Richard Cawley of the SLP has tweeted, 'No public comment from Charlton on Fawaz Al-Hasawi but been told no chance of a deal happening. Blowing a non-disclosure agreement within 24 hours isn't exactly the way to get things off on the right footing.' It could, of course, have been a contrived attempt to get other bidders to act.
I was certainly unenthusiastic about him, but there has been a bit of a rush to judgment.
If Roland cannot find a buyer, and the club continues to lose around £1m a month, he may simply decide it is no longer a viable business and recover what he could from the assets. Although he pretends not to be bothered by reputational damage, such a move would create a tsunami of protest that would swamp the Thames Barrier.
However, we do need to be careful about what we wish for. Realistically, any purchaser of Charlton is going to be from outside the UK. Brits who have a big fortune don't want to turn it into a small one.
Agree that the big fear here is Roland tries to asset strip including a sale of the Valley for redevelopment. I suspect the protests following him overseas and to his hometown might have prevented him from such folly. It's not to condone the possible extent of reaction to winding the club down but I imagine he at least recognises the possibility and accepts that for a very rich man it just isn't worth the aggro or stress to both him and his family. Just surprised he hasn't cut his losses yet because the club isn't getting any more attractive to buy as the losses mount up by the month.
ReplyDeleteI think that the protests in Belgium have been significant because they damage his reputation in his own back yard.
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