Football League World
·20 August 2024
"Apprehensive" - Charlton Athletic warned about interest from Sheffield United's owner
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·20 August 2024
At FLW we spoke to our resident Charlton Athletic pundit to get his take on the potential takeover rumours.
This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…
Sheffield United's owner, Prince Abdullah, has been trying to sell the Blades for a while now, and it appears that the saga could soon be at an end.
A US-consortium involved in buying the club have now taken another step closer to owning the Blades, as according to The Star, the two parties have reached an agreement that would see a complete takeover of the club.
This will leave the Prince in the clear, and he has now set his sights on purchasing League One side Charlton Athletic.
This is according to Sun journalist, Alan Nixon, who links the 59-year-old with a potential takeover of the London club.
In this report, Nixon revealed that Charlton are top of the list, but several other clubs would be considered by Abdullah's United World Group.
Whether this would be good for the Addicks remains to be seen, but given their turbulent time with owners, stability is of the utmost importance.
The news that Prince Abdullah is interested in Charlton going forward has worried FLW's Addicks fan pundit, Ben Fleming, who isn't sure that the current owners would be willing to sell the club.
"This one has come out of the blue. I'm not sure how much there is behind the rumours.
"There were some of the consortium who own Charlton at the ground on Saturday, with pictures circulating of them around the museum. So, that doesn't scream a group who are looking to sell, especially given how recently they bought the club and the amount of money they put into the club last January and in the following months, recruiting Nathan Jones."
Speaking about Prince Abdullah, Fleming said: "Charlton fans are a pretty apprehensive bunch when it comes to owners given their track record across the last ten years.
"At Sheffield United, he wasn't racking up many positive headlines. They were under various embargoes and fans I have spoken to say they're a very topsy-turvy club in terms of finances and messages from the board.
"I don't think there are any Charlton fans who would want that, as for the first time in a while, we have owners who are happy to fund the club well, have good intentions and will do business in the background.
"So, yes, I don't think there is any desire, need or want from anyone at the club to continue with any ownership stuff."
It is hard to disagree with Fleming on this one. While it would be nice for Addicks fans to have an owner who is willing to spend ridiculous amounts of money, this sort of free-spending could get you into trouble in the future.
While the current crop of owners won't spend heavily, a lot can be said for placing faith in a manager and allowing him and the players to do the talking on the field.
Keeping themselves away from negative headlines is what Charlton need right now, and if Prince Abdullah's consortium arrive, it could place them in a similar situation to what the Blades experienced.
Having only secured full ownership of the club last summer, it seems unlikely that Charlie Methven's group would sell. This would be the best outcome for Addicks fans, and they must hope that no more ownership issues occur.
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