Possible light may be at the end of what has been an uncertain tunnel for Charlton Athletic as a Portuguese consortium makes a takeover bid.
It has been a complex few months for Charlton fans whose owners are now ready to sell the club after just six months in charge with the club now in a relegation scrap.
Corporate Football Organisation Portugal, known as CFO, claim they have made a bid to take over the club from current owners East Street Investments after manager Lee Bowyer labelled them as ‘worse than Roland Duchatelet.’
CFO has made two offers, one of which is to acquire the majority ownership. But, shortly after, they made another offer for assuming commitments in exchange for majority of ownership.
The consortium is said to represent a number of mainly Portuguese investors and in an interview with Sky Sports CFO founder Fernando Corte-Real revealed they have a five-year plan ready to take the Addicks back to the Premier League.
In the interview, he spoke about the current ownership issue saying: “We really need to have this story ended.”
“If we have a strategic plan for three to five years, returning to the Premier League could happen. We want to work very hard with everyone at Charlton and the supporters to make that goal a reality.”
Charlton have been absent from the Premier League for the past 13 years following their relegation at the end of the 2006/07 season.
The news of potential new Portuguese owners comes just hours after first team manager Lee Bowyer suggested that current owners East Street Investments were worse than former owner Roland Duchatelet.
The consortium led by Abu Dhabi businessman Tahnoon Nimer took over the club from Belgian Duchatelet in January but are already looking to sell following a fall out between the owner and now former chairman Matt Southall.
Now it looks like all intentions are to sell with a number of parties interested including former Swansea City chairman Huw Jenkins.
It was reported that the Welsh businessman was keen to take over the club at the end of May after a year out of the game, however not much has been said in the first few days of June.
Jenkins spent 17 years at his boyhood club Swansea City, overseeing promotions to the Championship in 2008 and to the Premier League in 2011.
The Swans were relegated in 2018 and, following criticism over the sale of the club to an American consortium in 2016, Jenkins resigned as chairman in February 2019.
It has been a gloomy 2020 so far for Charlton fans both on and off the pitch with the London based club sitting in the relegation zone and news that top scorer Lyle Taylor won’t play for the club again this season, leaving the prospect of playing League One football next season as a huge possibility.
But, new ownership could just be what the Addicks need, whether it is the Portuguese consortium or Huw Jenkins the hope of fresh leadership could provide Charlton players and supporters with the boost that they need to sail out of troubled waters.
Should the worst happen and Charlton are relegated then a strong and committed owner is precisely what the club needs and I believe that both interested parties have the vision to guide the club back to the big stage.
This article was written exclusively for golear.co.uk