It has come eighteen months too late for Charlton but EFL clubs have agreed a new rule which means that when clubs are sanctioned by a registration embargo they can no longer keep the fact under wraps.
The EFLM issued a statement this week:
In the interests of transparency and in line with the principles of good governance, in June 2021 EFL Clubs approved an amendment to the Regulations to allow the EFL to publish a list of those Clubs under registration embargoes on EFL.com.
Clubs under embargo will be named on this dedicated Embargo Reporting Service page, along with the reason the Club has been placed under embargo. For example, the regulation the Club has failed to comply with.
Derby, Reading, Cardiff, Hull, Gillingham, Fleetwood, Swindon, Oldham and Scunthorpe are currently being sanctioned. The embargoes limit a club's ability to make signings, with sanctions preventing transfer fees being paid. Charlton's first opponents Sheffield Wednesday have been released from their previous embargo, following relegation to League One.
Under the EFL's operational rules surrounding embargoes, clubs do have some means of strengthening their squads "to protect the integrity" of the competition.
Clubs are permitted to 'staff up' so they have 23 players of professional standing, which is termed as players to have made at least one appearance for any club in any first-team competition.
If they have fewer than 23 players they are allowed, within a transfer window, to sign free agents on a maximum of one-year deals or bring in players on loan for up to half a season.
However, clubs cannot pay loan fees for players and cannot pay additional wages on top of the salary the player receives at their parent club.
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