On the recent accounts LDT tried to defend the losses as they were coming down.
He was challenged on this as the losses were still very high and was told by me that they were result of incompetence over the past five years/
LDT said that it was unfair to say that the staff were incompetent. I replied that I wasn't speaking about the staff but about the leadership.
LDT the senior staff at the club aren't incompetent. I clarified that he, Meire and Duchatelet had run the club very badly and were all incompetent.
The losses of the club were structural but due to the incompetence of this three. LDT wasn't happy but didn't respond.
I pointed out that the last accounts showed turnover dropping to £7.3m from £7.6m LDT said T/O was at £7.6m this year and would go higher with the play-offs.
Why is LDT judged as incompetent. As far as I can see he is only doing Roland’s bidding as an employee. Wasn’t aware he was behind any strategic decisions.
He is signing off decisions made by the management, such as it is, and imposing budget cuts in a business he doesn’t understand. He is literally not competent to do that job - sure he’s a pleasant bloke and all that, but in the end he’s just taking RD’s money like Meire before him, because he can.
Actually, there’s not that much left to understand!
He is I think a paid employee working for an autocrat. Incompetent is a tad harsh as I am not aware he has personally instigated any great strategic or significant practices that are at odds with what we expect at our or any football club.
Most of us need to work for a living and can’t always take a principled stance that we might wish to.
RD remains the issue no one else.
The ridiculous and ineffective cost cutting IE youth team breakfasts and water are LDT.
Suggesting fans clean the stadium and local streets after games to save money. LDT
Lying and deliberately obstruction bid legimate bonuses.
Failing in his key task of selling the club. LDT
Offering a contract to Bowyer that even Murray didn't understand. LDT
Ultimately, Duchatelet is the problem but LDT is an incompetent part of that problem.
He is totally unskilled and unsuitable for the role he is in. He is incompetent.
Still think it’s RD alone.
He has been placed in role by RD and probably doing the best he can with his hands likely tied by RD demands.
Failing to sell the club down to LVT ? I thought we all accepted that was down to RDs asking price.
Not sure what you expect in the circumstances of him or anyone asked to fill in this role. It’s a lose lose for anyone surely.
As I said most can’t take a principled stand and do what they can to get their job done as far as they are able.
Only promotion is going to move this position along more quickly it seems to me.
On the recent accounts LDT tried to defend the losses as they were coming down.
He was challenged on this as the losses were still very high and was told by me that they were result of incompetence over the past five years/
LDT said that it was unfair to say that the staff were incompetent. I replied that I wasn't speaking about the staff but about the leadership.
LDT the senior staff at the club aren't incompetent. I clarified that he, Meire and Duchatelet had run the club very badly and were all incompetent.
The losses of the club were structural but due to the incompetence of this three. LDT wasn't happy but didn't respond.
I pointed out that the last accounts showed turnover dropping to £7.3m from £7.6m LDT said T/O was at £7.6m this year and would go higher with the play-offs.
Why is LDT judged as incompetent. As far as I can see he is only doing Roland’s bidding as an employee. Wasn’t aware he was behind any strategic decisions.
He is signing off decisions made by the management, such as it is, and imposing budget cuts in a business he doesn’t understand. He is literally not competent to do that job - sure he’s a pleasant bloke and all that, but in the end he’s just taking RD’s money like Meire before him, because he can.
Actually, there’s not that much left to understand!
He is I think a paid employee working for an autocrat. Incompetent is a tad harsh as I am not aware he has personally instigated any great strategic or significant practices that are at odds with what we expect at our or any football club.
Most of us need to work for a living and can’t always take a principled stance that we might wish to.
RD remains the issue no one else.
The ridiculous and ineffective cost cutting IE youth team breakfasts and water are LDT.
Suggesting fans clean the stadium and local streets after games to save money. LDT
Lying and deliberately obstruction bid legimate bonuses.
Failing in his key task of selling the club. LDT
Offering a contract to Bowyer that even Murray didn't understand. LDT
Ultimately, Duchatelet is the problem but LDT is an incompetent part of that problem.
He is totally unskilled and unsuitable for the role he is in. He is incompetent.
Still think it’s RD alone.
He has been placed in role by RD and probably doing the best he can with his hands likely tied by RD demands.
Failing to sell the club down to LVT ? I thought we all accepted that was down to RDs asking price.
Not sure what you expect in the circumstances of him or anyone asked to fill in this role. It’s a lose lose for anyone surely.
As I said most can’t take a principled stand and do what they can to get their job done as far as they are able.
Only promotion is going to move this position along more quickly it seems to me.
Yet that won't change the already agreed prices according to LDT.
Sure, it makes the club more attractive but enough to make someone pay £65m?
And I don't think "he's only doing what he's told" is an excuse.
As the senior person on the ground he has responsibility and so has to take some of the blame.
On the recent accounts LDT tried to defend the losses as they were coming down.
He was challenged on this as the losses were still very high and was told by me that they were result of incompetence over the past five years/
LDT said that it was unfair to say that the staff were incompetent. I replied that I wasn't speaking about the staff but about the leadership.
LDT the senior staff at the club aren't incompetent. I clarified that he, Meire and Duchatelet had run the club very badly and were all incompetent.
The losses of the club were structural but due to the incompetence of this three. LDT wasn't happy but didn't respond.
I pointed out that the last accounts showed turnover dropping to £7.3m from £7.6m LDT said T/O was at £7.6m this year and would go higher with the play-offs.
Why is LDT judged as incompetent. As far as I can see he is only doing Roland’s bidding as an employee. Wasn’t aware he was behind any strategic decisions.
He is signing off decisions made by the management, such as it is, and imposing budget cuts in a business he doesn’t understand. He is literally not competent to do that job - sure he’s a pleasant bloke and all that, but in the end he’s just taking RD’s money like Meire before him, because he can.
Actually, there’s not that much left to understand!
He is I think a paid employee working for an autocrat. Incompetent is a tad harsh as I am not aware he has personally instigated any great strategic or significant practices that are at odds with what we expect at our or any football club.
Most of us need to work for a living and can’t always take a principled stance that we might wish to.
RD remains the issue no one else.
The ridiculous and ineffective cost cutting IE youth team breakfasts and water are LDT.
Suggesting fans clean the stadium and local streets after games to save money. LDT
Lying and deliberately obstruction bid legimate bonuses.
Failing in his key task of selling the club. LDT
Offering a contract to Bowyer that even Murray didn't understand. LDT
Ultimately, Duchatelet is the problem but LDT is an incompetent part of that problem.
He is totally unskilled and unsuitable for the role he is in. He is incompetent.
Still think it’s RD alone.
He has been placed in role by RD and probably doing the best he can with his hands likely tied by RD demands.
Failing to sell the club down to LVT ? I thought we all accepted that was down to RDs asking price.
Not sure what you expect in the circumstances of him or anyone asked to fill in this role. It’s a lose lose for anyone surely.
As I said most can’t take a principled stand and do what they can to get their job done as far as they are able.
Only promotion is going to move this position along more quickly it seems to me.
Yet that won't change the already agreed prices according to LDT.
Sure, it makes the club more attractive but enough to make someone pay £65m?
And I don't think "he's only doing what he's told" is an excuse.
As the senior person on the ground he has responsibility and so has to take some of the blame.
Changing the price is not the point. It’s a fools game investing in football. Championship just makes it more interesting and seemingly a better bet.
RD is an autocrat and hence responsibility locally will be very very limited
On reflection, and I should perhaps have pushed this more last night the issue is "agreed price"
LDT said the 5th International group had agreed a price but hadn't completed DD.
So that can only be an initial, indicative price as they haven't been through the books. They will make a lower offer after DD.
But RD takes that initial price as final and won't move from it.
I believe it is the same with the other two groups.
Think you're right about getting to the bottom of these agreed prices he keeps banging on about.
Showing a group around. Telling them the price and them not really saying much or not walking away laughing does not mean they've agreed a price. The fact he doesn't hear much from them again would signal to most that they've long gone. But to our sorry bunch of charlatans they word it that because these groups haven't specifically told them they are no longer interested signals that they still actually are.
These are not the actions of a man desperate to sell and I think we won't be free for a good while yet.
Interesting that the mysterious international group seem to have moved relatively quickly
I have it on good authority that the international group are headed up by Jeff Tracey and the consortium members are Virgil Scott, Allan, Lady Penelope, Parker and Brains
Really appreciate the updates. Apart from LDV's mostly cut & paste he's no longer mentioning talking to the Aussies every few days - they must have got bored discussing Brexit and Game of Thrones etc.
And I bet Roland hasn't accepted that the EFL can't/won't buy the club, because he simply does not accept other opinions or the facts.
So, basically, we’re no further forward than we were the last time the fans forum met. Complete waste of time if you ask me. What’s the saying ... ‘Same Shit, Different Day’ That T-Shirt would go down a bomb in the club shop
Thanks @Henry Irving, I think we will only have a real buyer when the number of "interested parties" catches up with the amount of pages on this behemoth.
Imagine LDT listing them all, "The one thousand five hundred and sixty ninth party is from the Isle of Man."
LdT revealed the price wouldn’t change depending on League positioning. And suggested being in the top 2 was no big deal to them, implying top six was fine because all they are interested in is selling the club, and that status by previous admissions made it more sellable.
I tried to emphasise the damage their short term strategy was doing to the club, and the cliff edge of the summer and emphasised the following: There was no evidence that Bowyer has anything like the support he or the club deserves over the last year, on top of the previous years of mismanagement. This puts the club in a grave situation where loans, expiring contracts and even doubt over Bowyer means if we miss out on promotion the summer will see the current squad decimated rather than ‘Bowyer building something’ (Les) and is a reason why many fans are so angered by the situation.
I asked LdT if he was disappointed the club had missed out on a top two finish because of a striker shortage after they had failed to back Bowyer in the window after Grant left on a substantial fee. He simply shrugged.
Lady Irving is putting my dinner on the table soon so here is the first of a few
The five buyers as listed before
1st The Aussie/US group - have not lodged the documents needed with the EFL yet. What has changed said LDT is that they have recently asked about updated budget figures etc which to LDT suggests that they are going to submit them
2nd The British group. They have submitted new proof of funds but "can not bring the money to the table. They are still in contact with LDT and RM. This group still convinced they can do a deal. Asked to explain how they have the funds but can't put the money down LDT didn't really explain in a way that any of the FF could understand. @razil and @GlassHalfFull were there so maybe they can add to this.
3rd and 4th group - Silence so considered as out of it
5th Group - The international group An offer has been recieved and a price agreed. They are in the final stages of due diligence.
Other enquiries but none of which have gone as far a signing an non-disclosure agreement.
In the opinion of LDT the three remaining parties (1, 2 & 5) all "eager" to complete by the end of the financial year (30 June)
I said what about the other party, the EFL. After much avoiding the issue LDT said that "RD has to accept that the EFL won't by the club". (I know a lot of you will be disappointed by that and some even shocked)
Incredible that he's still trotting out the line that the Aussies are still to lodge the required documents with the EFL!
I can in fact confirm that i have also failed to lodge any documents with the EFL and there seems to be just as much chance of me taking over as them.
The idea of a sale by the end of June is just more expectation management to try and keep the few remaining "it could have been worse without Duchatelet" cretins onside and to try to sell season tickets and maintain some sort of hope for the play-offs. The notion of three "eager" bidders still in the hint is absolutely laughable as is having agreed a price with an international consortium that has done no due diligence. I remain convinced that there is no active sale anywhere close and that LDT will continue to spin this line for Duchatelet who is content to continue to reduce the club's operating costs (slashing the wage bill in the Summer by outing the out-of-contract highest earners) whilst looking to cash-in on player sales. Duchatelet seems absolutely determined not to take the massive loss on the club which he has earned during his abject ownership. If that's the case then I suspect we have several years of this to come before he finally decides he's wasting his time and gets real on a price. In the meantime we face the very real prospect of the club slipping into League Two for the first time ever. I still can't believe we are in the play-offs this season given the shenanigans in the January window and can't see us going up given all the contract uncertainty, although Bowyer deserves a medal for what he has achieved here.
Just hang on to financial year end on 30th June and it's all happening.
Shame all the players and management will have already left but you can't have everything.
Exactly.
How's Bowyer (if he's even still here) supposed to plan for the new season when you have an owner who won't be committing to anything in the hope that he's rid of the club by June.
What will almost certainly happen is that RD will do nothing all summer, a takeover will not happen and then Bowyer will be scrabbling about in July trying to put a bargain basement squad together made up of players nobody else wants, as any well managed club will have been pro-active and approached or signed up players way ahead of us.
LdT revealed the price wouldn’t change depending on League positioning. And suggested being in the top 2 was no big deal to them, implying top six was fine because all they are interested in is selling the club, and that status by previous admissions made it more sellable.
I tried to emphasise the damage their short term strategy was doing to the club, and the cliff edge of the summer and emphasised the following: There was no evidence that Bowyer has anything like the support he or the club deserves over the last year, on top of the previous years of mismanagement. This puts the club in a grave situation where loans, expiring contracts and even doubt over Bowyer means if we miss out on promotion the summer will see the current squad decimated rather than ‘Bowyer building something’ (Les) and is a reason why many fans are so angered by the situation.
I asked LdT if he was disappointed the club had missed out on a top two finish because of a striker shortage after they had failed to back Bowyer in the window after Grant left on a substantial fee. He simply shrugged.
And yet they've accepted three different prices from three different parties?
Why would you pay the same amount for a L1 club as a Championship club?
Because he's asking too much!
.........to pay for his failed venture run by his lackeys who were clueless in the running of an English League Professional Football Club, with its traditions, and chequered history. JSTCASAP&FRO. Not you Pedro 😉
He simply shrugged. Says everything. It is what it is, and LVT is getting money to manipulate mug punters, and presumably minimum wage staff too. I doubt he owns a mirror to look at himself in.
Considering the notes we've had from the meeting from @Henry Irving, it'll be interesting to see what LDT tried to have omitted/tweaked from the "official" minutes on the official site.
He simply shrugged. Says everything. It is what it is, and LVT is getting money to manipulate mug punters, and presumably minimum wage staff too. I doubt he owns a mirror to look at himself in.
One of the main reasons I have that these five prospective buyers don’t ‘all’ exist is that no one from any of them have come forward and given a clue as to the asking price. I find it impossible to believe that someone somewhere along the line would not have let something slip.....after all, if negotiations got to the point of any real interest the first question anyone asks when looking to buy ‘anything’ is “What’s the asking price?” So shouldn’t we reasonably assume that if there are indeed at least five interested parties they will all have asked that very question........what answer did they get and why has no one leaked the info? It seems very unlikely to me that no one would have leaked it by now.
Last night's meeting was attended by members of the Fans' Forum, the club's Head of Communications Tom Rubashow and Lieven De Turck (LDT), who is representing the club in takeover talks. The below notes were produced by the club and approved by fan representatives following the meeting.
LDT updated on the five parties mentioned in the previous meeting.
First party (Groups linked to the Australian consortium)
LDT said that they still haven’t lodged the documents with the EFL. He said during the last two weeks he’s had questions from them asking about budgets.
Second party (British)
Since a fan asked in the last Fans’ Forum meeting, they have provided a new proof of funds document. They still, as of today, cannot bring the money to the table. He said this means they have funds to do the transaction but they haven’t done it. He said both himself and Richard Murray are in touch with them. When asked, LDT said he is still convinced they can do the deal.
LDT said party three and party four have been silent since the last meeting and for him that means they are off the table.
Fifth party (International)
LDT said that as mentioned previously Roland Duchatelet (RD) has met the the fifth party. Since the last meeting he has received an offer and agreed a price. The party have begun due diligence and are coming to the final stages of that process. The next steps after that are with the lawyers and sorting the contract. He said it is clear the party have the money and a previous experience in English football.
LDT said he has had conversations with other parties but no NDAs have been signed.
He said in his opinion RD will not own the club next season. He said that all three parties want to complete the deal before the end of June so they can prepare for next season.
Ben Hayes (Bromley Addicks) asked what had happened with the request from the EFL to buy the club. LDT said the EFL request was sent. He said they have replied, including in public, that they won’t buy the club. He said since then a party contacted the EFL to bring them into conversation with Charlton about buying the club but not much moved on from there.
When asked if RD still wanted the EFL to buy the club LDT said the reply of the EFL was clear that they will not buy it and that the club has to accept that.
LDT said he is meeting the EFL next week. BH asked if this is in relation to the investigation into the unpaid bonuses and the press comments which began earlier in the season. LDT said he believed so.
BH said he felt the demand to sell to the EFL came about because the EFL were not supporting RD on the topic of staff bonuses. LDT said from his point of view, the bonus topic is closed.
Steve Clarke (Charlton Athletic Supporters Trust) said the British and Australian parties have been around so long one has to question their credibility as buyers.
Tony Garrett (CADSA) asked if the club is successful in the playoffs and gets promoted if there be a change in price. LDT said the three prices agreed are not the same but they are all in line and will not change whether Charlton get promoted or not.
Christine Lawrie (Reminiscence) asked why in LDT’s opinion the club has not been sold. LDT said he thought six months ago it was sold to the Australians. CL asked what the issue was then, LDT said he felt it was with the group’s complexity.
LDT said RD bought the club in 10 days but it can also take a long time as he has seen. He said RD wants to step out of football and last month there was an article in Belgium where he said getting into football was his mistake.
BH said the first two parties have been around so long then the fault has to be with the seller. He asked why LDT believes they are credible buyers. LDT says the people he speaks to are not working for free and that they won’t work if they aren’t working for a credible buyer.
BH said he didn’t believe a price has been agreed. BH said he had information the club is for sale at £65m and he thinks the price is unrealistic. LDT said it is not £65m but he will not discuss price. Barnie Razzell (City Addicks) asked why he won’t share the price of the club as this might encourage other interest.
SC said the Trust have been looking at options in buying the club. He said they’ve spoken to a former owner of a football club. He said the person they spoke to said the club is worth £20m with the land in its current use. SC said everyone believes the club is overpriced and if speaking with a consortium, which appears to be the case, then some will not want to pay a large price even if some are happy to pay the price. SC said he doesn’t think there will be a sale until the price is reduced.
LDT said RD doesn’t want to lower the price.
Alan Dryland (German Addicks) said he feels sympathetic towards RD, he said the club are losing £10m a year and that still 10,000 turn up to hate him. He asked what the attraction is? He said no-one is winning from it.
LDT said costs have been reduced this year and the club is in a much better situation making the club more attractive to potential new owners. He said the club is no longer losing £1m a month.
BH said the £10m losses were because the staff were incompetent. LDT said he thought that was unfair and that he didn’t think the staff were incompetent. BH said he didn’t think the staff were but that senior management were incompetent. BH said that LDT, Katrien Meire and RD were incompetent.
Les Herbert (LH) said potential new owners must know that the club have boycotting fans, fans who won’t buy merchandise, he asked if they would they be concerned that they have to prove (themselves) to these non-attendees. He asked if they are they worried about boycotters? LDT said they are not worried. He said they feel the boycotting is linked to the current ownership. BR said he thinks there is a certain amount of drift that isn’t boycotting. SC said people will get used to not attending.
BR said the club have missed out on second place as they can’t score goals. BR said damage has been done with Lee Bowyer not backed when he needed a replacement for Karlan Grant that would have helped Charlton to second place.
BH asked why LB was offered something he and Richard Murray didn’t understand. LDT said they explored a route which didn’t work but they have since had a positive conversation and the two parties will find each other.
SC said he felt signing LB up would help with player contract negotiations.
TG asked if LDT felt personally disappointed and frustrated that the club has not been sold. LDT said he’s not frustrated. He said he hoped it would have happened by now but that frustration will not help him sell the club.
Comments
He has been placed in role by RD and probably doing the best he can with his hands likely tied by RD demands.
Failing to sell the club down to LVT ? I thought we all accepted that was down to RDs asking price.
Not sure what you expect in the circumstances of him or anyone asked to fill in this role. It’s a lose lose for anyone surely.
As I said most can’t take a principled stand and do what they can to get their job done as far as they are able.
Only promotion is going to move this position along more quickly it seems to me.
Sure, it makes the club more attractive but enough to make someone pay £65m?
And I don't think "he's only doing what he's told" is an excuse.
As the senior person on the ground he has responsibility and so has to take some of the blame.
RD is an autocrat and hence responsibility locally will be very very limited
Showing a group around. Telling them the price and them not really saying much or not walking away laughing does not mean they've agreed a price.
The fact he doesn't hear much from them again would signal to most that they've long gone.
But to our sorry bunch of charlatans they word it that because these groups haven't specifically told them they are no longer interested signals that they still actually are.
These are not the actions of a man desperate to sell and I think we won't be free for a good while yet.
And I bet Roland hasn't accepted that the EFL can't/won't buy the club, because he simply does not accept other opinions or the facts.
Imagine LDT listing them all, "The one thousand five hundred and sixty ninth party is from the Isle of Man."
I asked LdT if he was disappointed the club had missed out on a top two finish because of a striker shortage after they had failed to back Bowyer in the window after Grant left on a substantial fee. He simply shrugged.
I can in fact confirm that i have also failed to lodge any documents with the EFL and there seems to be just as much chance of me taking over as them.
Just hang on to financial year end on 30th June and it's all happening.
Shame all the players and management will have already left but you can't have everything.
How's Bowyer (if he's even still here) supposed to plan for the new season when you have an owner who won't be committing to anything in the hope that he's rid of the club by June.
What will almost certainly happen is that RD will do nothing all summer, a takeover will not happen and then Bowyer will be scrabbling about in July trying to put a bargain basement squad together made up of players nobody else wants, as any well managed club will have been pro-active and approached or signed up players way ahead of us.
Says everything.
It is what it is, and LVT is getting money to manipulate mug punters, and presumably minimum wage staff too.
I doubt he owns a mirror to look at himself in.
I find it impossible to believe that someone somewhere along the line would not have let something slip.....after all, if negotiations got to the point of any real interest the first question anyone asks when looking to buy ‘anything’ is “What’s the asking price?”
So shouldn’t we reasonably assume that if there are indeed at least five interested parties they will all have asked that very question........what answer did they get and why has no one leaked the info?
It seems very unlikely to me that no one would have leaked it by now.
Pretty sure we heard this at this time last year and pretty sure we will here it again this time next season
https://www.cafc.co.uk/news/view/5cc17dab5fb84/takeover-update-from-last-nights-fans-forum
A takeover specific Fans’ Forum took place at The Valley last night. This followed the last takeover update at the full Fans’ Forum in March
The Fans’ Forum meet every three months and is made up of fan representatives. To find out more about the Fans’ Forum and contacting your fan representatives click here.
Since July 2018, takeover specific Fans' Forum meetings have taken place in-between each meeting to keep fans updated with progress. Notes on the previous meetings can be found here.
Last night's meeting was attended by members of the Fans' Forum, the club's Head of Communications Tom Rubashow and Lieven De Turck (LDT), who is representing the club in takeover talks. The below notes were produced by the club and approved by fan representatives following the meeting.
LDT updated on the five parties mentioned in the previous meeting.
First party (Groups linked to the Australian consortium)
LDT said that they still haven’t lodged the documents with the EFL. He said during the last two weeks he’s had questions from them asking about budgets.
Second party (British)
Since a fan asked in the last Fans’ Forum meeting, they have provided a new proof of funds document. They still, as of today, cannot bring the money to the table. He said this means they have funds to do the transaction but they haven’t done it. He said both himself and Richard Murray are in touch with them. When asked, LDT said he is still convinced they can do the deal.
LDT said party three and party four have been silent since the last meeting and for him that means they are off the table.
Fifth party (International)
LDT said that as mentioned previously Roland Duchatelet (RD) has met the the fifth party. Since the last meeting he has received an offer and agreed a price. The party have begun due diligence and are coming to the final stages of that process. The next steps after that are with the lawyers and sorting the contract. He said it is clear the party have the money and a previous experience in English football.
LDT said he has had conversations with other parties but no NDAs have been signed.
He said in his opinion RD will not own the club next season. He said that all three parties want to complete the deal before the end of June so they can prepare for next season.
Ben Hayes (Bromley Addicks) asked what had happened with the request from the EFL to buy the club. LDT said the EFL request was sent. He said they have replied, including in public, that they won’t buy the club. He said since then a party contacted the EFL to bring them into conversation with Charlton about buying the club but not much moved on from there.
When asked if RD still wanted the EFL to buy the club LDT said the reply of the EFL was clear that they will not buy it and that the club has to accept that.
LDT said he is meeting the EFL next week. BH asked if this is in relation to the investigation into the unpaid bonuses and the press comments which began earlier in the season. LDT said he believed so.
BH said he felt the demand to sell to the EFL came about because the EFL were not supporting RD on the topic of staff bonuses. LDT said from his point of view, the bonus topic is closed.
Steve Clarke (Charlton Athletic Supporters Trust) said the British and Australian parties have been around so long one has to question their credibility as buyers.
Tony Garrett (CADSA) asked if the club is successful in the playoffs and gets promoted if there be a change in price. LDT said the three prices agreed are not the same but they are all in line and will not change whether Charlton get promoted or not.
Christine Lawrie (Reminiscence) asked why in LDT’s opinion the club has not been sold. LDT said he thought six months ago it was sold to the Australians. CL asked what the issue was then, LDT said he felt it was with the group’s complexity.
LDT said RD bought the club in 10 days but it can also take a long time as he has seen. He said RD wants to step out of football and last month there was an article in Belgium where he said getting into football was his mistake.
BH said the first two parties have been around so long then the fault has to be with the seller. He asked why LDT believes they are credible buyers. LDT says the people he speaks to are not working for free and that they won’t work if they aren’t working for a credible buyer.
BH said he didn’t believe a price has been agreed. BH said he had information the club is for sale at £65m and he thinks the price is unrealistic. LDT said it is not £65m but he will not discuss price. Barnie Razzell (City Addicks) asked why he won’t share the price of the club as this might encourage other interest.
SC said the Trust have been looking at options in buying the club. He said they’ve spoken to a former owner of a football club. He said the person they spoke to said the club is worth £20m with the land in its current use. SC said everyone believes the club is overpriced and if speaking with a consortium, which appears to be the case, then some will not want to pay a large price even if some are happy to pay the price. SC said he doesn’t think there will be a sale until the price is reduced.
LDT said RD doesn’t want to lower the price.
Alan Dryland (German Addicks) said he feels sympathetic towards RD, he said the club are losing £10m a year and that still 10,000 turn up to hate him. He asked what the attraction is? He said no-one is winning from it.
LDT said costs have been reduced this year and the club is in a much better situation making the club more attractive to potential new owners. He said the club is no longer losing £1m a month.
BH said the £10m losses were because the staff were incompetent. LDT said he thought that was unfair and that he didn’t think the staff were incompetent. BH said he didn’t think the staff were but that senior management were incompetent. BH said that LDT, Katrien Meire and RD were incompetent.
Les Herbert (LH) said potential new owners must know that the club have boycotting fans, fans who won’t buy merchandise, he asked if they would they be concerned that they have to prove (themselves) to these non-attendees. He asked if they are they worried about boycotters? LDT said they are not worried. He said they feel the boycotting is linked to the current ownership. BR said he thinks there is a certain amount of drift that isn’t boycotting. SC said people will get used to not attending.
BR said the club have missed out on second place as they can’t score goals. BR said damage has been done with Lee Bowyer not backed when he needed a replacement for Karlan Grant that would have helped Charlton to second place.
TG asked what the latest is with Lee Bowyer. LDT said negotiations are ongoing, he said as LB said last week in his press conference, negotiations are ongoing but it will happen.
BH asked why LB was offered something he and Richard Murray didn’t understand. LDT said they explored a route which didn’t work but they have since had a positive conversation and the two parties will find each other.
SC said he felt signing LB up would help with player contract negotiations.
TG asked if LDT felt personally disappointed and frustrated that the club has not been sold. LDT said he’s not frustrated. He said he hoped it would have happened by now but that frustration will not help him sell the club.