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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Business
City Spy

Charlton Athletic’s Charlie Methven in a league of his own

They think it’s all over

Charlie Methven, an old Etonian corporate PR man turned football investor, briefly became famous as a David Brent-type character in Netflix’s Sunderland 'Til I Die.

The show was a fly-on-the-wall documentary about the struggles at then League One football club Sunderland, where Methven controlled 5% of the shares and 95% of the oxygen. 

The series finished before he resigned from his executive position at the club, following a bust up with supporters. But, for completeness, the two seasons where Methven held a role at Sunderland resulted in the team’s two worst league finishes in their history.

Methven eventually sold his Sunderland shares, but then reappeared fronting the takeover of south London's Charlton Athletic - who currently languish in 20th position in League One, just one place higher than that club's worst ever finish of 21st in Division Three South in 1925/26.

Is Methven’s talent for creating history in English football’s third tier about to repeat itself?

(Evening Standard)

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