Methven deal off
Thomas Sandgaard said today that the sale of the football club to Charlie Methven and his consortium is off.
Sandgaard’s reasoning is that there were “some very specific terms that were very clear at the end of January and coming into February that they didn’t comply with.”
Methven’s group say that a price was always agreed at £8.5million for a 90 per cent stake in the football club and that a deposit (£850,000) was paid and banks funded. It is not thought that the EFL had yet given it’s approval.
In a nest of liars, who to believe?
Rich Cawley broke the news earlier today, and most Charlton fans appear relieved. It has been pretty exhausting following the takeover, and frankly I have had too many other things too worry about, but Dave has perservered and like him I am pleased Methven, Scott, Rodwell and Warwick plus who knows how many other chancers have been banished.
The last four of the above, who were employed by the club have all left. Dean Holden has stayed as he has his own contract, one which Sandgaard has said could be extended. The Daily Mail ran a story today that Huddersfield are interested in Holden as their next manager.
Supposedly Sandgaard pulled the plug at the 11th hour, which sounds very characteristic. I suspect that he has a better offer. The exclusivity period with Methven ended ten days ago so the Dane would have then been free to talk to other parties.
No doubt Methven will seek legal advise, although we have seen Sandgaard pretty adept in a court of law.
Peter Varney tweeted this evening saying he will be making no comments, but we have to hope that his parties are still interested. Also tonight ex-Director Bob Whitehand tweeted that Roland Duchatelet has a deal in place to sell the property assets.
Confusion reigns again.
Chicago Addick 
Hooray! Another wide-boy team bites the dust. Let us hope that TS will talk to Peter Varney / Andrew Barclay now.
The RD sentence sounds rather ominous. Let’s hope it is not.
As soon as RD is mentioned I go cold. I’m not religious but I will say a prayer that Peter Varney & Co get Charlton lock, stock and Valley. I keep telling myself that things can only get better….. hmm
Thank goodness for that. But who next? Surely we must get some decent human beings soon.
So Glad & Thankful that we have escaped yet another Southall Co who put no money in themselves and who are in it for their own benefit. They try to find potential buyers, so they can make a quick buck asset striping, with no real intention of actually trying to run a Football Club, which they have no interest in, as a Football Club!
Lets hope for all our sakes and for the future of Charlton, that we get some decent owners at last, who understand how a Football Club runs and are in it for the love of Football and the long term. Obviously to hopefully make a success and to get the club into profitable situation over time and not just again, soley in it for the money, to see what they can get out in the short term!
So, another act in the pantomime that is Charlton Athletic comes to an end, (hopefully) and the 4 ugly sisters have been ousted, presumably in favour of another bidder whom, no doubt has offered a fiver more to our current owner.
It will be interesting to see who now comes forward in the guise of Prince Charming to save the day.
Oh please let it be someone who really wants to take this club forward and not be a shyster or petty criminal who just wants to bleed it dry.
We, the true supporters deserve better than what we have had to endure over the past ten years.
The ONLY way out of this horror is to get rid of RD.
He holds all the aces.
To do that requires £50m +
No hope and Bob Hope……unless (PV)
Frankly anything else will lead us into admin (TS) or oblivion
Just as it was not easy for TS to buy Charlton, so its not easy selling it too. What good is selling any football club if the new owner cannot satisfy the EFL. I can certainly see TS’s desire to limit his outlay to the ongoing expenses of the Club by seeking a buyer to invest, and in that, maybe to help out by purchasing the Valley and training ground from RD. If I remember correctly is there not a restriction of some short that prohibits the Valley being sold for any other purpose than a stadium?
Terry – it is an Asset of Community Value (ACV), but not sure how that will stand up in a court or if Greenwich Council bottle it.
Why would Thomas Sandgaard pull the plug on this deal unless it either wasn’t viable and/or he has a second, better deal on the table? It’s clear that TS wants out before he wastes more of his time and money, if so then he was motivated to take the £8.5m on the table and hold on to a minority holding. Yet he has pulled the plug…so my money is on another, less complicated deal.
The talk of having “three billionaires” behind the deal, apparently a price agreed etc and they still needed more time than the January 31st exclusivity deadline suggested to me that at Methven’s end of the deal there was a lack of cohesion. If they are that rich why were they dragging their feet? Why did we even need these three billionaires anyway? Surely one is enough. Maybe/presumably paying off Roland was a sticking point but that’s not something that needs sorting out now.
Besides that a deal which relies on several parties who have no other common interest than owning Charlton isn’t necessarily the best long term solution for us. We saw what happened when ESI apparently had the money and ambition to buy the club and take it forward and within a few weeks it imploded. That and Charlie Methven’s Old Etonian blustering shtick put me off and I’m happy he won’t be involved in the future of the club.
I suppose a lot of rumour will circulate around Andrew Barclay and Peter Varney, they have had a chance to buy the club already, apparently there’s another consortium interested as well. Time will tell..
Surely one billionaire is enough 🤣.
They may or may not be billionaires, but they are not willing L1 football club owners, they just want a quick buck worth more than a treasury note and will move on.
Methven is basically a posh Southall frankly. Already they were planning a large cost-cutting exercise.
Varney and Barclay would be lovely, but is RD interested in selling to them?
Unfortunately RD has made it quite clear by his actions that he is going to make us pay, quite literally, for all the angst we caused him. He is going to be as obstinate as ever and frankly why would he sell anyway?
He clearly does not need the money, gets a tidy annual rent, and still keeps the nest egg for his children.
Whilst the Valley is for now an ACV, who knows what the future may bring?
All looks rather bleak.
Well 3 of Charlies (M) angels have left that will help the wage bill in the short term. So he did due diligence from his insiders.
there was a change to the cafc articles that says the club can only be owned by someone who passed the fa tests, so this could be the issue.