New Irons boss has 'interesting' past
No.1 Iceland Addick Olafur Johansson
It had always been my hope that Charlton would one day fall under Icelandic ownership, but our country's banner now embraces the ground of Anne Boleyn, writes Olafur Johnasson. Well I can tell you a thing or two about the Mr Big who is behind the takeover of Thames Ironworks.
KR Reykjavik, one of Iceland's top clubs
First of all he was once a player and is now the chairman for my own club, KR, the oldest club in the country and with a well appointed ground (see picture). When I was on the list of Mr Gwyn Jones, you will remember me as 'KR Addick'.
But not to beat around the bush. This Eggert Mahnússon is only the front man, the real power behind the scenes is Bjorgólfur Gudmundsson (try saying that in a gale force wind). He was involved in a five year court case involving the collapse of an Icelandic shipping line in which there were 450 criminal counts (not all against him, of course). He was found guilty on five bookkeeping charges and he was sentenced to 12 months in the cooler suspended for two years.
Now the Hampsters are not glamour boys. But as the Times of London says today, 'in the present climate, any Barclays Premiership side with a substantial fan base is attractive - as long as they can maintain top-flight status'. Perhaps Charlton fails the test on both counts. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? That is for you to decide.
posted by Wyn Grant at 2:25 PM
2 Comments:
Forgetting about our current predicament I fear that the premier League is becoming a League of foreign owned and UK owned - with the latter destined to be lower league, starved of funds - whilst the rouble millionaires and the like plough exorbitant funds into their subbuteo charges - not only out bidding the indigineous clubs, but forcing up the overall transfer market. These foreign owners are like the grey squirrels, what red squirrels they don't kill they push out - hopefully that won't happen to charlton - Bring on Richardski Murrayeski
Ironically if you go back to the original flotation document for Charlton (which I don't have to hand) you will find that Richard Murray was not his original name, but that he had an East European name. But Britain has always benefitted from successive waves of immigration. Richard Murray be a self-made man, but he lacks the arrogance and self importance that often goes with that.
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