The EFL Championship has become an increasingly profitable league, with teams boosting their spending power in pursuit of increased revenue and, eventually, promotion to the Premier League – but that hasn’t stopped two second-tier firms from paying staff members less than the minimum wage.

We’ve seen no shortage of stadium expansions and transfer records, with Ipswich Town taking advantage of the Premier League’s generous three-year mandated parachute payments package following relegation to complete the division’s most expensive deal in history, bringing Norwegian starlet Sindre Walle Egeli to Portman Road for a reported £17.5 million.

On the other hand, the division’s ever-increasing spending sprees, both on and off the pitch, have resulted in clubs consistently registering high financial losses, raising concerns about the long-term viability of how second-tier outfits choose to operate economically.

Nonetheless, you would expect all club employees to be paid fairly in light of their employers’ financial clout, with Sheffield Wednesday making headlines and later suffering fatal points deductions for missed payments to both playing and non-playing staff under now-former owner Dejphon Chansiri on several occasions last year.

That isn’t always the case, however, because in a stunning new revelation, two Championship clubs are paying employees less than the minimum wage – and they have been exposed for it.

Charlton Athletic and Norwich City were caught for paying employees less than the minimum wage.

The two Championship clubs in question have previously competed in the Premier League at various points in their histories. Now, however, they both bear the disgrace of being revealed for failing to pay select employees the minimum wage.

Those teams have been identified as Norwich City and Charlton Athletic, both of whom were named in the Government’s recent announcement of sanctions against 389 firms across the United Kingdom for failing to pay adequate wages to their staff.

The list calculated payments owed, and Norwich rated 12th among all employers.

This is because the Canaries, who are now experiencing an on-field renaissance under Philippe Clement but have not played top-flight football since 2022 and are no longer receiving parachute payments, failed to pay £99,021.76 to 1,152 employees in the most recent fiscal year.

Charlton, meantime, has struggled financially in recent years, returning to the Championship via the League One play-offs in May of last year after being out of the Premier League for over two decades.

The Addicks’ due monies and workforce are both smaller than Norwich’s, which is probably unsurprising, but the South London-based club still ranks 40th out of roughly 400 employees for failing to pay a total of £17,983.18 to 45 employees.

Norwich City and Charlton Athletic must do better following a financial exposé.

It’s distressing to learn that two Championship clubs have failed to pay some staff members the national minimum wage, which, given the salaries they receive each year, should not be the case.

Both Norwich and Charlton spent a lot of money in the summer transfer window, but the failure to even pay the minimum wage for non-playing personnel is a genuine pity, and it demonstrates how underappreciated those who work in a variety of tasks behind the scenes are.

It shouldn’t be that way, since a successful football operation is the result of a collaborative effort from everyone at the club, not just the playing squad and senior leadership figures, and it’s evident both Norwich and Charlton need to do a lot more to demonstrate that moving forward.