Charlton plunged into chaos as clubs hierarchy are locked in a bitter dispute
Charlton Athletic have been plunged into chaos as Majority Shareholder His Excellency Tahnoon Nimer has resigned from the clubs board.
The news comes after Nimer announced on Instagram last night (9/3) that he was pulling out of the club. A statement was released by Executive Chairman Matt Southall last night saying ”
“On Monday, Tahnoon Nimer sent an incredibly damaging letter on behalf of Panorama Magic General Contracting LLC to members of the club’s Senior Management Team. In the letter, he made allegations about me and my conduct, which my lawyers immediately rebutted.
It has been brought to my attention that he has repeated and, indeed, expanded upon the malicious falsehoods made in the initial letter. As a consequence, I will now be meeting with my lawyers to discuss an action for defamation. However, my immediate priority is to protect the club and its staff from these damaging statements.
Also contained in that letter were claims he had appointed a Chief Executive Officer, an action that I am advised by the club’s lawyers would be outside the parameters of Panorama’s influence. Even more worryingly, the letter also threatened members of the senior management team with legal action if they did not comply with his demands. This is completely unacceptable and detrimental to the morale of such a loyal and dedicated staff and the smooth running of the football club.
One of the claims in the letter was that ‘disadvantageous contracts’ had been authorised by me. I can only conclude that the majority shareholder disagreed with my decision to give Lee Bowyer a new contract on the terms agreed as that is the only major contract signed in my time as Executive Chairman.
For the avoidance of doubt, both Jonathan Heller and I have passed the EFL’s Owners and Directors Test. However, the majority shareholder has yet to satisfy the EFL in respect of the source of his funds, despite numerous requests made by the EFL and a number of deadlines that have been ignored by him.
This failure obviously limited our ability to deal in the transfer window although I liaised closely with the EFL and made sure they were aware of every deal we were planning so that they could be sanctioned appropriately. I continue to be in close contact with the EFL who are also aware of the dispute between me and the majority shareholder.
It is a crucial time of the season and it would seem appropriate that all the stakeholders direct their efforts in support of the team and the club. Therefore, it is disappointing that the majority shareholder should act in such a manner and be attempting to purchase Dinamo Bucharest to the point where he posted a picture of himself in Romania during Saturday’s fixture.
The Board and the Senior Management Team are determined that Charlton Athletic be run in a sensible, responsible and sustainable manner but this is being made very difficult by the majority shareholder’s actions and his failure to provide either the necessary satisfaction to the EFL or the funds that he has consistently promised to invest. To date, not a single penny of the promised funds has been provided.
The Board will continue to make decisions in the best interests of club, its fans, its players and its staff with the full support of the dedicated and loyal senior management team
We look forward to a successful conclusion to the season.”
An email that was sent to staff members this morning saying that their wages would be paid and that the club was solvent according to Richard Cawley on twitter.
Southall’s email says is “no threat whatsoever to staff wages or even your jobs. The club is solvent and will continue to be run in exactly the same as it has been since January. It’s business as usual.”
— Richard Cawley (@RichCawleySLP) March 10, 2020
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Southall: “I will be at the club if anyone wants to speak in person while the senior management team can try to answer any of your questions.”
— Richard Cawley (@RichCawleySLP) March 10, 2020
Another statement from the club this morning (10/3) confirmed that Nimer had resigned as a director.
“It is with regret that the board of Charlton Athletic Football Club accepts Tahnoon Nimer’s resignation as a director with immediate effect.
Following the events of March 9th, his position is now untenable and the board has no option but to accept his resignation.
The board of Charlton Athletic and the Senior Management Team will continue to run the club with its best long-term interests at heart.”