A letter from the club’s ownership

As 2024/25 season tickets go on sale, the club’s owners Global Football Partners have written the below letter to supporters:

Dear Charlton supporter,

After everything we have experienced and learned about this great club over the last seven months, the 2024/25 campaign is one we are excited about. This moment - with you being asked for ongoing support, in the form of a season ticket purchase for next season - is an appropriate time to bring you up-to-date with our actions and thoughts.

We took over as custodians of Charlton on the eve of the current season. It was not an ideal start date, with pre-season at an end and the transfer window very well advanced, but the duration of the EFL approval process was not in our hands.

Let’s not mince words: whilst the women’s first-team has been highly competitive and are in the mix for promotion to the Women’s Super League, the men’s first-team’s season has been disappointing. In particular, December and January was a bruising period for all Addicks.

However, sometimes one needs to take one step back in order to take two steps forward. Over the first half-year of our ownership, the Charlton Board took a thorough look ‘under the bonnet’ of the club to get a full picture of the changes that needed to be made. As a result, the following steps have been taken:

1. We appointed, in Nathan Jones, a manager that we all have real faith in
2. That appointment was backed up with the arrival of Paul Hart, a vastly-experienced coach who has worked with Nathan over a number of years. The pair are working alongside Curtis Fleming, another experienced coach, who joined us in January
3. In January, and even since then, we have financed significant improvements to the playing squad, paying transfer fees where deemed necessary by our football department as part of our squad-planning strategy
4. An elite Director of Performance Services has been appointed to improve all aspects of the physical performance of our playing staff. Dr Will Abbott joined the club in January from Brighton & Hove Albion and we have already seen a dramatic improvement in the men’s first-team’s running numbers and player availability
5. An elite Individual Development Phase Coach James Brayne has been appointed to ensure that our young players continue to develop their games as they make the move from the academy to the men’s first-team squad
6. The academy has been strengthened, both by filling vacant coaching roles, but also by the addition of a full-time deputy head of academy recruitment
7. A major partnership has been launched with Mount Pleasant FC in Jamaica, giving our academy access to a broader elite talent pool

Prior to Nathan agreeing to join as manager, given his pedigree and ambition, he quite rightly needed to understand in full the nature of the ownership’s backing for a promotion push. We were able to give him the assurances he required and we give the same assurances to you.

However, it’s important that we all recognise that Charlton is not solely defined by the men’s first-team, important though that is. Our Community Trust (CACT) is the leading club community organisation in English football; our outstanding academy was recently ranked eighth in England; and our women’s club is competing hard to join the elite 12-member Women’s Super League. Taken together, no other EFL club (and only a very small handful of Premier League clubs) can compare to what Charlton does in these areas. There is so much to be proud of already, but we are determined to build on the success of these parts of our organisation, which will benefit the club as a whole in the long run.

In the months running up to Christmas, the Board also completed a comprehensive analysis of how we can increase the scope, scale and impact of our organisation off the pitch for the betterment of the teams on the pitch, benefiting from increased support and revenue. We have focused on our relevance to, and engagement with, both our existing fanbase and local communities. Resultant actions are as follows:

1. Agreement internally on a fan engagement structure - shortly to be discussed with supporters' groups - which is fully compliant and goes beyond what the new legislation suggests
2. The Charlton Board has engaged with the leading stadium design and architecture consultancy Trivandi to put in place a rolling series of improvements to the matchday experience
3. The first such improvements will be the installation of safe standing at the rear of the Covered End and the construction of a Fan Zone outside the stadium
4. A medium-term marketing campaign focused on increasing our relevance and visibility within the local community
5. A soon-to-be-launched Schools Partnership, allowing us to engage with a young audience
6. Building on the club’s proud history of leading the fight against racism in football and bringing equality to the game 
7. Charlton is already ranked in the top six EFL clubs for environmental, social and governance (ESG) and intend to improve further, in partnership with lead sponsor RSK
8. Together with CACT, we will shortly announce a major business-focused fundraising initiative, enabling Charlton to super-charge our positive social impact in South East London
9. We have signed a new digital media partnership with the world’s largest football content organisation, FootballCo (goal.com/Mundial), with the intention of spreading Charlton’s unique brand beyond the bounds of South East London

From the beginning of our ownership our mantra has been ‘actions rather than words’, but there is still so much to do. Our collective aim is for Charlton to become the most cohesive and sustainable community-driven club in the UK competing at an elite level. Doubtless there will be ups and downs along the way, but in an era of strict revenue-based cost controls your club’s potential will only be achieved with your active support and engagement. That is now what we respectfully request.

GLOBAL FOOTBALL PARTNERS (GFP)