Season Horriblis ends in Relegation

For a club that has faced adversity so many times, tonight shouldn't come as so much of a shock. Not because we are inured to it, but because in so many ways we deserve it. Relegation is incredibly hard on the fans and equally so on the pros and dedicated management team who surround them, but there is more to it and that's why we can't complain too much tonight.

Our performance this evening at Leeds was way short of all of the others we have managed since the return from Lockdown. Our first-half performance was abysmal and for once the fight appeared to have left us. Bowyer's half-time searing appeared to to the trick after the restart but eventually we slumped to a 4-0 trouncing. By then we had turned over to watch Brentford try to recover against Barnsley. For twenty minutes or so they managed it having equalised and with news of an equaliser at Wigan we were, mathematically, safe. As the clock reached 90 minutes there was soaring hope we could squeak survival if the EFL dumped Wigan with a 12 point deficit but then gallant Barnsley managed a winner. 

There will be much gnashing of teeth. The joy of promotion last May and relief from three years of disappointment will be quickly forgotten and we stare, once again, into the abyss. Let's be very clear, this isn't the fault of Lee Bowyer. Or Johnnie Jackson. Or any of the playing staff. They all did their bit with zero assistance from 'the club.' East Street Investments (ESI), that half-baked duo of greedy wannabees are to blame. Them and the chancers now attempting to qualify a takeover of the blighted ESI brand.

The Fake Sheikh who couldn't prove his money was clean or who had never had any real intent to spend money is guilty. So too is Matt Southall, the smooth-talking Bar Steward who thought he had finally made it. Southall thought he could sell the ownership dream on to others but having accepted a £50m obligation to Duchatelet in terms of the football and training grounds, that was always going to be a hard-sell. A secret transfer embargo from the EFL turned Southall into a liar, a position from which he was never going to recover from and which was cemented once Nimer exposed his largesse and selfishness. 

So no material investment in January and Bowyer was left to battle on with his inferior squad. He managed to get a tune out of them and keep us all enthralled until the last game but we can't be surprised at how it's finished. The table doesn't lie and we can't really claim that anyone else should go down in our place.

The fact that there have been boardroom shenanigans since February when Nimer exposed Southall's greed might have been curtailed but it's clear since Chris Farnell got involved that things weren't going to settle. The rancour between him and Southall was public and the decision to sell the club on looked like a tactical move to ensure Southall got his 35% stake back (the club having been sold, naively now it would seem, by Duchatelet for £1). 

The fact that we have a neighbour of Farnell trying to buy the club now but unable, as yet, to pass the EFL's rigorous quality standards means there has been continuing uncertainty and it's been weird watching an assortment of a narrow set of Manchester-based 'businessmen' representing Charlton Athletic at matches since the return from lockdown. Weird because none of them support us and weird because they appear to be on the guest list courtesy of very little at all. Maybe because they are in on the deal to sell the club for not very much to Paul Elliott and then try to make a tasty profit by selling on to someone else with loftier ambitions? I suspect I have invested more in the club that any of them - certainly more than most.

So, I am absolutely sick this evening that the club I have followed avidly since 1977 have been relegated once again. However, for the second time ever it's because we have been mis-managed from above, not because of the efforts of the manager or the players. Our relegation under Duchatelet to League One was a travesty and due in large part to the negative effects of Katrien Meire and Duchatelet's failure to invest whilst also cashing in on player sales. This evening's is purely and simply because of a complete lack of any support from ESI.

My hope now is that our value as a League One club sees the ESI vultures finally leave the carcass and pave the way for new owners who actually care for the club and who are transparent in their dealings. Unfortunately the ESI ownership has split the club from it's ground and training facilities. That won't be easy to rectify given the stubbornness of Duchatelet and his deep pockets. No-one in their right mind will pay him want he needs to recoup his operating losses from mismanaging the club over five years because the land isn't worth that but he may be prepared to wait. He is a billionaire and the money will never be of any use to him. It's his family who will inherit and they can wait. If Charlton go bust in the meantime or find that the Valley is too big for them and move elsewhere, the time may well come where his family can cash in on their assets and recover the paper losses of their father. 

I am afraid we have reached a crossroads and if Barclay and Varney can't get Duchatlet to accept a market price for the assets, our ongoing ownership may continue to be precarious. Personally, I won't give ESI another bean and I think I have had my fill of struggling League One football under unambitious owners. Unless someone lights a fire under this club, I fear our future is greatly diminished. Money has been ruining football for decades and now the authorities are chipping in because they have been unable to move with the times and regulate effectively to prevent rogue owners from taking money out of clubs and leaving them in dire financial straits. Coronavirus hasn't helped but in a strange way it may have helped crystallise the threats from those seeking to take money from clubs rather than earn it through genuine investment.