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Posts tagged ‘EFL’

Mar 5

7 Comments

Play-off places extended to 8th

The attempted Americanization of the planet sport continues. In America’s MLS 18 teams qualify for the play-off’s and they have a best of three ‘knockout’ in the first round, so we can only look forward to that.

It was annonced today that EFL Championship clubs voted in favour of expanding the play-offs from four to six teams effective next season. I mean of course they did, it was owners casting the vote. The day before Turkey’s voted to abolish Christmas.

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Aug 4

11 Comments

Crowd troubles

What are the thoughts on attendance on Saturday?

Ordinarily with a good prevailing wind of optimism there’d be 20,000 at The Valley on Saturday, but I don’t reckon it will be anywhere near that.

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Sep 16

1 Comment

Make some noise

Looks as if 1,000 Addicks will be allowed into The Valley on Saturday.

Charlton are one of 10 teams that will are be given test case status to house fans this coming weekend, although Luton chose to opt out this afternoon.

The game at The Valley will also be attended by members of the local council and Sports Ground Safety Authority to monitor procedures, with the ambition to admit up to 8,000 fans for home games post October.

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Aug 21

4 Comments

Crewe football special

Crewe Alexandra away actually would have been a decent trip for Addicks on opening day. An hour and a half from Euston, Gresty Road five minutes around the corner from the station, a pint in the Cheshire Inn on the way to the ground. Ugh, normal times — please come back!

21 years since we played at Gresty Road, 60 years since we were at Lincoln City, our second away trip. The more familiar names of Doncaster Rovers and Sunderland, the Addicks’ first two home games. Sunderland possibly our biggest home crowd of the season might be the game used as a trial to let fans return post Covid, although that was slated as September and we have just one home League game in that month.

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Aug 15

1 Comment

EFL bungle Sheffield Wednesday’s punishment

Looks as if the Independent Disciplinary Commission’s report into Sheffield Wednesday’s cheating of Financial Fair Play will report that it decided against EFL’s immediate 12-point deduction because the EFL took too long to bring charges and initially pursued the wrong case first. (Read more**)

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Aug 13

2 Comments

Conor Washington joins the circus

Chatham lad Conor Washington becomes Lee Bowyer and Steve Gallen’s second mid-season signing.

I wonder if the EFL are allowing signings on a case by case basis as long as we keep within our budget and show evidence of a plan to move to a secure ownership?

A lot of out of contract and loan players have moved on and I will be surprised to see us start the season with both Dillon Phillips and Alfie Doughty. Remembering the transfer window doesn’t actually close until October 16th.

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Aug 12

6 Comments

Farnell terminated by the club

I was awake way before the alarm this morning feeling restless. I avoid looking at the phone because I know that is the day starting. But, first glance of the phone and I’m leaping out of bed.

Solicitor Chris Farnell was terminated by Charlton today as ESI v1 wrestle control of the club back from Chris Farnell and Paul Elliott aka ESI v2. Both Farnell and Andrei Mihail were removed as directors of ESI on Friday.

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Aug 4

The EFL

Most half-prudent organizations would buy similar domain names to avoid copycat attacks or brand reputational damage, but not our friends at the EFL.

This website is a work of art, blissfully put together by some clever and provoked football fans, some I believe Addicks. Take a read and watch the football club stories, including Charlton’s, but let me warn you they will not warm your heart, they will only fire your anger.

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Aug 1

3 Comments

Wednesday docked 12 points. But not yet

What a farce. The EFL covering themselves in glory again.

Now I will say we finished 2nd from bottom after 46 games and deserved our fate. You are where you are. We had our chances but blew it. Bowyer and his team got blood out of a stone and somehow managed to win 48 Championship points with a middling League One squad, a ridiculous and hugely distracting ownership saga, a long and debilitating injury list, our best player refusing to play, and a transfer embargo just one of the many behind the scenes troubles.

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Jul 31

5 Comments

EFL response

After the last EFL missive which ended with something tacky like: “The League will not provide a running commentary on this matter but will update as appropriate.”

Well Addicks took the bait and have bombarded the EFL all week demanding regular updates and it appears that a meeting took place, and the EFL gave an update to Rich Cawley.

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Jul 27

4 Comments

Running out of time

In between work stuff today, I was drafting a post entitles ‘No time to waste.’ This was on the premise that the club are rapidly out of a commodity that no one owns…. time.

Yesterday VOTV highlighted this with Rick’s most recent article. Well worth a read as always. Click here.

But, then the sand in the hourglass sped up very tellingly tonight when the EFL made a statement laying the issues out in a couple of paragraphs. The ESI have failed to “demonstrate that the requirements of the EFL regulations are met.” The EFL are now demanding a meeting “with the current majority owner of ESI and also the proposed new owners, as it seeks to clarify the ongoing ownership issues at the club in the context of the EFL regulations.”

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Jul 9

3 Comments

As we were

Our last two games, no hopes, and no points, so as we were then.

Positives to move on with? We didn’t lose to Millwall in injury time, and more seriously we played very well against Brentford. The absolute form team in this division who had been brushing teams aside pre and post lockdown.

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Jul 2

5 Comments

Sympathy for Wigan’s plight

As we totter on the edge of administration ourselves we should have every sympathy for Wigan’s fans and players after the Latics became the first professional club in England to fall into administration during the Covid-19 crisis.

It looks to me like another case of a murky and obscure flipping of control of a football club. Our friends at the EFL look culpable again after approving the takeover just last month by an entity called New Leader Fund (NLF) from a Hong Kong operation called International Entertainment Corporation (IEC), a Cayman Islands-registered company which owns a hotel and casino in the Philippines.

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May 2

Our very own TV series

Another week. Another week of isolation, and another week of Tahnoon Nimer keeping his hands firmly in his pocket.

Staff got paid at Charlton this week, thankfully, but that money again came out of the current account leftover from the days of Duchatelet and whatever funds have been given to the club by the EFL.

The players have deferred their salaries by 25% to help the continual financing of the club, and non-playing staff were furloughed. Although those operating the website and social media platforms carry on working in earnest. That your Excellency, an oxymoron if ever I saw one, is what you call commitment and responsibility.

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May 2

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The final day

Although it’s not is it, although whether it’s the start or the middle, no one knows.

It would have been the final game of the season today. Elland Road hosting noisy and anxious hopes, dreams and tears. The final of nine games now suspended.

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Apr 20

3 Comments

Two days

That is how long the EFL have given Charlton, headed by Nimer Tahnoon, to respond to their investigation of ESI’s takeover of the club in January.

The EFL made the declaration today that they’ve commenced formal investigations to ascertain whether breaches of EFL Regulations and/or other misconduct(s) occurred in relation to the takeover of the club from Roland Duchatelet.

What a mess. ESI bought the club for just a £1 and took on the ongoing liabilities, with an agreement to pay a further £55m to purchase remaining assets including The Valley and Sparrows Lane in the future. ESI said there was a legal obligation do that by June.

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Mar 31

Kicking the can down the road

It’s all a little bit of a despairing side show at the moment, but today the board of directors, at least those listed currently, namely Tahnoon Nimer, Claudiu Florica and Marian Mihail, issued a statement on the Official Site. A novel idea over the recent tiresome social media rants.

The club has been fast tracked it’s next EFL payment due to the current suspension of the season, and on face value the owners stating that they are not attempting to sell the club and are making an investment is a positive I think.

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Mar 24

Social media spats continue

First of all, and importantly, how are we all doing?

We all have a lot to think and worry about and depending on your frame of mind the childish social media spats between Matt Southall and Tahnoon Nimer have either been a welcome comedy gold distraction or a distasteful embarrassing side-show, especially when the world is going through so much torment.

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Mar 13

3 Comments

Games suspended for 3 weeks

Unprecedented but not unexpected the Premier League and EFL have suspended all football down to the National League until April 3rd.. at the earliest.

Selfishly with all that has gone on with us this week, allowing the players to take a breather and the club to settle down a bit is much welcome, although I don’t mean to downplay the severity of the Coronavirus situation.

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Mar 10

2 Comments

Chris Parkes suspended

Matt Southall’s public relations machine looks like juddering to a halt, unlike he and his pals’ Range Rovers.

Confirmation that long-time club secretary Chris Parkes has been suspended by Southall, pending an investigation. Parkes, one would assume was behind conversations with Tahnoon Nimer and the EFL as to what is actually going on at the club under Southall’s leadership.

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Dec 20

1 Comment

Roly says: Get a move on

We had a hunch that the old man would crank open his laptop and compose one of his special emails. His disappointment this time was not directed at Addicks but to another old foe, the EFL. Oh Roly, it would have been so much easier if they’d had bought us when you told them to.

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Dec 3

7 Comments

Liar Meire charged

It looks as if the lying, the incompetence, and sheer spitefulness has finally caught up with Katrien Meire.

Our ex-CEO left a similar role at Sheffield Wednesday in February, and is now back in Belgium as COO at Club Brugge, but her past is catching up with her and yesterday she was charged with misconduct by the EFL alongside Wednesday owner Dejphon Chansiri and CFO John Redgate.

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Aug 28

5 Comments

Heartbreaking to watch Bury league expulsion

Bury’s demise and late last night, expulsion from the EFL, was both painful and deeply upsetting to watch. For any football fan who respects the wider panoramic of what it really means to support a team beyond that of being sat in front of the television cheering on multi-millionaires wearing a stupid half and half scarf, will all be hurting this morning. Those desperate Bury fans will feel total helplessness and anger.

All football fans should feel angry, particularly those of smaller community clubs that become projects or playthings for the rich, or often not really rich at all. Those egos that within a quick fire few months can mismanage the running of a business to complete disaster, and seemingly not give a toss.

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Aug 15

3 Comments

Hemed update: No update

Hello, anyone at home? The FA have passed the Tomer Hemed transfer decision onto the brains trust of the EFL, which may explain just about everything. Roland has probably asked them to buy him.

It’s a week today since Brighton and Charlton attempted to rush through the permanent move of Hemed, and still we wait on an answer to whether the transfer can go through, or not. A simple yes or no, but nothing is simple at those renowned decision makers, the EFL.

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Mar 10

1 Comment

Tangerine dreams

A wonderful day for Blackpool supporters yesterday. Four times the normal gate at Bloomfield Road as thousands and thousands of stay away fans ended their long excruciating and often depressing boycott.

A toxic owner / supporter relationship, which we know so much about began to come to an end when a High Court ruling in the middle of February put the football club into receivership, meaning that Owen Oyston had to pay former director Valeri Belokon the £25m he was owed.

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Mar 7

7 Comments

Fresh takeover bid

According to The Standard.

A former banker with experience of top level football has made a £30million bid to Roland Duchatelet to buy the club including The Valley and Sparrows Lane. Proof of funds have been supplied and the bid is lodged and sources say this proposition is much more substantial than the Australian consortium and all the other bids that Lievan de Turck has talked about.

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Mar 1

2 Comments

Another wow moment

As sure as night follows day, you prod the old yellow-teethed loon and sure enough he reacts. On Tuesday after his property was daubed with graffiti he called into TalkSport and after getting put back in his box by Simon Jordan, he yesterday reverted back to his favourite tool of one-way communication and wrote another mind-boggling statement himself on the club’s website.

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Oct 18

Productive meeting

The Charlton Athletic Supporters Trust (CAST) had what they said was a productive meeting with the EFL on Wednesday night. CEO of the EFL Shaun Harvey (photo) plus John Nagle, who has the title Head of Policy and PR head Mark Rowan met the Trust board, and the key points are here.

Harvey admitted that he had met with Roland Duchatelet in Brussels, and plans to meet CAFC staff, who have spoken out about not getting paid their bonuses and with CARD.

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Sep 14

Addicks and Blackpool fans join forces

Charlton and our friends from Blackpool joined forces today to protest against not just our irresponsible owners, but the many others, outside the EFL offices in west London today. Meanwhile northern based Addicks and a large contingent of Blackpool fans gathered outside the EFL HQ in Preston and loudly made their presence known.

The protests were heavily picked up by the national media as well as Sky Sports and a large crowd made their feelings loud and clear. Two Addicks got to meet EFL chief executive Shaun Harvey, and after, one of them Alan Davis, said that Harvey confirmed the delay in the ‘Australian takeover’ is not as a result of any lack of process of documentation at the EFL. This the reason that Duchatelet, de Turck and Murray have all publicly stated as the reason any takeover has not yet happened.

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Sep 11

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{…} Strikes again

Dear Tom, I am sure you are a bright fellow. Ambitious, resourceful and proud. But tomorrow morning take a long good look at yourself in the mirror.

Tuesday, and Lievan de Turck, a Roland apologist with no affiliation or official connection to Charlton whatsoever, rocks up to SE7 with a scrappy piece of paper handwritten in Flemish. Ollie Groome makes a quick back exit for the Valley Cafe. Tom does what he is told. Mel Baroni doesn’t even show Charlton on her resume, take a note Tom, and not one of these {…}.

Read it. What an earth does it say? It’s an embarrassment.

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Aug 31

Shrimps on the pitch

I know some people don’t get the protests and there is still a small camp that think CARD are purely trouble makers and throwing things on the pitch is a childish waste of time. However the latest crisps stunt last Saturday reached an extraordinary amount of press and media outlets here and in Belgium, and gave our adversity a huge audience. Yes, throwing a crisp packet, or a pig, or a taxi onto a pitch will not singularly see the club sold, but it raises awareness, and will rattle that old bastard like nothing else.

Heck even the EFL woke from it’s slumber. “Following a number of discussions dating back a number of weeks, the EFL plans to meet with both Charlton Athletic and the Charlton Athletic Supporters’ Trust to gain a full understanding of the current situation that surrounds the club.”

Vitally, this media antagonism of Duchatelet knocks him sideways. It’s the only thing that brings him out of his bunker and he hates it. The Belgian press have also jumped on the bandwagon this week after the crisp protest and Trump-like (come on there is a likeness) he took a swipe at the “unscrupulous media” and of course neither his employees nor us customers have a clue about what happens at the club. This from a man who last watched a Charlton game in 2014.

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Apr 30

7 Comments

Kangaroo court

It may be considered a bit of a distraction currently with the team’s surge into play-off contention, but for the huge majority of us the end of Roland Duchatelet’s cancerous ownership of the club cannot come quick enough.

It’s May tomorrow, just the 9 months since the first whispers of Australians descending on our small corner of London. It is believed there has been more than one interest from Australia, and certainly others from both home and abroad, but for reasons only obvious to a stubborn old man in Belgium we remain in his spell. No magic, no plan, no leadership, just a plain speaking ex-midfielder thrown into a caretaker role bringing some pride and excitement back.

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Jun 16

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Welcome Mark Marshall

The apparently much sought after Mark Marshall became our second signing, and the second one from Bradford, today.

The 30-year old has had a journeyman career in the lower leagues but really came to age at Bradford and on paper at least is a very decent signing. According to Karl Robinson “he can play off both feet, he’s quick, he’s a winger and he’s aggressive in everything he does. He’s from London and he wants to play for Charlton.”

All good. If only we can keep Ricky Holmes as well….
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Apr 25

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Heartbreaking for The O’s

Great little club are Leyton Orient. During the mid 70’s and 80’s when I first started going to Charlton we played them regularly and my family and I would always make the short journey across the river. We were there for the abandoned game in 1978. The game was called off at half-time and the tannoy system was so bad that the crowd only found out by word of mouth. We went back for the re-arranged game which had been postponed again and was pushed back 24 hours to see us avoid relegation by the skins of our teeth.

In 2014 The O’s were a penalty kick away from playing in The Championship and then Barry Hearn sold the club to Francesco Becchetti, who walked the EFL’s fit and proper test because he had money and ambition. Sadly what Becchetti also had was not one clue of how to run a football club. As Barry Hearn said: “But no one could have foreseen the level of ineptitude when it comes to management. You can’t do due diligence on whether he is a nutter!” Sound familiar?
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