Josh Harris

The same Daily Mail journalist that reported Big Dave Lockwood’s demise as The Valley pitch announcer, has today written that we are set to become the latest American sports franchise.

Josh Harris is worth $2.5bn, according to Forbes, and ranks him as number 222 on their rich list, and is the co-founder of private equity investment bank Apollo.

Rumours have been circulating since the South London Press suggested that it was a British property group interested in the club, that it was in fact from over the pond where the real money laid, with tails being stuck on donkeys from the Philadelphia area and one of the largest entertainment companies that is headquartered there.

Harris was part of the group that paid $280m for the iconic NBA franchise Philadelphia 76ers. Then just a couple of months ago Harris and partner David Blitzer paid more than $320m for a majority stake in NHL hockey’s New Jersey Devils. Are the Addicks next on his sports team collection following in the path of many of his countrymen in owning an English professional football club? And is that club little old Charlton?

A German consortium is also said to have carried out due diligence, but all of these stories, normally squashed by now, appear to carry an element of foundation to them. Yet, without peeing on the parade, Dave Lockwood of course was never in any danger of losing his job.

The SLP story does look as if it was a planted leak to nudge more interested parties, although the value of £18m plus £11m of bank and soft debt is more realistic that the Mail quoted figure of £43m.

With players allegedly not been paid again this month, new investment is urgency required. Germans, investment bankers, property developers, The Valley, the Greenwich Peninsula and even a very rare public mention of Kevin Cash have got Addicks everywhere in a bit of a fuddle. Here, I am tying my best to keep my powder dry. A lot of things can go wrong pre and post takeovers but Harris knows a lot more about investment and sport than most.