Former Charlton Athletic chairman Matt Southall has claimed he has three groups of investors waiting to inject funding into the club if current majority shareholder Tahnoon Nimer steps aside.

It was announced on Friday that Nimer had removed Southall from his position as club chairman following an ownership dispute, with Nimer having accused the latter of misusing club funds since the takeover in January.

Southall firmly denied these allegations and instead accused Nimer of failing to provide proof of his funding, but it appeared as though Nimer had come out on top in the boardroom tussle after ousting Southall from the club's board.

The ex-chairman has now taken to Twitter to launch a further attack on Nimer by claiming the businessman is only pretending he has the funds to sustain Charlton, with Southall calling for Nimer to step aside from his role.

Southall has claimed he has three sets of investors on hold in the event that Nimer leaves The Valley, but he also inferred there is no action he can take while his "unlawful" removal from the club is upheld by Nimer.

Nimer and Southall formed part of the East Street Investments group which purchased the club from Roland Duchatelet back in January, but it took little over two months for cracks to start developing within the ownership team.

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The Verdict

Nimer's dismissal of Southall on Friday appeared to draw some sort of line under this ongoing ownership saga at The Valley, but Southall's latest messages suggest he is still planning on returning to his role as chairman in the future.

Southall may well be making this threat in order to put further pressure on Nimer to provide evidence of his funding, with Southall alleging the Syrian businessman's failure to provide this resulted in the club's recent transfer embargo.

Southall's fresh comments will only serve to add further fuel to the fire at The Valley, and Charlton fans may be finding it difficult to know who to trust given the mixed messages emerging from different club figureheads.