The Trust checked Companies House records - Tony Jiminez and Martin Prothero resigned their directorships on 9th January. Leaving Richard Murray, Michael Slater and now Katrien Meier in charge.
Will there be a director of football across the group? What is the plan? Some thoughts from Mundell Flemming here:
castrust.org/2014/01/all-change-at-cafc/And why did Monsieur Duchatelet buy Charlton
castrust.org/2014/01/ill-be-your-friend-roland/Kindly reproduced from NYAs blog...
And thanks to STIG for the graphic
Comments
Are Companies House records done daily/monthly or are they yearly like tax bills seriously_red ?
Can CAFC/Baton/who ever is charge change these lists day by day ?
Since the directors for Baton have changed so quickly and because the Trust has not been notified of any intention to sell the Valley (under ACV legislation) the inference is that 100% of Baton (which owns CAFC and The Valley) was sold into Roland Duchatelet's holding company.
This will be in the public record when Baton files its annual return which is due in June or July this year.
Holdings had the same directors as Baton, so you'd expect to see the same changes in time. Or potentially the assets could be moved into a different structure by Duchatalet, but a reason not to do that is that the ACV would be triggered by doing that.
As far as a group director of football is concerned, I wonder if that makes any sense across clubs at different levels. I think Jeff Vetere struggled with League One, despite having been highly regarded in the PL, so I wonder if there is an economy of scale to be realised.
I commented recently to a fellow lifer that having a mortgage on the Valley to build the North Upper is not such a bad thing - another delay to a fast move with the Valley. I remain unconvinced as to the business sense of buying a second tier football club to then asset strip it. You are going to struggle to get your money back and the most valuable prize has to be securing promotion to the Premier League so the Valley is a football asset with all of those empty seats to fill!
What you say re. director of football and economy of scale makes sense but I have looked at it another way. Without one structure to support a group football strategy there will be enormous tensions as different coaches/managers tussle over a player pool spread across five or six clubs. While Standard Liege are the most successful today, CAFC has the greatest earning potential and within just a few years CAFC might be playing at a similar standard? Jeff Vetere or someone similar might be able to give good service to the top two clubs in the group? I wonder how Udinese run it?
Different clubs may have different ambitions and younger players at CAFC might develop their game in the Spanish second division or German fourth tier. Similarly a group director of finance is a common post in commerce and industry - someone with the knowledge, experience and ability to drive through value and ensure common standards in different subsidiaries.
Whatever happens in the next six or seven months one thing is certain: It is the actions and not the words and rumours which will tell us where we are destined to go over the next three or four years. Is Roland Duchatelet looking to accelerate Charlton's progress with key signings over the summer or will it be much steadier progress relying upon the academy and Standard Liege loans to improve the squad over time?
There is clearly a grand plan - why else buy so many clubs so quickly? How much is shared and how much we have to infer over time is the question
However it still says that the share ownership of Baton 2010 is with Richard Murray and CAFC Holdings in the British Virgin Islands. I'm not sure if this will stay the same until Baton 2010 does its Annual return. There may be some people more well versed in company law than me that can answer that.
For reference, the names and company numbers are as follows.
CHARLTON ATHLETIC FOOTBALL COMPANY LIMITED - reg number: 01788466 - Directors Murray and Slater
CHARLTON ATHLETIC HOLDINGS LIMITED - reg number: 02689249 - Directors Murray and Slater
Both are 100% subsiduaries of
BATON 2010 LIMITED - reg number: 07326155 - Directors Murray and Slater
The press release announcing the takeover (http://www.cafc.co.uk/news/article/20140103-duchatelet-completes-charlton-takeover-1273149.aspx) does say that there are some legals to still take place
"Staprix NV will acquire 100 per cent of the shares of the club, subject only to some final legal formalities. "
Does anyone have confirmation that its gone completely through yet?
The deal is exchanged but not yet completed. The shares will change hands soon.
Our Belgian lawyer friend is just the right person over to look at all contracts and assets - then assess any adjustment to the deal... one new pitch at £600K kerching!