Former Charlton solicitor Chris Farnell given right to pursue ownership of a football club

Former Charlton director Chris Farnell has been cleared for football club ownership by the EFL.

The solicitor had his role as the club solicitor at The Valley terminated in August.

He was informed today that his Disqualification Condition has been lifted after successfully appealing to an independent League Arbitration Panel.

The Panel heard that, an inadvertent mistake had been made during the initial Owners and Directors Test application, and that there was no dishonest or deliberate attempt to provide false or misleading information.

The decision means Mr Farnell is now free to reapply, under the EFLs OADT, if he wished to do so without prejudice or restriction.

A spokesman for Mr Farnell, said: “Following a hearing on Tuesday October 28 2020, before an independent League Arbitration Panel, Mr Farnell succeeded in his Review Application of the EFL’s decision to impose a ‘Disqualifying Condition’ upon him under the EFL’s Owners’ and Directors Test.”

Farnell was initially appointed by Tahnoon Nimer as a boardroom battle kicked off with Matt Southall and Jonathan Heller.

Farnell arrived in SE7 in March and claimed he was only temporarily made a director of East Street Investments in order to help in the running of the club.

He was removed as a director of ESI the same day that the EFL declined to approve three individuals who had applied for the Owners’ and Directors’ Test (OADT).

The trio had 14 days to appeal the decision and earlier this week Farnell was working on doing that for two of the people. It is not clear yet how his removal for his position has affected that.