Charlton Athletic: Thomas Sandgaard claims he has bought League One club

Charlton Athletic were relegated from the Championship last season

Danish-American businessman Thomas Sandgaard claims he has completed a takeover of Charlton Athletic.

Paul Elliott was granted an injunction to block the sale of the club's holding company East Street Investments last week, until a court case to determine his claim on the Addicks is held.

Elliott had an attempt to purchase the League One club rejected by the English Football League in August.

Sandgaard has satisfied the EFL's owners' and directors' test.

However, an EFL statement said it noted the change in control, but that the sale of Charlton was now "a matter for the interested parties".

The statement added: "The League is not party to the ongoing court proceedings taking place.

"Therefore it remains a matter for the respective parties to resolve and as a result we are not in a position to comment."

The case to resolve the ownership issue of ESI is due to be held in November.

Tahnoon Nimer and Matt Southall were behind ESI's takeover of the south-east London club in January, but Manchester-based businessman Elliott stepped in to buy the company in June.

"While there was an injunction in place to prevent the acquisition of ESI, it did not prevent the acquisition of the club itself," Sandgaard said in a statement on the club website.

"The club will be working quickly post-completion to recover any losses suffered as a result of the actions of the previous owners to the extent possible."

Prospective owner Elliott is aware of Sandgaard's statement and has been contacted for a response.

Sandgaard says, in addition to his deal to buy the club, he has negotiated a 15-year lease on The Valley and the club's training ground with previous Addicks owner Roland Duchatelet.

"I am very happy," he said. "I cannot believe what kind of circus there has been around this situation for the last four weeks but we have managed to get it through and now we can look to bring some stability back to the club."

Sandgaard is based in the United States and owns a company which manufactures medical devices.

'We did the impossible'

Thomas Sandgaard has attended a number of Charlton games this season

The Charlton website has published an open letter from Sandgaard to the club's fans, which the Dane signs off as "proud owner of CAFC".

"We did the impossible," he wrote.

"We triumphed and we made it to this point because of you.

"Thank you for your passion, your perseverance and your patience. There is no club without you."

Also on Friday, Charlton confirmed the signing of former Wigan and Nottingham Forest midfielder Ben Watson on a one-year contract.

The 35-year-old, who scored Wigan's winning goal in the 2013 FA Cup final, left Forest at the end of last season.