Winding up the Addicks Thirty years ago this spring, Charlton instead. Athletic were wound up in the High Court Unfortunately, the new chairman had and teetered on the brink of oblivion. In this neither the money to finance his ambitions, adapted extract from his 1991 book, Battle nor the judgement to restrict his promises for The Valley, shortly to be reissued, Rick to those he could keep. When the crowds Everitt describes what happened. failed to respond sufficiently to his gamble with Simonsen because the team continued Mark Hulyer was 28 years old when he took to struggle, he fell into increasing over Charlton Athletic in June 1982. Like his difficulties, eventually incurring a punitive predecessor, Michael Gliksten, he was the penalty clause for failing to keep up youngest chairman in the Football League payments due to Gliksten. at the time of his appointment. But in every His problems were complex, but at their other respect he was utterly different. root, inevitably, was the deal he had agreed A member of Charlton’s executive club, on the ground. Hulyer had arrived on the scene the The shares in the football club had previous year with a high-profile changed hands for a token £1,000. But first sponsorship scheme. Gliksten had separately acquired its Indeed, most matches in the 1981/2 principal asset, The Valley, through his season were sponsored by Marman, “an company Adelong Limited for £414,000. international company in the field of Hulyer then signed a 30-year lease on the chemicals and commodity foodstuffs”. site and the recently developed training Before long the company’s logo facilities at Valley Leisure in New Eltham for appeared on the fascia of the main stand, a rent of £110,000 per annum. welcoming supporters to the ground. An additional £300,000 was loaned to the It was not until the tenth game of that club by Gliksten to cover half the existing campaign, all sponsored by this hitherto overdraft, which the former chairman had mysterious organisation, that supporters guaranteed, and the remainder of which he learned of the reason behind it all. now paid off. The outstanding amounts, Hulyer, “chairman and founder of the plus the interest on the loan, were to be Marman group of companies”, revealed repaid over four years in quarterly himself as a lifelong fan who wanted “to instalments at a fixed rate of interest. contribute towards getting the club back Initially, the new landlord remained on the into the First Division”. board, one of only three of the existing In fact, he had made an unannounced seven directors to survive the upheaval. appearance in the programme for the Another was the diminutive Richard previous match, pictured among a group of Collins, a 40-year-old chartered surveyor executive supporters. who had once lived in Lansdowne Lane A less generous account of his arrival is behind the ground. given by team manager Alan Mullery, who He had joined the board the previous recalls Hulyer breezing into the ground with summer and now became managing a cheque for £50,000 to pay for five years’ director. The final man to provide continuity stand advertising, and thereafter becoming was the faithful fund-raiser, Bill Jenner. a regular companion of the players. Apart from Hulyer, numbers were swollen Mullery, appointed to replace the recently by Peter Crystal, a solicitor, and Malcolm departed Mike Bailey, resigned after just Stanley, chairman of the FADS chain of DIY one mediocre season in charge – on the stores which had become the club’s first day that it became clear Gliksten was shirt sponsors the previous year. handing over the chair. Builder Alan Ward also joined at the start Hulyer’s reign was to be short, but it of the season. would have devastating consequences for But the new board soon disintegrated. the club. It started with many fine words Jenner went in November, unable to answer about a new era and ambitious plans for Hulyer’s appeal for funds and Gliksten strengthening the playing staff. The cynics followed a month later, ending half a ridiculed an abortive attempt to sign former century of family representation. England captain Kevin Keegan, but were Stanley also quit at the same time, taking silenced when he landed ex-European his sponsorship deal with him, while Ward Footballer of the Year Allan Simonsen and Crystal lasted until March. Now the increasingly beleaguered Hulyer found civilised values. He despised the himself with only two colleagues, Collins professional game, but was nonetheless and Chief Francis Arthur Nzeribe, the willing to help Charlton and he offered Nigerian chairman of arms supply company Gliksten £750,000 for his remaining assets. Fanz International who had replaced However, talks broke down because he was Jenner. Probably the most exotic director in unwilling to meet the loan debt. Football League history to that point, Gliksten now obtained a bankruptcy Nzeribe was a 45-year-old former member order against Hulyer, which he refrained of the Nigerian parliament, ousted by a from serving while he saw how matters recent military coup. developed. Billings resurfaced with an offer The reason for the spate of departures of £700,000 plus a further £300,000 in soon became clear. There was deep internal respect of the loan. Again, Gliksten said no, unhappiness over the way the club was apparently because he wanted the full being run. The Simonsen transfer had been interest of £120,000 which would have a financial disaster, because although the accrued over four years as specified in the player proved a success, scoring nine original contract. Not surprisingly, Billings times in his 17 games, and the home refused and this time he withdrew from the matches saw an increase in attendances of scene permanently. some 40 per cent, it wasn’t nearly enough Frustrated at Charlton’s failure to pay the to meet the combined bill for his wages and £35,000 balance of the £180,000 fee for the transfer fee. winger Carl Harris, who had been the first The deal had also been the subject of a of new manager Ken Craggs’ signings the drawn-out wrangle with his former club previous summer, Leeds United made Barcelona who wanted binding guarantees history by becoming the first club ever to of Charlton’s ability to pay the reported seek a winding-up order against a fellow £324,000 fee. The row had reduced Hulyer’s League member. credibility and by the time Simonsen left in Gliksten joined the action and so too did March for his former club Vejle in a damage the Inland Revenue, chasing arrears of limitation exercise, the storm clouds were £145,000. The case was adjourned until July gathering a promising young central 25th, and then October 7th to give Charlton defender, Paul Elliott, had to be sold to time to find the money. On that date the Luton Town at a knock-down price in order Revenue reached a settlement, only to be to meet the wage bill. replaced as chief creditor by Gliksten, now Then Gliksten struck, gaining a summary claiming to be owed some £573,000. judgement in the High Court for repayment By the following month, no less than 14 of his loan, plus the interest for the full other creditors had emerged. Another white period of four years, a total figure of knight, in the shape of textile businessman £420,000. The only money he had ever Leslie Wise, a 57-year-old Arsenal received was that for the shares and the supporter, arrived on the scene with a new first quarterly instalment. offer of £850,000 for The Valley plus the But Hulyer argued that since the deal had New Eltham training ground Valley Leisure, not been signed until November and it was which had never been in the ownership of now March, only one instalment of £54,000 the football club. had been missed. And that, he claimed, had But his bid was less than the second been the consequence of Stanley amount offered by Billings, and Gliksten withdrawing his sponsorship. He also was now said to want £1.25m, comprising professed puzzlement at Gliksten’s pursuit £250,000 for the training ground, £420,000 of him through the courts, although he for The Valley and £580,000 in respect of the must have known of the penalty he might original loan and unpaid rent plus interest. face for falling behind. Hulyer briefly stood down as chairman in In the ensuing confusion, two October 1983, hoping to revive potential sympathetic businessmen, neither of them investors’ confidence and Collins Charlton supporters, separately tried to succeeded him, but two months later he save the situation by acquiring The Valley was back in the chair. Frustrated at the on Hulyer’s behalf in order to act as more failure of all his efforts to secure a benevolent landlords. successful takeover, his successor quit the Millionaire Ron Billings was the 80-year- board, saying only that people would have old founder and chairman of an to draw their own conclusions as to who extraordinary Southern League club, was to blame for him drawing a blank. Corinthians, based near Fawkham in Kent, Now there were only two directors, of which sought to play the game according to whom one was the obscure Chief Nzeribe. And within weeks he too had quit. But by would take at least £70,000 to buy an stay then Hulyer had hit upon a wheeze for of execution. Hulyer tumed to Greenwich obstructing the relentless progress through Council for short-term help, but wisely the the courts. In November, he started legal authority refused. For any such action of his own against Gliksten for insignificant sum injected into the now alleged offences under section 42 of the terminally insolvent company would have Companies Act 1981, relating to the sale of been money wasted. The Valley. It would earn the club a four- Charlton were given a fortnight’s reprieve month breathing space. and when the court reassembled on And now at last the fans, thus far no more February 13th it was told that the than extras in this extraordinary soap opera, mysterious Nzeribe was trying to mount a began to respond. A "Save Charlton Action rescue operation through his Flintgrange Committee“ was formed, chaired by Clive company, which was sufficient to earn a Franklin, a Bexleyheath company director, further two-week respite. and including prominent behind-the-scenes But Hulyer rejected this deal, the details figures like Colin Cameron, the club of which were never made clear, and when historian; fellow joumalist Alan Honey; on February 27th he offered the Revenue a Kentish Times sports editor Tony Flood; and solution of his own, involving three supporters’ club chairman Jack Linsdell. payments of £30,000 paid through Its major contribution was to raise part of Marman’s Swiss bank account and a transfer fee outstanding to Rotherham dependent upon the progress of a quantity United for striker Ronnie Moore. Charlton of rubber from Bangkok, Judge Mervyn had been called before a League enquiry to Davies concluded that he had heard explain themselves and there were fears enough. He reluctantly gave instructions for that points would be deducted. Charlton Athletic to be formally wound up. It would have been a shattering blow to For 24 desperate hours, it seemed the the efforts of yet another new manager, club would die, the most substantial Lennie Lawrence, who had somehow English League outfit ever to go to the wall, hoisted the troubled club to the fringe of leaving The Valley, however briefly, a the Second Division promotion race. Fans decaying monument to the mismanagement were issued with certificates in exchange of a generation. for their donations, collected in buckets by But behind the scenes Collins had been volunteers, and a cheque for £8,000 was hard at work. From an apparent multiplicity presented direct to the Yorkshire club. of potential consortia, including one There was also talk of setting up a involving Anton Johnson, a former Valley company with the aim of selling £10 shares season-ticket holder whose activities at in order to raise up to £100,000 and buy an Rotherham and Southend had led to a equity interest in the football club. But quite League investigation, he had found the clearly the supporters’ club, whose tiny club’ s saviours. Together with the hitherto membership of 250 more than trebled unknown Michael Norris, an Eltham during the crisis, simply lacked the chartered surveyor and property developer, financial muscle to make a serious impact. Collins had interested John Fryer, Charlton’s still considerable potential managing director of the giant Sunley was underlined on the last Saturday in building conglomerate, in acquiring the January when an unexpectedly large crowd ground from Gliksten. tumed out for the fourth round FA Cup tie Their plans had been laid months earlier, against First Division, but hardly but only now that Hulyer and the hopelessly glamorous, opposition in the shape of debt-ridden old company were leaving the Watford. The attendance was given as scene could they afford to come forward. 22,392, of which at most 7,000 came to And it meant that they had to act support the Hertfordshire club. desperately quickly, because the Football Strictly speaking, in fact, the gate was League was demanding to know whether narrowly above The Valley’s official safety the club could fulfil its fixtures. limit, something which was conveniently Even now Hulyer wanted to fight on. It overlooked. The home side lost 2-0, wasn’t until two days later that he finally although some consolation was the club’s gave up hope of appealing against the one third share of The Valley’s record winding-up order. receipts, which totalled £70,423. In the meantime, the gates of The Valley Just two days later, however, they were were locked by the official receiver and the back in court, where the Inland Revenue players and staff exiled to the neighbouring were now demanding £108,554, of which it Valley Club to wait, with the fans, for news of Charlton’ s fate. Hard-won new signing goodwill in the vital days that followed. But Moore was even thrown out of the the truth was that they simply did not have Clarendon Hotel at Blackheath because of the money. It had to come from Sunley’s, fears that the bill would not be paid. who consequently became owners of the Initially it seemed that the consortium of football club, with Fryer, not Norris as had Collins, Norris, Fryer and former director been intended, chairman. Stanley would take control of a new A valuable intervention now came from company on March 1st. But the official Greenwich Council, who had turned a deaf receiver wanted more time. ear to all Hulyer’s pleas and even rejected a That in itself might have spelled the end of plan for a market at The Valley which might Charlton, but as the following day wore on have helped him. They agreed to inject the League gave them a stay of execution by £250,000 into the new company over five agreeing to postpone the weekend fixture at years in return for benefits to the Blackbum. The news came as a relief to the community and a seat on the board. anxious players, who were in no mood to Still more fundamental to the rescue face the long journey north. But it was operation was an agreement between the received with disappointment at Ewood warring parties of Gliksten and Hulyer to Park, where there was some concern as to waive the debts incurred by the old whether they would be able to cancel the company and drop the legal actions against matchday order of pies. each other. Charlton, meanwhile, were back in court The former had been woken at 5am in on the Monday, then Tuesday, and finally Australia to be told the news of the Thursday, with the League’s deadline now winding-up and hurried back to England. just hours away. Hulyer had made various claims about the Fryer, as he soon had good reason to money Marman had put in, but a figure of stress, was a Charlton fan, who claimed to around £300,000 was put before the court. have seen his first match at The Valley at Only at the last possible moment, as the Christmas 1927. But as the saga dragged hearing began at 3pm on Thursday, March on and on, and the probable cost to his 8th, was this vital agreement reached. company rose, it is unlikely that he would When the parties arrived in court to seek have proceeded had it not been for the the judge’s approval, they had to stand in encouragement of his partner John Sunley, the aisles because the public gallery was whose main sporting interest was horse- choked with anxious fans. racing rather than football. It was just before 3.30 when the news In the closing stages of the negotiations, finally came that Charlton were safe. And it was Sunley who persuaded Fryer to even then there was a desperate dash to indulge himself by saving the club. the London offices of the League to satisfy The original plan had been for the them that the new company, Charlton building company to purchase the freehold Athletic (1984) Limited, could meet the of The Valley for a mammoth £1,075,000 and obligations set down for them before they put just £50,000 into the Charlton company would be accepted to run the club. itself. But the League’s demand for financial Charlton had been within minutes of guarantees had ruled out the idea of becoming the Accrington Stanley of their Sunley’s becoming simply benevolent generation. There was, above all else, landlords, recouping their investment by monumental and justifiable relief. The new the development of a sports complex. directors emerged to tumultuous and All creditors had to get 60 per cent of the deserved acclaim at the following money due to them, with other clubs Saturday’s home game with Grimsby Town. receiving 70 per cent and the Inland But ownership of the ground and club Revenue paid in full. remained divided. For Gliksten had rejected These were the same terms which had Sunley’s offer for The Valley. Instead, the been imposed on the other member clubs consortium had secured a ten-year lease at that had come back from the dead. But they a reduced rent of £70,000 per annum with a were an awesome burden on the hopeful view to an eventual purchase. That division consortium, given the total debt of over was to be the crucial factor in all that £1.5m, and they led to the departure of followed. Yet it is worth noting that even if Malcolm Stanley, who angrily accused the the original deal had gone through, and League of wanting Charlton to die. Sunley’s bought the ground but not the The other members of the consortium club, the separation of ownership would promptly dissociated themselves from his still have existed. And who is to say what remarks for fear of losing Lytham St Annes’ path history might have taken then?