Charlton takeover brings in third owner of troubled season
Charlton Athletic have been taken over by a consortium led by the Manchesterbased businessman Paul Elliott, who becomes the owner and chairman. Elliott has assumed control of East Street Investments, which acquired the Championship club from the unpopular Roland Duchâtelet for £1 in January. The takeover is yet to be approved by the English Football League.
Elliott started his career in property before investing in the hospitality trade. The club said they will meet the EFL to finalise the change of control, “including matters relating to the owners’ and directors’ test”. If passed, the consortium would also need to satisfy the EFL’s funding tests.
ESI took over from Duchâtelet in December but the former majority shareholder, Tahnoon Nimer, and executive chairman, Matt Southall, had a public falling out. Nimer and Southall have left the club but Marian Mihail and Claudiu Florica, who were appointed to the board by Nimer in March, remain.
Elliott, who was born in Hammersmith, said he was determined to stabilise the club after a tumultuous period, including the six-year tenure of
Duchâtelet, who still owns the freehold to the stadium and training ground. Elliott said he wants “a unified boardroom and a unified football club” and added: “Our immediate focus will be on getting behind the team and the manager and giving ourselves the best opportunity of staying in the Championship.”
Charlton announced the takeover on Wednesday, before Peter Varney, a former Charlton chief executive, gave an interview to the London Evening Standard in which he claimed the new owner is open to entering “into dialogue to have an open discussion about where the club is going”.
Several parties had expressed an interest in taking charge, including the former Swansea chairman Huw Jenkins and the former Watford chairman Laurence Bassini. Charlton are third from bottom and resume the season at Hull on 20 June. Lee Bowyer, their manager, revealed last week that three of his players, including their main striker Lyle Taylor, have refused to play when it restarts.
The Charlton Athletic Supporters Trust (Cast) said it is relieved at the departures of Nimer and Southall but expressed “weariness” and “a good deal of caution” at the takeover. “We are relieved that the ownership of the club by Tahnoon Nimer and Matt Southall has formally come to an end,” it said in a statement. “During their ownership the club has been charged with misconduct by the EFL; failed to provide adequate proof of funding; been subject to a transfer embargo; squandered funds on extravagant expenditure and has dropped into the relegation places.
“However, we know very little indeed about Mr Elliott nor about the make-up of his consortium. More importantly, we have not been given any clue about his motivation in taking on, in the middle of a pandemic, a struggling football club which has crippling liabilities to former owner Roland Duchâtelet.”