Following an extraordinary general meeting yesterday which led to the dissolution of existing companies and the creation of a new one Richard Murray is now in effective charge of Charlton Athletic. It is hoped that his assuming personal responsibility for the club will give it a more stable financial platform and a more attractive basis for bringing in new investors.
Following an extraordinary general meeting yesterday which led to the dissolution of existing companies and the creation of a new one Richard Murray is now in effective charge of Charlton Athletic. It is hoped that his assuming personal responsibility for the club will give it a more stable financial platform and a more attractive basis for bringing in new investors.
The broader interest of the meeting is the insight that it gave to the finances of a League 1 club, albeit it one that has operated at a higher level. The current set up has trading losses of c. £4m this year (the other c. £1m is for working capital and one off payments) so Richard Murray will be putting in £5m to keep it afloat.
In real terms the TV money and the ticket income cover the admin and the running of the stadium. The shortfall is almost exactly the costs of the playing staff. Richard Murray was confident that in the event of failure to be promoted there would be alternative investment to keep the club going. In the event of promotion Charlton would benefit from c. £6m more in TV money. That fact makes Charlton a viable business in the Championship, but not in League One.
It should be borne in mind, however, that a special factor in the case of Charlton is the cost of running a stadium that was expanded to accommodate Premiership crowds but now is a little over half full at games. Other League 1 clubs operate to leaner and meaner models that do not have to service legacy assets.