Over the summer, on a Charlton web forum, a supporter asked whether anyone had heard of a chap called Jarred Winn, rumoured for a backroom job at the club. “Knowing us,” another replied, “we’d end up with Jarred Lose.”
Fatigued by a near-decade of intermittent chaos at The Valley, a general malaise was setting in among Addicks fans and, six months later, many have had enough, with the club 18th in League One and at risk of dropping into the fourth tier of English football, in its current form, for the first time.
Yesterday, under-fire owner Thomas Sandgaard announced an overhaul of the club’s hierarchy and the appointment of four new senior figures. A final attempt at serious stewardship and a steadying of the ship, or the first signs of the beginning of the end? Most fans have been hoping for the latter, but not without trepidation at who or what may follow, having been burned before.
No sooner had Sandgaard announced the shake-up did it emerge that new finance director Ed Warrick had, only days earlier, registered a new company, SE7 Partners Ltd, in partnership with former Sunderland executive Charlie Methven, who has since said that the company is intended as a vehicle for possible future investment. Addicks fans are once again in limbo, amid the lack of clarity over the club’s future.
It has been a remarkable fall from grace for Sandgaard, who was hailed as a saviour when he arrived at the club in September 2020. The loathed former owner Roland Duchatelet had sold the club the same year but the new owners, East Street Investments, turned out not to be quite as rich as they claimed.
There were warnings that the club’s very existence was at risk, as the EFL investigated the deal, and some believe had it not been for the arrival of the Covid pandemic, which reduced operating costs and allowed staff to be furloughed, Charlton may have gone under before Sandgaard stepped in.
When he did so, it was with promises of returning to the Premier League within five years. Few were confident, but most appreciated the ambition.
“We thought he was a clown,” one supporter told Standard Sport. “But a well-meaning clown.”
Beneath the surface, though, concerns brewed quickly. After a charm offensive during Sandgaard’s takeover bid, fan engagement fell away. Soon after his arrival, the Charlton Athletic Supporters’ Trust approached the new owner with a scheme, modelled on the Foundation of Hearts, that it says could have contributed more than £500,000 per year to the club coffers in exchange for control over ‘intangibles’, such as club colours and crest. Sandgaard was not keen.
Early on, Sandgaard was praised for bringing the Charlton Women’s team back into the club’s ownership, but in December last year botched the move PR-wise with an unpopular attempt to change their name to Charlton Ladies.
Determined to fill The Valley but frustrated that free-ticket handouts were resulting in no-shows, Sandgaard reportedly suggested over-allocating the ground. Staff at the meeting where the idea was raised say they had to explain its illegality and offer a history lesson in the form of the Hillsborough disaster, sources close to the club said.
Things came to a head this summer, following the sacking of manager Johnnie Jackson at the end of last season. After a 13th-placed finish, some fans were open to change, but the treatment of a club legend sat horribly: Sandgaard had attended an end-of-season dinner where Jackson spoke of his excitement for the new campaign, only to sack him over the phone from the US less than 48 hours later.
Successive managers were ruffled by the interference in footballing matters from above.
Jackson was not alone, either, with several long-serving members of staff let go in something of an unexpected tipping point for sections of the support who had, until then, found reason to give Sandgaard the benefit of the doubt.
Some working on the non-football side of the business were increasingly reporting to Raelynn Maloney, Sandgaard’s American girlfriend, who sent daily emailed requests and instructions to staff across various areas of the business, despite having no formal role. Sources close to the club said at least one staff member reported Maloney to the Home Office, believing she lacked the right to work legally in the UK.
Meanwhile, Sandgaard’s son Martin had been embedded as the owner’s eyes and ears on the training ground as director of analytics, despite his lack of relevant experience. Successive managers were ruffled by the interference in footballing matters from above.
Like his predecessor Jackson, Ben Garner did not last long before being ousted this month. He perhaps ought to have known what he was walking into, but had grown vocal in his criticism over a perceived lack of backing, and, in particular, the failure to bring in a striker after Conor Washington was refused a new contract and released.
Garner’s exit prompted a statement from CAST in which it claimed to have “lost all confidence in the current ownership’s desire and ability to turn this around” and, last week, a new Addicks Charter which sets out desired rules of engagement between Charlton supporters and the owner of their club.
Quite who that will be and what the future holds remains unclear. But as ever at Charlton — and contrary to Sandgaard’s general insistence — nothing appears straightforward.
