall's expenses on a call with a prominent Charlton fan but only ended up digging an even bigger hole.
The only obvious hope of the club moving forward is if Nimer removes Southall and is true to his word over investment. It must be said that the jury is still out on this given the unexplainable failure to show source of funds so far and intimations from Southall that Nimer never intended to be footing the entire bill for the purchase and that the agreed plan was always to recruit additional investors. The CARD group have also 'reformed' and a statement from them this afternoon supports the CAST call for Southall to resigns and calls on all Charlton fans to protest before and after next Tuesday's home game against QPR.
There's plenty of room for more twists and turns before the R's visit which promises to be a super-charged atmosphere where Matt Southall is very likely to find out precisely what Charlton fans currently think of him. As I type this I am hearing that there may have been a legal attempt to expel Southall this evening. Louis Mendez has just tweeted footage of Southall walking out and getting into his £100,000 club Range Rover. Subsequent Tweets would suggest that club stalwarts, Tracey Leaburn, Micke Everett and Olly Groom have all been fired after an attempt of some kind to remove Southall. Taynoon Nimer has also Tweeted something to this effect. It really is a circus. If Southall made a mistake suspending Parkes earlier in the week, he has just made a massive judgement of error and an unbelievable own-goal that will have major repercussions and quickly. It simply can't go on.
22.00 hrs - reliable Tweet from former Fan Director, Ben Hayes, who was there this evening supporting Tracey Leaburn along with Mick Everett and Olly Groom. Southall was served papers and has been removed from the club. The footage of him leaving wasn't just him finishing work. It was him exiting stage left, never to be seen again. This is fantastic news. We now need to see the colour of Taynoon's money and hope that we are free of greedy self-serving Directors once and for all.
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