I couldn't make it up

In previous years I have had an April Fool's spoof. Rebranding consultants were brought in and it was decided to rename the club 'Estuary'. A plan was launched to have a branch of the Jubilee Line from North Greenwich to The Valley.

The East Stand was renamed the Anne Boleyn Stand to attract dissatisfied West Ham customers and was inaugurated by a tableau in which Jonathan Acworth played the King of the Belgians. A statute based on the Mannkin Pis statute in Brussels was to be erected to Roland, the innovation being that it would urinate vinegar.

However, reality is now bizarre than fantasy. How could I come up with a story to trump Roland demanding that the EFL buy the club? Katrien becoming the manager of the Charlton branch of Sofology could not match it.

I think the best of the old ones was renaming the club Estuary to show it was not 'stuck in the mud': Brandovators

This link recalls a successful spoof by the club in 2002 which took in a number of fans: New club crest

Another successful spoof by the club was a report that Millwall were to ground share at The Valley and some of the seats would be painted blue to make them feel at home.

The second goal problem

Charlton beat bottom club Bradford City 1-0 at The Valley this afternoon. Although the three points were welcome, it was in many ways a painful experience.

Charlton went ahead in the first half through a well-taken goal by Lyle Taylor who was well set up by Naby Sarr and Aribo. But then we were unable to score a second goal which would have finished the match off.

Bradford were error prone at the back and needed to have pressure applied to them. After a decent first half, in the second half Charlton lacked urgency and even seemed lethargic. Fortunately, although Bradford were capable of rapid counter attacks, their finishing was poor.

After their opening goal on 18 minutes, Charlton nearly doubled the lead after 22 minutes when Taylor turned provider by squaring for Igor Vetokele, but O'Donnell did well to pull off a save at point-blank range.

Taylor almost added a second after 32 minutes when his curled effort from outside the area hit the post and rebounded out for a goal kick. Bradford should have equalised after 36 minutes when Jacob Butterfield took too long to fire in an effort after Lewis O'Brien beat the offside trap.

Taylor was guilty of firing over the bar from six yards out after 41 minutes while David Ball hit the post for Bradford 10 minutes into the second half.

Louis Mendez reports on the narrow win here: Basement Bantams

Lee Bowyer thought that Charlton dominated the game, although they were sloppy in possession at times and still have an outside chance of a top two finish: Bowyer's hopes

Club loses quarter of a million a week

Charlton had an operating loss of £256,000 a week last season in League One to take total historic losses to just under £60 million. Wages were £140 for every £100 of income, way above the 70 per cent level recommended by Uefa.

Katrien Miere's salary not disclosed as she was chief executive but not a director (she resigned during the financial year). Charlton paid redundancy costs of £374k in 2017/18.

In terms of player trading purchases were £310k and sales £4.4 million. The profit on player trading reduced the operating loss from £13.4m to £10.1m.

Match day income at £3.4m accounted for 46 per cent of the total. It was marginally up by 7 per cent from £3.2m. EFL and Premier League distributions fell by 21 per cent from £1.8m to £1.4m. The EFL distributions dropped from £1.2m to £0.7m (lower payments following relegation) and the Premier League solidarity payment increased from £0.6m to £0.7m.

Commercial income increased by 8 per cent to £1.4m, helped by the run in to the play offs. The strategic report states, 'Continued growth in commercial income is essential for the long-term sustainability of the Football Club.'

Charlton owed Roland £62 million at end of 2017/18 and interest is clocking up on the loans at a modest 2%. Interest cost £770k for the season. The club is worth far less than the value of the outstanding loans which raises concerns about its longer term survival.

Charlton accounts filed

The annual accounts for Charlton Athletic (Holdings) Limited have been filed at Companies House. They are being processed and as soon as they are available I will attempt to analyse them. However, they have been filed using the small companies format which allows a considerable amount of significant information to be withheld.

New contract offer for Lee Bowyer

A new contract offer is expected to be made to Lee Bowyer next week: Bowyer offer

Amid the depredations of Roland, Lee Bowyer has offered hope and pride to Charlton supporters. Just think what he could achieve with more funds.

Oli Gunnar Solksjaer? We've got Bowyer.

Rovers eye Bauer

Blackburn Rovers are interested in signing Patrick Bauer who is out of contract in the summer. However, play off success for Charlton could lead the German to change his mind about staying: Rovers monitor Bauer

Powell sacked

Former Charlton manager Chris Powell has been sacked by relegation threatened Southend United after a run of eleven games without a win: Bid to stave off relegation