Charlton back up for sale. Again.
Well there you have it. Here we go a bloody again.
The whispers have been getting louder and one of the reasons I wrote this was that someone had told me something about GFP touting a sales deck to potential investors around and Matt Hughes at The Guardian has exposed the story as fact.
Gabriel Brener et al have engaged Oakwell Sports Advisory to find new owners just three years after the invester group bought us. At that time they were our 4th owner in 3 years.
Global Football Partners stuffed with billionaire investors have decided they want to pass on our evolution and don’t want to finance it, hence the tepid summer transfer window, and would rather cash us in for a profit and feed us to the sharks.
Well, thank you very much.
And you couldn’t have done this in April? You wait until the season has almost started?
Honestly, don’t we deserve better. Again.
According to Matt Hughes, Oakwell successfully advised Bournemouth owner Bill Foley on buying Exeter Chiefs. Shame they didn’t introduce Foley to Bournemouth. That would’ve looked better on their CV.
You just knew that Nathan Jones knew this was happening. His face told it all, and let us not kid anyone our summer window has all been about this.
Galling. I’d be interested in Gavin Carter’s take.
Tragic and disgraceful behaviour
What terrible timing! I wonder if we will see any of the Americans at a match again. Deplorable!
Cawley has come out with a bit of a different take, framing it as simply ownership changing from one company to another in their search for additional investors. Hopefully we get some clarification from the club at some point, though not expecting any with the way things have gone lately.
CA I suggest you wait until there is confirmation from the club. I would expected a more balanced view from you rather than the emotional rant, still I understand your frustration given our recent experience with owners. We know they are looking for investors and been open on that. So perhaps we should just wait and see. If it’s true.. is a disaster and would agree with you I would like to hear from Gavin Carter.
I’ve said this in another one of your post we still have a stench at this club of a certain Belgium rat who basically owns most of the club as an investor you would not buy a Ferrari to just sit in the passenger seat
The article in the guardian says £15 million but what do you get for that
This is a remarkable club that has bounced back time and time again but when will us customers ever have a owner that owns the whole thing not just the west stand car park
and we can be supporters again of a wonderful club
Come rain or sun evening games under the floodlights or in the sunshine or cold winter nights the valley is a unbelievable place to be
Shocking news how dare these sort of people play about with our football club, just as we thought we had decent people for change, no wonder NJ looked the way he did after reading is hands have been tied all summer and not been able to get the players he wants and instead picking up free agents, could be a difficult season, let’s hope NJ can guide us through it coyr
It was just an accorn the sky isn’t falling just yet……
Are we sure ? There appears to be conflicting information on what this is all about. I understand the emotional outbursts of disappointment and frustration as we have been through turmoil with previous owners. I hope someone from the Club will come out and say what is the right version. In the absence of no information, the vacuum is being filled with many stories of ‘told you so’ and ‘not again’. I want to believe it is the financial investment process and not a for sale transaction. Some clarity on this matter is urgently required.
Back to those beautiful Italian wines for now.
Let’s see what the club say today.
Thank you owners !!!!!!!….you decide to pull the rug from under our feet as it seems all you want to do now is cash in on the profits you’ve made…NO Interest in the clubs progress,fans loyalty,club staff,and worst of all the clubs future.
Hang your heads in shame !!!!!
I understand why Jones and players look miserable as this is not new and has been smoldering away for some time.
I’m aware that there have been major financial cut backs to planned projects at the stadium.
Fans will be angry but football hS become a cash cow for investors and its across all league clubs.
We deserve much better !!!!!!!
Profit?
Since GFP took over in July 2023 Charlton has made a cumulative reported net loss of £30.6m.
More investment or sale ?
Agree two different things. Maybe they will tell us.
And breathe out 😃
The story broke last year that we were looking for an additional/new investor so I’m not massively surprised. My take is that they had two options on the table for awhile – find a new investor or sell and they’ve opted for the latter. Realistically the owners had no connection to the club and seemingly little connection to each other so perhaps we shouldn’t be massively surprised.
The question is what do GFP want for their stake? Obviously more than the £15m they apparently paid but there’s the losses they forked out for over the last three seasons. So I’m assuming £40m? £50m?
That’s going to be a lot for a club that doesn’t own it’s own ground or the training facilities and is nailed on to register a loss. But they’ll be getting a team in the Championship, at least for this season, and with growing revenues and a fan base that’s starting to trickle back in after a few years in L1’s doldrums.
This isn’t good news though, my fear is the impact it’ll have on the players and morale. As it was we looked like we were going to have a tough season in a tough league, that potentially has made things just that bit harder for us.
All good points SP. Presumably, while the club is up for sale, the owner’s will continue to pay the wages, so at least a points deduction can be avoided? All the time that wages are being paid l don’t think that a sale should be an excuse for the sub par ‘performance’ we witnessed against Reading. Until Duchatelet goes – one way or the other – things will not change.
The owners have acted well and with integrity so far, so I’d hope that wouldn’t change while they find a buyer or new investment.
I think we all need to wait and see what is in any statement by the club. Financially, there can be all sorts of agreements,investments,or movements. We are not necessarily ‘up for sale’…..as ‘goings on’ are being tabled in the national press, I would hope there will be some clarity from the club sooner rather than later.
According to Richard Cawley, this is not sale but an attempt to secure additional investment using a different company. Please calm down.
Not according to Matt Hughes.
I just don’t understand.
So a bunch of people get together and buy a football club. (without the ground and training facilities) for a reported 15 million. Latest accounts available online report annual operating loss of nearly 17 million. Presumably those losses have been around that for each of the previous years. (We’ve been funded by loans from the owners rather than banks so that’s handy) Whichever way you look at it, if they are trying to sell, they want someone to pay tens of millions for a ‘business’ that looses millions every year. (Currently reported wages being 141% of revenue.)
Tell me – why would anyone buy that?
This isn’t just a Charlton problem of course. Football is currently existing on ever increasing debt. Or am i missing something?
By the way, ChatGPT just told me that there was a Euromillions winner from Eltham….i wonder if they like football…..
A Sarasota man won $800m on the Florida Lotto last week. I love football.
One problem with that is I didn’t buy a ticket!
Still nothing on the website other than offers on the hospitality package for the Derby game
Pretty poor I think.
Statement came out 20 mins ago not looking to sell club but looking for investment
Not sure if this means no signings before transfer deadline
At least it looks like they are not selling up
An update from Gavin Carter:
https://www.cafc.co.uk/news/update-gavin-carter
Following a recent article published by the Guardian, Non-Executive Chairman Gavin Carter has shared the below update for supporters:
“I understand press speculation can concern fans, so let me address the Guardian story directly. What I’ve said publicly several times before, is that this ownership group is seeking new investment to help us progress.
“This is similar to the route taken by clubs like Ipswich, Wrexham and Bolton, and is not new news for Charlton. I’ve been inundated with messages since the story broke. Please, don’t be concerned. We are a Championship and WSL club, in a better position than we’ve been for 20 years. The five-year plan requires we reach Championship average revenues by 2027/28, and we’re increasing spend on players to back that.
“This ownership group has been nothing but good for this club. We’re focussed on channelling all our energy into driving the club forward with our supporters and with that togetherness I’m confident we’ll continue to achieve our ambitions for Charlton.
“Meet the Directors, our bi annual CharltonTV present is scheduled for Thursday week!”
……