I think everyone acknowledges that Duchatelet has the best opportunity he will get to sell the club between now and late Summer following promotion to the Championship. What has become clear in the last week is that he now appears to recognise this and looks like he may, finally, get real on a deal.
The persistent Aussies remain in the frame and the news from last week suggests that Duchatelet may have dropped his asking price from a reputed £72m to £33m plus responsibility for the settling of the £7m ex-Director loans. Fair play to Gerard Murphy and Co if that's the case. Murphy himself has reached out to the ex-Directors in a bid to understand what it may take to close the deal. The Aussies have also hung around in the belief that Duchatelet will be forced to drop his asking price and that seems that they have been rewarded for it.
However, yesterday it became public knowledge that current Cardiff City Chairman and long time football fan and investment banker, Mehmet Dalman, has also made a bid reputed to be in the same ballpark as the Aussies and he is trying to close the deal. The Turkish-Cypriot born business has been in the UK since the age of ten and has connections with south-east London. Whilst no-one would go as far as saying he may be a Charlton fan, he clearly has a reasonable understanding of the opportunity Charlton Athletic affords a would-be investor.
You have to wonder if perhaps there is another bidder also negotiating behind the scenes. That might complicate and delay things but it might cement Duchatelet's conviction that he has to complete the best deal he can now. Whatever, Duchatelet looks to have enough interest to satisfy himself he's not going to get anymore for the club if the bids are competitive and I suspect they are.
We have to hope from here that a deal does in fact get done and that Duchatelet has to cut his losses and settle the remaining debt before he shuffles off with his tail between his legs. The real risk is that a buyer is prepared to mortgage some aspect of the clubs future to meet Duchatelet's outstanding debt or that he retains any interest in the club or its' primary assets.
One thing that does become clearer is the ongoing delay in signature of a contract extension for Lee Bowyer and his managerial team. Presumably, Bowyer has been aware of the latest takeover interest and understands that Duchatelet may be keen to leave that to prospective new owners. They may have even asked for that and I suspect it suits Bowyer who may feel he has a better chance of getting the right deal from anyone other than Duchatelet. If I were close to buying the club I would want the additional coup of announcing that Bowyer has backed me by signing a new deal for me and not Duchatelet.
Duchatelet's unique ability not to be able to compromise may yet scupper any sale but if it were to go ahead we might expect a long-awaited series of big positives for the club. There would be an outpouring of goodwill for the new owners. If they tread carefully and thoughtfully, they can easily maximise that goodwill to significantly boost season ticket and commercial revenues ahead of August. With Bowyer committed to the club and a reasonable increase above the Duchatelet budget, I believe we could realistically expect to survive this season in the Championship, learn some lessons and then seek to be more competitive in 2020-21. That must be the aim of any new owner I am sure the supporters would give them full backing if we can stick to that blueprint.
In the meantime, let's all hope and pray that our nightmare ends soon and we can begin the healing process and look forward to a long overdue upturn in the fortunes of our club.
The persistent Aussies remain in the frame and the news from last week suggests that Duchatelet may have dropped his asking price from a reputed £72m to £33m plus responsibility for the settling of the £7m ex-Director loans. Fair play to Gerard Murphy and Co if that's the case. Murphy himself has reached out to the ex-Directors in a bid to understand what it may take to close the deal. The Aussies have also hung around in the belief that Duchatelet will be forced to drop his asking price and that seems that they have been rewarded for it.
However, yesterday it became public knowledge that current Cardiff City Chairman and long time football fan and investment banker, Mehmet Dalman, has also made a bid reputed to be in the same ballpark as the Aussies and he is trying to close the deal. The Turkish-Cypriot born business has been in the UK since the age of ten and has connections with south-east London. Whilst no-one would go as far as saying he may be a Charlton fan, he clearly has a reasonable understanding of the opportunity Charlton Athletic affords a would-be investor.
You have to wonder if perhaps there is another bidder also negotiating behind the scenes. That might complicate and delay things but it might cement Duchatelet's conviction that he has to complete the best deal he can now. Whatever, Duchatelet looks to have enough interest to satisfy himself he's not going to get anymore for the club if the bids are competitive and I suspect they are.
We have to hope from here that a deal does in fact get done and that Duchatelet has to cut his losses and settle the remaining debt before he shuffles off with his tail between his legs. The real risk is that a buyer is prepared to mortgage some aspect of the clubs future to meet Duchatelet's outstanding debt or that he retains any interest in the club or its' primary assets.
One thing that does become clearer is the ongoing delay in signature of a contract extension for Lee Bowyer and his managerial team. Presumably, Bowyer has been aware of the latest takeover interest and understands that Duchatelet may be keen to leave that to prospective new owners. They may have even asked for that and I suspect it suits Bowyer who may feel he has a better chance of getting the right deal from anyone other than Duchatelet. If I were close to buying the club I would want the additional coup of announcing that Bowyer has backed me by signing a new deal for me and not Duchatelet.
Duchatelet's unique ability not to be able to compromise may yet scupper any sale but if it were to go ahead we might expect a long-awaited series of big positives for the club. There would be an outpouring of goodwill for the new owners. If they tread carefully and thoughtfully, they can easily maximise that goodwill to significantly boost season ticket and commercial revenues ahead of August. With Bowyer committed to the club and a reasonable increase above the Duchatelet budget, I believe we could realistically expect to survive this season in the Championship, learn some lessons and then seek to be more competitive in 2020-21. That must be the aim of any new owner I am sure the supporters would give them full backing if we can stick to that blueprint.
In the meantime, let's all hope and pray that our nightmare ends soon and we can begin the healing process and look forward to a long overdue upturn in the fortunes of our club.
I really hope that if even half the positives we can draw from yesterday's news come to fruition then something like the Charlton we love can reemerge. There is always one massive choking toxic black cloud shrouding all things CAFC. roly and his special brand of dishonest lunacy. Any change can't come soon enough. MD as majority shareholder and CEO looks and feels good to me.
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