Aug 4
Late today Gavin Carter put out a statement following yesterday’s Guardian article. Plus, he has also spoke to Rich Cawley. Well worth the subscription if you have yet to do so, by the way!
If I jumped to conclusions, then that is what they also call 15 years of hurt. Suspicious minds to quote Elvis.
Please click for moreWell 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.
Please click for moreThis change to the financial rules in The Championship seems to have gone a little overlooked this week, but to be fair there has been a lot going on.
Beginning with the 2026-27 season and therefore this transfer window, Championship clubs have voted to replace the old Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR) with a new financial framework based on Squad Cost Rules (SCR).
Please click for moreGood to see Addicks’ Conor Coventry be selected for the upcoming Republic of Ireland friendly.
Heimir Hallgrimsson added seven players included for the first time for this month’s friendly against Grenada.
Please click for moreHow nice was it to follow yesterday’s results after the conclusion of our game. Stress levels: zero.
Oxford shoved Wednesday aside and Derby, Hull and Wrexham will contest the final place-off place next week. Meanwhile it does look like Millwall will need to beat Oxford, whatever happens in the Southampton v Ipswich game on Tuesday.
Please click for moreThe owner group known as Global Football Partners (GFP) and made up of a handful of individual investors, mostly stateside, have been widely liked by the Addicks fan base since they collectively bought the club in July 2023.
I mean it is though a very low bar, even Thomas Sandgaard has been proven to be a complete wrong-un. I mean those sparkly white teeth, fake tan, guitar, and sparkly jackets were always going to hide a lot of sins. At least I sold my Zynex shares at break even.
Please click for moreThe owners should take a lot of credit for supporting Nathan Jones during the summer and spent money on players like we hadn’t seen for a long time.
However, investment in players, if done right, is buying an asset, unlike investing in a piece of property you don’t actually own, which could be like throwing money down the drain.
Please click for moreA little bit out of the blue this today.
The club announced the extension of the club’s lease of The Valley and Sparrows Lane through to June 2040.
Please click for moreIt’s exciting, right?
Six years ago in the exact same position we had just convinced Jason Pearce and Jonny Williams to sign new contracts, this only after Roland Duchatelet did a u-turn over Lee Bowyer’s contract. Joe Aribo had just left and Duchatelet was behind our backs negotiating to cash in on Anfernee Djiksteel.
Please click for moreWell that puts Cardiff City back in their box.
“Charlton Athletic are delighted to announce that men’s first-team Manager Nathan Jones has signed a new five-year contract with the club, committing his future to the Addicks until the summer of 2030.” (more)
Please click for moreRich Cawley has poured water over the Nathan Jones to Cardiff City yarn. The comments on the X post tell you the depth of feeling towards the most in-the-know Charlton reporter. Hoping Rich gets back to work soon.
Whilst The Bluebirds will need to look elsewhere we can continue to look forward to what will be a busy summer.
Please click for moreCharlton Athletic’s 2023/24 finances were published today and football economics expert Kieran Maguire was quick to make an assessment. Read down Kieran’s tweets here for Charlton commentary.
Maguire also cautioned that “Charlton’s auditors are unable to say whether or not the 23/24 accounts are accurate following a cyber attack against the club which meant that the auditors could not obtain supporting evidence.”
Please click for moreThe scalpel was again taken to Charlton’s senior management board today with the announcement that CEO Charlie Methven has stepped down and will leave the club.
In a carefully worded statement Methven thanks a load of people including Gavin Carter, Paul Elliot and Nathan Jones but not Jim Rodwell, who I imagine is currently typing into AI his leaving letter.
Please click for moreWhen Andy Scott joined the club in July 2023 he was pretty much given the keys to the castle, and as his decisions became more and more costly it only appeared as if he was given more keys.
That was until Nathan Jones came in.
Please click for moreThe ghost of Christmas past.
Charlton CEO Charlie Methven has been on the sherry after a 5-0 win and has broken his silence.
Rich Cawley has all the soundbites.
Please click for moreA small but what might be a significant update on the board structure by the club.
“Following a recent meeting of Charlton’s owners, Global Football Partners, Gavin Carter, has been appointed as the Non-Executive Chair of the Charlton Athletic board.”
Please click for moreIt really is what happens on the pitch that matters, and that has been garbage for many seasons now for which many are culpable.
Charlie Methven should be given some credit for regularly opening up with the ongoing progress of the football club. He talks a good game.
Please click for moreThe club today made some changes to the board for the upcoming season.
Both Charlie Methven and Gavin Carter become board members, joining Jim Rodwell, who continues to be chair and former player Paul Elliott, who takes the role of Vice Chairman as well as CFO Ed Warrick.
Please click for moreGood news to see that The Valley shop has come back under club control.
It’s the little things isn’t it, and for me the demise of the club shop under third rate, third party control mirrored the whole leadership of the club under third rate, third party control.
Please click for moreMore evidence of investment by the club’s owners in that today they have announced the installation of a new Valley pitch this summer.
“Work begins on the pitch in May to ensure everything is in place for the men’s first-team’s final pre-season friendly on Saturday, August 3rd.” (more)
Please click for moreThe conversation on whether George Dobson will stay or leave in the summer has got louder and louder these past few weeks. There are over 3,300 comments on the Charlton Life Forum, and Nathan Jones spent the bulk of his post game chat throwing the club’s decision makers under the bus whilst singing George’s praises.
The people that matter – those that were witness to the deal in the first place including Fehérvár, George’s agent, Andy Scott and George himself have been pretty silent on the matter.
Please click for moreIt was a free week at The Valley but the club put out a statement from the ownership and also issued the pricing for next season’s season tickets.
Along with that there was also the surprise intention to make a thousand places safe standing at the back of the Covered End.
Please click for moreLast night mid transfer deadline ‘excitement’ Rich Cawley posted that Charlton’s hierarchy had made their decision to offer the vacant manager / head coach job to Nathan Jones.
Please click for moreAfter tonight’s home defeat to Northampton, Michael Appleton was immediately relieved of his duties (more).
Please click for morePlenty of rumours circulating today that Michael Appleton had been relieved of his head coach duties in SE7, yet Louis Mendez hunted out a denial from the club this evening, and he is expected to carry out a pre-game press conference tomorrow.
More than anyone Andy Scott, Jim Rodwell and Charlie Methven (he is much more involved than the club would like us think) are praying for their handpicked head coach to pick up a win and stem a horrendous run of form and results that is propelling us into a relegation dog-fight.
Please click for moreWell it was less of a meeting and more of a staging. The video can be seen here if you weren’t able to tune in.
In my work career I have sat in a million of these ‘interactive’ meetings where the message is carefully delivered, granting some past mistakes but painting a rosy picture of our future, all the while making sure they shoehorn in the DE&I guy as well.
Please click for moreThere was a bit of grimacing from some quarters as to how long the recent fans forum minutes took to be published on the club website.
It was 13 days but one has to presume that people are busy and what was delivered was one of the more thorough notes from a CAFC fans forum meeting I had seen.
Please click for moreAndy Scott is the latest member of the new Charlton Athletic Senior Management Team (SMT). Scott was always expected to return once SE7 Partners took control of the club. He joined Messrs. Rodwell, Warrick and Holden in December parachuted in to take a look under the bonnet whilst Thomas Sandgaard considered his options.
Scott’s main responsibility was to support the transfer activity in January. I reckon that was graded a D at best, but there were a lot of cooks in the kitchen and Sandgaard was very much the man behind the curtain with both hands firmly on the budget.
Please click for moreI am not sure this will happen regularly but I agree with Charlie Methven’s assertion that a “fairly broad base shareholding group” could be an advantage to the club.
In recent times we have had a whole coterie of egotistical individuals unwilling and unable to work with other people thinking they knew best with disastrous consequences.
Please click for more“Global Football Partners (GFP) is delighted to confirm its purchase of Charlton Athletic Football Club and Charlton Athletic Women’s Football Club, following the EFL and the FA’s approval of the respective deals.” (more)
And there you have it. After months of uncertainty the new owners promise “to bring uncertainty to an end through actions rather than words or grand promises and put in place a vastly experienced Senior Management Team.”
Please click for more
Sarasota, Florida
