Thursday, 19 June 2025

Move away from Valley not ruled out

Charlton board member Jim Rodwell confirmed that Roland Duchatelet still owns The Valley and training ground - asked the question by talkSPORT's Simon Jordan: "We make no secret our ownership would like to buy the stadium or enter into a longer lease. We have still got a considerable amount of time left. I know that fans like certainty and so do businessmen."

Some accounts suggest that there are only a few years left before we come up against the EFL ten year rule on leased grounds.   The barmy Belgian (not so barmy when it comes to money) is still asking for a huge sum for The Valley and Sparrows Lane.

Asked about if there is a possibility of moving: "It's always a possibility. I think the desire would be to stay at The Valley. We want certainty of tenure." He refused to answer whether cost of the lease has gone up after promotion to the Championship.

He commented in relation to transfers: “The silly season is upon us. People go on holiday and it will all get very real in the next week or two."

I have just received the accounts for property investment company Charlton Athletic Holdings Ltd.  The ultimate owner is one R Duchatelet, resident in Belgium.    The Valley and the training ground are valued at £56m.

Rick Everitt reports that Baton 2010 company accounts show Charlton paid Duchatelet £621,000 in rent in 2023/24. Valley lease, which is most of that, is due to expire in January 2035.

4 comments:

  1. I reckon the rent for the ground though not cheap is not excessive either. My other club Surrey pay a percentage of turn over in rent to the Duchy of Cornwall, I seem to remember it is around 3%.

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  2. The future of Charlton at The Valley is entirely dependent on the belgian buffoon (or his heirs) eventually having a moment of sanity. There's nothing alarming about the status quo - a long lease and an affordable rent. Is it brinkmanship from Douchebag? Probably not. CAFC's owners are sane and solvent, they're not about to blow ludicrous amounts just to quieten loony fringe paranoid addicks. The Valley is worth very little to douchebag (or anybody else) without a football tenant in situ and playing fulltime professionally. Charlton is the only team realistically likely to be playing there for the foreseeable future. CAFC's owners won't be held to ransom, they're successful for good reason. Rodwell can't rule anything out cos he doesn't have a crystal ball and we all know how mad the landlord still is.
    In short: nothing to see here.

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  3. Hopefully you are right. I am always sceptical about redevelopment proposals because of the nature of the site including the access issue.

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