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Championship faces financial catastrophe
shirty5
Posts: 19,717
"There are dark clouds hovering over the English football pyramid and it seems to me there could be a real collapse where only the Premier League survives," said Eisner.
"Every single club in the Championship lost money last year. The combined operating loss of the 24 teams for the last full set of published results in 2023-24 was £411m.
"No club can survive for the long-term in this system and if that continues, catastrophe will happen.
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Odd, it was being referenced that our financial performance could only ever be stable if we were in the Championship.
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I think you'll find every club loses money, just at variable levels...5
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I make him right. Much of the world has moved on from English football outside the PL in terms of ownership.
They have been sanctioned like Russia or have money controls like China.
The whole thing is currently being propped up by Americans who have more money than sense and have watched the Wrexham documentary and think they can do it.
Sooner or later it comes tumbling down hard and I worry for clubs like us especially, who have huge fixed cost bases we simply cannot afford without a very wealthy owner.4 -
Said nobody_uptheaddicks said:Odd, it was being referenced that our financial performance could only ever be stable if we were in the Championship.
Pretty much every club outside the Premier league loses money.
Regarding Charlton the only way our owners can make money is if we reach the Premier League7 -
many people on Charlton life kept saying we have to get to the Championship, as we cold not survive financialy league 1. We would lose less money in league 1 as wages are lower by a country mile.blackpool72 said:
Said nobody_uptheaddicks said:Odd, it was being referenced that our financial performance could only ever be stable if we were in the Championship.
Pretty much every club outside the Premier league loses money.
Regarding Charlton the only way our owners can make money is if we reach the Premier League
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And to think some fans have had a go at Carter when he said he wanted us to be sustainable as opposed to going for itAthletico Charlton said:I make him right. Much of the world has moved on from English football outside the PL in terms of ownership.
They have been sanctioned like Russia or have money controls like China.
The whole thing is currently being propped up by Americans who have more money than sense and have watched the Wrexham documentary and think they can do it.
Sooner or later it comes tumbling down hard and I worry for clubs like us especially, who have huge fixed cost bases we simply cannot afford without a very wealthy owner.3 -
West Brom lost £17 million in the 2024/2025 season recently declared accounts.0
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Portsmouth only lost 4.6 million last season which is quite impressive considering the amount other clubs are losing0
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I am really proud of our owners and thankful for all they have done for us. I often ask myself why have they bought us, given that we must lose serious money each year and will need more incoming investment next season if we are to maintain our Championship status.
Is it purely the dream of the Premier League and then eventual sale to some mega owner or will they try and sell us as an upper tier Champ club with potential.
The ground and Sparrows also need to be bought at some point as well.
Just can't understand the business plan but am just so grateful that they are backing us whatever the prospect of profitability which seems almost non existent if the Pompey Chairman is to be believed.......4 -
Let’s face it. The Premier League is strangling football in this country. The money swilling around there and the obscene efforts of some Championship clubs to get their noses in the trough will one day end the beautiful game as we know it in England. If that £411 million is close to being accurate then Eisner is probably bang on the money.5
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Most PL teams make a loss as well. In the last accounts 15 of the 20 teams reported a loss.blackpool72 said:
Said nobody_uptheaddicks said:Odd, it was being referenced that our financial performance could only ever be stable if we were in the Championship.
Pretty much every club outside the Premier league loses money.
Regarding Charlton the only way our owners can make money is if we reach the Premier League4 -
Creation of the Premier League in 1992 + Sky has slowly suffocated football financially.12
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It’s hardly a surprise is it . I’d be shocked if it was the other way round and teams were making profits in the Championship.0
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The Premier League has suffocated the game and the clubs that dominate it have little reason to change. But the English pyramid won’t die, at least, permanently. If the structure for clubs collapses, supporters will rebuild their clubs and rebuild the structure.7
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If it ever got to that sort of emergency stage I’m sure they would start implementing salary caps or tighter financial restrictions. Yes it would create an even bigger gap between the premier league and EFL but ensuring there’s not another Bury is the most important thing0
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It's the way it's been for a long time and the way it will remain -
More money in the Prem more money will be spent in the champ to get there.
The big problem hits when owners gamble hard and lose - Like Sheff Weds for example.
I don't see the division or the teams in it disappearing any time soon.
We will have the odd loss of a club like a Bury but this has years to play out before a catastrophe occurs - More fool hardy owners will come and lose money and move on - the odd bad actor will damage a club for a decade, like us, but it won't all collapse like a house of cards imho.
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I’ll be another person to support this post. It was definitely said that we needed to get to The Championship to survive financially. Wasn’t it Richard Murray who said this?msomerton said:
many people on Charlton life kept saying we have to get to the Championship, as we cold not survive financialy league 1. We would lose less money in league 1 as wages are lower by a country mile.blackpool72 said:
Said nobody_uptheaddicks said:Odd, it was being referenced that our financial performance could only ever be stable if we were in the Championship.
Pretty much every club outside the Premier league loses money.
Regarding Charlton the only way our owners can make money is if we reach the Premier League0 -
But it’s not directly down to them. It’s down to the players’ wage demands. If the top clubs pay huge amounts then this filters down, and if all but 5 clubs in the Premier League lose money then is it not the European competitions’ money that is the root cause?up_the_valley said:Creation of the Premier League in 1992 + Sky has slowly suffocated football financially.0 -
This doesn’t suprise me at all. Football as a business model is not sustainable. Eventually most clubs down the pyramid will be forced into a more local semi professional system as presently the operating costs are just too high. Without a super wealthy set up funding the dream it’s impossible and that won’t last forever. Eventually I’m sure we will end up with some kind of European super league where the top teams play everything else will revert to a kind of grassroots model0
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Surely it's on the clubs for paying out wages they cant afford?jimmymelrose said:
But it’s not directly down to them. It’s down to the players’ wage demands. If the top clubs pay huge amounts then this filters down, and if all but 5 clubs in the Premier League lose money then is it not the European competitions’ money that is the root cause?up_the_valley said:Creation of the Premier League in 1992 + Sky has slowly suffocated football financially.3 -
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If you’re using Murray as a reference point then you’re about 15 years out of date. The changes in football finance over the last 10 years or so have been seismic.jimmymelrose said:
I’ll be another person to support this post. It was definitely said that we needed to get to The Championship to survive financially. Wasn’t it Richard Murray who said this?msomerton said:
many people on Charlton life kept saying we have to get to the Championship, as we cold not survive financialy league 1. We would lose less money in league 1 as wages are lower by a country mile.blackpool72 said:
Said nobody_uptheaddicks said:Odd, it was being referenced that our financial performance could only ever be stable if we were in the Championship.
Pretty much every club outside the Premier league loses money.
Regarding Charlton the only way our owners can make money is if we reach the Premier League
I think in recent times peoples comments about the Championship have been in reference to League One rather than anything else. Ticket revenue is a drop in the ocean but more full stadiums should mean better sponsorship deals and increased hospitality revenue, especially if the hospitality is improved. Being in the Championship also makes you more appealing to a certain class of investors which means the load can be spread by the owners. If we’d stayed in League One for much longer I imagine the financial outlook could have been a disaster.
In reality there are very few clubs in England that are financially stable and even some of the big ones massively depend on their on pitch performance6 -
Yes I realise that.Chris_from_Sidcup said:
Most PL teams make a loss as well. In the last accounts 15 of the 20 teams reported a loss.blackpool72 said:
Said nobody_uptheaddicks said:Odd, it was being referenced that our financial performance could only ever be stable if we were in the Championship.
Pretty much every club outside the Premier league loses money.
Regarding Charlton the only way our owners can make money is if we reach the Premier League
My point is that the only way our present owners can make a profit on owning Charlton is if we reach the Premier league.
Should that happen they could sell us for a profit.
No way will they recoup their money if we remain in the championship.1 -
I still wonder what our owners think a 'sustainable model' means?
If this cannot be achieved in the Championship? If Blackpool 72 is right we either go all out for Prem status or lose even more money just surviving in the Champ and hope that some bigger bucks come in at some point.
Our owners were trying to dilute recently to raise more investment and cut some of their losses.1 -
CharltonManor1966 said:I still wonder what our owners think a 'sustainable model' means?
If this cannot be achieved in the Championship? If Blackpool 72 is right we either go all out for Prem status or lose even more money just surviving in the Champ and hope that some bigger bucks come in at some point.
Our owners were trying to dilute recently to raise more investment and cut some of their losses.
Big long piece Rich has done with Gavin Carter this morning that answers a bit of this. Sustainable seems to be " we aren't spending top end of the league money" and dropping £10m on a single player ala Wrexham and Brum.
Loads of stuff about outperforming KPIs and moving budgets up a quartile that kinda went over my head a bit.
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The best chance we have of being sustainable is using our academy to hopefully bring players through and selling them for big money which I would imagine is a big part of our current plan. I don’t mean selling early like Brighton tried to do recently for £5m or something I mean getting them through to the first team and selling for £15-£20m6
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Salary caps means nothing, as some clubs with use under the counter payments and win trophies, when they get caught, will just get a fine.Crispywood said:If it ever got to that sort of emergency stage I’m sure they would start implementing salary caps or tighter financial restrictions. Yes it would create an even bigger gap between the premier league and EFL but ensuring there’s not another Bury is the most important thing2 -
They were also tried a few years ago and scrapped very quicklyguinnessaddick said:
Salary caps means nothing, as some clubs with use under the counter payments and win trophies, when they get caught, will just get a fine.Crispywood said:If it ever got to that sort of emergency stage I’m sure they would start implementing salary caps or tighter financial restrictions. Yes it would create an even bigger gap between the premier league and EFL but ensuring there’s not another Bury is the most important thing0 -
People have been predicting that English football is heading for a financial “catastrophe” since the maximum wage was abolished 65 years ago. The ludicrous situation where basically every club makes a loss has existed for many a year and hardly any major club has ceased to exist, let alone the game as a whole collapsing. Some have gone bust and come back (often stronger, which feels unfair on those who have played by the rules) but football in this country seems to defy economic rationale.4
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I think there will eventually be a massive reset but I think it’s more likely that we see the spectre of a smaller Premier League of let’s say 14 clubs and the setting up of a Premier League 2 of a slightly larger number. Gives freedom for the top half a dozen clubs to play glamour European games quite possibly in some sort of mini league. Quite what happens to those clubs that are outside of the top two divisions I have no idea but the money for them will be squeezed even more so regional leagues is I think quite likely. Not progress in my view.AndyG said:This doesn’t suprise me at all. Football as a business model is not sustainable. Eventually most clubs down the pyramid will be forced into a more local semi professional system as presently the operating costs are just too high. Without a super wealthy set up funding the dream it’s impossible and that won’t last forever. Eventually I’m sure we will end up with some kind of European super league where the top teams play everything else will revert to a kind of grassroots model1 -
Millwall have announced a pre-tax loss of £300,000 for the most recent financial year.
The Lions' accounts were aided by generating a £21.6m profit from player sales with the moves of Zian Flemming, to Burnley, and Romain Esse, to Crystal Palace, commanding significant fees.
The club made a loss of £19.1m the previous year.
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