Charlton Athletic are making a good go of staying afloat in the Championship, following their promotion from League One last season.
While some heavyweights, like Sheffield United and Norwich City, are struggling to keep themselves off the base of the table, the Addicks have collected a handful of wins in the opening months of the season.
Far from gearing up for a relegation battle, they may now have eyes on the other end of the table.
In the book Soccernomics, Stefan Szymanski and Simon Kuper argue that a club’s wage bill, relative to their competitors, is the best way to predict where a team might sit in the table, but Charlton are bucking that trend.
Charlton Athletic are operating beyond their wage bill
According to estimates from Capology, who have provided all the estimated wages in this article, the Addicks are forking out £175,062 every single week purely on the wages of players.
That sounds like – and is – a lot of money, but in comparison to the rest of the second tier, they actually carry the lowest wage bill, with Portsmouth (£184k per week) their closest companion at the base of that chart.
The London side’s highest-paid player is Thomas Kaminski, making up a not-inconsiderable £20k per week of that total, but considering the Premier League-experienced gloveman has kept clean sheets in wins against the likes of Ipswich Town and Blackburn Rovers, the hierarchy at The Valley likely view it as necessary investment.
Their top goalscorer in the Championship, Sonny Carey, is said to command a weekly wage of just £5k, which is a drop in the ocean in comparison to some of the league’s top earners.
Even Sheffield Wednesday are spending more than Charlton Athletic
Sheffield Wednesday’s financial issues are well trailed, with protests happening regularly to try and oust owner Dejphon Chansiri, who appears to have stopped putting money into the club.
To get a sense of just how little Charlton are spending for their solid performance, the Owls are currently paying out £221,450 per week, and are struggling near the bottom of the table.
That wage bill is half of the club’s problem, however, as on multiple occasions this summer, Wednesday have failed to pay on time.
Not only that, but they have also been late paying non-football staff at the club, a sign that they have perhaps spent beyond their means in previous seasons or, more likely, the financial taps have been turned off by Chansiri.
Rivals Millwall may be look at Charlton Athletic with envy
A rivalry as fierce as the one between Millwall and Charlton, who sit just five miles apart in the English capital, is rarely fought out in club accounts.
And with both sides faring pretty well at the beginning of the 2025/26 season, holding places towards the top of the table, they will both be pretty happy with how things are going.
However, with Capology estimating that the Lions’ wage bill is coming in at £282,038 per week, over £100k a week more than Charlton’s, the powerbrokers at the Den will likely have some envy that their rivals are getting so much out of such a little spend.
Boasting the lowest wage bill in the Championship, if Charlton can continue causing a fuss near the top of the table for the rest of the season, it will be one of the great underdog stories of the second tier.
Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.
