Franchise Notes: Doubts Rise Over Charlton Athletic Takeover

League One side Charlton Athletic staff is "losing hope" that the proposed takeover of the club by an Australian consortium will ever happen. Owner Roland Duchâtelet has been in talks with Andrew Muir for over a year and employees "fear the deal will collapse," with negotiations "seemingly at a stalemate." Gerard Murphy, who is also part of the Australian Football Consortium group, is understood to be "optimistic" a takeover will be struck but staff, as well as Charlton supporters, are skeptical (London EVENING STANDARD, 9/11).

Naples Mayor Luigi De Magistris said that it is "unthinkable" that Napoli could play games at the San Nicola, while Bari Mayor Antonio Decaro said that the stadium is not even UEFA compliant. Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis is "in open war" with the city council over the Stadio San Paolo. Naples and Bari are over 250km apart, but De Laurentiis owns both clubs and said that he would "pay to put on buses for Neapolitan fans" (FOOTBALL ITALIA, 9/11).