Interview with Lee Bowyer: Charlton could challenge the Premier League promotion if he had a competitive budget

Lee Bowyer's biggest frustration lies in the fact that he thinks Charlton could argue for a Premier League promotion if he had a competitive budget for the championship.

Instead, he says survival is their main goal this season, as the financial gap between them and the rest of the division is too big to catch up.

Charlton has the smallest budget in the championship as its owner, Roland Duchatelet, seeks to minimize his losses while trying to sell the club. This has left them struggling to compete in the transfer market this summer.

They signed eight signatures, but missed several targets and were even beaten by forward Marc McNulty after being outbid by a Ligue 1 club.

Bowyer, 42, can understand the position taken by Duchatelet, who wants to limit spending to make Charlton more attractive to buyers. Supporters will argue that cost cutting is another example of the unfavorable situation on the part of Belgium, but Bowyer is optimistic. His team can still behave this season despite the difficult circumstances.

Still, there is a sense of frustration over what could have been possible after the spectacular Wembley season during their spectacular promotion.

"I know the situation and I respect it," said Bowyer. "The owner is a businessman and he is trying to sell his business.I agree that he wants his finances to be optimal for a buyer of the club.I understand that he is reducing his expenses.

"Honestly, I think if we had budgets similar to some of them, we would have a chance to get a promotion, I think we could push for the playoffs and anything can happen. But it takes money to get there and we do not have it.

"Nobody advised us to be in the top six last year and we finished third and, for me, we were the best in Ligue 1. That shows that we are able to surprise people.

"I think we are going to surprise people this year with the way we get back and pbad the ball, but I think there is too much difference so we can get closer to this top six.

"Last year I had said from the first day that we would have a promotion, but I'm realistic and the success of this year will be to stay in the league because of the budget we compared to all the others and the situation in which we are.

"We tried to bring in an attacker and he went to Sunderland and a Ligue 1 team outbid us.

"So, not only are we trying to compete with the championship teams, the Ligue 1 teams are paying more than us, if it was not difficult enough.

"It shows the hard work we have to do to persuade players to come in. We are constantly diving and trying to work miracles to get the level of player we want."

"It's so frustrating because I think: give us a chance on two and let us try, you never know, we could take this momentum with us and go running." But the owner wants to sell the club and I respect that.

"To be fair to him, he has given me a budget and we are working on it – every time we ask him a player within the limits of this budget, he is fine."

Charlton signed permanent contracts with Jonny Williams and Ben Purrington, but lost Joe Aribo, Patrick Bauer, Josh Cullen and Krystian Bielik from the team that defeated Sunderland in the final.

Bowyer added Friday the signing of midfielder Conor Gallagher, on loan from Chelsea, and hopes to have four new arrivals by the end of the transfer. Charlton starts the new season at Blackburn on Saturday.

"It will be difficult at times, but do I think we will stay in the league? One hundred percent," Bowyer said.

"There are so many great clubs in the league, it feels like a mini league in the Premier League, and the money is scary what some of these clubs pay in terms of salary.

"There will be a lot of challenges, but I'm looking forward to it."

With so many changes, will Charlton play differently this season?

"The diamond worked for us last year, but I will never be a sole manager," Bowyer said. "I have to be realistic, it will be harder because the teams punish you more. Playing the diamond means that you are a bit more vulnerable during the break. What I noticed in this division is that a lot of goals were scored at the break. I think I'd be foolish to play all the time and keep losing games.

"The energy of the team will be the same and we will always look to play football. Just the staff will be different. We lost 11 or 12 players compared to last year's group and we have to recruit 12. The staff we bring through the door will determine what training and how we will play.

"The eight we brought are all good additions. If we can bring in four good people, we will surprise the teams. Saturday is probably going to be a little too early for us, but we will try. "