Charlton Athletic Online

It's now been several weeks since all:sports, Charlton's shirt sponsor, went into administration, apparently owing considerable sums to creditors. Not much news has leaked out about what will happen to the company or their continuing sponsorship of Charlton, for this season and possibly beyond.

We do know that about half of all:sports shops have been shut by the administrators, and many staff have therefore lost their jobs unfortunately. We do not know if this action will secure the long term future of what's left of the company or if the residue will be sold to anyone willing to take on the company. Peter Varney has maintained that Charlton will continue to carry the all:sports logo on Charlton shirts up until a firm decision otherwise has to be made.

This was the last season in which all:sports were due to sponsor Charlton, and we will probably never know if that contract was likely to be renewed. In some ways, Charlton fans will benefit, as the kit will now definitely change for next season, and many fans will hold off buying the current home and away shirts as a new sponsor is almost certain.

So what sort of new shirt-sponsorship contract can Charlton expect to negotiate?

Here's a list of what last seasons Premiership teams got paid to carry a sponsors logo on the front of their shirts according to
Footballeconomy.com -

Club Sponsor (sector) £m per Year Expiry Date
Arsenal O2 (telecoms) 5.0 May 2005
Aston Villa DWS (finance) 2.5 May 2005
Birmingham City FlyBe (airline) 0.75 May 2005
Blackburn Rovers HSA (insurance) 1.0 May 2005
Bolton Wanderers Reebok (sportswear) 2.0 May 2005
Charlton Athletic all:sports (sports retailer)1.1 May 2005
Chelsea Emirates (airline) 6.0 May 2005
Crystal Palace Churchill (insurance) 0.30 May 2006
Everton Chang Beer (brewing) 1.5 May 2005
Fulham dabs.com (electronics) 2.0 July 2005
Liverpool Carlsberg (brewing) 5.0 May 2005
Manchester City Thomas Cook (travel) 1.0 Feb 2007
Manchester Utd Vodafone (telecoms) 9.4 May 2008
Middlesbrough 888.com (gaming / internet)1.5 May 2007
Newcastle United Northern Rock (finance)4.0 May 2006
Norwich City Proton / Lotus (automobiles)0.35 May 2006
Portsmouth ty (toys) 0.33 May 2005
Southampton Friends Provident (finance)0.5 May 2006
Tottenham Hotspur Thomson (travel) 2.5 May 2005
West Brom Albion T-Mobile (telecoms) 1.0 May 2006

For 2005/06: Arsenal change to Emirates (£5.5m p.a.), Chelsea change to Samsung (£11.0m p.a.), Fulham change to PIPEX (£1.25m p.a.)

This chart tells us some interesting information regarding any potential new shirt sponsor for Charlton:
1 - Unless we are a "top" club, our revenue may go down (see Fulham's figures...).
2 - More than half (12) of the above clubs contracts ran out at the end of last season, but nine companies renewed with the same club; Emirates switch from Chelsea to Arsenal next season, so there may be a few companies who did not get a chance to bid who will be looking to get in at Charlton. Who those companies may be anyone's guess; I know that message boards have floated a few company names (First Choice was one I saw...), but they can be nothing more than guesses at this stage (my own guess, nothing more, is that we should investigate a pharmaceutical company - Roche, Springer-Verlag, etc; nobody else has one, and they are teeming in dosh! I'd be happy to see Roche sponsor Charlton and for our players to run around with "TAMIFLU" on their shirts!).

In reality, Charlton's league position will have a great effect on what they may get, revenue-wise, but Charlton are never going to shift the volume of shirts that clubs like Newcastle, Liverpool, and even Spurs do. This season's great start is therefore very timely! We can hopefully envisage, therefore, getting a contract worth somewhere between £1m and £2m per annum, probably on a par with Everton and Middlesboro.

If it is true that all:sports owe Charlton some £650,000, then the likelihood of that ever coming in the direction of SE7 is low. Any monies that Varney can negotiate on a new deal will be more than helpful to fund, hopefully, a European campaign next year.