The end of the pier show

Richard Cawley reports: 'Charlton will play at Southend United on August 2 (3pm). Final tune-up before their Championship season starts. No home friendly this time around - priority is ensuring The Valley pitch is in tip-top condition for the new campaign.'

Posh player rumours denied

Richard Cawley reports on X: 'No contact from Charlton for Peterborough United's Malik Mothersille. Had been a suggestion recently that QPR are prepared to pay £1m for the 21-year-old, who is due to be out of contract next summer.'

Posh are set to re-introduce their policy of transfer listing players entering the last year of their contract if they refuse to sign a new deal. Mothersille has so far resisted all Posh efforts to get him to sign a fresh contract.

Mind the gap

CAS Trust recommends an article on how the examples of Portsmouth and Oxford United suggest how Charlton might survive in the Championship: https://www.castrust.org/2025/06/can-charlton-bridge-the-gap-next-season/

It is one of  the most competitive leagues in the world but we shouldn't be too daunted.

A chip off the old block

Danny Mills was one of my favourite Charlton players, albeit we had to sell him to balance the books.  Curbs got him from Norwich and I happened to be behind the scenes on his first day at The Valley so I told him he was a great signing for the club.

It is therefore pleasing to see the progress of his son, George, losing his hair like his dad.  He did well in the Diamond League athletics in Stockholm the other night and yesterday he achieved a personal best in Paris, coming 3rd in the 1500m after leading much of the way.

His brother plays for Oxford United.

Move away from Valley not ruled out

Charlton board member Jim Rodwell confirmed that Roland Duchatelet still owns The Valley and training ground - asked the question by talkSPORT's Simon Jordan: "We make no secret our ownership would like to buy the stadium or enter into a longer lease. We have still got a considerable amount of time left. I know that fans like certainty and so do businessmen."

Some accounts suggest that there are only a few years left before we come up against the EFL ten year rule on leased grounds.   The barmy Belgian (not so barmy when it comes to money) is still asking for a huge sum for The Valley and Sparrows Lane.

Asked about if there is a possibility of moving: "It's always a possibility. I think the desire would be to stay at The Valley. We want certainty of tenure." He refused to answer whether cost of the lease has gone up after promotion to the Championship.

He commented in relation to transfers: “The silly season is upon us. People go on holiday and it will all get very real in the next week or two."

I have just received the accounts for property investment company Charlton Athletic Holdings Ltd.  The ultimate owner is one R Duchatelet, resident in Belgium.    The Valley and the training ground are valued at £56m.

Rick Everitt reports that Baton 2010 company accounts show Charlton paid Duchatelet £621,000 in rent in 2023/24. Valley lease, which is most of that, is due to expire in January 2035.

Huddersfield bid for Charlton target

Richard Cawley reports on Twitter: Huddersfield Town have put in a bid for Leyton Orient's Ethan Galbraith. Not sure if it is the £2.5m that has been mooted, but sounds like it's in that ballpark. No indications at the moment whether EG is still one that Charlton are sweet on. Don't think wages likely to be a problem, it's just how high he is up their wanted list.

The Pompey route to staying up

Football finance guru Kieran Maguire praises Portsmouth's 'sustainable' approach to the Championship.  Some teams like Bristol City have spent big and got nowhere in what Maguire calls 'the most bonkers division' in world football: https://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sport/football/portsmouth-fc/portsmouth-fc-finances-championship-kieran-maguire-expert

We have a good record of taking six points off them.

Massives see hope of owner changing

Regarded by their fans as a 'massive' club, Sheffield Wednesday have been in the doldrums recently.  EFL sanctions have prompted speculation about a fire sale of players from which Charlton could benefit.  But now a serious American ownership bid has emerged whilst their unpopular owner faces financial pressures of hos own: https://footballeconomyv2.blogspot.com/2025/06/hope-of-effective-new-ownership-at.html

Galbraith bid shows ambition

We may have had our bid for Leyton Orient's Ethan Galbraith turned down, but it does show that the current ownership is willing to spend some money to keep us in the Championship.  It is possible that we could increase our bid for the Northern Ireland international: https://www.newsletter.co.uk/sport/football/northern-ireland/charlton-athletic-see-ps13million-bid-rejected-for-northern-ireland-star-who-is-premier-league-player-in-the-making-5177533

Reading supporters think that attacking midfielder Harvey Knibbs may be on his way to us, but I have no independent confirmation.

In any event all the signals suggest that the approach to promotion is different from the days of the barmy Belgian.

Historic club in danger of forced move

An appeal by the Scottish Football Supporters Association for an historic club:

Next Friday, the SPFL will release the fixtures for next season.    At present, Hamilton Academical will feature in that list, but there is a serious chance that they may not be able to fulfil those fixtures.  Why? Well, it’s a mess to be honest, but this is what we understand the current situation is, with the caveat that this is changing on a daily, if not hourly basis.

As we have reported over the last few weeks, the Accies Supporters’ Association has come together to do everything it can to save their club.  The SFSA has seen at first hand the passion and emotional involvement of the Accies’ supporters.  It’s both uplifting and harrowing: these fans really do fear, and with justification, for the future of the club that many have watched for generations.

Currently, there are three parties involved.  They are: the directors/owners of the club; the man who owns the stadium; and the fans.  It is no secret to say there is a lack of trust between all three.

The SPFL will not allow a club to take part in its competitions unless it has a ground to play in, with a lease for at least a season.  Essentially, there are a few days for the directors/owners of the Accies to sign a deal which is acceptable to the football authorities. If that doesn’t happen then it seems likely that the club will struggle to continue to exist, unless it can find another ground.

There is, we understand, a possible deal for the Accies to remain at New Douglas Park. This has (again we understand) been verbally agreed between the Supporters’ Association and the stadium owner.  The problem is that the club directors/owners will not agree to this under any circumstances. In our view, without knowing all the details, this is a tragedy.  If some way could be found to square this circle, the Accies could stay in Hamilton.  

Surely, that’s what everyone would want? Radio Scotland reported that the owners say that is their intention to return to Hamilton. If they can demonstrate a viable plan to do this, the supporters would, we suspect, be much more comfortable with what is happening just now. But at present, it looks like it’s Broadwood [Cumbernnauld, 1 hour 14 minutes by train] or bust.  Let’s hope it’s not the latter. No fan will want one of Scotland’s famous old clubs to be consigned to history.

It’s incumbent fans of all clubs to support their counterparts at Accies.  Please do so here (this will take you less than 30 seconds).

https://app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/s-f-s-a/hamilton-accies-support

 

Kermorgant agreed to take pay cut to come to Charlton

Richard Cawley's new Substack platform is allowing him to do more expansive and informative interviews than when he was at SLP.   His latest one is with former Charlton chief executive Peter Varney.

Richard now derives his livelihood from the platform, but I am going to give a short teaser from the interview about Yann Kermorgant: 'I don’t want to quote the figures of what he was on at Leicester, but we only had half of that money left in the budget. We came up with a way that Yann got the money later, if we got up. All that is quite stressful because he wants a figure and you can’t get a figure from the powers that be. So you have to be innovative in the way that you’re doing it.'

Congratulations to the Chicago Addick on 21 years of blogging.   Addick's Diary started in September 1997, so it has been going for nearly 28 years.   It was then much more personal, as it really started as series of electronic notes for my own benefit.

The first entry read: 'On September 26th I gave up the line management job I have held for the last seven years. At 12 noon I handed over the personnel files to the fervent Baggie who was succeeding me. In the afternoon we held a meeting which he chaired for the first time, ending with his wishing us all 'Good football matches over the weekend.' 'How does it feel?' asked one of my young Australian colleagues, 'Are you going to go home and open the champagne?' 'No', I said, 'I'll just have a workout and open the champagne if we win tomorrow.'

The heyday of blogging was in the Premier League days, Richard Murray even invited us in for a briefing.  We have now lost two of our best bloggers who have gone to join Sam Bartram.

I will be slowing down somewhat as Richard Cawley is now really the 'go to' source of news, but I will post stories from time to time that he has not covered.

Famewo linked with Charlton

Sheffield sources are linking Charlton with a bid for highly rated defender Akin Famewo who has already had two successful loan spells at The Valley and was with Nathan Jones at Luton.  The Massives are currently having difficulty paying player wages: https://www.thestar.co.uk/sport/football/sheffield-wednesday/charlton-athletic-sheffield-wednesday-akin-famewo-5162900

We say farewell to Thierry Small who has been snapped up by Preston North End.   Most people would accept a better offer, although I did turn down a substantially better one towards the end of my career because I was happy where I was.

Jones to sign extended contract

Richard Cawley reports that Nathan Jones is expected to sign a new deal.  It would increase the compensation to be paid by any club that tried to poach him, believed to be just £1m at present.

The club has now officially confirmed that he has signed the contract/

Unbelievable. Jeff

Some fans still seem to be concerned about Nathan Jones going to Cardiff despite the authoritative Richard Cawley knocking the story on its head.

Rational argument often doesn't do well against clickbait and the social media echo chamber, but let's try.

Nathan Jones has just got Charlton promoted, Cardiff have just been relegated.   He has the backing of the board, the team, and most fans apart from a few perennial malcontents.

Vincent Tan at Cardiff is a hopeless owner.   Despite pouring money into the club and continually changing manager, they have failed on the pitch.

He even tried to change the club's kit from their traditional kit to a red-based kit that was supposed to appeal to Asian fans, most of whom have no idea where Wales is, let alone Cardiff.

He only backed down when his mum told him he was a very naughty boy.

Jones wants to wipe out the memory of Southampton and Charlton gives him the chance to do that.

I have now booked a few days on the Kent coast which is a particular haunt of Charlton pessimists such as Desmond from Deal and Derek from Dymchurch.   I will wear my Charlton badge and will be happy to buy a pint for any fan, even the moaners.

Escape the clickbait

Richard Cawley has now set up a site on Substack.   He writes: 'It’s exciting times for Charlton Athletic after promotion to the Championship and I’m aiming to bring my own brand of coverage on this platform. My previous job at the South London Press led to me covering the Addicks for nearly two decades. Now it is time for the next chapter. I strongly believe this platform will allow me to enhance and freshen up my approach. Plus I want input from subscribers about what they want me to cover - as well as all the ideas I have for features and other aspects of the site.'

Highly recommended.  https://southlondonsportcharlton.substack.com/

Calm down!

Sometimes I despair of Charlton fans who are so susceptible to a mood of hysterical pessimism.   A journalist in South Wales starts a clickbait story that Nathan Jones is going to Cardiff and immediately a large segment of the Addickted believe it.  

We all know that many South Walians are chancers, e.g., Rob Brydon pretending to be his own agent.

Thankfully Richard Cawley has stated: 'Indications I've had is that there is no chance of Nathan Jones going to Cardiff. Not to say they wouldn't have loved the Charlton boss to try and bounce them straight back out of League One.'

Nathan Jones may be mercurial, but he is not an idiot.

Cawley has indicated that he may be back online sooner rather than later.

Another Lisbie joins EFL side

Kyrell Lisbie has joined Peterborough on a three year deal for an undisclosed fee.   The 21-year old scored 16 goals for Braintree Town in their survival fight in the season just ended.   Lisbie joined the Iron last summer from Cray Valley Paper Mills whom he helped to the Isthmian South East title.

As well as being Player of the Season at Braintree, Lisbie was also awarded Sportsbeat Young Player of the Year at the Non-League Paper's awards ceremony.

Lisbie's twin brother Kyreece already plays at Colchester United.   'K' is clearly popular with dad Kevin Lisbie.

I shall watch his progress with interest.