Nimer limps on but the end is nigh

The salaries and all main expenditure at Charlton Athletic were settled at the end of April. Marian Mihail confirmed as much in answering the latest round of fans questions posed by CAST. Indeed, Mihail was frank enough to confirm that the club was able to meet the costs from its budget and that Taynoon Nimer did not need to make any contribution.

Mr Mihail also told us that Nimer is unwilling to make any investment as things stand because of Southall's 35% holding in ESI and because of ongoing uncertainties caused by the EFL's misconduct investigation concerning the takeover. We therefore appear to be firmly on borrowed time and the prospect of May's costs being met look about as likely as Matt Southall deciding to stop sending the club spurious invoices seeking payment for whatever his latest wheezes are. Mihail confirmed that Southall and 'Charlton fan' Lee Amis have submitted yet more unsubstantiated invoices. They must be patently aware they won't be paid but presumably it's all part of a larger case they will continue to make in their attempts to fleece ESI and majority shareholder, Taynoon Nimer.

On the basis that Nimer either cannot or will not invest in CAFC via ESI, the club is headed for Administration and all that it entails. We do not know what teeth Roland Duchatelet's contract with ESI may have in terms of a commitment to acquire the remaining assets but I am inclined to think that the initial "6 month obligation" that became a "5 year option" may only cause Mr Nimer some further embarrassment as part of any exit from CAFC. 

What seems pretty clear in the current environment is no-one will rush in to prevent Administration. Why pay a premium you don't have to and who actually wants to acquire an EFL club in the current COVID-19 pandemic? There will be no significant revenues for a long time and even when football does eventually restart, revenue streams may well continue to struggle if social distancing remains an imperative. 

It looks very much like we will get a points deduction and whoever picks up the pieces will effectively have to factor that in to the first year of operation. We have to hope that our Championship status will be confirmed first and that any deduction gives us a fighting chance for our next season, whenever that begins.

With a host of playing staff due to see their contracts expire and huge pressure on others to defer wages or accept sizeable reductions, you can see the wage bill being trimmed and with staff furloughed, the club's costs should look relatively healthy but whoever steps in will need to fund what could be a big gap  until revenues begin to flow again.

In the meantime, the EFL somehow decided that Claudia Florica is a fit and proper person to operate as a Director, in spite of his $10m fine by Romanian authorities for the dodging of licence fees on Microsoft software. I am unsure what Florica's role is at Charlton and both he and Mihail positioned themselves as temporary employees doing a piece of work to help Nimer steady the ship. Mihail appears to have been down in the engine room and putting the hours in but just what is Florica going to bring in the current environment? Imagine trying to find an investor when the majority shareholder isn't willing to put money in because he fears 35% of it could be at risk because of a rogue shareholder? As for selling the club, who would give ESI anything for it when they publicly only paid a £1 and have clearly weakened the club financially since taking over?

Let us just hope that we get some real progress during June and hopefully see the back of East Street Investments and all the ugly characters they have visited upon us.