Charlton Athletic has been plunged into crisis with their main financial backer embroiled in an extraordinary dispute with the club’s chairman.
East Street Investments, of which Syrian businessman Tahnoon Nimer is the majority shareholder, only bought the Addicks in January, with former agent Matt Southall installed as executive chairman.
But Nimer has now withdrawn his financial support after making a series of allegations about the conduct of Southall.
Charlton said on Tuesday that Nimer had resigned as a director, but the Syrian businessman claims he will continue in the role and will resume his financial backing for the club once Southall is replaced as chairman.
A statement from Charlton read: “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.”
But Nimer responded to this statement by declaring on Instagram that he is not leaving the club.
He said: “It is now clear that our interest and the current chairman’s, with regards to the club’s future are different and irreconcilable.
“We will shortly take the necessary measures to remove the persons responsible from the club and appoint a new chairman to lead the club.”
Simon Jordan’s verdict on extraordinary row and power battle at Charlton
The fall-out between the pair emerged late on Monday after Nimer criticised Southall on social media and told fans he was no longer willing to invest in the club.
In response, Southall used Charlton’s official media channels to take aim at Nimer, claiming the majority shareholder had never ploughed a penny into the club and has yet to meet EFL demands to provide proof of funds.
Southall’s statement, released on Monday night, read: “I want to let Charlton fans know and understand what is happening before rumours and speculation run completely out of control.
“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.”
Charlton fans now have serious fears for the future of their club, who are currently sitting third from bottom in the Championship table with nine games left of the season.
They were hopeful of a brighter future under their new owners, after they took over from the unpopular Roland Duchatelet in January.
But Duchatelet still owns The Valley and the training ground and there is now huge uncertainty over how the club will be funded moving forward.
