Lee Bowyer committed to Charlton Athletic cause but admits players “are not happy” as boardroom uncertainty overshadows Hull City match
BY RICHARD CAWLEY
richard@slpmedia.co.uk
Lee Bowyer has pledged to stay at Charlton Athletic – despite a jaw-dropping all-out war at boardroom level.
Majority shareholder Tahnoon Nimer has pulled his financial backing of the Championship side, claiming he will not make his funds available until executive chairman Matt Southall is removed from his post.
Southall has indicated that without new investors the Addicks only have the funds to run until December.
Huddersfield pushed hard for Bowyer earlier in the season and he was also firmly in the running for Cardiff City following Neil Warnock’s exit.
The EFL have confirmed this week that Charlton were under a transfer embargo in January because East Street Investments, who took over control of the club from Roland Duchatelet the same month, are yet to satisfy their source of funding.
The Addicks dropped into the relegation zone last weekend.
“I could have gone,” said Bowyer. “Everybody knows there were approaches for me. But I want to stay and try and keep the club in the division. I said that was the target at the start of the season and nothing has changed.
“I’m not going to walk away. I’m going to stay and fight even though no-one really knows what is going on.
“Myself and Steve [Gallen, director of football] were getting criticised that we haven’t signed any players but what they didn’t know was that we didn’t have money. I would have loved to have spent. Everyone knows to give us a chance of staying in the league we had to strengthen the squad.”
Charlton’s playing squad and other staff at the club’s Sparrows Lane training ground had a meeting with Southall on Tuesday afternoon.
“The players are not happy now and I’ve got to try and pick them up,” said Bowyer. “That is not going to be easy. We have got nine games to go and this couldn’t have come at a worse time.
“We’re in a relegation fight and now I think players wise that we’re in a bad place. Not football wise but in terms of their futures. It could go one of two ways. I’ve got to try my hardest to galvanise them and persuade them that everything’s going to be okay.
“If there is anything that I will say, it is if there is one thing that this football club is good at then it is fighting when their backs are against the wall and when we get pushed into a corner.
“The fight for the Valley years’ ago and last season when no-one gave us a chance of getting promoted -What happens is that we all pull together. The fans and the players, we pull together and we fight.
“If any football club can come out of this situation and remain in this league, I think it’s us. But it does make the job harder, because there might be a few that ain’t happy.
“But if there is a time for everybody to pull together, this is it.
“There are pros and cons to it all being out there – everyone knows now what has been happening. That needed to happen a long time ago, from the beginning.
“Everyone has a right to know that we had an embargo.”
Well, many of us and we are not fools and so many posts stating have we got any money for transfers and the whole lot of them, as usual trying to pull the wool over our eyes.
IMHO think we would have backed Bows if he mentioned it at the time and it was very obvious to many that was the case but he was told in no way was he going to tell the supporters after the false PR fiasco.
This might be contentious but IMHO Bows was also in this and he states he could have gone but now stating I wanted to give it my best shot of keeping CAFC in this division.
Very hypocritical indeed and they all seem to be in it.
Perhaps they did not get any other clubs calling???
What a sorry state to air all the dirty washing in public…..Fans are still not clear on who is in control and ‘this playground type of spat’ indicates how unprofessional Southall and Nimer are.
The fans, staff and players deserve more and the EFL have a great deal to answer for in their involvement.
Sacking ( and reinstating ) Chris Parkes was a sign of how Southall deals with things…..Why was he suspended and by whom ?. Last night we had Mick,Ollie and Tracey told they were ‘sacked’ by Southall and begs the question why ?
All Bow needs to do on Saturday is to put up a picture of Southall on the flip chart in the changing room at Hull to motivate the squad…every tackle would be focused !!!!
I understand that the locks and passwords have been changed…..just need to have the keys to the 4 Range Rovers and flat keys handed in reception and order a taxi for Southall.