No. There is no chance. Southall is a good con-man. He can talk a great fight. But he is betrayed by the results of his actions. These bear no relationship to his words.
Funny how Southall never mentioned this back in January. 5 years as tenants at the Valley, and paying Roland £1 million for the privilege of playing there. A strang definition of "lock, stock and barrel" Hey ho. The Club has had the last penny it will ever get out of me. I expect I will support and contribute to the funds of AFC Charlton when and if that comes about. But I'm not paying rent to that Belgian. And I'll never set foot in the Valley again for all the days that he is the Landlord.
Bowyer is probably right. There is more evidence now though (than there was in January) that Southall & Nimer are definitely wrong 'uns. I hope the EFL throws the book at them for the good of football. That will probably mean the end of CAFC, but that was going to happen anyway. Better that the EFL does it quickly and relatively cleanly, rather than letting these money launderers do it slowly and more shamefully.
I think Lee Bowyer has conducted himself very well through all of this, and I'm sure he can't say half of the things he wants to.
Lee was never sure about the current owners... after his first meeting with Southall in December (or late November?) he called their ideas for the future development at Charlton..."strange" ...
Nobody should rule out the possibility of Matt Southall coming back. He has (incredibly) got new financial backers, and he knows that Nimer is skint and would walk away from Charlton, maybe for as little as £2-3m. That’s a handsome profit for a complete charlatan who was finally forced to concede yesterday that he has never put a penny of his own money into Charlton. If Nimer was even half credible and had even a minor link to the Abu Dhabi lot, do you think they would allow the associated damage to their reputations that he is causing? £5m gets Nimer through to the summer - that’s loose change to these people. They would give him that just to keep him away from the British media for a couple of months. The CARD / VOTV lot are very nervous now, because if Southall does walk back in, with new backers and having bought Nimer out, then that spells the end of certain employees time with the club.
Let's see if Southall's new backers can prove funds to the EFL (and prove they aren't crooks). Unless that happens it's all over anyway. I hear Luton Town have sacked their manager and most of his people. The end is beginning for a lot of football Clubs. It may be Coronavirus rather than spivs and fraudsters that sees the end of CAFC. Welcome back by the way
The club’s only hope now is that the ex Directors Court case finds in their favour, and the ESI takeover is declared void. At the moment the club is technically insolvent. Since January it has been kept alive by a combination of central payments & sell on payments for players, much of which was misused (“stolen”). The kitty is now empty. With no match day revenue they are surviving hand to mouth. Duchatelet coming back is in no way a panacea. Apart from anything else, it would mean that the contract that ESI entered into with Bowyer was also void. Can anyone imagine Lee Bowyer working for Duchatelet again ?
One other thing. Since January one (lifelong) fan has stood up and asked the right question of the right people, and not just within the club. In some cases he has literally put his foot in the door to get us answers. Every word he passed on and every prediction he has made, in public & in private, has turned out to be true. He’s never posted glib one liners on forums at a time of crisis, or wanted roles or jobs or fanzine sales. He’s stood up like a proper fan should. Well done Dodger. Proud to call him a mate.
