The rollercoaster takeover ride that Charlton fans have been on took a bizarre and completely unexpected turn last. Following the afternoon court decision which granted Paul Elliott an Appeal and prevented the club being sold until that is heard, strong rumours from numerous reliable sources on social media began to circulate in the evening that Thomas Sandgaard had somehow managed to buy the club in spite of the Court ruling. These messages fit with the positivity emanating from Thomas Sandgaard's Twitter account.
There has been no confirmation as yet today but Charlton Life and Twitter have been ablaze with more rumour and speculation that there was provision in Roland Duchatelet's Sales & Purchase Agreement (SPA) with ESI for him to take back ownership of the club in the event that ESI reneged on any of the key terms of it's deal. The word is that this has happened and Duchatelet has now sold directly to Sandgaard.
It sounds too good to believe but we do know that ESI were spotless and arrogant enough to assume they could ride rough-shod over any agreement with Duchatelet and it's been confirmed they did not make the second quarter lease agreement payment of £50,000. Duchatelet was also reported to be "furious" at news in June that ESI had been taken over by Paul Elliott and that he would call in the £50m asset purchase obligation clause that was in the SPA in the event of a sale. That suggests that Duchatelet certainly has motive for acting against ESI.
Speculation is also rife that Freshfields legal team may have unearthed a loophole in ESI's deal with Duchatelet, but it's hard not to believe Duchatelet and his own legal team were well aware of the deal they had negotiated and were already acting in their client's interests.
If this turns out to be correct, it makes a mockery of the court shenanigans we have had to witness as ESIv1 and ESIv2 have slugged it out for the right to hold the club to ransom to Thomas Sandgaard. It would also, obviously, leave Paul Elliott holding a busted flush of an Appeal and nursing what is hopefully a catastrophic loss. 'Sports Lawyer' and arch mover, Chris Farnell, will also look ridiculous given that he has engineered most of this and one has to hope he will catch his fair share of any fallout.
There is also the tantalising hope that Sandgaard may have also got a deal on the Valley and Sparrows Lane. That really would be the icing on the cake after what we have been through this year.
In the meantime, however, we have to hold our nerve and wait patiently until we get confirmation as to what's happened, although Thomas Sandgaard and Raelynn Maloney were at The Valley today and even managed to call in at the Rose of Denmark for a drink - not the action of someone whose ambitions to own Charlton Athletic Football Club have been thwarted.
From the outset whatever one may think of Roland it has been clear that he is if nothing else an astute business man who has amassed some wealth. If ESI have reneged on the terms of the sale agreement that agreement becomes voidable for lack of performance and Roland is legally entitled to sell to another party. I learnt that in my first week studying basic law.
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