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.

Quality not quantity says Jones

Nathan Jones says that there will only be five to seven signings  at Charlton this summer with the emphasis on quality not quantity.   In other words, we haven't got the readies.

Jones admits that there is a real need for quality in the final third, but that is hard to find and expensive in both fees and wages.

I wouldn't mind the DRC keeper who is No.2 at Le Havre!

BTW, Konsa's dad was Congolese and the DRC was keen to get him to play for them.   There are about 10,000 DRC expats in London.

Time to make a few predictions:

• In the week before the first game, the New York Times has a special article on Wrexham, predicting that they will the Championship
• On the Saturday, the NYT says this will be Wrexham's last first game in the Championship before next season they claim the Premier League title that is rightfully theirs

Danny Murphy's greatest games

The latest edition of Four Four Two carries a feature on Danny Murphy's greatest games.  It is necessarily a compressed item featuring just four games, none of then at Charlton (56 appearances, seven goals).

Listening to Murphy drone away commentating on Spain versus Austria, I uncharitably thought that his former recreational habits might explain his nasal tone.   But then it occurred to me that this may be what Scousers trying to doing RP sound like.

But then the King of the North doesn't sound like that.   But then he read English at Cambridge and married a Dutch aristo.

Compering the programme was Kelly Cates who has a curious strangulated voice which may be an attempt to mask a Glaswegian accent as well as a Liverpool one.

Both Danny and Kelly have seen their relationships break up, so perhaps the World Cup could bring them together?   Danny would then join football aristocracy as Kelly is the late Sir Kenny Dalglish's daughter. But then I remembered that Kelly is in a mocked up studio in Salford and Danny appears to be perched at the top of an American football stadium.

But is it really Danny or an avatar created by AI?   It would be quite difficult to replicate his dismal tone, though.

Billy Koumetio stories may be credible

A number of sources both south and north of the border report that Billy Koumetio is about to sign for Charlton.   Earlier six figure bids were rejected by Dundee.

The 23-year old French centre half is reported to have had enough of haggis and chips and is ready to return his kilt. and live in England.   Dundee have been insisting that he is a key part of their plans.

It is now been confirmed that he has signed for Charlton.  The fee is £500,000 plus add ons.  This represents a substantial profit for the Dark Blues after his arrival from Liverpool.

Gassan Ahadme has been loaned to Cambridge United  on a season long loan to help him get game time and more fluency (i.e., find his level). The streets of SE7 remained calm after the news.

Macaulay Gillesphey is reported to have joined Bradford for an undisclosed fee.   No rending of shirts has been reported.

New signing says his main strength is aggression

Moaners were starting to come out from beneath their stones to complain about the lack of summer signings, but little did they know that the club had been talking to Ivan Mesik since the end of the season.

The left back and Slovakian international has signed for the Addicks from the Netherlands for an undisclosed fee.   He is the first Slovakian to play for Charlton, showing that the club is looking beyond the usual English journeymen.

Heracles Almelo technical director Ernest Faber commented on Ivan Mesik: "He has meant a lot to our club. This transfer is a great step in his career and a chance that he would like to use. We thank Ivan for everything he has done for Heracles Almelo and we wish him and his family all the success at Charlton Athletic."

Richard Cawley has stated: 'It is no secret that Jones has made having left wing-back cover or competition for Josh Edwards a priority after the Scot missed nearly all of last season with an ankle injury.'

Mesik told Cawley “My main strength is aggression. I like duels and to go sometimes fully to the ball. I like to tackle - but in a good way. I’m trying to play aggressively but also bring the ball up when there is open space. I like to dribble the ball to open the gate, to play between the lines. I’m a modern type of player.”

“There was a kind of happiness when I saw the stadium (The Valley) but of course I would like to see a sold-out stadium, to see the people in it. It feels great. I can’t wait to get started."

Reports from the Netherlands state that he has good pace, is physically strong and has a long throw.