Charlie Methven – on the record!
16th May 2023
A transcript of a 35 minute live interview with the Dossier.
On 3rd May, Charlie Methven contacted the Dossier with an offer to chat. He said “a mutual acquaintance” had recommended him to contact us, and that he had only recently seen the “five questions” we posed to him in our blogpost on 1. March, which he would have been happy to answer. He suggested that as a “committed uncoverer of the truth” we believe in hearing both sides of any story before making our minds up. Mr Methven has been accused, including by us, of tending to avoid statements which can stay “on the record” so we welcomed his offer. He was reluctant to allow a full video recording to be broadcast; however he did also actively wish to be quoted in full. We therefore compromised on a recorded Zoom call, from which we would extract a transcript that we would share with him before publication. He asked for one short passage to remain off the record, which we have of course respected. The call took place on 11th May. Afterwards Mr Methven requested that we hold off publication until it became clear that the bid he is involved with had been accepted. Again, given that this was his initiative, we agreed to this. After some thought, we have decided to publish the transcript in full without any ‘editorial comment’. The Dossier project is focused on the ownership and stewardship of the club, getting facts on the record, and holding relevant people to account. We expect the interview to provoke discussion of course, and we will be happy to join in; but the main goal is to have a reference point against which the actual decisions and performance of the “Methven Consortium” can be judged over time.