Birmingham City, Stoke City
The economic climate of the Championship has shifted dramatically in recent years as more money enters the division and more clubs seek to splash the cash at a desperate, often loss-making rate, in pursuit of promotion to the Premier League.
Throwing enough funds at the wall in the hope that it eventually sticks can work, of course, in light of such financial disparity throughout the Championship as a whole, yet many continue to follow that strategy in blind faith.
It's not the only route to success, as Hull City displayed in such remarkable fashion to win the second-tier play-offs against all odds earlier this year while under a fee-restricting transfer embargo after only avoiding relegation by virtue of goal difference the season before, and while there are a number of clubs who minimise spending and operate shrewdly, others are throwing money away in alarming fashion.
Here, Football League World has decided to take a look at the SEVEN Championship clubs to currently be making the worst use of their money.
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Charlton Athletic are no big-hitter or financial juggernaut at this level after only returning by gaining promotion through the League One play-offs in May of last year, yet the sums of money that have been squandered since often go under the radar due to the resources of those who accompanied Nathan Jones' side in escaping the third-tier.
The often-tight financial purse-strings at the Valley were loosened upon achieving promotion and the Addicks embarked on a fair spending spree by shelling out £11.9 million on various new acquisitions according to Transfermarkt estimates, but though survival was secured, those who joined for decent seven-figure outlays played limited roles.
That included the likes of Rob Apter, Charlie Kelman and Harvey Knibbs, who are all merely bit-part players at best under Jones, whereas Tanto Olaofe is already on his second loan spell away from South London and Thomas Kaminski has departed on a permanent basis.
Charlton recorded an increased annual loss of £16.7 million last season and that prompted chief financial and operations officer Ed Warrick to call for 'all of football to alter the economics', and while that sentiment does hold credit, the Addicks themselves may need to alter their spending and be more savvy in the market - otherwise it will catch up to them in due course.
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The success of Southampton's expenditure represents a mixed bag, with generous parachute payment packages enabling the south coast outfit to flex their financial muscles whenever they're competing outside of the Premier League.
Some years ago, of course, you'd have been hard-pressed to find any club in the country maximising their resources better than Southampton, but the financial and footballing landscape at St Mary's is vastly different these days and often tends to fluctuate, which is exactly why the Saints recorded a pre-tax loss of £53.9 million in the 2024/25 campaign after making a £17.3 million profit the previous season.
West Ham, Blackburn Rovers
West Ham, Blackburn Rovers
Southampton's resources continue to facilitate big-money deals and, in turn, some excellent acquisitions, of which a few were completed last term when the likes of Finn Azaz, Caspar Jander and Leo Scienza arrived before Cyle Larin and Daniel Peretz both joined on cut-price permanent deals over the summer.
However, handsome seven-figure outlays were also coughed up without any tangible returns for Damion Downs, Mads Roerslev and Joshua Quarshie, yet the Saints' ability to find sizable sell-on value with a series of shrewd deals despite firing the occasional costly blank or two prevents them from featuring higher up this list.
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Birmingham have made a racket over their newfound riches since Knighthead's takeover of the club in 2023, and while it has undoubtedly breathed new life into this side of the Second City divide alongside kick-starting a fresh era on and off-the-pitch, their investment has delivered mixed results in certain areas.
There are question marks about whether Jay Stansfield will ever justify the sensational eight-figure deal that Blues threw down while in League One, whereas the disastrous £10 million splurge on former Celtic attacker Kyogo Furuhashi returned just one goal from 28 Championship appearances before his move to LA Galaxy and Marvin Ducksch's switch hasn't gone to plan either.
Blues have handed out big fees and equally-handsome contracts without always seeing the rewards and can undoubtedly achieve bigger wins from their fortune, although some neat deals have been completed over the last couple of years and there's no denying that they remain very much on the right track - both on and off-the-pitch - under Tom Wagner and co.
Birmingham City's league finishes under Knighthead
Season
2023/24
2024/25
2025/26
Importantly, Birmingham have taken serious strides away from the field and the much-needed redevelopment of St Andrew's @ Knighthead Park was a major success for the ownership ahead of the club's exciting move to the 62,000-seater state-of-the-art Powerhouse Stadium in the years to come.
A pre-tax loss of £34.6 million during the 2024/25 financial year bangs the drum for shrewder spending, yet with revenue continually on the rise and mass cash injections providing the fuel for Knighthead to achieve their aims, a balanced outlook is needed on Birmingham's financial moves.
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COH Sports, Sheffield United
Sheffield United's ability to fork out sums of money in the market has been hamstrung by recent developments, with the expiration of parachute payments coinciding with last season's disappointing mid-table finish and the subsequent sales of Andre Brooks, Gus Hamer and Callum O'Hare without Chris Wilder being able to pay a single transfer fee in return.
However, it's how the Blades have squandered millions since returning to the Championship that earns them a spot. Tom Cannon (£10 million) Mark McGuinness (£5 million), Japhet Tanganga (£10 million) are just some of United's costliest transfer mistakes in the last two years alone, and had that money been put to better use, they wouldn't find themselves in this current predicament.
The Steel City club have often struggled to find real value in the market and, instead, have grown increasingly reliant on free and loan transfers in order to offset the losses.
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Wrexham owners Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds
Hollywood cash from Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac has spearheaded Wrexham's meteoric ascent through the divisions, and though the Red Dragons were able to capitalise on their peerless resources in the third and fourth-tier, serious questions are being asked after gaining promotion to the Championship.
Wrexham's first summer back in the second-tier saw a net spend in the region of £30 million - comparable to many of Europe's elite - as the likes of Nathan Broadhead, Liberato Cacace, Callum Doyle, Lewis O'Brien and Ben Sheaf all moved to North Wales in eye-catching deals, and despite falling short of a play-off finish under Phil Parkinson, the spending would only marginally decrease in the most recent window when large seven-figure deals were thrashed out for Jacques Ekomie, Danny Imray, Anthony Patterson and the aforementioned O'Hare.
The problem is that Wrexham have burned through serious cash in the process.
Their five-star financial firepower has ignited a rise from the National League to the higher reaches of the Championship in record time, but in recent windows, large amounts of money have also gone to waste on underperforming acquisitions past their best years and no big sales have been made as the wage bill only continues to rise.
Of course, Wrexham's wealth has meant that they haven't been forced into offloading assets - yet how many of Wrexham's top operators would get into a better side at this level is open to debate and very few bring much tangible resale value, which means that, in spite of the club's upward trajectory in every department and remarkable commercial growth, the current transfer policy isn't truly sustainable and may be in need of a change of tact.
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The fact that Burnley are rooted to the foot of the Championship table despite receiving a lucrative first-year parachute payments package, having suffered three relegations out of the Premier League since 2022, speaks volumes of how misguided the club's investment has often proved under chairman Alan Pace.
A hard-hitting example is, of course, the Clarets' 2023/24 top-flight campaign, which resulted in relegation straight back to the second-tier with just 24 points after Vincent Kompany spent in excess of £90 million that summer.
Burnley have yo-yoed between the top two tiers in recent years, yet the school of thought is now that the East Lancashire outfit may need to get rather comfortable in the Championship for some time - and that can be attributed, in no small part, to some seriously erroneous spending in the market.
Fees in excess of £20 million were shelled out on both Armando Broja and Florentino Luis, whereas the likes of Zeki Amdouni, Jordan Beyer, Lyle Foster, Bashir Humphreys, Loum Tchaouna and, most notably, Mike Tresor, all moved to Turf Moor for hefty figures north of the £10 million mark, which says everything you need to know about their spending.
It would be amiss to ignore the occasional diamonds in the rough when assessing Burnley's buys, which admittedly include successes such as Jaidon Anthony, Maxime Esteve, Zian Flemming and Wilson Odobert, James Trafford, although they are few and far between and all Burnley have had to show for it is a couple of promotions and immediate relegations straight after.
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Burnley's litany of transfer mishaps created some interesting competition, yet Stoke City were always going to top the unwanted charts of squandering the most money in the Championship.
The Potters have seen scant reward for a range of punchy pushes in the market ever since returning to the Championship in the summer of 2018, having spent an estimated £143 million on transfer fees while failing to finish 14th in any of the last eight campaigns.
With an ever-revolving managerial door at the Bet365 Stadium, the same number of managers have taken charge in those eight years and there will be hope that Mark Robins can finally put things right this time around following a reported £40 million spree during the summer just gone as significant fees were forked out for Justin Devenny, Ethan Galbraith and George Hirst.
Unlike many Championship rivals, Stoke have been able to call upon consistently generous season-on-season backing despite limited big sales, poor league finishes and the expiration of parachute payments, albeit supporters have always raised issues over the manner of the spending as opposed to any distinct lack of it.
At least Burnley, for example, have been able to claim a couple of promotions if nothing else, with Stoke's lavish spending always coming to very little after initially elevating expectations.