Derby to carry on against Charlton after shock news

Derby County have been left stunned after Saudi Arabian boxing powerbroker Turki Al-Sheikh backed out of a proposed deal to buy a majority stake in the Championship club at the 11th hour.

The Times reported in May that Al-Sheikh, an adviser in Saudi Arabia’s royal court who serves as the head of the General Entertainment Authority, was in advanced talks to purchase Derby from David Clowes, who saved the club from liquidation in 2022.

Al-Sheikh satisfied the Independent Football Regulator (IFR) and the English Football League (EFL) that his wealth was separate to that of the Saudi Public Investment Fund and was cleared to complete the deal last week. However, in an about-face that shocked Derby chiefs, Al-Sheikh abruptly called off the takeover on Monday, five days before the beginning of the season.

A statement from Derby read: “The club can confirm discussions with Lion Sport [the group headed by Al-Sheikh] to buy a controlling interest in Derby County will no longer proceed.  “The purchase process had been sanctioned by both the Independent Football Regulator and the EFL, notification of which the club received last week.

“However, today the club received notice that Lion Sport no longer wanted to continue with the purchase. For the benefit of any doubt, the club is now off the market and will continue to operate under the loyal, committed and unwavering support of Clowes Developments. Our preparations continue for the new EFL season, beginning against Charlton Athletic on Saturday.”

Al-Sheikh took to social media shortly afterwards and implied that the time taken by the IFR to approve the takeover was key to him pulling out of the deal. 

The approval process took 55 days — 90 days are permitted — and, given the complexities of the case because of Al-Sheikh’s longstanding relationship with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and his role as a government minister, there is understood to be scepticism about whether other factors could be at hand.

“I would like to thank everyone at Derby County Football Club, and everyone involved in this process for all their hard work over the past few months,” Al-Sheikh said in a statement.

“We understood that the IFR process takes time and fully respect the importance of that, but unfortunately with the season already started, it would leave us with no time to prepare the team or the club for the season ahead.

Al-Sheikh previously owned both the Spanish club UD Almería and Pyramids FC in Egypt, but his primary involvement in sport has focused on boxing, and he is bringing the Anthony Joshua v Tyson Fury mega-fight to Saudi Arabia under the “Riyadh Season” banner. He was linked with an approach to buy Bristol City last year but that also did not come to fruition.

 

Welcome Timothy Ouma

Welcome to the 22-year old Kenyan international who joins the Addicks on a year long loan deal.  The  midfielder is physically robust and has a good positional sense.

Kenya Diaspora Media writes: 'For the Nairobi-born footballer, the transfer represents another important chapter in a journey that has taken him from the Kenyan domestic game to the European stage and now to England.

Ouma began attracting attention during his time with Nairobi City Stars, where his technical ability and maturity stood out despite his young age. His performances eventually earned him a move to Slavia Prague in 2022, allowing him to begin his professional career in Europe.

The transition to Czech football presented a new challenge. Ouma had to adapt to a different football culture, higher tactical demands and the physical intensity associated with European competition. At Slavia Prague, he continued to develop his game, although opportunities to establish himself as a regular first-team player were limited. Nevertheless, his qualities remained evident.

His ability to retain possession under pressure, pick out passes and connect midfield with attack made him one of the promising young players in the club’s ranks.

His move to Charlton now offers the midfielder something particularly valuable: regular competitive football.

Charlton Athletic, one of England’s historic clubs, sees Ouma as a player capable of adding creativity, energy and technical quality to its midfield. The club is looking to build a squad capable of competing at the top end of League One, with a mixture of established experience and emerging young talent.Ouma’s arrival fits into that strategy.

The option to make the transfer permanent also provides an indication of Charlton’s confidence in the Kenyan midfielder. If he impresses during his loan spell, the English club could move to secure his services on a long-term basis.For Ouma, however, the immediate priority will be to adapt quickly.

English football is renowned for its pace, intensity and physical demands. League One provides a particularly competitive environment, with matches often played at a high tempo and little room for players to hesitate in possession.That challenge could prove invaluable for a midfielder who is still developing his game.

Ouma possesses the technical attributes required to thrive in England. His composure on the ball, vision and ability to operate in different midfield positions give him tactical flexibility. He can play as a central midfielder while also contributing in more advanced areas, making him an attractive option for a club seeking creativity.Regular football could also accelerate his development considerably.

SCR will benefit the wealthiest clubs

From his Zurich fastness the authoritative Swiss Ramble explains the new Squad Control Ratio operative in the Cbampionship.  The full analysis is available on his Substack page.

As the 2026/27 season approaches, clubs in the EFL Championship will have to comply with a new set of financial regulations, as a new Squad Cost Rules (SCR) financial framework will replace the previous Profitability and Sustainability Regulations (PSR). The SCR system will limit a club’s spending on player and manager-related costs to 85% of its income, alongside a limited level of owner funding.

In the May press release, the allowable equity injection was given as £33m over a three-year period (up to a maximum of £15m a season).  However, this has been slightly increased according to the recently published 2026/27 regulations, so the three-year allowance is now £34.3m, while the maximum per season is up to £16m.

The EFL listed a number of objectives behind the move from PSR to SCR:

• Create a simpler and more responsive system of cost control within the Championship.
• Allow for real-time monitoring during the season, rather than reviewing ‘after the event’.
• Closer alignment with the Premier League, which is also introducing SCR from the 2026/27 season.
• Include safeguards around commercial deals linked to owners or associated parties.

In addition, SCR will focus solely on spending that directly affects what happens on the pitch, as opposed to all expenditure.

The most important element of the denominator in the SCR is obviously the revenue reported in club accounts.   This means that SCR revenue is basically derived from the classic match day, broadcasting and commercial revenue streams. These include gate receipts, central TV distributions (EFL, Premier League parachute and solidarity payments), sponsorships and pre-season tours.

One of the major differences between PSR and SCR is how player trading is captured. PSR applied the standard accounting treatment, so included profit on player sales, i.e. transfer proceeds less any remaining book value, player amortisation and player impairment.  In contrast, SCR includes player trading on a net cash basis, i.e. transfer amounts received less transfer amounts paid.

SCR will clearly benefit the wealthiest clubs, as they have the advantage of higher revenue, often exacerbated by larger profits from player sales, which means that they will have a much bigger budget to spend on their squad.

This is especially the case for clubs receiving parachute payments, so four of the five clubs with the highest allowable income (before any equity injections) were recently relegated from the Premier League, namely Leeds United £91m, Sheffield United £70m, Burnley £41m and Luton Town £40m.

In addition, clubs that have bigger stadiums and lucrative sponsorship deals will also do well under SCR, as seen at Sunderland £54m, Bristol City £39m and Norwich City £37m.

If a club breaches the SCR limit, it will face sanctions that can include fines, transfer embargoes or even points deductions. The penalty is determined by an independent panel based on the extent and materiality of the breach, and whether the breach was “deliberate, reckless, or negligent”.

SCR is significantly different from PSR, its predecessor. Although there are many differences, perhaps the most fundamental change is a move to real-time monitoring, as opposed to a review after the event, which must be considered as a step in the right direction.  SCR also focuses on the current season instead of the last three years, looks at cash movements instead of being influenced by the vagaries of player trading accounting, and has a higher equity cap.

 

Kaminski to go Dutch?

Various sources, including supporters at the Dutch club, claim that Sparta Rotterdam are poised to sign Charlton keeper Thomas Kaminski.

No independent confirmation at present, but he was not included in the squad at Cheltenham.

Sparta, the oldest club in the Netherlands, had been targeting another keeper without success.

The keeper dilemma

It has been a source of frustration that in my extended family I have just one relative who is interested in football, a son-in-law who is a season ticket holder at Southampton and is very sensitive about any discussion of the club.

I was therefore pleased and surprised to learn at the weekend that my eldest granddaughter's partner has been training with one of the country's oldest non-league clubs and has joined the squad as a goal keeper.

Keepers have always fascinated me ever since I watched Sam Bartram.  Dean Kiely was another hero.

Yet keepers attract far smaller fees than outfield players in general.   Curbs certainly got a bargain when he signed Kiely from Bury.

Success at the highest level of the game seems to depend on high-quality goalkeeping. And yet that importance is not reflected in what clubs have traditionally been willing to spend on the position.

The comparison with other positions is startling. Spending on forwards and midfielders long ago breached the £100m mark.  In transfer market terms, goalkeepers lag behind. Why?

Historically, one obvious explanation stands above others: attacking players are more fun and fashionable, and it’s easier to measure their worth.   Goalscorers have a clear value, and that is as true now as it was in the late 19th century. Attacking players are also more regularly associated with exciting, game-changing moments, memories that have always justified their value.

That mattered because, for many years, transfer spending depended on convincing club directors of a player’s worth. In Jonathan Wilson’s biography of Brian Clough, he recalls the then-Nottingham Forest head coach facing “murmurings from the board” after spending £270,000 on goalkeeper Peter Shilton in 1977. Clough described a member questioning why so much money was being spent on a player who “would not be involved for 85 minutes of a game”.   Of course, that is less true nowadays with sweeper keepers.

Ian Graham was director of research at Liverpool between 2012 and 2023. He is also the author of the book How to Win the Premier League, published in 2025. He told The New York Times that analysing goalkeepers remains comparatively difficult for most clubs: “The most important thing goalkeepers do — stopping shots — is captured very well by the data, but (as with all football data) it’s easy to analyse it wrongly. The other aspects of play are also much more difficult.

“For instance, traditional data providers are not good at capturing whether a goalkeeper tried to claim a cross or corner. Instead, they often record only when there’s an error or a success. You need tracking data to capture goalkeeper ability properly. For instance, calculating whether they could or should have come out for a cross or corner requires significant modelling beyond what most clubs can do in-house.”

A scout for a Champions League club told the NYT “What’s really strange is that you meet a lot of scouts who say: ‘I don’t really know much about goal keepers’. I do it myself. And with other positions that would never be accepted. Imagine if you said: ‘Oh, I don’t really know much about wingers?’.

Another analyst commented: There’s not as much fluctuation in the position — you don’t need to make a change every second season. If you sign a goalkeeper, sometimes they stay for five, six, seven or eight years. It’s not that it’s easier to find a goalkeeper, but you probably have more time to prepare when you do have to sign one.’

Many clubs encourage stability, particularly around their goalkeepers. While competition and depth are seen as positives in most outfield positions, the same thinking is not often applied to goalkeepers, who benefit from trust and faith and are not subject to the same rotation. Most teams have a designated first choice and do not spend heavily on reserve ‘keepers partly to avoid that unrest.

A scout for a Premier League team made a further point: “How many top goalkeepers are there that you would spend a large fee on? There are fewer than 10 right now, and all of them are starting for top clubs. Gianluigi Donnarumma was available last summer, but that was unusual.

“There’s a supply and demand problem. The best clubs sign goalkeepers and stick with them, so they don’t buy very often. There are not many goalkeepers that are worth that kind of investment, so that’s another factor. And those that are worth it aren’t moving clubs anyway.”

Talent production is a different issue. Many more youngsters grow up wanting to score goals rather than save them. The position also requires a particular size and build, which is another filter.

 

 

 

Charlton are Kings

A suburb of Cheltenhm is called Charlton Kings and so it proved yesterday in the Carabao Cup with the Addicks convincing 3-1 winners.  Negativists searching for a narrative pointed out that it was Cheltenham  not Chelsea.

Nathan Jones' side opened up a three-goal lead before half-time, with Matty Godden, Sonny Carey and Tyreece Campbell on target.

Godden fired wide with the first chance in the fourth minute but two goals in two minutes put Charlton firmly in control.  Godden charged down a clearance from Robbie Cundy, allowing Carey to set him up for a finish which bounced in off the post in the 22nd minute.

Carey then fired in the second almost immediately to make it 2-0.  And Campbell was teed up by Conor Coventry before curling a fine shot inside the top-right corner from outside the penalty area, giving goalkeeper Joe Day no chance in the 37th minute.

Day denied Karlan Grant with a fine stop just before half-time and Cheltenham pulled one back 10 minutes into the second half.

Joe Tomlinson's in-swinging corner was nodded in from close range by George Miller.

Will Mannion denied Tomlinson after Shaun McWilliams' cross in the 59th minute as Cheltenham nearly pulled another one back.

But Charlton had done enough and only two late saves from substitute goalkeeper Wyll Stanway denied them a fourth.

Kayne Ramsay is out for for a few weeks with an ankle injury.

Steve Cotterill, the Cheltenham Town manager, was full of admiration for the quality of Charlton’s attackers - and claimed to know about transfer interest in them. “Their finishes have been incredible,” he said. “We’re talking about a good few million pounds that those goals are worth.

“You’ll probably see, in a short space of time, a couple of those players…..there’s already been bids in for them, I know that. They are going to be going for big money soon.

Charlton need spark

Charlton visit the EV Charger Points stadium for an early evening Carabao Cup game against Cheltenham Town.   Our record against them is poor, as the CAS Trust preview notes.  I well remember the 1-2 defeat they inflicted on us at The Valley: https://www.castrust.org/2026/08/cup-run-starts-here/

One of the suburbs of Cheltenham is Charlton Kings.

Just how many GCHQ employees support them is unclear, just as Charlton at one seemed to attract a lot of junior MI5 operatives who all claimed they were called 'Brian'.   Probably the GCHQ types are more interested in egg chasing or golf.   One career decision I got right was not turning up for the GCHQ entrance exam.

Watching the Boro v Wrexham match last night, the Hollywood team relied on packing their defence and trying to counter attack.  Both teams made unforced errors which suggests they are not invincible.  Neither of them seemed that clinical when they had chances.

My wine recommendation for tonight is not cheap, but it is nowhere near the £40 Lord Young of Acton pays for 'plonk', probably about £12-£13.   Christian Patat Appassimento is a quality red from Italy and won't disappoint.  I have just ordered more bottles from Naked Wines.   (I was one of the 'angels' who provided start up capital for this venture).