In an extraordinary sequence of Tweets and a hastily put together statement on the Charlton Athletic website this evening, we have seen the majority shareholder and proposed financial backer, Sheik Tahnoon Nimer, pull out of East Street Investments and effectively end his brief association with the club.
Nimer, who has been in Romania negotiating the purchase of Dinamo Bucharest on behalf of the Abu Dhabi Business Development group, posted a poorly worded message on his Instagram page which prompted Charlton supporters to seek clarification. He then gave that in a verbal recording which said he was pulling out because of improper behaviour by Matt Southall who was wasting the club's/Nimer's money. He referenced "Range Rovers" and "Bitches" and said we should ask Matt Southall about "all the money I put in the club and it has been done for his lifestyle." It has been rumoured in the last week that four of the club's top executives, included Southall, now had new Range Rovers and there was a brand new white one in prime position outside the West Stand on Saturday. Unclear who else has similarly received one of the expensive new cars but Southall's mate Lee Amis is suspected to be one of the lucky winners - hard to understand what he has done to merit this but no doubt we will be told in due course.
Matt Southall has now signed-off on a statement on the club website that Tahnoon Nimer wrote "an incredibly damaging letter" to members of the Club's Senior Management Team earlier today in which he made allegations about Southall's conduct. He goes on to say that Nimer was unhappy with "disadvantageous contracts" that had been signed and Southall believes that must reference Bowyer's extension as it is the only contract he has authorised (presumably other than Jackson's, the loan signings and the Range Rovers?). The bombshell that follows in Southall's statement is that Nimer has yet to satisfy the EFL over proof of funds despite repeated requests to do so which Southall says limited his ability to deal in the January transfer window. Southall claims that Nimer has yet to invest "a single penny." The lawyers are now involved looking at "defamation" so it doesn't look like this is going to blow over.
In the meantime, therefore, Charlton Athletic Football Club look to be in a very difficult position. Clearly, there is no money behind ESI at this point and the club is effectively operating on incoming revenues which may enable it to see the season out. However, relegation would mean unsustainable losses without further investment, something we are far less likely to see if we go down.
The EFL will have some explaining to do as well. After weeks and weeks of waiting whilst the completed their thorough checks relating to the purchase, ensuring that these were fit and proper people to be buying one of their precious football clubs and ensuring the funds were in place to secure the operation of the club for two seasons at least, it appears they might not have actually done all that and have yet another looming disaster on their hands. Given the recent shambles involving Coventry, Blackpool and Bury, it's hard to believe this is remotely possible.
Matt Southall also comes out of this very badly. As the mouthpiece for ESI we have heard a lot from him officially and even more on social media. Perhaps we shouldn't be critical of his ambition or his positivity but that has proven short-lived and he has already been forced to acknowledge that the takeover was nowhere near as complete or clean as had been intimated when they broke the news. When it later became clear they hadn't bought the Valley or Sparrows Lane, questions immediately arose as to the actual scale of the investment given that Duchatelet was on record saying that he would sell the loss-making football club for £1. That has yet to be qualified although it doesn't look to be significant if Nimer is simply walking away.
The subsequent failure to invest as anticipated in January to strengthen the playing side was a further disappointment but at no time was a shortage of funds given as an explanation, only that they did not want to pay over the odds given the inflated January window and the fact that selling clubs were trying to profiteer knowing we had Arab backers. Indeed, Southall played up the three loans we did do and told us he was satisfied with the business he had done. I can understand why the club wouldn't want to wash their dirty linen in public but the team have struggled through February and we are now in a serious battle to avoid a relegation that has looked increasingly likely since January and our failure to improve our squad is a major factor.
Southall looks like he is going to press on running the club but it's very difficult to see where the money we need medium term is going to come from. Also, as supporters we can't simply ignore what Nimer has said. He has accused Southall of wasting the club's (at some point Nimer's) money and whilst we don't know the details of Bowyer's deal (or Jackson's or the loanees) it would appear that money may have been spent on four new Range Rovers which might be hard to justify given our finances. If money is be spent unwisely, you also have to wonder if that might accelerate as the club heads towards what would effectively be Administration?
Given the history of this club over the last forty years, our supporters have been through pretty much everything. We consider ourselves uniquely unfortunate, incredibly hard-done-by and always expectant of worse. In spite of all that, how many of us could really have foreseen this though and so quickly?
Nimer, who has been in Romania negotiating the purchase of Dinamo Bucharest on behalf of the Abu Dhabi Business Development group, posted a poorly worded message on his Instagram page which prompted Charlton supporters to seek clarification. He then gave that in a verbal recording which said he was pulling out because of improper behaviour by Matt Southall who was wasting the club's/Nimer's money. He referenced "Range Rovers" and "Bitches" and said we should ask Matt Southall about "all the money I put in the club and it has been done for his lifestyle." It has been rumoured in the last week that four of the club's top executives, included Southall, now had new Range Rovers and there was a brand new white one in prime position outside the West Stand on Saturday. Unclear who else has similarly received one of the expensive new cars but Southall's mate Lee Amis is suspected to be one of the lucky winners - hard to understand what he has done to merit this but no doubt we will be told in due course.
Matt Southall has now signed-off on a statement on the club website that Tahnoon Nimer wrote "an incredibly damaging letter" to members of the Club's Senior Management Team earlier today in which he made allegations about Southall's conduct. He goes on to say that Nimer was unhappy with "disadvantageous contracts" that had been signed and Southall believes that must reference Bowyer's extension as it is the only contract he has authorised (presumably other than Jackson's, the loan signings and the Range Rovers?). The bombshell that follows in Southall's statement is that Nimer has yet to satisfy the EFL over proof of funds despite repeated requests to do so which Southall says limited his ability to deal in the January transfer window. Southall claims that Nimer has yet to invest "a single penny." The lawyers are now involved looking at "defamation" so it doesn't look like this is going to blow over.
In the meantime, therefore, Charlton Athletic Football Club look to be in a very difficult position. Clearly, there is no money behind ESI at this point and the club is effectively operating on incoming revenues which may enable it to see the season out. However, relegation would mean unsustainable losses without further investment, something we are far less likely to see if we go down.
The EFL will have some explaining to do as well. After weeks and weeks of waiting whilst the completed their thorough checks relating to the purchase, ensuring that these were fit and proper people to be buying one of their precious football clubs and ensuring the funds were in place to secure the operation of the club for two seasons at least, it appears they might not have actually done all that and have yet another looming disaster on their hands. Given the recent shambles involving Coventry, Blackpool and Bury, it's hard to believe this is remotely possible.
Matt Southall also comes out of this very badly. As the mouthpiece for ESI we have heard a lot from him officially and even more on social media. Perhaps we shouldn't be critical of his ambition or his positivity but that has proven short-lived and he has already been forced to acknowledge that the takeover was nowhere near as complete or clean as had been intimated when they broke the news. When it later became clear they hadn't bought the Valley or Sparrows Lane, questions immediately arose as to the actual scale of the investment given that Duchatelet was on record saying that he would sell the loss-making football club for £1. That has yet to be qualified although it doesn't look to be significant if Nimer is simply walking away.
The subsequent failure to invest as anticipated in January to strengthen the playing side was a further disappointment but at no time was a shortage of funds given as an explanation, only that they did not want to pay over the odds given the inflated January window and the fact that selling clubs were trying to profiteer knowing we had Arab backers. Indeed, Southall played up the three loans we did do and told us he was satisfied with the business he had done. I can understand why the club wouldn't want to wash their dirty linen in public but the team have struggled through February and we are now in a serious battle to avoid a relegation that has looked increasingly likely since January and our failure to improve our squad is a major factor.
Southall looks like he is going to press on running the club but it's very difficult to see where the money we need medium term is going to come from. Also, as supporters we can't simply ignore what Nimer has said. He has accused Southall of wasting the club's (at some point Nimer's) money and whilst we don't know the details of Bowyer's deal (or Jackson's or the loanees) it would appear that money may have been spent on four new Range Rovers which might be hard to justify given our finances. If money is be spent unwisely, you also have to wonder if that might accelerate as the club heads towards what would effectively be Administration?
Given the history of this club over the last forty years, our supporters have been through pretty much everything. We consider ourselves uniquely unfortunate, incredibly hard-done-by and always expectant of worse. In spite of all that, how many of us could really have foreseen this though and so quickly?
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