Loan players rarely work out. Lingard scored 4 on his debut but I don't remember too many people shouting for us to sign him before he went to Birmingham. It's a gamble. And im sure CP is well aware of what's out there.
To be honest it annoys me that we might have got rid of Wagstaff, Haynes, Fuller and a couple of others to free up wages for players that we don't even play.
I definitely don't think Jackson should've been made captain this season. As I said, I question his leadership on the pitch. I can't remember exactly what the booking was for, but I remember 3 instances of his general lack of pace affecting attacks last Saturday. The first was down by the touchline near the Millwall dugout when he'd lost the ball and he went in behind one of their players and fouled them. The other was when he was making a diagonal run into Millwall's penalty area in the first half after being put through by Wiggins, it was an evenly paced ball and he was miles from getting it. The final occasion was when the ref gave a drop ball as he was dribbling toward Millwall's goal in the 2nd half and his legs just stopped. He ended up falling on the ball and whilst on the floor, just sort of resting his head on it in a vain attempt to keep possession. For me if he doesn't start scoring soon (which he has done well in previous seasons), then he no longer has a place in the team. Yann would be a far better captain, he's more vocal than JJ is anyway. I would like to see Cousins in there to give us some pace, which we sorely lack in the middle.
The popularity of Jackson strikes me as a fairly obvious form of familiarity bias, in this context meaning a tendency to rate his qualities higher than those of hundreds of potentially alternative midfielders with whom we are less familiar.
Well yes, we do rate his qualities highly because for the last two and a bit seasons he has epitomised exactly what the ideal Charlton player should be on the pitch in terms of character. Stephens, Hughes, Gower, Hollands, Green, Pritchard, Wagstaff all have come and gone at different times but he has been a relative mainstay, and for a reason. These hundreds of others may be ten times the player he is. They may alternatively be absolute utter shit - we don't know, they're simply potential alternatives. Change for change's sake is not a good reason to drop a proven quality player.
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It's a gamble. And im sure CP is well aware of what's out there.
Did we ever find out how much we got for Stephens & Yann ?
Probably nothing like they were worth! But hey ho it's cut down the wage bill!
I would love to know the true fees, but probably none of us ever will!