Credit: Imago

Joe Elvin

Thu 29 May 2025 12:50, UK

Portsmouth’s opponents in next season’s Championship were confirmed when Charlton Athletic won the League One playoff final at Wembley last Sunday (25 May).

Charlton beat Leyton Orient 1-0 at the national stadium to become the final team to confirm their place in the second tier next season.

Many people expect the Addicks to be fighting for survival at the wrong end of the table next season, potentially as a direct rival to Pompey.

In fact, EFL pundit Don Goodman namedropped Portsmouth when outlining his survival strategy for the southeast London club.

Chalrton will need to spend as much as Portsmouth

In an interview with Football League World (29 May), Goodman suggested Charlton would need to spend at least as much as Portsmouth in the transfer window to stand a chance of surviving.

“You’d like to think that Charlton Athletic will have some money to spend, some resources,” he said.

“And they will have to spend a reasonable amount I think in order to be able to compete, just like Oxford did last season, along with Portsmouth and Derby County ultimately in the January window.”

Goodman pointed out that all three teams promoted to the Championship this season spent a lot of money to improve their squads, yet all remained in danger of relegation throughout the season.

This highlights the strength of the league and the necessity to spend at least as much as your direct rivals, he said.

Portsmouth and Charlton’s success will depend on successful transfer windows

It required at least 49 points to survive in the Championship last season, a much higher total than in previous campaigns.

And it has widely been suggested that the battle to survive could be even tougher next season.

This is largely because two of three promoted teams – Birmingham and Wrexham – arrive in the league with huge budgets, and are expected to stay up comfortably.

That will make life harder for teams like Portsmouth and Charlton, who aren’t as financially blessed as most other Championship teams.

Pompey fans joked that Charlton can expect a guaranteed six points against them next year, due to their status as The Blues’ bogey team when both sides were in League One. They haven’t beaten Charlton in their last six meetings.

Portsmouth and Charlton were both named as favourites for the bottom three by Oddschecker recently, so these games could prove to be vital next year.

Either way, it will be vital for both teams to improve their squads if they don’t want an uncomfortable season languishing toward the bottom of the table next season.