Charlton Athletic concern raised amid £20m sale talk - 'the big question' | OneFootball

FLW's Addicks Fan Pundit delivered his thoughts on whether the club should follow the examples set by Wrexham and Ipswich Town

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…

Charlton Athletic's owners, Global Football Partners, are looking into selling a 20 per cent minority stake in the south-east London club.

That’s according to The Athletic’s Matt Slater via X, who suspects they’ll be wanting around £20m and are apparently already being proactive on the hunt for a new partner.

This move would follow a trend recently started by fellow Championship sides Wrexham and Ipswich Town, both of whom have welcomed new minority investors to seemingly try and speed up their respective ambitions.

FLW have asked our Charlton Athletic Fan Pundit, Chris Woodward, for his thoughts on whether this is a sensible approach to bringing fresh investment or not.

Charlton Athletic's ownership model has worked "very well up until this point"

When asked for his view on the proposed investment, Woodward began by telling FLW, "Well, the current multi-person ownership model has worked very well up until this point.

"I believe we have seven different owners with at least a five percent stake in the club, with at least two to three having a much bigger stake, but the exact figures aren’t known," he added.

With this in mind, supporters like Woodward are left guessing about the true power structure behind the scenes of GFP, who completed their takeover in 2023. Despite this, the Fan Pundit suggests the model itself hasn't proven to be a problem.

"So, from previous experience, multiple people owning a part of the club is not necessarily something I’m concerned with because of the positive outcomes we’ve seen in the past couple of years," Woodward said.

The ‘positive outcomes’ referred to are likely promotion and overall investment they’ve put into the playing squad that was absent during the final years of Thomas Sandgaard at the helm.

Even in late November, left-back Jerome Roussillon signed for the Addicks on a short-term contract. The fact that the club are making signings outside of a transfer window shows the want to improve when necessary.

"The big question" regarding minority sale talk at Charlton Athletic

Woodward then mentioned his real concern regarding the aforementioned tweet by Slater, saying, “The big question that may make me more skeptical is the reason behind this decision.

"If we’re just creating new shares for additional funds to be put in the club and increase our budgets, then brilliant. But, if this is more for some of our owners looking to sell part of their existing stake to bag some profit, cut their losses and be more sustainable, then I’d be more worried," the Fan Pundit continued.

As previously mentioned, Wrexham saw Apollo Sports Capital, the new majority owners of La Liga giants Atletico Madrid, take a minority stake in the Welsh club.

This allows Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney to retain control whilst benefiting from fresh investment directed at stadium redevelopment, which Woodward thinks would be a ‘brilliant’ thing if something similar happened at Charlton.

Woodward understands that this is a rareity in Championship football though, as he told FLW, "Anyone with any knowledge of the Championship knows it’s a bottomless moneypit and owners are going to lose a lot of money regardless, whatever they do - unless they have a £20m player sale every year.

"I’m hoping they just haven’t now figured out what they’ve signed up for and haven’t been overwhelmed by the financial strain and no longer want to put additional money into the club to support our development," he added.

Charlton Athletic fans should get more clarity on minority sale talk in the "near future"

Importantly, Woodward is quick to point out that the full picture remains unclear at this stage.

"That being said, we’ve only been told one tweet at present, and should get more information regarding the reason and aims from the ownership group in the near future.

"From what we’ve seen from this ownership though, I’ve not got reason to doubt this move has been made with the club’s best intentions at heart," Woodward concluded.

Ultimately, Addicks fans like Woodward will be keeping a close eye on any further announcements regarding talk of a potential minority stake sale. Like he suggested, only the motivation behind this move will determine whether it represents a positive step forward or not.