The Varney 'memoirs' and Duchatelet

The latest instalment of Peter Varney's conversations with Richard Cawley on his Substack page cover Duchatelet and his guitar playing successor.  Needless to say, Varney has little time for either of them.

I have asked Richard Cawley if these interviews can be aggregated in some way as they give a fascinating 'behind the scenes' look at Charlton's recent travails.

Varney doesn't suffer fools gladly and I felt the rough edge of his tongue when I put friendship with an Addick before good judgement.   Nevertheless, he is a very shrewd and experienced individual and a genuine Addick.

Rick Everitt and Varney worked closely together on the excellent Rickshaw project  among others and Varney uses Everitt as corroboration at one point in his remarks.  Nevertheless, it has been alleged that they had the occasional  vigorous exchange of views when working together.

Duchatelet seems to have formed the view with Varney was a 'bad' person and refused to engage with him in relation to attempts to buy the club from serious bidders.  The barmy Belgian's excessive valuations of the stadium and the training ground also discouraged prospective buyers.

Apparently Duchatelet took exception to a £25k consultancy fee Varney had received from Jiminez for some hard work on his behalf.   Varney initially got nothing, but Her Indoors rightly insisted that he should be paid for his labours.

As for Sandgaard, Varney makes it clear what he thinks of his lack of realism.

Greg Docherty rumours

Unconfirmed reports are suggesting that Blackburn Rovers and Leicester City are interested in Charlton captain Greg Docherty.

He has one year left on his Charlton contract.

It's not coming home

I didn't buy into all the 'It's coming home' hype, but I did hope we would make it to the final.  Supporting Charlton should inoculate me against football disappointment, but it doesn't work like that.

I was 19 when we won the World Cup, watching it at home on a black and white television.   I didn't fully appreciate at the time as I was about to embark on my first trip abroad, travelling around Northern Europe by boat and night train, ending up in Finland which has always been a special place for me.

I don't want to add much to what the armchair managers are saying, other than saying that I don't think we have enough world class players.   The referee should have done something about the early fouls by Argentine players.   However, this is not the Premier League and, having been to both Argentina and Chile more than once, the game there is more physical.

My wife has just told me that she saw Argentina beat Spain 2-1 in the group matches in 1966, having been given free tickets to Villa Park by her oil company employers.

Given that my daughter and partner, one granddaughter and my great-granddaughter live in Spain, I shall feel justified in supporting them on Sunday.

Dykes departs?

It appears that 'Last Ditch' Dykes is on trial at Bristol City, having been photographed there.  However, there has been no comment from official or unofficial sources in Bristol.  

Richard Cawley reports: It’s been radio silence on the club future of Lyndon Dykes since the end of last season.   What we do know is that Charlton Athletic had offered the Scotland international, a free agent after his short-term deal expired on July 1, fresh terms.

Presumably Bristol can offer him better terms as they seek promotion to the top flight.  The club is bank rolled by Steve Lansdown who was one of the founders of the funds supermarket Hargreaves Lansdown.

For more about Bristol City and the benevolence of Steve Lansdown, go here: https://footballeconomyv2.blogspot.com/2025/01/parachute-payments-make-life-difficult.html

*The writer is a client of Hargreaves Lansdown.

Apologies for lack of posting, but I have been rather preoccupied with the World Cup.  I remember 1966 well, but it seems a long time ago.   In an earlier post I selected Jude Bellingham as a truly world class player.   Here is a photo of him with his brother in the kit of my non-league club Leamington (his father was a great striker for the Brakes):

 

Deloitte warn on Championship finances

Deloitte have warned in their latest financial report that the state of the Championship gives them the greatest cause for concern in European football.

'‘The underlying football fundamentals of England’s second tier remain strong, providing the foundations to sustain and build domestic engagement and an incredible opportunity to grow global interest. It’s a competition with a wealth of authentic narrative about fans, communities, players and an increasingly multi-national mix of owners.

It’s the landing point for relegated clubs to seek resurgence, the platform for some larger football communities seeking promotion after many years away from the top, and occasionally a dreamy wonderland for a smaller town club to punch above its weight.

Escalating player wage costs and agent fees drive persistent and growing levels of annual losses. Despite impressive revenue growth over the past 20 seasons (average annual growth of 6%), Championship clubs’ aggregate losses over the same period total £4.5 billion.

These annual losses are being funded by a combination of owner injections through equity (£0.9 billion across the past five seasons) and soft loans, alongside more risky sources of cash from external lenders, player sales and, for the lucky few, promotion to the Premier League. These annual financial results and funding strategies yield a deteriorating balance sheet position, for which the latest published snapshot in 2025 reveals aggregate net debt of £1.4 billion and very few clubs with significant positive cash reserves.

This financial fragility fuels fans’ frustrations, the media’s portrayal of ‘clubs-in-crisis’, churn of ownership, regulatory interventions such as player transfer embargoes, complexities of legal disputes and, unfortunately, the occasional distress and uncertainty of an insolvency situation.

For club owners, their personal reputation, well-being and financial health are at stake. For the competition overall, this uncomfortable off-pitch business narrative blurs the focus away from football. Football’s innate competitiveness and passionate personal desire for triumph over others drives the intensity of talent recruitment and retention.

Club owners seeking to satiate their fans’ appetite for success are simultaneously and collectively succumbing to the financial demands of players, managers and their agents. The financial prize of promotion to the Premier League, even when short lived, provides an added dimension which fuels clubs’ business behaviours, with these increasingly tending to prioritise shorter term goals.

Recognising the need for collective action and financial regulatory intervention, the Football League and its member clubs have devised a variety of antidotes in recent decades, influenced in the past by the Premier League’s somewhat short shrift financial regulatory methods. In the circumstances, the Football League has commendably battled to help mitigate some of the worst financial excesses over the past 20 years.’

Mitchell delighted to don the kilt

Charlton's Zach Mitchell is delighted to be don the kilt and return to St. Johnstone on a season long loan.  He has fallen in love with the city of Perth and the Pars: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/articles/c1jyyr6nz99o

Mitchell was very much a fans' favourite at McDiarmid Park and is looking forward to playing in the SPL.

Last season Mitchell had to be recalled from an unsatisfactory loan at Hibernian.  My Scottish correspondent, Angus from Portobello, is a Hibernian season ticket holder and thought he was badly treated at Easter Road.  He was surprised that more use was not made of him.

Charlton is able to sign foreign players who have difficulty with the impenetrable accents of the Central Belt and the cuisine.   Equally, many English players enjoy the warmth of a Scottish welcome.

I lived in Glasgow for a year in Balmanno Building, Rotten Row (and it was) but it was great to live in the centre of a city and yet to have spectacular countryside and islands within easy reach.   It was also great for my sport of orienteering.   And haggis and chips at lunchtime was just nine old pence.

Slow, slow, quick, quick, slow

Nathan Jones has emphatically denied rumours linking Charlton with St Mirren striker Mikael Mandron.  Whether or not he stays in Paisley, he is not coming to Charlton.   It would appear from Scottish sources that he is ready to hand in his kilt, but Leicester City are also reported to be interested in the Frenchman.

Jones says he was impressed with the performance of trialist Nathan Redmond who will be going to Slovenia.   The winger is a free agent after being let go by Blackburn Rovers.

Jones has emphasised that it will be a slow window.  More on Richard Cawley's Substack page.