Over 1,000,000 in interest. And the idiots who keep talking as if the man is some sort of charitable, loveable old chap with Charlton running through his veins. I don't know a huge amount about high finance, but in my ignorance, I worry about a 44 million debt owed to a company which owes its existance not to Charlton, but it's moronic owner. I've been following thsi a bit on CL hoping that someone might put out a simplified versión. As far as I can see, there is a viewpoint that this is debt that RD might well have to write off, which would seem to me to be poetic justice, given how much money our fans have written off following his mad experiments. If he can find a way to stuff it to the club (and the new owners of Standard Liege have claimed he absolutely drained the club dry of ready cash), we may well have administration on the horizon. If that means we lose RD, it might even be worth it, but a lot of local businesses who work with the club will also get shafted. Really it's time the business plan this guy has should be written in arsenic on A4 paper, which should be rolled up and stuffed up his jacksey. I think I'll go and lie down.
The only way he will get all the money back is by selling to someone who will cover the "debt" or by getting to the premier league and selling. There is no way he will get back the money plus the 3% whilst we are in league 1 or lower, he'd struggle to get it in the championship too. In league 1 our losses will be even greater so he will lose even more and it'll be less likely he will get it back plus the interest. Hopefully he won't be around for too much longer.
Could he sell the club with new owners still in his debt (I'm not explaining this very well). Say, sell for £20m but him still loaning money to the club and collecting that interest?
I'm not sure but I think the new owner would have to agree to that, it could end up like our current situation with Murray, we could owe money upon return to a certain division. As far as I know it is not like bank debt (which we have none of) and is not binding. It is not a problem until Duchatelet sells up and even then, I really doubt he'll have the ability to get it back. So if Duchatelet was desperate to sell up, the new owners could exploit this and force him to reduce his price.
I would have thought any buyer would probably make a condition of purchase is that Roland could take his debt with him. I don't know if Roland could write this off as a tax loss (I imagine he would rather the debt, and any problems arising should be the sole problema of Charlton FC). The major dificulty is making RD see it would be better to sell than to keep going with his mie¡serable plan, and finding a buyer prepared to negotiate with a rat. Standard Liege have protested that RD left a financial minefield behind him, and I imagine his mismanagement at the Valley will leave a similar mess for someone else to clear up.
This should be compulsory reading for every Charlton fan, even the deluded Happy Clappers and Walter Mitty's. Not only is Duchatelet systematically destroying the Club, root and branch, he is also loading the Club with debt. Whoever eventually takes over from this w***ker will have to buy that debt, unless RD takes a substantial haircut which given his past record in business, seems highly unlikely. Does anyone out there know a prospective buyer, willing to take on a League One club for just short of £50m ?
Murray only gets his £7m back if we are promoted to the Premier League. At the moment, that looks about as likely as Katrien Meire winning the World Honesty Championship. Just about the only positive of Duchatelet's tenure at Charlton is that it is guaranteed to see Murray never getting his dough back. Ha ha ha.
I wonder if Murray advising RD that a deal like his can be negotiated should we reach the promise land. He's building the infrastructure around the club which should realistically see him get some form of profit - then he would be due more if he thinks he's off loading the club to the right person who would spend to see it. Could also explain why he didn't talk to Varney. It would have been something he probably would have laughed at.
Super - I don't see how even 'improved infrastructure' could ever see RD walk out of Charlton with a profit? The only scenario where that happens is if we reached the Premier League, and as we have seen in the last 2 years, RD and Meire don't have the faintest hope of ever getting us there.
If he goes ahead with things like the training ground - that adds value. He won't have a problem selling it when he does. Possible flats etc, even gaining planning permission for that will add some pennies on.
No way will he recoup his £38m if he is selling in League One. RE reckons the Valley is worth £12m tops, and there is no chance of planning permission ever being granted at Sparrows Lane. I admit that the sale of Roger Johnson could make up the £26m shortfall.
That's my point. He defers receiving payments till we reach the premier league - like what Murray et all are doing. He might not be willing for it to be interest free though. RE is plucking a number there. He knows full well what it was valued at in the early 00's.
But we all know that we will never reach the Premier League, it is literally impossible under this regime. Therefore he either walks away selling at a huge loss...or we are stuck with him.
I have a problem with the word "realistically", Super. The loss dropped by £1m admittedly, and there will be the Lookman money in the summer, but after that there is not another Lookman or Gomez coming through for the foreseeable future, and with falling gate money, sponsorship money and TV money the financial future is grim.
And surely the "loss" only dropped because RD has cut costs to the bone, which again is to the detriment of the Club? Two examples - replacing Yann with Polish Pete And the cut backs to our medical and physic team - leaving an injury list that is longer than Meire's nose.
That's my point. He defers receiving payments till we reach the premier league - like what Murray et all are doing. He might not be willing RE is plucking a number there. He knows full well what it was valued at in the early 00's. Not saying it would be under RD. he could work a deal similar to two boards previous
